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Measurements

How To Mount A Trailer Axle Straight

March 11, 2023July 4, 2022 by Mechanic
Mount A Trailer Axle

Of all the important things to do when building a trailer, getting the axle(s) right is near the top of the list.  It is the position on the trailer, yes, and proper alignment as well.  In this article we look at “How to Mount a Trailer Axle(s) Straight and True.”

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Categories Mechanics Tips Tags Axle, Measurements, Quality, Stability, Tandem Leave a comment

Tips To Set A Trailer Tongue At The Frame Center

July 4, 2022July 4, 2022 by Mechanic
How To Set A Trailer Tongue Central

When building a trailer, there are a bunch of things we want to get right.   Here is one.  “How To set a trailer tongue properly, and central on the frame“.  Intrinsically this is easy to grasp, but maybe not as easy to accomplish.  Here are some tricks

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Categories Mechanics Tips Tags Best Practices, Build, Measurements, Tips, Tongue, Trailer Leave a comment

Trailer Suspension Mounting – Misdirection !!

October 3, 2022May 14, 2022 by Mechanic
Suspension Mounting Too Close

Shopping online is both a boon and a bust.  It’s great access to a wide variety of components, but it’s a bummer when misleading info causes extra work and frustration.  That brings us to this Customer Story of misguided

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Categories Customer Stories Tags Customer Story, Customize, Measurements, Steel, Strength, Trailer, Welding 1 Comment

Engineering: Calculate Beam Loading (Intro)

March 4, 2022May 27, 2021 by Mechanic

As a simplistic introduction to beam loading, this article discusses the complications in calculating stresses and deflection.  While it’s pretty easy to calculate beam loading for simple theoretical cases, very few beams

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Categories Adventures Tags Analysis, Calculation, Force, Measurements, Press, Safety Leave a comment

How To Measure A Bolt Pattern

August 23, 2021January 18, 2021 by Mechanic
Various Wheel Bolt Patterns

What is the bolt pattern on your trailer wheels?  For the most part it doesn’t matter because you’re not changing wheels that often, yet when it does matter, it really matters.  Here is some good info to measure and calculate

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Categories Mechanics Tips Tags Bolts, Calculation, Measurements, Tire Leave a comment

Get Thread Tapping Straight

December 31, 2022August 26, 2020 by Mechanic
Thread Tapping Straight

A Tap and Die set is a near must for a DIY fab shop.  While the thread creating functions are pretty easy to visualize, sometimes getting the tread to start straight and run true is a different matter.

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Categories Mechanics Tips Tags Bolts, DIY, Drilling, Measurements, Tips, Tools 1 Comment

Reasonably Accurate Way To Bend Metal

June 15, 2021August 18, 2020 by Mechanic
Bend A Metal Bracket

There are a bunch of ways to bend metal for a bracket.  Do a search on YouTube and you’ll likely find several techniques.  Well, we don’t want to dis any of those because

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Categories Mechanics Tips, Solutions! Tags Fabrication, Measurements, Press, Steel, Video Leave a comment

Drill Matching Bolt Holes

February 9, 2022August 3, 2020 by Mechanic
Drill Matching Bolt Holes

So many times we need to make matching holes to bolt something on.  You purchased something to mount on your trailer or your workbench or some other project, but now you need the exact

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Categories Mechanics Tips Tags Bolts, Calculation, Drilling, Measurements, Video Leave a comment

Threaded Rod For Custom Bolts

June 16, 2021July 9, 2020 by Mechanic
All Thread or Threaded Rod

You can use threaded rod (often called All-Thread) for a million things.  Make a long bolt, or just the right size fastener.  It’s also good for special brackets if you weld to it.  And, if you’re not careful, you can make it fail in a million ways too.

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Categories Mechanics Tips, Solutions! Tags Best Practices, Bolts, DIY, Measurements, Solutions! Leave a comment

Tricks To Weigh Heavy Things

November 9, 2022June 18, 2020 by Mechanic
How To Weigh A Trailer

Do you need to weigh something really heavy but don’t have access to an industrial scale?  How can I weigh heavy things — like a trailer frame — without a special huge or super heavy duty scale?  Answer:  With some physics and a little math.

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Categories Mechanics Tips Tags Calculation, DIY, Force, Measurements, Trailer, Video Leave a comment

Do You Have Plans In Metric?

October 13, 2021February 11, 2020 by Mechanic
Plans In Metric

Virtually everything on the internet is by definition “World Wide”.   Even though Mechanical Elements (Synthesis Engineering Services) is physically located in the USA, we have a world audience, so it’s a fair question

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Categories Plans Info Tags Calculation, Measurements, Plans, Testing Leave a comment
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