Removable Trailer Caster Wheel

 11 Aug 23:

We bought a 6x12 aluminum trailer from Carry On last year and it has been getting a workout. We call it Huey II because of its flexible utility, just like the UH-1N "Huey" that I flew in the Marine Corps.

The trailer comes stock with a fixed drop leg jack with a small removable foot pad. We always like to have a wheeled swivel tongue jack on our small trailers, because as you may know, we all off our trailers (7) can be moved by hand so we can play boatyard TETRIS. We made a visit to our local Tractor Supply Company and picked up a Bulldog caster assembly wheel that will fit our A Frame jack. The swivel caster is held to the drop leg with a 3/16th inch diameter pin, and the polyolefin wheel will support 1200 pounds tongue weight. There's a lot more to polyolefin than just a simple olefin..... ha ha, get it? Anyway, polyolefin will be resistant to UV and corrosion, a few things encountered on boat trailers.

It was easy to remove the bolted on foot pad and install the caster wheel with the provided 3/16th inch diameter hitch safety pin. Once we get the trailer connected to a tow vehicle we'll have a better idea of whether we can leave the wheel permanently attached or remove it for each road trip.

While I was fiddling with the tongue jack I notices some surface corrosion on the safety chains, so I applied a protective coat of paint. We also like to paint the tongue red, as a reminder to our shins. If we do bang a shin, the red helps hide the blood.