Need new axles

[AMink]

I've been having bad wear on my trailer tires for quite some time. I finally took it in for an alignment check. Both axles on the curb side are 5/16 out of toe. The axles are Al-Ko torsion but will be replaced with heavier duty Dexter torsion axles. I asked about going to a traditional spring axle but the construction of the trailer won't permit that without a lot of time (money). So, I'm looking at about $1500 installed. :{ The bummer is I still don't think I'll have enough room to go to 16" LT tires. Crap.

 

[jelag]

I know that Dexter makes axles with different offset angles for their torsion units... I can't remember from memory but have purchased and installed them. . the ones I wanted weren't in stock and I had to wait for a stock order from my distributor so I didn't have to pay freight...

My current 5er has spring axles but I really wish it had the torsion units... On my 5er I had close to 3" between the stock trailer tires... I looked on line at the tire data guide book and found a commercial tire with the right profile to replace the trailer tires... just a little larger in diameter so no I have about 2" between the tires...

I've had the commercial tires on the trailer now for 18 months and I'm guessing 12K miles and you can't see any wear... the key reason I moved was that I picked up 750 # of additional tire capacity per tire... if you read the side of a commercial tire... that given pressure and weight rating is not the max. as it is in passenger car tires. . its a guide... for commercial tires you go to the manufacturers web page and they spell out capacity and pressures... Its raining like crazy right now as I sit here at Bonneville Fish Hatchery or I'd go get the size for you... . But I'm very pleased...

The other thing I changed was to install shocks on these axles, so between the tires and the shocks things now ride somewhat better than what we used to see... . I'm sure it a harder ride... with the commercial tires, yet I know we've stopped some of the bouncing with the shocks...

Hope this helps...

 

[AMink]

I believe they have a 0°, 22. 5°, and 45° "starting points". I'm not sure what mine are now but I'm going to see if a 45° will give me a little more room and a slight increase in clearance. My biggest clearance problem is from the top of the tire to the wheel well. Not much and I don't know how much the suspension deflects. We do a lot of roads that are less than smooth (and a lot of dirt roads too) so that is a concern.

 

[jelag]

If you are going to put on Dexter, go to their web sight and they have a drawing for each axle and also include a deflection chart. . where it sits unloaded, loaded with base weight and maximum deflection... I have built several trailers over the past 15 years and I still have one of the trailers with 6K lb axles (torsion) as a work trailer at the house. . it must have close to 100K miles and has functioned well over those miles...