Geoff Weeks

My grandfather had a '27 or '28 back in the day. The one thing he always talked about was the "central lube" system. You pulled a lever under the dash, and it sent grease to all the lube points. quite a car.

It does sound like it would work for you and as I said, that is one of the best condition of that type trailers I have seen. The only time I have seen cut axles is with LP tank trailers, but they carry much less weight. That is the 1st on a low boy I have seen. Tire wear could be helped by flipping the inside to outside at regular intervals, to even out the wear.

Different deal than we have here. Haven't seen a trailer like that in N/A. He could just re-bush but I think it would be a short term fix, which was why that trailer didn't see a lot of use.

I agree, just add some tubing where it is cut. I'm not sure what Swishy is referring to? this is what I mean by trunnion axles. Kinda hard to see, but short stub axle supported on hyd suspension with 8 tires across. Low deck trailer on triple axle flatbed. as to what happens when one axle on one side goes in a hole, the walking beam hits its stop on the other axle. It doesn't change much if the axles are solid, torques the tubes a bit and the 3 wheels not in a hole all carry some of the load. There are many "single point" suspensions, I haven't seen one with a cut axle before. Cozad:

I suppose you could remove one side of the walking beam, clean out the tube on the other side, and press in a tube that just fits the ID of the axle stub, then slid into the other side, when everything is bolted back up and in position weld the smaller inner tube to the outer axle tube on both sides. May not be good for 25K on the axle, but would be a whole lot better than how it sits now.

Many are hollow, like the axle itself. The spindle is made to fit inside the tube then welded to the tube. Depending on bearings, many spindles are hollow, allows for auto inflation, but more important reduces weight. Often a cup-plug is pressed in from the outside to keep oil from entering the axle tube. That is how "axle surgeons" repair axles, the cut the old spindle out and replace with a new one and weld.

Other than the axles, that is one of the better looking trailers of that type I have seen. Most a beat all to blazes. That is why, if the prices is right, it might be worth fixing. If the spindles were hollow, you could make a slug to insert into the old tube and cut a new tube to go in between, then when the new tube is in place, push the slug into position where the joint is from each side and weld up. Not possible if the spindle is solid tho.

It may explain why the trailer didn't get used much. If I had time an money to put into it, there are a couple ways to "fix" it. One would be to cut out the axles and replace. The other would be to weld structural tubing back in where they cut the axle. Problem is with either method you are going to have a lot of welding that has to be done correctly and the axles have to be in perfect alignment when welded as there is no adjustment possible. You can't just slide a new axle in unless you get one with no brake spider on it and the weld a spider on. Lots of making sure everything is correct before welding. You can cut out the back of the box beam and install an axle but then have to re-weld in the box for strength. You can re-bush the center pivot which would help but not solve all the issues. Easiest method for a good "pipeline" welder would be to weld tube back where it was cut out.

I have never seen it done like that in a semi trailer, unless it was a "trunnion axle with tires and brakes on both sides of the walking beam for 8 tires across. Cozad trailers are built like that.

You sure find (and drag home) the weird ones. Never ever, seen a trailer axle where the center was cut out! I'm sure it has bad tire wear from the axles not being held true. All the forces are going through a single pivot point, with the axle cut it is going to tend to bow up under load, without a full axle it is going oscillate back a forth because not tied to the other side You could drop the beam out and rebush, may have to make the bushing, but that isn't going to solve all the other problems. Looks like it was made that way, but begs the question why? edit: I confused you with another guy that had a low-boy with axle problems, Sorry.

It is in between 4th and 5th. not exactly in the middle of those two.

Not old enough to ever been around worm drives and 140, Hypoid or Amboid with 80w-90 for me.

The thing that would make that truck jump out from the rest at a truck show is the tip turbine aftercooler. I think it would have been fine with the triplex or just about any transmission given the loads he is going to pull. It will have a unique sound pulling, and there aren't all that many tip turbines on the road anymore, or those that know what they are. I think you'd have to look a long time to find another B with one. They were an interesting answer to a problem that went away, much more unique than low flow cooling, for the same problem.

I was rolling between 45-55 mph with those loads and enough axles and brakes. Takes a lot to move along at those speeds. Steam sterilizers from Chicago to Jackson Mo. Long, tall, wide and heavy.

The "old 18's and the RTLO's have about the same low ratio, but I do agree the new have more even steps, in the 17%- 21%. range. I had one truck that had 3.46's and a old 9, Not quite 3.36's but close enough. It would still be out of low by 25 Mph or so. While I have driven a few electronic engines, I never owned one so don't have a whole bunch of long term seat time in one. That said, less RPM isn't always better, in comparison to what others report, my older mechanical had at most a 1mpg "penalty" but that was a few years ago and may be different now.