Single axle spring flip help

[Okie-Go]

I bought back a trailer I sold to a friend and he raised it up what looks like about 5-6 inches. Is it a big chore to put the trailer back to normal? He claims that he did nothing to it! Does the axle have to stay a certain way to keep the tires from wearing prematurely. I need it lower to the ground. I haul 2 four wheelers on it and plan on hauling my new motorcycle on it so I can't take a chance on something bad happening going down the road. Can I just put the springs back so it will be lower by changing them or does it involve a torch and welder for the flat piece of metal, it looks like it is welded in place. If it matters it is a 5x14 with a 3500 lb. axle. Can someone who has done this advise me please?

 

[B.G. Smith]

He might have actually just "flipped" the axle, if so then you can can turn it back over and put it above the springs. Most axles have a pre bent arc in them so the camber will be right when loaded, "flipping" would make the camber be off unloaded and worse loaded. Look at the axle and see if you can see where the flat piece was welded opposit the one the springs are sitting on now, if no flat plate or evidence of grinding you may be able to just put it back like you want it. bg

 

[TowPro]

When you look at an axle, you might see a "bend" in it. the center of the bend should be higher then the axles (bend up). Most axles are arched so when you put a load on them they flex to level.

If its been put on upside down, the bend will be down, and it will get worse real quick with weight. I saw one where it looked like an old VW bug with 400 lbs in the rear seat.

 

[J&LRam]

our older trailers had straight axles and that made flipping the axles easy as spring mounts just rotated to the top and rotated the backing plates. As other posters say some of the newer trailer have camber bow axles. Your old spring mounts may have been rotated to the bottom if he rotated and welded new spring mounts.

JIM