Bent Axles - Montana Owners Club

Montana_139 · 09-16-2006, 12:32 PM

I have had excessive wear on the inside edges of my tires. The dealer says that my axles are bent and wants to charge me $1350 for parts with an unknown labor charge.
I seem to remember similar problems discussed in the past, but my search comes up empty.
If anyone knows about ways to straighten an axle, please let me know.

Thanks in advance.

Glenn

Cat320 · 09-16-2006, 12:42 PM

Don't know where you are, but I bent the axle on a boat trailer once...got cross ways with a big tree...don't ask. Anyway, a local marina had the heavy duty epuipment necessary to straighten it out, all for $100.

BillyRay · 09-16-2006, 01:11 PM

wow that's a big pole barn in your pic.

bsmeaton · 09-16-2006, 01:23 PM

Glenn,
Sounds like they are just replacing them. I believe you can have them re-bent if you go to a suspension shop.

I've got an appointment at one Tuesday for alignment check and they do it all. I'll keep you posted. The Dealer was worthless, told me to look it up in the phone book.

CountryGuy · 09-16-2006, 01:46 PM

Realize you are out of warranty, would still call Customer Service/Service Center and/or maker of your axles. There was a lot of trouble with this, a few of us had the axles replaced. They can be re-bent, for a lot less that the numbers you have been quoted. Visit the archives (front page here at MOC, down the right side, yellow boxes) and see if you can find some of the old posts that way. There was a quite a bit of screaming and moaning about this, it was not pretty. Good luck!

Carol

jrgwdenner · 09-16-2006, 03:57 PM

When you're doing your search, the default is to look in the topic heading (subject line). Change that to search in the 'Message" and you may get better results, if you haven't tried it yet.

Emmel · 09-16-2006, 04:11 PM

KK and GB, I'm one of the people that had the axles and tires replaced on my 2004 3280. Our tires wore drastically on the inside tread and I was over the warranty by about 6 months. First I called Keystone and they refered me to Alco. I then called Alco and they said they knew they had a problem BUT I was over the timelimit. They were going to send me two new axles but I had to pay to replace them and the tires. Not being satisfied with that answer, my wife insisted I call Keystone back. This time I ask for Mark Krol and he had me talk to a service rep named Brandon. Brandon said that if we were not satisfied with one of their suppliers that we were not satisfied with Keystone. He called me back the next day with a great answer. Keystone replaced the axles and 4 tires and payed the labor also. I don't think you could ask for any more satisfaction than that! I also had the work done by a dealer that sells Keystone products but not Montanas. Great service from Keystone, don't always be satisfied with your dealers answer.

contau lake · 09-16-2006, 04:18 PM

I had a similiar problem last year. We have a 2004, 2850. Through the suggestions of the Moc members I got in touch with the Service Centre and brought my RV to them in Goshen this past April. I have the Alco Axles that they were having trouble with and they replaced them under warranty.

bigmurf · 09-16-2006, 05:20 PM

Give Chris or Pam a call at Al-Ko axles with your vin#. Two year warranty on axles. 574-294-6651 Also check with local frame shop. Sounds like dealer is bending you over. Replace both axles took 3 hours on ours. JMHO

Montana_139 · 09-17-2006, 05:12 AM

Thanks for all of your suggestions. I received my rig in June 2003, so it is beyond the 2 year warranty. I am currently in Bethel, ME, just northeast of the White Mountain national Forest. If anyone knows the closest place to get the axle straightened, I would appreciate some suggestions.

Thanks,
Glenn

mobilrvn · 09-17-2006, 04:06 PM

At least check your springs before committing to any repair. Ours was similar with the tire wear and we thought it was a bad axle. Found an honest shop which said that it was a bad spring. The price was about the same to have all the springs replaced with stronger ones. Think you can do it yourself. Make sure the 5W is level and has been pulled straight for a bit and then measure the springs, eye to eye. Any real difference should be apparent.

Had bent axles on our old 5W and the price of repair at a good shop (go to a truck/trailer alignment shop) shouldn't be over $400. It was a few years ago and we paid $260 to $340 for the repairs we had done.

patodonn · 09-17-2006, 04:12 PM

Lots of previous discussion on this in the Forum. Our axles weren't bent, which was the origin of the problem. With a fully loaded rig, the zero "tow-in" as it came from the factory became a degree and half to two degree "toe out", which led to the wear on the inside of all four tires. Proper tow-in is around a degree and half or so, according to the tech we talked to.

Keystone paid for the axles to be "bent" to attain the correct toe-in. Cost about $100, takes an hour. Any competent axle shop can do it. Amazing to watch it being done. Check with the truckers in your local area, check Yellow Pages, and ask local body shops...they should know.

Our work was done over two years ago...tire wear has been excellent since then.

bsmeaton · 09-18-2006, 07:29 AM

PJ,
I was hoping someone would bring that up. Just looking on mine It doesn't seem to have a camber problem, but toe-in looks real sloppy on mine. The tire guy pointed it out. I've got an appointment at a trailer suspension shop tomorrow AM, so I'll now for sure then. Also real interested in replacing those thin shackles AlKober used with some nice greasable Dexters or equivalent (see HAMRADs pictorials).

patodonn · 09-18-2006, 03:54 PM

We were also involved in the shackle replacement issue, thanks to HAMRAD. Got ours replaced over 14 months ago. I had found very worn bolt holes in the old shackles, but not easily visible unless the bolts were removed. Posted pictures on the forum at the time.

The Forum has had a couple of members who had a shackle break...not a pretty situation.

bsmeaton · 09-18-2006, 04:14 PM

Well that just convinced me - I'll get the shackles replaced!

Brad

Itakethe5th · 09-26-2006, 08:05 AM

Well it seems I have the same problem with my axles. I call Keystone they told me to call Al-KO and I asked about problems with there axles and of course they said there's no problem with there axles. I gave them my vin# and axle tag# I have an 03 3670 they said I just need an alignment. I know my warrtany is up but it seesm to me that when you put 6k lb axles x 2 =12k on a trailer that weighs ~14k loaded that there is no safety margin built in and Keystone should put heavier axles on these big trailers. Talk to dealer and he said I need new axles. Talked to one equipment company and he said if he bent my axles he would be just taking my money, that I needed heavier axles. Going to try and get another opinion if I can find a good shop to look at it. bsmeaton how did it go with the alignmet shop you took your trailer to? There's not many shops around here(N.Ga.) to take it to that do alignments on campers. Any sugestions? I'am thinking re bend axles rather than replace them if at all possible.

bsmeaton · 09-26-2006, 08:41 AM

ITAKETHE5TH,

I got the runaround for two days - the original shop couldn't do it and I got referred all over Denver. Finally got one that does it as a routine. I didn't have a lot of tire wear, and so the alignment was not off that far - but it was toe out on all four wheels. He showed me the side scrub on the tread already for my brand new tires. (ridges on one side of the tread when you run you hand across). He brought the camber in at the bottom and set the toe in. I believe .5 degree in on all four and perhaps 1 degree in camber to account no load, but don't hold me to the specs (I can't remember). It was relatively easy with the right equipment and cost $100 an axle. I watched and they seemed to know what they were doing. He says most of these are off from the factory.

My bigger problem was the spring hangers. They were so far out of align that the axles were running almost 3" to the left on the frame. It was causing periodic tire rub on the shock towers on the right side. They used a ram to straighten out the hangers that were tilted to the left and got it reasonably back to straight. Again, he said no sign of trauma and it probably came that way from the factory. Never noticed till I put new wheels on with a slightly + offset.

We didn't do shackles, as he couldn't get the parts in time, nor could he do it in the alignment bay. Another time after I get them from Dexter per HamRad's upgrade.

I couldn't say if the axles are too light - I have no evidence of overloading or sagging axles, but I have a smaller 5er than you do. I think it is worth a shot getting it aligned. New axles are expensive, and if I was to do it I would almost consider upgrading to a torsion/air system with disc brakes. Not anything I want to spend money on right now.

Hope it helps
Brad

Itakethe5th · 09-26-2006, 08:55 AM

Thanks bsmeaton

patodonn · 09-26-2006, 01:00 PM

Huge amount of discussion many months ago on axle ratings and all of that.

Bottom line, from an engineerng side....the rig weighs about 14.3 K, about 2.5 - 2.8K of that is ALWAYS on either the front struts or the truck via the king pin. That leaves a load of about 11 - 11.3 K on 2 axles. 2 axles @6K each...well within "limits".

Axle limits should (and I assume do) include an overload factor of some percentage, and a "dynamic loading" factor (hitting the chuck hole) as well. The 6 K "limit" should be well below those numbers.

Would I rather have 7K axles....sure!! Are the 6 K axles adequate? Probably, yes.

JMHO

drhowell · 09-27-2006, 05:23 AM

My axles were way out of alignment and the shackles were very bad. I replaced the shackles and took the trailer into an alignment shop. I watched as they set the toe in and camber by bending the axles and it was amazing. The guy knew his business and was setup to handle RV's. Took about 2 hours from start to finish and the tires are now wearing correctly.

The key is finding a shop that actually is set up to do RV's. Look for heavy truck alignment shops not the Midas small vehicle type shops. But be careful. the first big truck shop I called said they would have to remove the axles to bend. WRONG! They need to have the equipment to bend them on the trailer with the full weight on the tires.

I can't see an axle that is still running down the highway ever being bad enough to need full replacement. A good shop can bend an axle back into alignment with ease and then they adjust the axle location on the springs for proper spacing and perpendicular to the frame and hitch. It is not rocket science but it does require some knowledge and the correct tools to do it right.

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