Flatbed instead of a SD ???

Hendrickson's UBL kit.

I bought the first one from a trailer dealer parts counter for around $500. Later I had 2 lift axles installed at Mac Trailer in Alliance OH and they charged $300 for each lift kit (same kit). However they're easy to make if you have access to some steel plate and a welder. The air bags are around $80 each and the rest is just brackets, then your choice of valves (depending on how you want to control it.)

I had a small fab shop here quote me around $100 for 2 kits (without bags or fittings) after I took the parts to him.

If the suspension is Neway the kits are more involved because the trailing arms may be cast instead of fabricated steel. So they're attached to the pin instead of welded to the beams. They're around $1000 for those.

 

Alright, you guys got me interested in home-brew lift kit.

One question. What do I do with ABS? With one axle up in the air (tires not rolling), wouldn't it basically disable trailer brakes? This happens with my trailer with the dump valve activated.

My trailer has magnetic pickups on all four corners.

 

Are the rails as beefy as they look in the pic?

 

If it's done right, it should cut off the brakes to the axle as soon as you start lifting it and not engage them until there's full pressure on it again. The other axle(s) should not be affected.

 

I was looking at one the other day, and you'd have no worries about forklifts damaging them.

 

I have a Revolution step and flat (both combos) and can say the rub rails are BULLETPROOF!!

 

Nice! What's your LowMax weigh?

A Mercer guy I ran into a few weeks ago had the same trailer. I liked it a lot, except for those tail lights (can't get replacements at a truck stop).

Hmmm, OK.... I guess I can try it with the axle held up with a chain and see what happens.

I vaguely remember reading something like you have to get some parameter changed on the ABS module to make it work with a lift axle. I'll crawl under the trailer and see what kind of module I got.

 

That would make sense the abs system would sense that two wheel ends are rolling and two arent. Would it assume that the two that are in the air are locked up since they arent rolling.