Al-Ko Trailer axles, any good?

[NIsaacs]

Anyone have first hand experience with these axles? They have 4 US factories and are nation wide. Southwest Wheel is a dealer and on a set of (2) 8,000 lb axles they are about $1,000 cheaper than Dexter or Hayes.



I want to upgrade my new 25' gooseneck from 7,000 lb Dexter's and ST235/80R16 10 ply 3500 lb rated tires to 215/75R17. 5 16 ply 4800 lb rated and 8,000 lb axles. The way it is now with 11,000 lbs net weight I max out the tires and axles or about 23,000 GCW. I am licensed for 26,000 so I would like to use it from time to time.



I have a dump trailer that I can utilize my current axles with a slight modification and upgrade it also. Since the new trailer was a '08 model that set in the dealer lot for 3 years I bought it right and can spend a little money, but Dexter and Hays are out of my reach, especially with the new tires.



Nick

 

[HBarlow]

Nick,

I wasn't aware of or had ignored the brand until I bought a 14k tandem axle gooseneck dump trailer from a local small manufacturer a couple years ago. It has Al-Ko axles sourced from Southwest Wheel.

I've loaded it beyond rated capacity about a dozen times hauling 3/4" gravel from a pit about 60 miles from my farmhouse. The pit is a huge operation on land leased from a rancher. I usually use a short cut across the ranch on a bladed dirt road and down through a shallow creek crossing. Its a little rough. The trailer does a good job bouncing over the rough road with a heavy load on.

I did a little research online after I bought the trailer and learned that Al-Ko is a very old company that originated in Germany if I remember correctly. I think they are good products. I have no complaints and having SWW nearby as a source for parts and service is not a bad thing.

 

[ScottLewis]

See these?

(1) 8000LB BRAKE AXLE 92HF 76SC 8-LUG TRAILER,CARGO | eBay

 

[NIsaacs]

Thanks Harvey, thats the encouragement I was looking for. The price differential had me a little apprehensive, but it appears the other two axles are just over priced. All three seem to be of a standard size with mostly interchangeable parts even.



I am all for buying local, however not when the cost is an obvious mis-match. I just got off the phone with Southwest and even with freight, the local dealers are $500 more per set



Thanks for the link Dan, I checked them out and it appears the axles are Lippert, which I have always felt were inferior.



PS: Loved the guys accent!!



Nick

 

[Bug Out]

Make sure if you have the option, get the heavier guage steel tubing. I have light gage 6K AKA 5200# axles underr my FR. No problems so far except self created.

 

[DGamelin]

Dexter is in a class of there owen. AL-KO brake parts are at least a 1/3 more $ and as the axles gvw gets higher the brakes dont get any bigger so the bigger the axle the less impressive they are. Dexter & Al-Ko 8k have 3-3/8" shoe. A dexter 12k has 5" shoe a al-ko 12k has a 3-3/8 shoe. But that doesn't mater here, make sure when you are getting your prices you are not comparing a oil bath to a grease axle. I am not a big fan of al-ko for guys that make there living with there trailer dexter parts are every where and cheaper and al-ko dully rims are one of a kind. Now I am talking about 8k and up. 7k and down al-ko and dexter use the same brakes, and we see very few problems from al-ko's. When you get your axles if they are oil bath check the bearing end play I like to be around 3 thousands. I have seen new 8k's with more end play then should have and the seal will lose oil on your brakes.
I like the 8k gooseneck I had a custom built 32' oil bath and 215-17. 5 tires 12" I beams. The 215s allowed me to have a 2" lower deck then a low profile. It had 2" tall drive over fenders. You will like the setup.

_________________________
93 250 2wd xc 354 auto 295k
04. 5 3500 4wd cc dully 373 6speed

 

[Nyoest]

If I remember right they have their own hubcap design. Pita to find a special hub cap for them. Neighbor has a 25' gn with alko style axles. Chinese cast hubs/drums on Chinese bearings. One hub always had a leak, finally found a pin hole through the casting and repaired it. New skf bearings and syn lube and they were good to go.

I don't know if the Chinese cloned alko or exactly what happened.

 

[NIsaacs]

If I remember right they have their own hubcap design. Pita to find a special hub cap for them. Neighbor has a 25' gn with alko style axles. Chinese cast hubs/drums on Chinese bearings. One hub always had a leak, finally found a pin hole through the casting and repaired it. New skf bearings and syn lube and they were good to go.



I don't know if the Chinese cloned alko or exactly what happened.

Those axles might be Lippert, they are made in China. They don't seem to be standardized with Al-Ko, Dexter and Hayes, at least in the 8,000 LB, they use 3" brakes.



I prefer the standard grease (pack by hand) hubs. I had a dually trailer with the Dexter 10,000 HD axles, 12. 250X4 brakes with oil bath. When you get a seal leak on the road you have a mess and now are running with dry bearings. The seal was a snug fit on the spindle and the hub, with the sealing surface turning inside itself, they caused me a lot of grief.



The axle tube wall is standard on 8,000 lb axles, 3. 5x. 250, air ride application is . 500 wall. Mine will be spring.



Nick

 

[Nyoest]

Sounds like you have done your homework on this Nick. You are correct on the oil bath hubs and their failures. Typically they require much less maintenance than the grease pack hubs.

Congrats on the new trailer.

 

[NIsaacs]

I ordered my axles and tire/wheel combos Friday. The axles are coming from Southwest Wheel Lubbock, TX. and the tires from Johnson's Surplus out of Oklahoma.



The tires are West Lake brand, LT215/75R17. 5 all steel 16 ply. I never heard of them. Anyone familiar with them? They seem to be Canadian supplied, probably shipped from China



Nick

 

[HBarlow]

Never heard of them. They'll probably be okay for a couple years.

My hydraulic dump trailer, the one with the Al-Ko running gear, came with a set of cheap ChiComm tires on the 16" wheels from Southwest Wheel. I plan to use them as long as I can because the trailer sits unused 90% of the time. I expect one of them to suffer a catastrophic failure some day when I've got 4 1/2 yards of gravel, about 10,000 lbs. , loaded and am on the highway between home and the pit.

 

[NIsaacs]

FED EX delivered my axles already, shipped from Dallas Tuesday morning and I received them last night, thats quick. Not too proud of the Dallas store tho, it looks like the axles rolled around in the trailer for two days. Bruised up all the studs and oil bath hubs, three oil plugs are missing (thats my fault for not looking) probably still in the trailer. You would think they would have metal banded them to a pallet. Also they sent 9/16 lug nuts for 5/8 studs They sure are beefy compared to the 7k tho



Nick

 

[HBarlow]

Nick,

Call them and raise hell about it. Management is probably not aware of how the clowns in the warehouse are shipping product.

 

[NIsaacs]

Just got off the phone with Lubbock, awesome store/customer service. I guess the freight companies ask that the axles are loose so they can move them around to fit the load. He said the missing oil plugs are a common complaint and even quoted me how many were missing before I told him. They are sending me new ones and the lug nuts. They will send a return label for me to ship the small ones back



Nick

 

[HBarlow]

They are good people in the Lubbock store. There's an older, tall skinny black man named Willie there at the front counter I always talk to when I go in to buy anything there. He's always helpful.

 

[NIsaacs]

All dressed up and no where to go The West Lake tires are made in China, also the wheels. The tires (LT215/75R17. 5) are all steel, 16 ply 4,800# rated and wheels (6. 750x17. 5) are rated 6,000# lbs. I should be ok with about an 800# reserve cushion, per tire.

 

[HBarlow]

Did the axles, springs, and hardware fit okay?

 

[jhenderson]

Those are the same axles that came in my PJ gooseneck dump trailer. I've been pleased so far(8months). I really like the oil bath hubs.

 

[NIsaacs]

Yes, they fit good. This set is 75" from wheel mounting face to face with the old set at 74". I have 1. 5" clearance from the frame to the brake drum and 3" from the inside of the tire. That should allow me a mismatched back spaced spare. They rate the axles with a maximum of 11" overhang from the spring center to the hub face with a zero offset wheel, mine are 9" so in theory I should have a little room for error and not de-rate them. I did have to weld the spring saddles on and wire the axles. Dexter pre-wires theirs with the wires run down the inside of the axle, not so with the Al-Ko.



If I were still using my Dually, the old axles would have been fine, but with the '01 2500 I can't haul much weight on the pickup so I have to haul it on the trailer. I do miss the dually at times for that reason.



Nick

 

[NIsaacs]

Those are the same axles that came in my PJ gooseneck dump trailer. I've been pleased so far(8months). I really like the oil bath hubs.

PJ has some nice trailers and have a full service parts store. I would really like to have their 14' Low Pro bumper pull dump, 14,000 gvw. Mine (6'x10' 10,400 gvw) is too small to fit my Bobcat. It does fit my son's smaller one tho so he always has it. A small local trailer builder (KB Trailers) gave us a quote of $7,000 to build us one, however he is 5 trailers behind now.



What is the size and gvw of your gooseneck? Also what tires do you have? We don't have that option because my son's pickup bed is always full and can't change that.



I am anxious to tow a load on these new tires. I really think they will pull easier with better fuel milage. Even empty the 10 ply tires I was running would do the radial squat, these don't seem to. I have them aired up to 100#.



Nick