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Old 10-14-2020, 10:49 AM   #1
Last2Die
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Axles

Well since we decided to keep the trailer and do some improvements, I noticed some tire wear. Rear passenger, front drivers. I contacted dexter and they sent me a form to fill out. Told them and sent them invoices and pictures of the trailer getting aligned. Didn’t take much or long for them to ship me 2 new axles complete with suspension. Found a local rv repair place to install for $300 using all new bolts and whatever else....so hopefully that fixes that problem. Going to have him ensure that the areas on the frame are square to the pin too.

New roof, new axles, brakes, suspension. Installing new 6500 lp genset. Going to almost be a new trailer lol

Tony
 
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Old 10-14-2020, 12:23 PM   #2
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Hope your Dexter experience is better than mine as new in today's world doesn't guarantee better. A guy that asked for my install abilities ordered a 6K Dexter axle. When we went to Yellow Freight (YRC) to get it ... I luckily noticed the tube was near perfectly straight which meant no camber. We rejected the axle onsite and long story short got another one in a few days that did have a bow in the tube = camber.
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Old 10-14-2020, 01:05 PM   #3
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I had a new axle put on in Ft. Myers on our way home from Florida. Dexter supplied it and I paid $200 for the install.

After the 1100 mile trip home and then another 250 miles I have noticed no irregular tire wear. Hope I don't have to go through all that again.
I ended up having to buy 5 new tires also.
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Old 12-06-2020, 09:12 AM   #4
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Axles going in next week. Hopefully this is the last of the repairs for a while.
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Old 12-07-2020, 11:01 PM   #5
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Axles going in next week. Hopefully this is the last of the repairs for a while.
Just because you will have new axles does NOT mean they will be in alignment. After the install I would take it to a place that aligns large trucks and at least have it checked. I would be VERY surprised if it is within specs.
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Old 12-07-2020, 11:10 PM   #6
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The installer is going to check the mounting point to ensure they are square and after the install
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Old 12-08-2020, 07:40 AM   #7
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The installer is going to check the mounting point to ensure they are square and after the install
That's good that he's going to do that however that does nothing to check camber or toe. A incorrect toe setting is really what chews tires up fast..
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Old 12-08-2020, 09:25 AM   #8
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Lets hope your new axles are made correctly and all turns out well ... refer to my second reply in this thread. Others will argue with me, but by having your old axles aligned by a trailer shop equipped to do so might have saved time and effort (assuming no spindle damage). Few RV dealers and auto alignment shops have the equipment or training of personnel to check/adjust actual camber and toe of fivers or TT. Some on RV websites have suggested simply using a straight edge along the outside of both tires on each side does the trick ... That tells you nothing about camber and really not a whole lot about toe. A straight edge that touches the midpoint front and rear on both tires on any given side tells me the wheels are pointed straight ahead and you don't have the desired toe-in. Stepping away from the podium of "too much info".
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Old 12-08-2020, 09:38 AM   #9
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Well since we decided to keep the trailer and do some improvements, I noticed some tire wear. Rear passenger, front drivers. I contacted dexter and they sent me a form to fill out. Told them and sent them invoices and pictures of the trailer getting aligned. Didn’t take much or long for them to ship me 2 new axles complete with suspension. Found a local rv repair place to install for $300 using all new bolts and whatever else....so hopefully that fixes that problem. Going to have him ensure that the areas on the frame are square to the pin too.

New roof, new axles, brakes, suspension. Installing new 6500 lp genset. Going to almost be a new trailer lol

Tony

WOW. You put a new roof on a 2 year old trailer? I would say you already had a new trailer, since mine is a 2013.
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Old 12-08-2020, 10:43 AM   #10
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Lets hope your new axles are made correctly and all turns out well ... refer to my second reply in this thread. Others will argue with me, but by having your old axles aligned by a trailer shop equipped to do so might have saved time and effort (assuming no spindle damage). Few RV dealers and auto alignment shops have the equipment or training of personnel to check/adjust actual camber and toe of fivers or TT. Some on RV websites have suggested simply using a straight edge along the outside of both tires on each side does the trick ... That tells you nothing about camber and really not a whole lot about toe. A straight edge that touches the midpoint front and rear on both tires on any given side tells me the wheels are pointed straight ahead and you don't have the desired toe-in. Stepping away from the podium of "too much info".
Your post is spot on. The vast majority of people could care less whether their axles are aligned because they're going to age out the tires before they wear them out.
I made a homemade Camber gauge out of 1x that touches the top and bottom of the rim and clears the center cap. I can hold it on there and put a 2 ft level on it and see approximately with the camber might be
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Old 12-08-2020, 10:48 AM   #11
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WOW. You put a new roof on a 2 year old trailer? I would say you already had a new trailer, since mine is a 2013.
The roof was replaced by keystone. Defect, the covered everything. Thank god !!!

Tony
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Old 12-08-2020, 10:49 AM   #12
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Your post is spot on. The vast majority of people could care less whether their axles are aligned because they're going to age out the tires before they wear them out.
I made a homemade Camber gauge out of 1x that touches the top and bottom of the rim and clears the center cap. I can hold it on there and put a 2 ft level on it and see approximately with the camber might be
All I can say is let’s hope they are or were built correctly!!!
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Old 12-14-2020, 02:41 PM   #13
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Boy, where do I begin... I feel like someone just killed my dog.... I don’t have a dog.... it’s like the wind is out of the sail...

Got my trailer back today with new axles. All mounting point according to the installer are correct. Axles are not straight. I’m at a friggin loss on what to do. I have already went through 1 set of axles, had those aligned it was better. Went through 1 set of tires. Installed new set of tires new axles and still do not have 4 points of contact on the tires. When I picked it up I even told the guy passenger side front tire is off, just by looking at it. He thought I was crazy till he got the straight edge and saw the gap......

Keystone won’t help I tried. Contacted dexter again so far no response. It seems I need to suck it up and get tires yearly... so a set of sailuns will only last me 8-10k miles, great... this really is depressing....

Tony
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Old 12-14-2020, 02:52 PM   #14
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Mor Ryde IS on our 06 3400 and also on this 13 3402.
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Old 12-14-2020, 03:03 PM   #15
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There will not be 4 points of contact sighting down both tires on either side. If the alignment is correct, there will be 1/8" or so toe in on both axles. That means each tire should just barely point inward on the front edge in relation to straight ahead ... or the back of the rear tire will only touch the back of the front tire using a straight edge. When you hear about people putting a straight edge along the tires to check alignment ... they are not checking anything relevant. You have to have an alignment head attached to the wheels to check camber and toe accurately. There is no caster in a trailer axle.
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Old 12-14-2020, 03:07 PM   #16
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A good heavy trailer alignment shop will solve most issues. It seems your earlier alignment may not have been spot on, but you did indicate it helped.
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Old 12-14-2020, 03:14 PM   #17
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On the passenger side I get 2 points of contact on the drivers side I get 3. the passenger side front tire maybe 1-2 business cards would fill the gap. On the rear tire it's larger. The drivers side is off too on one tire.

The alignment shop did help but dexter sent new axles as they do not like the axles aligned. I really don't want to spend another 914.00 to get these new axles aligned. The wife is looking at the lemon law.... oh boy.... Still waiting on dexter to respond, also sent pictures. I have no idea what to do at this point. I have already spent thousands on this for something that is not my fault... I get it its a house on wheels and things will need to be fixed, I just want tires to last more than 8-10k miles.... 682.00 for a set of tires....

Tony
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Old 12-14-2020, 03:26 PM   #18
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$914.00 for a trailer alignment!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Holy Cow ... around $200 (2 axles) out here in Wichita at Atlas Spring and Axle . Dexter doesn't want to say bending axles is OK because they don't get to sell you new axles??? I've had alignments done on my last 3 fivers with lasting results, so the old myth of "they'll just return to the original bend" is baloney.

Like I said earlier ... the straight edge along both tires doesn't really tell you much ... if you didn't pull the trailer straight ahead several feet before you took the straight edge test ... it will be off even more.
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Old 12-14-2020, 03:32 PM   #19
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$914.00 for a trailer alignment!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Holy Cow ... around $200 (2 axles) out here in Wichita at Atlas Spring and Axle . Dexter doesn't want to say bending axles is OK because they don't get to sell you new axles??? I've had alignments done on my last 3 fivers with lasting results, so the old myth of "they'll just return to the original bend" is baloney.
Dexter offered the new axles upon initial contact. they took the serial numbers from the axles and sent out new ones. That was very easy ! Here in SoCal there are not to many places to go that will do that, I need to go about 65 miles to San Diego to the only shop I know of... maybe I need to find another shop? Not sure what dexter will do if anything... not much to ask for I just want the trailer to go straight ..lol

side note the installer never heard of aligning these axles. he called aligning axles Bologna LOL but the first alignment did help. I dont think dexter will tell me to align the axles, no idea what there solution will be if anything...

Tony
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Old 12-14-2020, 03:34 PM   #20
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$914.00 for a trailer alignment!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! .
I must add included in that price is new bearings they were not installed right, and that was 374.00. so the alignment was about 472.00. yeah still expensive !

Tony
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