Al-Ko Trailer axles, any good?

[jhenderson]

My PJ is a 14 footer. It started out as a lo-pro. My dealer got them to up grade the axles to 8,000 lbs . The tires are 215-75-17. 5. They are rated for 4805 lbs single. The GVW is 18,500lbs. I wanted the extra gross for a little breathing room, as I haul 2 cords of log length firewood at a clip. Around here hardwood averages about 5500 lbs per cord. My old trailer had a direct lift piston on the dump, and was Hell for stout. The low pro doesn't have room for a direct acting piston, so it comes with a scissor hoist. It's not quite as strong.

 

[DGamelin]

jhenderson, I would check your specs on that lift. The scissor is usually stronger. The reason for the scissor on your trailer had nothing to do with room. The single cylinder doesn't have the lift capacity. Scissor lifts are an option on a lot of the better trailers, PJ also. On a 10 and 12 foot 10 and 12k gvw the scissor is an up grade. The 14gvw and up 25900gvw tandem dull they are standard and the big one has all the room you would want. 8k axles are an option all the dealer had to do is order it that way. You have a really nice set up, you didn't say if it is a gooseneck or not. We do a lot of custom trailers for heavy use. I try to get more of my contractor customers to consider the 8k's but most wont spend the money. I consider scissor the hot setup, then a single cylinder and you don't even want a dull cylinder set up.

My personal trailers are usually a custom build of my own design. I did one with 2oil bath 8k's and really liked it.



_______________________

93 250 2wd xc 354 auto 295k

04. 5 3500 4wd cc dully 373 6speed 143k

 

[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.

DG, he has a gooseneck. I agree on the scissors lift. My little 6x10 dump has one that is rated at 10 ton. I think maybe because the direct lift is faster it is misunderstood as more powerful. The only thing about mine I don't like is it is the older style with power up and gravity down. If you lift it loaded you have to dump it. There is no coming back down loaded, it will drop 100 mph if you do. The newer ones have power up and down for a more controlled system.



I like your low-pro trailer. Are the fenders outside the deck or inside or half and half? I can't tell by the pictures. How long is it?



Nick

 

[jhenderson]

The sissor lift is weaker for the first foot off the deck. I'm comparing apples to apples. I never had to take weight off the front of my trailer with the direct acting piston, I have with the scissor lift. Yes I checked the pressures, all within spec. Same loads day in and day out. On the PJ ultra lo pro, the crossmember placing leaves no room for a 5foot long direct acting piston. It's so tight, they mount the scissor lift backwards just to make it fit. And boy the way, the scissor lift is twice as fast, it's the same dia but half as long. That is why they are popular, they take up less room, and are a little more stable, because of the hoist framework. The company must not make many of these because the didn't allow for the hitch length difference with straight axles vs drop axles. I'm out of adjustment on gooseneck length. They should have welded the tube 4 inches lower on the trailer neck to make up the difference. The salesman told me the only modle that would accommodate the 8000 lb axles was the ultra lo pro. I don't know why.

 

[NIsaacs]

The sissor lift is weaker for the first foot off the deck. I'm comparing apples to apples. I never had to take weight off the front of my trailer with the direct acting piston, I have with the scissor lift.



Since you have had both, you no doubt are telling it like it is. I think it is more of a leverage issue than a direct v/s scissors. If the manufacture of the trailer uses a too small capacity lift not taking into consideration of lift placement, they become marginal. The closer to the front of the box the lift is mounted the less lift is needed, however it requires a longer stroke system. A ten ton system mounted to the front of the box will lift way more than the same system mounted in the center. I think sometimes they mis-engineer them.



Nick

 

[DGamelin]

I agree about the power down. Sad thing is some of the big names are dropping the power down to keep from raising the prices, Big-Tex just did on most of their models. There is a couple of things you can do about the speed of your drop. One is to put a restricter fitting in the line. Or to be real slick, you put a ball valve in the line that you would open all the way for up and then close it some to control drop speed. What really stinks is some 14' that don't have power down because of where the rear hinge point is on the bed, if all of your load has slid past the hinge the box wont come down unless you dump the entire load.



The fenders are part of the deck. They are made of 9" C-channel so you can drive over them with what ever you want. I can't find a good pic of it but here is a pic of the next one I had. Same design but a tri axle. The tandem fenders were only 2" tall so a tracked machine has no problem. The fenders were a little taller on the tri axle because I couldn't use the 215 17. 5 tires. The tandem was a 32ft.

 

[MARK JAQUITH]

Have a 2001 Gulfstream 30' fw which I have put 232561 miles on - it has al-ko axles

no complaints.









2001 3500 HO 4X4 lwb 275 inj ez

 

[Nyoest]

DG that is a super slick trailer! Doesnt look like your scared to use it neither.

 

[DGamelin]

Nyoest, Thanks.



Jhenderson, We have a five star dump that I ordered for our rental trailer. I had it over built with the next bigger lift so I wouldn't get any complaints. They mount there scissor lifts backwards in all there dumps. They told me that when mounted that way they lost a percentage of there lift, I dont remember the number. That could be part of what you are seeing. Like NIsaacs said I bet it gets back to placement. I have sold allot of PJ dumps but I dont remember ever having a ultra lo here. Most of my customers are contractors that are in and out of the dump - land fill and they need the ground clearance. They usually have employes making the runs and most don't care like a privet owner would.

 

[NIsaacs]

Have a 2001 Gulfstream 30' fw which I have put 232561 miles on - it has al-ko axles

no complaints.

Dang, thats a lot of miles on a fifth wheel That should give the axles a good workout. I feel better about mine now.



DG, can you tell any difference when you pull a loaded trailer with standard 10 ply 16's versus the 16 ply 17. 5's? I think/hope they will pull easier.



Nick

 

[DGamelin]

Thats got to be the most miles I have ever herd of on a RV, I bet there isnt to many RV parks left for MARK to see.



Ya you can tell the difference. The tires would go up to 125psi but when the trailer was empty the tires shook so bad you could feel it in the truck, even after having them balanced. They needed a lot of trailer weight to calm them down, the trailer was 7k empty. I ran mine at 110psi and they were fine. I had hoped it was the quality of the tires because I am going to have another one built. When the trailer is being built by a MFG you have no say so about the brand of tires without adding a big expense. I hope to start building this trailer here at my shop once I get the design the way I want it.

 

[NIsaacs]

My son just sold my 6x10 dump so we used the money for a deposit on a new 14,000 gvw, 14' bumper pull. The local guy is going to build it, he does dang good work. He said it would be about a month. Here is a picture of one he just finished, ready for the paint shop. We ordered the upgrade diamond plate fenders.



Nick

 

[DGamelin]

That looks HD, those fenders do look out of place.

 

[NIsaacs]

weekend axle test

I hauled 6 ton of hay from Utah this weekend, 1100 miles, round trip. I am going to like the bigger brakes, they are very smooth/firm without being "jerky" and seem to be easier to adjust the controller. The tires stand up well with a good load.



On a 408 mile fuel milage test, loaded and empty, I was amazed and appalled at the same time. Empty, calm day and mostly 55/65 mph two lane highways I averaged 15. 8 The return was extremely windy with 35/40 mph sustained and 52 mph gusts, I only averaged 7. 48



The exhaust brake worked awesome on a 4 mile, 8% grade in 3rd. I used the brakes 4 times to slow down from 2900 rpm to 2500 rpm. The same grade on the uphill side, I was in 4th pulling hard, egt's at 1000* and water was 210 plus.



Nick

 

[DGamelin]

I would call that good loaded mpg. $9. 50 to use that scale, I always wondered what it cost.



One of our part distributers told us that rockwell bought out al-ko. That would explain why our 2012 PJ tilt has rockwell's in it.

 

[NIsaacs]

I have been doing some research on a new trailer I ordered and found that Dexter acquired Al-Ko in late 2014. When I asked the salesman about the axles they use, he said they were "like" Dexter....? I am not sure yet but it appears they might be Rockwell American who was Quality Trailer Axles and changed the name in January 2013. They seem to be a large, quality USA trailer parts company. If that is the axles in the new trailer, 8K, they have 3.5" brakes v/s Al-Ko/Dexter's 3 3/8".

My Al-Ko's are doing great so far.

Nick

 

[NIsaacs]

Just canceled my order on the new trailer. After more research I have found they use inferior 8k axles, to the tune of about $800 more each for real ones, plus install cost!! Basically they are 7K axles including 2" brakes that they pencil whipped the ratings on. Do your research....that's why they are so affordable v/s the other manufactures. I was gonna get what I paid for:-laf

Nick

 

[AH64ID]

My TT has 5.2K Alko's that have been great so far. I only load them to about 80% normally but I have no complaints.

I did replace the cheap OEM bearings with Timkins 2 summers ago and the OEM's were actually in really good shape.

 

[jhenderson]

I believe he means the trailer mfg uses inferior axles. Not that Alco axles are inferior.

 

[NIsaacs]

I believe he means the trailer mfg uses inferior axles. Not that Alco axles are inferior.

Here is a link to the axles they are using. It appears some other builders also use these rather than the real 8k's such as Al-Ko, Dexter and Rockwell American, which sell for about $1200 each v/s the fake ones at $400.

http://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0SO...city-227/RK=0/RS=gw35J5B4Y8NIriO0Ljo1sNB1WtQ-

Nick