Wheel Alignments

Herbiesrig

North Central Region Directors-Retired

Does the factory do actual wheel alignment or is it just assembled before leaving plant?
 

Bob&Patty

Founders of SoCal Chapter
All of the suspension parts are installed by Lippert at their plant. Then the frames are shipped to HL. I'm sure that Lippert has some kind of jig that aligns the spring mounts to the frame (we can only hope). After that everything should be in alignment. I assume that HL does not check the alignment but they might. They are relying on Lippert to make sure there product is built properly.
 
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lwmcguir

Well-known member
We have a number of tandem and tripple axle trailers. None of them were actually aligned at the factories. As Bob noted they are welded in a jig and should be very close. The cambor and castor is based on what the manufacturer set them at when built and when you change the weight/application very much they will be off a little. Really like Torsion axles due to that or heavy tandems. The light weight axles like we have on the coaches may be out of alighnment when they leave the factory. Go by tire wear and if you dont have any that is noticable you are good.
 

Nabo

Southeast Region Director-Retired
Only thing I can tell you is that of the 4 5th wheels we have own thru the years, none of the axles were aligned. The past 2 coaches we had Correct Track by Rieco-Titan installed on the axles. Each case one of the axles had been over 1/2" out of aligned which could have caused huge tire wear. Correct Track is an adjustable bracket to help keep the chassis axles straight. Trailer Life magazine had an article in the March 2011 issue explaining the system. You can view info on the kit at www.riecotitan.com.
 

lwmcguir

Well-known member
We have only had a handull of trailers aligned. Tire heat or wear and grease cap's poping off were the typical symptoms that there was a serious problem.
 
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