Attempted Trailer Repair, Rain, Harness Speed System Adjustment

Back to the grind again. Yesterday morning woke to it raining still which at this point is FAR preferable to snow. Speaking of which it IS ALL GONE on the farm!!!!! The birds, the animals, and I are all quite happy about it.

Mid morning I headed to North 40 to pickup parts for the trailer. Once back I pulled the topper off my truck and got it set against my old Toyota that it came from. I really only need it when traveling or maybe camping so tend to leave it off. The visibility is way better without it on too.

Next was to get the trailer backed into my truck parking spot since it is right next to the air compressor. These are the springs I got. I went with the heavier ones hoping that the u-bolts and shackles would all fit.

The broken side was what I started on and after taking the bolts out for the spring I tried to get the u-bolts unscrewed. Holy balls the ends of the bolts were so jacked up there was no way I was getting the nuts off.

So out came the angle grinder and I cut the u-bolts off.

This is what is left of the leaf spring. It had been shot for years and I am SUPER lucky it lasted as long as it did.

So having to cut the bolts off meant I had to go buy new ones so back to North 40 I went with these couple pics of the measurements.

I get home with the parts and get the first leaf spring bolted on and when I got to couple the axle to the spring I find that the u-bolts are way too short. I then went inside and spent time searching online for ANYONE that has the right size u-bolts but they are only special order for 1/2" thread x 2 3/8" id x 7" long. I was not pleased by this in the least.

I only had a little while before having to go pick up the boys from school so I spent a bit of time setting up the speed system on my paragliding harness. The red and black line connects to the speed bar on each side and while fitting it in Bozeman we found that I needed to shorten it a couple inches. Thankfully it had just the right amount of line available to shorten it correctly.

I am so beyond anxious to attach a wing to this and go flying!

With the boys home I went back to work on the trailer. The axle got set on a block on the side I had removed already so I could go work on the other side.

The springs are getting returned today and I will have to get the same size as what is coming off the trailer. I really wanted to use these as they are 2900 lb capacity, the ones I have to get are only 1800 lb capacity. With the amount of grain I haul I really wanted the higher rated springs. The problem all comes down to the axle size being 2 3/8". If it was a 3" axle I would have no problems.

Next was to get the angle grinder spittin sparks again cutting off the other u-bolts. I tried to wrench them off with the breaker bar but to no avail so off they came.

I had some trouble getting the left leaf spring off due to the rear shackles being SUPER tight. I added a bunch of mystery oil to them and smashed them back and forth with the sledge to get some play in them. I may just get a new set today when I got back to the store. This is how I left it sitting for the night as I was done messing with it for the day and had other stuff in the house to get to.

It was nice to fill a bin with all my winter clothes, get it labeled, and put it out in the Tardis as it opened up a full drawer in my dresser and allowed me to start reorganizing for summer.

Today I will get the boys to school, spend more time on my lessons since I only kept my daily streaks going while gone, go trade the leaf springs for the correct ones and then get them installed on the trailer so I can go get grain tomorrow morning, pickup the boys this afternoon, figure out dinner, and have the trailer hooked up and ready for the morning.