Well it happened again.

Last time, 3 years ago, it happened when I was on my way to Grenada on I-55 when the leaf spring on my boat trailer broke. This time I was headed to D'Arbonne and was going through Little Rock when I knew something wasn't right. The first time I'm assuming that it was an original leaf spring that broke on my 2004 Stratos single axle trailer. But this time it was the same side but it was the spring I just replaced 3 years ago. Fortunately, I was able to limp back home but not without ruining a brand new tire. And I happened to have another new spring on hand so I had it replaced by about 1 am. Then I grabbed a couple of hours sleep then headed back to D'Arbonne. But my question is two fold, how common is this, and should I just order two new springs but with at 2,000 lb rating instead of the 1,500 lb rating that the original ones have? The 2,000 lb rated ones are 4 leaf and the 1,500 lb rated ones are 3 leaf springs. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Yes... Right side? That's the one that gets beat up when you run off the road... PM me for more info...

I always upgraded the leaf springs on my lighter boat trailers. They notoriously under size the axles and springs to save a little money.

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Originally Posted by Speck

I always upgraded the leaf springs on my lighter boat trailers. They notoriously under size the axles and springs to save a little money.

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Didn't know that. Thanks

Have you weighed your rig, trailer and all? My 1st Excel 203 had a single axle trailer. It destroyed the factory tires in 3000 miles. The guy at the tire shop asked me about the weight. It had a 3500 pound axle under it. I went to a recycle center and paid the guy a couple of bucks to allow me to unhook my rig on the scales and get a print out weight. My rig weighed almost 3900 pounds. I guess it had something to do with 3 golf cart batteries and 5 batteries total plus about 500 crankbaits. I ordered a tandem trailer that afternoon. The axle weight is not what the boat weighs, it's the entire rig weight.

A lot of boat trailers are overloaded...especially the tires...a good many of them really need tandem axles under them.

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Originally Posted by G";3792757]A lot of boat trailers are overloaded...especially the tires...a good many of them really need tandem axles under them.

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I've begged Excel to make tandem axle trailers standard on their 203 and 220 bays. Many dealers refuse to order the tandems to keep the cost down. First time a new owner is on the side of the Interstate with a smoking Chinese tire, he can thank the dealer or himself if he ordered a single axle like I did on mine. Lesson learned!

Replace your springs as a matched pair. Right side of all roads are canted to the right for drainage so more weight is shifted to the right wheel. Also like speck said, you might need to check your axle rating.

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Originally Posted by M R Dux

Have you weighed your rig, trailer and all? My 1st Excel 203 had a single axle trailer. It destroyed the factory tires in 3000 miles. The guy at the tire shop asked me about the weight. It had a 3500 pound axle under it. I went to a recycle center and paid the guy a couple of bucks to allow me to unhook my rig on the scales and get a print out weight. My rig weighed almost 3900 pounds. I guess it had something to do with 3 golf cart batteries and 5 batteries total plus about 500 crankbaits. I ordered a tandem trailer that afternoon. The axle weight is not what the boat weighs, it's the entire rig weight.

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No, I haven't weighted my rig but I'm going to tomorrow. I've always thought the springs were a little "springy" but I guess I thought that was to keep it from jarring the boat so much on bumps. Now I think they are probably overloaded. When you think about it, my load of crankbaits probably did push it way over the weight limit. Good thinking Dux. LOL

I live a minimum of a one hour drive to fishable waters. Tandem axle trailers are all I will consider running.


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I used to have a 21 ft. Charger. It was a great boat with a 200 hp motor. It was mind boggling that it had a single axle trailer. I ran through tires like butter, and was told that the axle was bent. I replaced the axle with an after market one. I was on my way home from Lake Ferguson when I noticed smoke from the tire. Thinking it was a bearing, I pulled over. It was not a bearing, but the new axle had buckled, and the tire was rubbing inside the wheel well on the wood, thus the smoke and the smell of burning rubber. I changed back to the original axle, as the after market one wouldn’t support the weight. It was the heaviest one I could find that would fit. It is amazing how boat manufacturers cut corners to save a few bucks. I will never own a single axle trailer again on a large boat.

Never understood putting a $50k boat on a $1k trailer. That is why I upgraded last year. Never going to pull a single axle trailer under anything but a john boat again!

Well I weighed my boat today and it was right at 3,600 lbs, and as some have mentioned before the boat is heavier than the current springs are even rated for 1,500 lbs each. So far the only heavier set of leaf springs that I can find that have the right dimensions are for 1,850 lbs or 2,000 lbs. I'm going with the 2,000 lb for now. I'm thinking about getting a bigger boat at which time I'll get a tandem axle trailer for it as well. I like the tandem axle idea for this boat, but when I trade this boat off I don't know if I could get my money back or not for the new trailer. So I'll just sell it like I bought it but with bigger springs under it. Thanks for all of the help.