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lowering a harbor freight trailer?

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Just a quick update here:
The $26 replacement axle arrived but needed a tiny bit of machining to make it fit. New bearings, new zerk fittings (original ones were TINY and would't 'snap' onto my grease gun) and all put back together. Raised the fenders to clear the roughly 3" higher wheels.

Results: the deck is 3" lower than stock. I have 3" less suspension travel - but with the trailer so under-loaded, those leaf springs barely move anyway. Approach and departure angles are reduced, but again this makes no real-world difference, and the thing is still quite tall. I'll post some photos later today (if I can remember).

Overall, I'm happy - it did exactly what I needed, and the additional work to lower was really just raising the fenders. Trivial. Undoing and returning to stock height just requires 20 nuts / bolts.
 
Correction:
Results: the deck is 2.5" lower than stock. I have 1.75" less suspension travel. Still no photos :(
 
Ok, tested for real this weekend. Dragged this around for about 7 hours with my bike loaded, and I like the results. This is still a super budget, super light trailer, but gets the job done.
 
Jeff S said:
Ok, tested for real this weekend. Dragged this around for about 7 hours with my bike loaded, and I like the results. This is still a super budget, super light trailer, but gets the job done.
Click to expand...

IDK how I missed this thread with my posts in it, but maybe better nearly a year late than never, this is great and as an owner of this same trailer, I can attest that the 2.5" lower deck could be an advantage and will have zero meaningful effect on utility. If mine were apart, I might do the same thing. Another benefit is, for those who store it upright and folded like I do, it will better center the load and make it less likely to tip over. I am in the process of trying to re-engineer mine in some way to make it easier to fold and store. I still go back and forth on whether it's worth it to keep it. I rarely use it, and I always have to store it, but when I need it, I really need it, and it's a life saver to have it right there.

I will make one comment about loading of these trailers, which you may consider if you wind up using it for more utility than motorcycle carrying work. I one brought home 90 12x12x1.75" concrete pavers on my trailer, and the internet says they should weigh about 11 lb each. Trailer is supposed to be "rated" for 1100 lb (newer ones are 1300 lb, appear identical, probably only the axles or bearings that have changed). This was a ~990 lb load, and at the time I had 1/2" plywood decking which added maybe another 30 lb, still just under the 1100 lb rating. The axle didn't bottom on the frame, but it flexed enough to make the tires rub on the fender mounts due to extreme camber. So I think the weak link for sure in this whole thing is the axle. And looking at it loaded from the side, the little leaf springs were almost inverted. If I did the flip like you did, I'd probably put some hockey pucks on the underside of the frame as bump stops, just in case, so if it did get overloaded, at least you'd be riding the axle on the rubber stop.
 
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