My trailer rebuild is not as fun as I imagined except when I get the use the angle grinder.
I was originally going to just put new bunks and keel rollers and replace the rusty hardware but I am going to end up replacing the leaf springs and possibly the axel and hubs. Oh and the tongue is bent.
I am going to have the bent part cut off. Detach the pivoting part of Magic Tilt and bring out the bottom half and weld them together and have a new coupler installed. The one trailer shop around me wants $200 for the work.
After all this the trailer should be good for another 30 years
(http://imageshack.com/a/img94/4623/op0z.jpg)
(http://imageshack.com/a/img812/380/xz9z.jpg)
(http://imageshack.com/a/img802/3807/o9dr.jpg)
(http://imageshack.com/a/img826/6562/ye2g.jpg)
What do you guys think instead of welding the tongue unbolt the pivoting tongue and mount a 17 inch coupler on the top tongue. It would probable shorten up the overall length of the tongue by 6 -12 inches. How much do you think that will affect the tongue weight?
I wouldn't shorten it. Think about launching. Your car will need to back down the ramp that much more. Tongue weight would increase which can be offset by moving the axle