The Caboose

Here is a factory photo of the Haulmark Cub 5x8. This is identical to what mine looked like when it was new. Even the same color, wheels, and lack of stoneguard (most of them had stoneguards). I special ordered mine with backup lights, a 7-wire RV plug, an interior dome light, and lights to replace the lower front reflectors. Also has no sandplate. I couldnt just snap on my sandplate, I had to clean out about 6 inches of packed mud and snow from the jack, then drill and deburr the post when I got it home. Well to me it looked way too standard, and looked just like every other Cub and Cub copy out there. So it was time for some customization.

I created this picture from the above photo, and from a photo of the particular Pontiac 6000 wheel I planned on using. Got the picture of the wheel from one of the factory rim websites. One of the things I looked into before buying the trailer is to be able to fit these wheels to it with little difficulty. The Cub had factory 15" wheels and tires, and had a 4 1/2" bolt circle which was similar to the 6000 wheel. I liked how the aluminum wheels would match the aluminum trim on the trailer quite well.

Safety chains? No safety here with the sorry looking dog chains that were tack welded to the bottom of the tongue from the factory. Ive seen better chain than this used on kids swingsets. And some adjustments needed to be made. The chains were so long that they drug on the road and on my first trip, flats were ground into them. But thats not all. The jack, even in its fully raised position and with the sandplate off, would hit the road whenever I went over a decent sized bump or dip. One of the times it came down and chopped one of the chains right in half. Not like that dog chain would have done much good anyway. So first I used some galvanized conduit they tossed out at work to make some spacers to raise the jack. I toyed with measurements, but 4 inches seemed to be the best amount to raise the jack so I could still unload it from the car hitch. I cut the conduit to length, and used extra long bolts to raise the jack. It works great now, not just for me but for anyone who has borrowed the trailer. Then I ground off the sorry excuse for chains that were on there, and put on my special 6000# chains with 1/2" quicklinks and grade 8 bolts through the frame. Just handling these big heavy ol chains made me feel like Tim Taylor of Tool Time. Argh Argh Argh. Besides that, these chains look a heck of a lot better than the old dog chains, and I have yet to see them rust, even with all the road salt used around here.