Tandem axle vs single

BarneyS wrote:

Lwiddis wrote:
Snip... Blowing a tire, which will happen…and to you, is another. Snip...

Not necessarily! I have been driving for 70 years, 50 of them towing a trailer of some kind, and have never had a blowout in all of those years. Only had one flat tire and had that changed in about 30 minutes.
Barney

What Lwiddis said. I haven't had a blowout, but I was at a campground waiting for a friend to arrive. I got a call, he was about 10 miles out and had lost the tread off of a trailer tire, shredding the tire. He had called AAA. I drove over there and put his spare on for him. If it was a single axle trailer, it would have been on the rim, or on its side.

Why do some people think that a single axle trailer is going to tip over if you have a flat? I have been pulling single axle trailers for over 50 years and have never had a trailer do anything more that pull slightly to the side of the flat. When a tire goes flat (or blows out) the trailer only drops about 4 or 5 inches. The only way for it to be extremely dangerous is if you swerve when the tire goes flat.

Like said above, single axel is harder to back up as it responds much quicker. Dule axels are also more stable when set up then single ones. Other then that and being able to use a ramp to change a tire and stability when parked, there isnt much diffrence.

Barney, you are very lucky!

BB_TX wrote:
It is all about GVWR. The manufacturer is going to put one axle for lighter trailers and two if the weight requires it. Towing is not different.

I have towed with both single and two axle, there is subtle differences in handling and ride.

Single axle trailers tend to be smaller shorter lengths than two axle trailers, length does affect towing handling and ride some. Very short trailers react faster to small changes.

Granted the single axle trailer I had was short at 12ft, and my shortest two axle is 18ft. Hands down the 18ft trailer was smoother and much easier handling tow than the 12' trailer.

The absolute worst tow was bringing my new log splitter home (6ft in length), that thing was hopping and jumping and swaying around all the way home.

As far as axle GVWR and capacity goes, they can easily put a single 10K lb axle in place of two 5,200 lbs axles if they wanted to.. They could put one single 4K lb axle in place of two 2K lb axles if they wanted to. Cost may play a role in the reasoning as to why the choice made, two lighter axles may pencil out a bit cheaper and lighter weight than one large heavy axle even figuring in costs of springs for each axle.

As far as blowouts, both will put you one the side of the road so one should always be prepared by carrying a spare tire. While it may be possible to take a flat tire off of a two axle and then go to the effort of strapping the side with the missing tire, it is not a good idea as you will most likely overload the mating tire on that side putting more stress on the other tires and axles.. I suspect a strapped axle without a tire might attract some attention from the police that you may not want.

As far as towing handling and ride goes from my experience, I would give two axle a slight edge over single axle.

It is all about GVWR. The manufacturer is going to put one axle for lighter trailers and two if the weight requires it. Towing is not different.

Lwiddis wrote:
Snip... Blowing a tire, which will happen…and to you, is another. Snip...

Not necessarily! I have been driving for 70 years, 50 of them towing a trailer of some kind, and have never had a blowout in all of those years. Only had one flat tire and had that changed in about 30 minutes.
Barney

Cargo capacity is one advantage. Many single axle TTs have just a few hundred pounds of cargo capacity after you load water, propane and batteries. Blowing a tire, which will happen…and to you, is another. Easy to run the inflated tire up a ramp and change the bad one. I would never buy a single axle TT.

Usually a lot more cargo capacity.

If a tire blows out on a tandem axle trailer you will still be on the side of the road fixing it, but the trailer will still be upright.