NEW TIRES!! Now New Axles??

Had a new set of Sailuns installed on my Landmark this morning and when the two rear tires were removed, they showed fairly severe wear on the inside of both tires. This leads me to believe I am the proud owner of a bent rear axle. Now, the decision is, straighten the existing axle or purchase a new one. Of course, I am sure the repair place will discover the front axle is somewhat bent too, so I am sure we are dealing with two axles.

According the the sticker on the trailer, I have 7,000 lb axles. My question is, if I have to replace both axles would I be better off to replace them with 8,000 axles?

Chippendale said:

Had a new set of Sailuns installed on my Landmark this morning and when the two rear tires were removed, they showed fairly severe wear on the inside of both tires. This leads me to believe I am the proud owner of a bent rear axle. Now, the decision is, straighten the existing axle or purchase a new one. Of course, I am sure the repair place will discover the front axle is somewhat bent too, so I am sure we are dealing with two axles.

According the the sticker on the trailer, I have 7,000 lb axles. My question is, if I have to replace both axles would I be better off to replace them with 8,000 axles?

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Changing to a 8k might make your ride more harsh?? One other option to consider, If you are going to have to pay to replace/upgrade the axles and plan on keeping your LM for a while, you may want to haul it up to MoRryde and having them do full independent suspension and disc brakes. I would think the cost difference would be minimal and you will love the ride and stopping ability. They offer discounts and specials during the winter. By far the best upgrade we did and I'm sure others would agree.

I already have disk brakes, and if I put on the MorRyde suspension, I would loose the thrill of seeing where everything landed after every trip, sometimes it is almost like a kaleidoscope. If I were in the market for a new trailer, it would have the suspension on it for sure, but not sure I can justify the cost in my mind for this trailer. But it is something to think about.

Chip,

Your LM must do a awful lot of bouncing for you to say about the thrill of where things land. Our '18 BC has 7K axles and knock on wood, nothing moves. In fact, we have a rotating kitchen utensil thingy on counter by the stove which has lil rubber feet. So far, 1 trip to Maine 1 to FL and lots of local ones and the thingy hasn't budged.

Don’t buy the tubes with the springs, just buy the 8000 lb axle tube IF the specs are a beefier tube. The spindle may need to changed to utilize your existing hubs/wheels. I myself would call Dexter directly and talk to customer service/engineer.

pm sent with contact info to check axle costs not too far from you

You can put heaver axles on and it may help in keeping the axles from bending, but the existing axles just need alignment. Consider just how many miles you have put on them. It may be worth a $350.00 alignment at a truck/trailer alignment shop. At least that is what it cost here in the bay area of California. If you do choose new axles, use the same rated springs that came with your fifth wheel. I eliminated most of my bouncing by installing the Joy Rider Shock system. Still after a 11k mile cross country trip I have some uneven wear on the inside of my new Sailun tires on the drivers side. I am just going to get another alignment. A good pothole is enough to muck them up and I ran across plenty on the Interstates. I digress, but the Federal Highway system was much smoother in every state that I used them instead of the interstate.

I just put a new axle on my trailer. I got the axle from a local trailer repair shop. I got the serial number off the old axle and called Dexter. They gave me the specs. The local shop had the axle in stock and the only thing they had to do was weld the spring locators on. Took about an hour. The shop showed me the difference between a Lippert axle and a Dexter axle. The Dexter axle is much beefier.

Maybe make a call to MoreRyde and see if they have some axles that came off other trailers for sale. Could save some dollars. Could get a set of new take offs from another newer model Landmark. The costs savings may warrant the trip to pick them up.

farside291 said:

Maybe make a call to MoreRyde and see if they have some axles that came off other trailers for sale. Could save some dollars. Could get a set of new take offs from another newer model Landmark. The costs savings may warrant the trip to pick them up.

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I doubt I could save enough money to cover the cost of a trip from Central Texas to Elkhart in the "dead of winter" unless axles are a lot more expensive than I think they are. To be honest, I think I need to "Eat the Elephant" one bite at a time and have my alignment checked first, I may not need anything else. I take that back, from the way stuff bounces around and other tire wear, I am sure I need something like at least the Joy Rider system. Just trying to get an idea of other's opinions and experiences, thanks for yours, I might see if I could get them to ship me some "new take offs" and get them installed down here. This doesn't have to be done this week, but before next spring's travels start.

On our Key Largo, we upgraded to 8k axles and disc brakes and it was a great decision. The ride quality did not get rougher or worse, but it definitely towed better and was more stable. Plus, I bet your Grand Canyon has more than 7k on each axle as far as overall weight. At least you would have more than 3500 lbs. on the drivers side trailer tires, which would put that half of the axle over its capacity.

Rod

The axle alignment guy I used said that he always does an alignment job on any new axles he installs, and found most of them out of alignment specs. Unfortunately the towable RV manufacturers don't do axle alignments as part of the build process.