Trailer Troubleshooting, anyone???

[justanovice]

OK. I have this cool little kayak trailer from Trailex. It's perfect for toting our three LLRemix XP 9s. Last year, we had some larger tires, larger axle, and support brace put on by a reputable company. So far, so good. Then last weekend, we took it out to the middle Buffalo. It drove fine from Sherwood to Gilbert. Then when we put on a fourth boat for shuttling purposes (still within weight limit), it started wobbling terribly. The stacker bars wavered back and forth. The tires acted as though they were "waddling" to keep up with each other. REALLY scary drive home. Then two days later when we were troubleshooting and driving the trailer so that my hubby could get a better idea, the trailer acted perfectly fine (with/ and without kayaks). A friend said his first thought was the U bolts. We've checked them, and they're fine. We can't figure out the problem. I can't very well take it to the trailer shop when it's not currently doing the wobbles, but quite frankly, I'm afraid to take it out to the river. The drive from the Buffalo was a complete nightmare. It was jerking and wobbling so much that it was yanking on our Ford Expedition. My husband and I have exhausted all possibilities. Any ideas, anyone? What might have caused this?
Thanks to anyone who might have a thought, idea, suggestion....
Sandy

[Canoe_Codger]

Check the axle allignment with a tape measure. Both sides should be the same distance from the front tip of the hitch to the front u-bolt. Jack it up and spin the tires by hand. One or both could be mismounted, most apparent when they heat up on the road. Or have a broken belt, damaged sidewall etc. Think hard about whether it was loaded tongue heavy or tail heavy and be certain that your hitch ball is correct for that trailer hitch. 1/8" makes a lot of difference. That is all I can think of.

Michael

ETA: A bent axle is also another possibility or a broken spring or spring perch.

[bird dog]

Move some weight forward past center.

If there is not enough weight on the trailer hitch you will be in for a shaky/wobbly ride.

[737driver]

That's my thought. If too much weight is placed behind the axle, it causes the tongue to search since no weight is pushing it on the bumper. Hence the tire waddling. The tires are trying to keep up with the tongue.

[Clif]

balance. Sounds like a too light tongue :myday" issue to me

[Deuce]

Hard to say for sure. The additional weight of the beefier components could be a factor, as could the bigger tires (bouncier with a comparatively light load). I agree that it could also be a tongue weight issue that the additional kayak exacerbated to the extent you finally felt it behind the Expy, or, it could be a combination of all these things. I'd go ahead and contact the trailer shop even if you can't replicate. Based on your description of the issue they can probably at least make an educated guess.

[Jim E]

Check tire air pressure. Mis-matched pressure will cause problems described. I'd recommend keeping pressure a bit on the low side too for light load trailers. Then, as others wrote, too much weight behing the axle. Try disconnecting the trailer from tow vehicle while it is still loaded with boats. If the tongue automatically defies gravity, therein lies your problem.
Good luck and please report back your findings.

[Eric Esche]

Does your trailer have electric brakes? If so, check the wiring. I have heard of intermittent shorts in the wiring causing problems like this. Start with the ground line. I know of other Trailex trailers that have had shorts in their trailer lights that were a bugger to find.

You might also check the brakes themselves if your trailer has brakes to see if one is dragging. Have also heard of bearing problems that did not become apparent until they heated up some. Try listening with a stethoscope while rotating the wheel by hand. If the bearings are OK, you can grease them if if you haven't done that lately.

You might also check the air pressure in each tire.

If you have wheel fenders you might check to make sure that they are not rubbing with the larger tires or loading.

The frame alignment, tire balance problems seem more likely culprits.

Knock on wood, my 4 place canoe trailer still tows like it is not back there, no matter how or what I have it loaded with. It is a steel trailer from Ozark Mountain Trading Company with a wooden box that I modified a little.

BTW - I paddle with someone who has a Trailex trailer that she uses a few times a week after upgrading it to a two place from a single. Using it with either one or two sea kayaks seems to make no difference in towing. They are very nice trailers and light enough for her to move around by hand by herself, even on one wheel to get through narrow gates or doors. Since I was the one who helped her assemble it, I try to check the tightness of everything periodically.

Eric Esche

[Edgar]

I agree with the unbalanced load idea. I know from past experience that to much weight in the rear of a small trailer like yours will cause just what you described. It would be easy to test it and see if that was the cause. Not something you want to worry about as you are going off for a fun day on the river.

[justanovice]

I can't thank all of you enough who posted possible problems with the trailer. I took various pieces of advice and tested weight-balance, measurements from u-bolts to hitch, etc. I still could not figure it out. So I took it back to a trailer place in Cabot who has worked on it in the past. After having it for a week, they couldn't figure it out either. Everything was in perfect condition with precise balancing. He made the comment, "We always enjoy a challenge, but this one stumped us all." They fabricated an A-frame to help the main beam not torque so much. All we can figure is that the rain that was coming down kept filling one of the boats therefore causing a back-and -forth out-of-control sloshing. We test drove it to OOO yesterday loaded with boats, and it did fine. Who knows? One gentleman who posted a reply to my post had requested that I inform on this thread just in case others have similar issues.
Thanks again!
Sandy