Glockwinger Posted November 4, 2008 Share Posted November 4, 2008 Well, I brought my 8 x 16 Ice Pro (Made by Ice Castle) to the certified scale near me and was quite disappointed to find that it weighed 3920 lbs without all my fishing gear. So...I now know that I need trailer brakes. "No problem" I think to myself, I'll just get the kit from somewhere and install them in an afternoon. WRONG! The hubs on these frames do NOT have flanges to bolt the brake housing to. So I called the manufactuer and asked what they have been doing to rectify all the people who have their product that need brakes. They gave me the number the the guy that makes the frames. I called him (Neil) and told him my dilema. He responded that he had added brakes to about 20 so far and was getting calls regularly. Apparently, you have to weld the brake housing directly to the axel housing somehow in order to maintain tolerances for the wheel. He said if I did the wiring and he just installed the brakes, it would be $500 - $600 and I need to bring it out near Redwood falls to his shop to do it. Add a hundo or more if he wires it. Estimated time to complete is 2 - 3 weeks because of the other ones in the yard as well as the frames being made for Ice Castle. Knowing what I know now, I would not have bought the house from the guy I bought if from unless I got a better deal. I will have ended up putting over $1000 into this thing after the purchase price to make it road legal. Live and learn I guess. So if anyone else has flangless hubs that need brakes on wheelhouses made by Ice Castle or Ice Pro, you may have to get in line. YMMV-G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
outdoorav Posted November 4, 2008 Share Posted November 4, 2008 I do not see why people buy Ice Castle. They are cold and the floor is wet all weekend long Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_King48 Posted November 5, 2008 Share Posted November 5, 2008 My floor is plenty warm, (holes never freeze and I can wear flip flops.) The wife loves ice fishing now since she can sit in shorts and a tank top all day.... Also the only place were the floor is wet is next to the door from the snow... I guess there must be a magical carpet or plywood that other manufactures have that Ice Castle doesn't..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_King48 Posted November 5, 2008 Share Posted November 5, 2008 My floor is plenty warm, (holes never freeze and I can wear flip flops.) The wife loves ice fishing now since she can sit in shorts and a tank top all day.... Also the only place were the floor is wet is next to the door from the snow... I guess there must be a magical carpet or plywood that other manufactures have that Ice Castle doesn't..... Can I ask what you all have in it??? I was told around 2800 lbs. on my 8x 16, but I have a hard time believing that...I have Knotty Pine, stove, 2 bunks, dinette, and a couple of cabinets.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lookingforluck Posted November 5, 2008 Share Posted November 5, 2008 anyone know where a scale is around Chisago area???THANKS,LFL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chad austin Posted November 5, 2008 Share Posted November 5, 2008 I think any sanitary landfill will let you go acrossthier scale for free or a very small fee ($5/$10). I went to theland fill in blaine and they did it for nothing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glockwinger Posted November 5, 2008 Author Share Posted November 5, 2008 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NAG Posted November 5, 2008 Share Posted November 5, 2008 If your house weighs almost 4,000 lbs, what are your tires rated for? Our house weighs about 3,600lbs and we looked for the max tire rating we could and found some pretty decent sized SUV tires on it and they are rated for 1,800 lbs a peice. We wanted something a little bit more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glockwinger Posted November 5, 2008 Author Share Posted November 5, 2008 If your house weighs almost 4,000 lbs, what are your tires rated for? Our house weighs about 3,600lbs and we looked for the max tire rating we could and found some pretty decent sized SUV tires on it and they are rated for 1,800 lbs a peice. We wanted something a little bit more. My tires are rated for 1850 lbs each. I brought my wheelhouse to a trailer company(not fish house related) and asked him about that. He said that the distributed weight to the hitch is taken into account. My hitch weight is easily a few hundred pounds. I had him look at the trailer while it was in his lot and he said it appeared balanced and that it didn't look like there was undue stress on the tires. He did tell me that if they would fit, a non-radial 225 70R15 instead of my 205's would support more weight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whitetips Posted November 6, 2008 Share Posted November 6, 2008 It would depend on your axle as to what is possible, if flanges are on the axle such as on a torsion than disc brakes can be added with a surge coupler. I had both systems on 2 Warrior Trail trailer(s) and a company that I would check out in updating your trailer is Axle Inc. in Elkart, IN. Good people and only open during the week they have a HSOforum online so just google it. The parts guy is real good.Gluck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glockwinger Posted November 7, 2008 Author Share Posted November 7, 2008 I brought the wheel house out to the welder that made the frame and he is going to cut off the old wheel assemblies and put all new heavier duty ones on with larger tires and electric brakes. I should have it back in about 3 weeks. He showed me the ones he is using now vs when mine were made and they are MUCH better. Yeah, it is costing me some jing, but then I have no worries about the strength of the axel. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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