8.5X24 Enclosed trailer frame material?

[Horus]

I am upgrading to an enclosed car trailer. All of my wants and needs are ironed out now except for the frame material. With all the reading I've done I'm still undecided, so I wanted to see if anyone here has some input specific to our kind of use.

Steel frame or aluminum?

Trailer will be an 8.5 X 24 foot enclosed 10K trailer. While the rest of the trailer remains rated for 10K I'm upgrading to 14K eight lug axles with no drop. I have no idea what my rig weights but it has to be around 5000 to 5500 pounds'ish. There will be basic living quarters up front of my own construction, but nothing too crazy.

I am leaning toward a steel frame for all of it's pros. That said, I will be towing this trailer with either a 1993 Dodge D250 club cab LB truck or a 1991 Dodge W250 Ox Cart, both with VE cummins engines. Though they are both very different trucks neither of them are powerful heavy modern trucks. They are both very much 3/4 ton trucks, but I love them and so they're what I have to work with. Now...

The trailer is being ordered and built to my specs. With the 12 inches of added height the empty weight will come in just under 4000 pounds. It's getting 7000" axles so I'm not worried about being overloaded. I am worried about my trucks being able to haul and stop this pig safely. With a trailer this size, going to an all aluminum frame cuts 1000" pounds off of it's empty weight! Yeah, I really like that idea.

Not too concerned with the extra cost of an aluminum frame. I just want to get the right trailer for my needs. Trailer will be used once a month at least all year-round in all conditions. Is an aluminum frame a bad idea?

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[TreeClimber]

Should be able to upgrade the trailer axles to disc brakes. Trailer should stop itself easily. Seem to remember something about oil bath bearings too. Might look into that.

I'd go steel. More durable. Easier to modify down the road. Seen, and heard of too many aluminum failures on 'light' duty trailers.

Add more lights than you can ever think you'll need, especially interior lights, and exterior flood lights. Cheap to do at the build stage.

Also, I don't like torsion axles. I'd go traditional leaf springs.

 

[Horus]

Disc brakes on a trailer? Never heard of that, but I'll look into it. I agree with you on the torsion axles as well. I get it and they seem superior for some things but for my volume of use I need serviceability and durability.

My primary concern is fatigue leading to cracks and eventual failures. Not a whole lot of information out there regarding Aluminum frame durability with our kind of use. Potholed and generally nasty gravel roads year-round with a rig on 60s and 42s inside an aluminum box is a different game than towing a race car to a race track a few times a year.

Snowmobile guys love aluminum trailers too. But again, different ball game.

 

[TreeClimber]

http://www.dexteraxle.com/products/brakes-brake-accessories/complete-disc-brakes/8k

Also... one more thing I'll throw out there. Every now and then, the tow rig craps out, and you'll need to tow your own rig back home (with a borrowed truck) ((Been there, done that)). So, I'd consider making it long enough inside, to accomplish that, or ??

 

[Horus]

I towed my tow rig home almost one year ago. Broke six of the eight lugs on my passenger rear tire and ejected it from the truck between Elbe and Eatonville on a Sunday morning. Slid to a stop on the brake drum and trailer jack.

A year before that I broke a Dana 70 merging onto 512. Shot the rear axle and drum out of the rest of the housing like a Dana 35.

So I've towed one truck home with the other a couple times now. I'm keeping my 18 foot trailer for that and day trips.

 

[toyzuk]

I've been thinking of going this same route lately(10k aluminum 24x8.5) and its awesome you started this thread :cheer:. Im guessing the 8 lug 7k axles are for better weight rated tires and or better brakes? Also why not got bigger, 28 or 32 footer?

 

[DHR Darren]

I know a lot of guys say that aluminum will fatigue and wear out and crack but realistically that will be in about 15 years down the road if it gets everyday use. All the old log trucks and dump trucks had aluminum frame rails in them. Many of them are still running today. Look at the flatbed trailers hauled up and down the highway now days, 95% of those are aluminum also and they are hauling about 80,000 pounds of cargo on them.
I know that aluminum trailers of years ago were not the latest and greatest like they are today but also look at the Leaps and Bounds EFI has made (analogy). Technology and modern design has done wonders and my next trailer is going to be an aluminum one and that isn't for hauling the race car, that is for doing everything for our personal use & the Logging Company.

 

[DHR Darren]

Most 7k axles have 12x2" drum brakes on them. Upgrade to disc if you have the option.

 

[boxboy]

if you are having it custom built i'd go with Aluminum get the weight for cargo and not the steel trailer and the cool kid factor!

 

[War-Jeeper]

I have towed a 40' Featherlite aluminum trailer all over the west coast now. Its 12" over height and has full interior walls and a bunch of cabinets and crap. Empty it weighs 5800 pounds. This is our race teams trailer so it regularly hauls a race car and overloaded pit cart. JeepMauler and myself also used this to haul 2 rock buggies to AZ and back some months ago

If your not worried about cost I'd go aluminum just for the weight savings alone. Our trailer is a 2004 (I think) and we have had zero issues with it. The owner before us went too and from california with it regularly so I'd guess it has well over 150K for miles on the thing at this point. I personally have put close to 10K on it. Has two 7K axles on it, the frame for the axles themselves is steel and then the aluminum structure is bolted to that steel sub structure. I use to have a photo of it but not sure what I did with it. The savings on weight will help your truck espcially with the added heigh on the trailer already dragging you down and you wont have to worry about the interior wall structure rotting (a lot of steel trailers use timber construction for the wall framing or steel there too with eve more weight and possiblity of it rusting).

Just my .02 cents. If I ever own an enclosed it'll be full aluminum

 

[zukkev]

Just my .02 cents. If I ever own an enclosed it'll be full aluminum

You DID, well, kind of one... :corn:
more like a damn taj-ma-hall of a toyhouse trailer, but...:fawkdancesmiley:

 

[Horus]

Sorry I've been away. I ordered this trailer shortly after this thread started. It should be arriving any day now.

 

[Horus]

And by any day now I meant two more months. I just got back from looking at it. They got it in today. I want to take my rig down and test load it to make sure it fits but the t-case is out of it. Once it's built and back in I can do that. Probably drag it home Monday.