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View Full Version : Dexter axles and cracked mounts



DickWells
08-14-2004, 17:07
Got a minor shock the other day, when I dropped my axles to put in some heavy wall tubing to raise my ground clearance on my 25' Sunline Advancer Lite. I have the extended tongue for hauling my big ATV around, and I lost some ground clearance when I re-enforce the the frame last summer.
For lack of a better name, I'll call the 3/16" plates that are welded around the Torflex axles, saddles. They are about a foot long on my 2750 lb. axles, and have a slotted hole in each end to accomodate the the 5/8" grade five bolts that hold the axles to the sub-frame.
Well, I was wire brushing and getting ready to paint things up pretty, when I discovered a crack in the right front saddle, extending from the slotted hole to the front edge. I put the thing on a wheelbarrow, and got it into my garage and proceeded to build up some welded re-enforcement across the front of the saddle. Got that one all painted up, and found a crack in the same place on the right side of the rear axle! So, I went ahead and re-enforced all four saddle fronts.
My thinking is that since the front holes are much closer to the axle than the rears, that the force of the trailing torsion arms is putting more force on that short section of the saddle, than they do to the rear holes. I could be wrong on this, but nevertheless, if it can happen to my axles, it can happen to anyone's.
I realize that I am doing things with this rig that it wasn't intended for, but, I have it modified so that my axles are not overoaded, just my tongue. My trailer has been weighed, loaded, at the axles, and I am within the limits. I think that what I'm seeing with these cracks is probably not that un-common. So, I thought I'd put this in here, just in case someone else has some rubber-torsion axles that they'd like to examine, and maybe save themselves some heartache, down the road.
Dick Wells

Inspector
08-18-2004, 08:11
Dick, thanks for your sharing this information with us. I to have the torsion axels under my King of The Road and will be giving them a close look. I'll let all know what I find.
Denny ;)

Inspector
10-31-2004, 13:51
I'm a little late getting back on this subject but after a good look at my axels I could find no evidence of cracking. I now on a regular basis inspect them for problems and will keep all informed as to what I see. The trailer has probably over 20000 miles on it so it is worth keeping an eye on.
Denny ;)