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...................................................--- New Second Axle ---
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Adding a second axle quickly came down to the question of where was I going to get one. The axle on the Mac trailer, at least ours, is a non-standard width. There are some standard widths that are within a couple inches and they would most likely work, you tires just wouldn't exactly line up, but if they don't hit the fender or frame you would be fine. Also you can get custom width axles made up for not much more than a standard width. Our problem with both of the two above solutions is that we live in a remote area of SE Utah and we would have to order an axle and the axle would have to come to us via truck and that is probably about as expensive as the axle itself.
I could get spindles via UPS at a good price and I get metal at the local welding shop at very good prices so I decided to make the second axle.
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The spindles I got were setup to go into a round tube and I wanted to use thick wall 2 inch square tubing for the axle. I started machining the spindles and machined them until...
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I had them squared off with 4 flats so that they would just slide into the square tubing which I ...
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... cut to length after a lot of measuring of the original axle and the new disc rotor/hubs.
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Four holes were also put into the ends of the square tubing so that I would be able to plug weld the spindle.
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Next the spindles were slid into the square tubing to the point that they were at the right track width and tack welded, arrow. The new spindle has the required brake backing flange on it that the original axle next to it doesn't have.
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I had slid the spindles in to the point that the face that the wheel mounts up against was on the same plane for the new and old axles. Now the wheels/tires will track one behind the other in line.
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Next the pieces that locate the springs on the axle were tack welded to the top of the axle at the same width of the original ones at the right.
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Here both axles are next to each other, but staggered on their ends in this picture. The old axle will become the front axle and the new one with the disc brakes will become the rear axle. Most sources recommend having the brakes on the rear axle, but some people mount them on the front one.
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Once I felt things were where they were suppose to be I welded the spindle around the square tubing, right arrow, and also finished the 4 plug welds, middle arrow. Also the spring locators were also finish welded.
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I took a lot of measurements to try and make sure that the spindle were on the ends square. There was still a very small amount of toe-in, so I located the axle with the toe-in forward and welded the "R" on the axle so that I would always mount the axle in the same direction during final assembly. On the first trip of almost 5000 miles there was no noticeable tire wear, so I feel good about this axle assembly and it came in a lot cheaper for me vs. buying one that would have to be shipped to me. If you live someplace where they can make-up a custom one go for it.
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The original axle had a bend in it when we bought the boat/trailer and on our 3000 mile trip to Canada it wore the tires so bad on their insides that we bought new tires on the trip. I was able to get almost all of the bend out by placing it under the rear of the Suburban and supporting it on its ends and using the hydraulic jack between it and the bottom of the trailer hitch on the Suburban. Be very careful if you ever do anything like this as if things slip pieces can come out of there with huge impact potential.
I feel that this axle is now straight as we had no noticeable tire wear on either axle on the 5000 mile round trip to Florida and back after working on it.