I'm not a big HF fan. Call me a tool snob, but my Dad told me along time ago that broken tools cost you money, expensive tools that keep on working make you money. I don't use them for a living anymore, but I still subscribe to investing in good tools. One of my mentors explained it another way, "You see that Bridgeport mill? I bought that the same year I got married, 1975.......I still use the mill everyday, haven't seen my ex wife in 30 years.....buy good tools" lol! I'm not really big on Northern tools line, but I do think its better than anything at HF. I have their shear break and it has worked pretty well. I also have bought a lot of Milwaukee, Ingersol Rand, Jet and other quality tools from them. Good service and prices.
Haven't shopped HFs trailer stuff so I cant comment on that. I have been happy with all the trailer stuff I have purchased at Northern. Sam I actually bought a galvanized u-bolt kit for the axle there today. I also noticed some galvanized bunk mounts while I was looking around. But most of it does seem to be anodized.
So I spent this afternoon cursing. I got back from lunch and finished cleaning up the bearings and hardware....cleaned up the spindles a little better.....GRRRR someone spun the right inner bearing! It wasn't bad but gouged the bottom of the spindle where the bearing rides. Which probably explains the bad axle seal on that side. It would probably be ok for a utility trailer to haul the mower around, but it isn't going to work for an axle that gets submerged all the time.
I have a 2-1/2" drop axle, with the spring over it. I did see a drop axle at NT today, but it was a 4", which would have put the center of the wheel closer to the fender / frame. My idea is to keep the fender height about the same, maybe raising it up an inch or so at the most. This axle would have moved the center of the wheel 1-1/2" closer to the existing fender height. But the hub to hub was almost the same....the spring pads centers were off, but I can always cut them loose and move them. Then I realized that it was set up as a spring under, which would have moved the tire a lot higher. And I am planning on moving to larger 14" wheels / tires....so all of that leaves little room between the top of the tire and fender.
I looked around but can't find an axle that is even close on the hub to hub that I can get quickly. We are back to my finish the welding and paint this week schedule. So I resigned myself to calling trailer places tomorrow and thought about mounting the spring shackles. Its been a while since I mounted them and I remembered you have to get the geometry right...but couldn't recall what that meant. So I thought I would look in the shackle box to see if it had directions. No such luck, but I did realize that the new shackles would mount the springs about 1-3/4" lower (relative to the fenders) than the old ones. So that effectively lowers the wheel center. After doing more fuzzy math, I think that means I can use the 4" drop axle, converted to spring over, with the new shackles and get the center of the wheel about a 1/2" lower than the current axle, retaliative to the fender......my head hurts for some reason (and this is the simplified version lol).
I'm going to do the math in my head again tomorrow and if it works out, go buy a new axle and hubs!
