Where to Place Axles on 14 Foot Long Tandem Axle

Updated 08/29/2024 | Published 03/24/2018

Question:

Where would the center be for tandem axle placement on a 14foot trailer? what would the wheel spacing be hub to hub? We have double eye springs that are 27inch in length Thanks for any help you can give.

asked by: D L

Expert Reply:

To determine the location for the front and rear hangers on your tandem axle trailer you will first need to make sure that you have the correct center point for your equalizer hanger.

The center point of your equalizer hanger needs to be located where you will have 60 percent of the frame of the trailer in front of the center of the equalizer hanger and 40 percent behind the center of the equalizer hanger. For example, if the trailers frames length is 14 feet, then the center-line location for the equalizer hanger will be 8.4 feet from the front of the trailer and 5.6. feet from the back.

This is where to start with when picking out axle locations for a tandem axle trailer. You will need to determine the tongue weight of the trailer and then check out the picture I attached if the tongue weight is anything other than 10 percent of the total trailer weight.

It depends on the hangers you use, but most likely the distance between your axle centers will be around 32 inches.

expert reply by: Jameson C

click to enlarge

David

8/27/2024

Iam building a Utility trailer. the trailer box itself is 14 foot long not including the tongue. The measurement you're giving from the center hanging bracket forward is that to the trailer frame or all the way to the end of the tongue at 60%. My box is 14 ft not including the tounge. The tounge is another 5ft. I'm welding hanger brackets on a 3 inch piece of angle iron for tandem axles. What should be my center hanger bracket measurement. Thanks in advance Dave touchton

Jameson C.

8/27/2024

@David So the 60/40 dimension split includes the length of the tongue and coupler as you need to factor in the entire length of the trailer. Since you didn't mention the length of your tongue and only the box portion of the trailer I can't give you the dimensions you are looking for. If what you sent in intended to state that the tongue would be an additional 3 feet then you'd want the center hanger to be located 10.2 feet back from the coupler ball center. You should note that this is the best starting place but if you assemble the trailer and the tongue weight isn't high enough like the equation states you'd need to move everything.

David

8/28/2024

@JamesonC i included the the tounge length. It's 5 ft . The box is 14 ft Total trailer length is 19 ft . Thanks for your reply