SledBed Trailers

[Augusta]

Might sound like a dumb question, but how far have some of you guys pulled your sledbed trailers? I have a 14 ft tandem axle with the small fat tires. Thinking about going on a long trip and I am wondering if those small tires can handle 2,000 mile trips or more. I just repacked the wheel bearings last fall, so that should not be an issue. I still plan on buying one of those "pre-packed" hubs just in case, I have a good spare as well. Anyone have any thoughts? Comments? Thanks.

[wishing for walleyes]

I would put bearing buddies on.Tires should be able to handle the trip.I have a small trailer with the same kind of tires on it.Its been pulled from texas and back a few times.

[Augusta]

Wishing, forgot to mention. I did put bearing buddies on as well.

[bowhunter54]

Augusta FYI; Please look under the bed at the bolts that attach the axel to the frame. I almost made mine a sled bed (without wheels). It appears that the holes were drilled at least one size too large or bolts were one size too small and the heads of the bolts went right through the holes and were not holding the axel in place. The way I found out was when I changed tires I lifted by placing a block under the back of the trailer and then cranking up the tongue and the wheel axel and all stayed on the ground. The other side was just as bad but was still holding enough to lift the axel with the trailer. The bolts were still there, however the washers and holes were large enough to allow the head of the bolt to go right through the hole in the bracket on the axel. For the repair I purchased one size larger bolts with proper sized washers I did not have to drill the holes any larger they fit perfect. Hope this will keep you and others from having a major accident.

[Augusta]

Wow, that could have been a bad deal. Thanks for the tip. When I do my spring inspection, I will remember to check that out. Once again, thanks!

[UMDSportsman]

My father has a sled bed trailer and we have had some problems with it. We have had it for porbably at least 15 years. It is a single axle, fits 2 wheeler side by side snuggly and has 1-2 feet of room both front and back. It has the short fat tires on it. We used to load it down too much bear baiting and we blew tires on it a bit. we replaced the axel with a stronger axel and maybe put a higher rated tire on it. haven't had a problem with the tires since. It has been to northern Mn more times times than i can count and to wyoming probably half a dozen or so times. We also had a similar problem with the bolts on the axels. the bolts pulled into the frame while on a trip to Wyoming. My dad has put a piece of aluminum angle on top of the frame on each side where the axel bolts to the frame. We have also had some wiring issues and ended up rewiring the trailer. It has been a decent trailer for all the abuse it has been put through, and i think you will be fine. We never had any bearing troubles. Sorry for the long rant.

[hanson]

I would think you should be just fine. I would much rather being pulling a tandem axle long distances over a single any day.

I don't have a Sled Bed but my 2 place single axle snowmobile trailer has gone on plenty of 600-700 mile round trips without any problems.

[Dave S]

I try to be on the safe side and stop to check the hubs once in a while (after a few hunred miles)to make sure they aren't getting too hot. They'll definitely heat up a little. But it wouldn't hurt to have your grease gun along just to keep some fresh grease in the hubs along the way.

I agree with Hanson, I would also rather be pulling a tandem axle trailer.