M758

Tony,
Nice set-up. I need to make better use of the space on the front of my trailer.

chrisp

Tony, can I see a close up of the clamp you have to snug the tires against each other? What size is your "axle" tube?

APKhaos

I'll have to take a close up - don't have one in my pics folder.
The rod is 1.5" electrical conduit. The clamp is a 1.5" cast iron plumbing flange with two of 1" square Al tube sections as press arms, and a simple locking screw tapped into the flange. Works well.

I'm almost embarrased by the over-engineered nylon sliding plate mechanism to raise and lower the tube height for different size wheels. It works perfectly, but I've never actually had to change the setting [doh!].

chrisp

Thanks, no need for a pic, I get what you're talking about.

How far apart or your cross-bars that the tires rest on?

APKhaos

chrisp

thanks. i see that you have 24.5 as the outside-to-outside of the major width. do you know the inside-to-inside dimension of the minor width?

APKhaos

The cross members are set at 45 degrees. If you extend the top edge line of the 24.5" cross member, they are placed as close at possible to that, obviously without overhanging. Its fairly simple to set them up, and not that critical.

chrisp

not sure i copy. how wide is the tubing on the side supports (the uprights)?

APKhaos

All the members are 3"x1" lightweight EW tube. The tire supports are as high as they can be vertically and as far apart as they can be horizontally, bounded by the top of the 24.5" line through the rear upright. Hope that's clearer.

chrisp

If the outside-to-outside width of the sides is 24.5" then the inside-to-inside using 3" tubing should be 18.5" and that should equal the minor width of the cradle that the tires are sitting in.

Brian A.

Tony,

I love the design. It's just what I am looking for. Couple of questions. What exactly is lightweight EW tube? And is here any issue with tongue weight with the 944 on the trailer?

APKhaos

Brian,
Glad you like it. I've been using it now for a couple of seasons, and the only change I would make if I were doing it again would be to pop the overall width of the tire rack by a few inches so I could carry two full sets of [wider than stock] tires and wheels. Mine is a couple of inches short of taking that eighth wheel, dammit!

EW = electro welded tube, which is the most common variety. Its made by folding a sheet into the tube shape and welding a seam to complete the tube.
DOM = drawn over mandrel, which is a far stronger tube with no seam. DOM is the spec material for roll cages etc.

You can but 3x1EW tube at most steel suppliers, although its usually a special order that takes a few days to come in. There are two standard wall thicknesses - the thinner wall is what you want. Its plenty strong for this application, and weighs a lot less than the thicker wall material.

Chris,
That's right. As you see from the pics, the two tire supports are set at an angle so that the corner to corner width is 3".

Plavan

Nice work Tony.