Aluminium Trailer Build Tandem Axle (On a budget)

[catshark]

that hydralic press is gold , might have to put in an order for a few u -bolts, with u bolts you do have to pay a premium for good quality , or settle for the cheap ones,

[gazza2006au]

I cant weld without the solar auto mask i suck at keeping a steady hand my first mask was from ebay couldnt see anything the pets ended up chewing it up i than bought a cheap ReadyWeld mask its like day and night i can see everything all though when tig'ing steel at around 50amps the screen flashes but i have never gotten any welders flash

Cat i bought the 20 ton press from ebay second hand for $50 i have used it a bunch of times great peice of machinery but my pump has a leaky seal i go thru a fair amount of automatic transmission fluid as pump fluid need to fix it

I may have a few little toys but its mostly second hand equipment that has lost a bit of value, the lathe is a old vintage MD65 Hobby Mat Lathe but works like new always wanted a lathe so bad but could never afford one untill recently one came up on ebay for cheap

[gazza2006au]

Guys im going to take my chances on the home made cold bent steel U bolts the shop can only supply 12mm im making them from 16mm bar/rod im trying unsucessfully to find what size doe to use for the 16mm bar? Tried looking but its not simple its coming up with all sorts of multiple variations for inside and outside measurements i cant work out

Hopefull someone can tell me

The length of rod per U bolt will be to long to fit in my lathe so i need a die that will fit the existing bar

[catshark]

16 mm u-bolts is sure is heavy duty. youll have to get 24 mm nuts for it , whats wrong with the 12 mm thats the norm in the trailer business.
nothing wrong with making your own u-bolts cold bending them .
i just bought 4 x 12mm gal ubolts for my little rig . $ 36.00

[gazza2006au]

Hey Cat Do u know what size die to use? i want to go the 16mm over the standard 12mm as i'm making them my self and want some extra duty in the build can't seem to find the u bolts in the width and height i need think they needed to be 90mm inside by something like 170mm tall from inside to top of u bolt thread

i looked online than sent off a couple inquires to aussie u bolt makers got quoted i think $180 for regular ungal 12mm, i bought 1 meter so far of the 16mm bar and it was only like 15 dollars which would make 2 heavy duty u bolts

just trying to work out the die i need

[Noelm]

Why not use threaded rod? 16mm is pretty big, I'm not too sure I would go that big, threading rod that big will be an effort, and a die won't be cheap, strangely enough, I had a set of dies from 1/2" to 3/4" and the stock, (the gizmo you use to turn them) that I was given years ago, I had never ever used them and sold them in a garage sale about a year ago.

[ericcs]

whenever iv'e bent threaded rod, i found there would be tiny cracks in the steel between each thread.

[Noelm]

How about a completely different thought and just use bolts, a plate across the top, "lugs" welded on to the bottom, job done.

[EdBerg]

I also would not use threaded rod to bend them for U-Bolts, as others have said, threaded rod has a tendency to develop cracks when you bend it, hunt around the various place for a price as some are way more expensive than others. Last thing you want is the trailer separating at highway speeds. I rang about a 8 places before I got a reasonable price for them when I was building a 3.5T trailer, unfortunately I cannot remember the place as it was about 6 years ago.

[Noelm]

Ring Illawarra Springs in Port Kembla, they make all sorts of spring related stuff, including U bolts, I have got stuff off them many times over the years, it's a generations old business and they know what they are talking about, but, don't mention galvanised Chinese springs, or the owner will go off.

[Fed]

I thought you had 39mm round axles gazza?
How do you figure needing 90mm x 170mm Ubolts?
Might be time to find out exactly what you need, 39mm is very common.
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Galvaniz...EAAOSwaVNavHjh

[gazza2006au]

Thanks guys i figure it will be cheaper making my own instead of waiting untill i have the cash i already have a few parts that are going to cost a bit of cash to dip

These are for the spring holders that run horizontally along the chassis not the axle to spring u bolts i already have those i think

16mm is just to compensate over the 12mm with hand cutting the threads i will double nut the threads too, i could go the plate on top and plate on the bottom but it may look a bit cheap'ish in design the u bolts look more modern and up to date with todays trailer designs

[gazza2006au]

The tap and die bloke got back to me and said M16 die for 16mm bar i dont think that is right tho

[EdBerg]

Assuming the bar is actually 16mm and doesn't have mill scale then that is correct.

Haven't said that I still wouldn't do it that way, for a start the Die set and holder are going to cost a bit, then when you cut the thread, you will have a threaded rod is is not galvanized so when you take it in to the sea it will rust, then you still need something to bend the 16mm rod squarely and 16mm rod isn't going to bend easily especially at 90 degrees. Getting back to the rust as you are putting these brackets on an aluminium frame, having rust develop will not be a good thing as it may accelerate corrosion on the ally frame.

In the end you will not save yourself much if at all, and just making it harder for your self. As I mentioned before 12mm brackets are all that I needed for my 3.5T trailer, so my advice to you would be to ring around and get a cheaper price, saves a lot of hassle and hard work for no benefit

Cheers

[gazza2006au]

Hey Ed the steel is about $15 per meter, the dies range from $20 to $30 i'll weld a couple bars on to it so i can turn it

If i were to buy the 12mm U bolts they are $180 ungalvanized so i would probably be looking at over $200

If i made them my self they will cost about $70 and i can get the dipped in gal when i do the other parts at $4 per kilo

I also have the tools to cold bend the steel as previously pictured