I spent this past Memorial Day weekend in the Berkshires of western Massachusetts, near where my wife is from. My brother-in-law, Kurt, was there, and we had an enlightening experience while trying to fix a trailer of his. The trailer’s right axle tube had failed and the tire had begun to rub on the chassis. He’s not so mechanically inclined, so when it broke last Fall, Kurt decided to defer the repairs over the winter and wait until he had better weather (and some help). Sounded easy enough–and so we began.
There’s a ‘big box’ store close by that sells trailer parts, so I assured Kurt that we should be able to get what we need. Before heading out, we made sure to take the measurements we needed (leaf springs: 26″, axle: 78″ from mount and 86″ from hub). When we got there, we found the parts we were looking for, but… who had the piece of paper with all of the measurements? We couldn’t produce it, so we went from memory. I remembered that the spring set was 26″ long and a 78″ axle sounded familiar, so I grabbed them off the rack.
Once back at the homestead, we got to work. After getting the heavily rusted steel parts off the bottom of the trailer, we went to place the new axle. Problem: it was too short–by almost 10″. We ended up finding the paper with our measurements in the process (“There it is!” we laughed), so I checked the two numbers. Sure enough, I purchased an axle whose overall length was about as long as what was needed to go between just the spring mounts.
Back to the store for the correct piece. After about 40 minutes, I returned with another axle. It mounted as I expected and I bolted everything together. We weren’t done yet, though. The next day, after inflating tires that sat through the winter, a new issue arose: I never measured the bolt pattern of the hub, and found that the measurements differed. We called the box store and asked them if they had an axle meeting all the specifications, and they assured us that they did and promised to tuck it away awaiting our arrival.
Our third trip to the store was also not without problem–though the axle was different, it still was ultimately the wrong size. This time, the consensus from the crowd was that we would buy new tires and rims instead of returning for a fourth time!
So what is the point of this little story? We often think we know what we need, so we inadvertently pass over the details that may actually uncover the real need (that could be very different). We tend to make assumptions and not realize that we should educate ourselves on what possibilities exist so that the professionals who are there to help can actually point us in the right direction. We here at Small Dog Electronics work the same way–we want to make sure you get what you really need, so help us answer those probing questions that will ensure you leave happy.
