Can you give me the basics?

firstone

Active Member
Just bought a North Trail 26LRSS. What do I need to know about axles and suspension. I am pretty familiar with wheel bearing but do I need to do anything to the suspension?

What axles do I have? I got not paperwork on the Axles, suspension, brakes.


Thank you in advance.
 

TeJay

Well-known member
You probably have Lippert axles. They are not the best. They probably won't have self-adjusting brakes and for sure will not have shock absorbers. There should be a big white sticker telling you make, model, weight etc on each axle. You will have leaf springs with nylon bushings and no place to grease the bushings. The first thing that I did was install new bushings and wet-bolts. I installed the wet-bolts and bushings after our first trip (2,500-miles) and the bushings were already wearing out. I also installed shocks. You will get different opinions on the need for shocks. They don't install them because of the cost and they don't believe they are necessary. Most can get by without them but if you want a good ride with reduced bouncing then shocks are necessary. Now to the bearings. I also removed the China bearings and installed Toyo (good quality Japanese bearings). Hand pack bearings using synthetic grease (Amzoil). Do not, I repeat do not use the zerk fitting to pump grease into the bearings. You are asking for a blown inner axle seal and grease all over your brake shoes if you do use it. Read the forums on all the horror stories of no trailer brakes and grease covered brakes drums and shoes. That can only happen by pumping grease into the axles and bearings. Some will tell you they have used it and were happy then others will tell you the bad stories. Tires, brakes, bearings and leaf spring suspension are weak links on these trailers. Don't take the chances. We have Tor-Flex axles by Dexter. Great axles and they come with self-adjusting brakes. We just came to FL through awful, awful rain and winds with no sway problems and I have not installed shocks yet. We've owned 5 campers and I've got 40 years experience in automotive repair and teaching. That's my only reference. Take it for what it's worth, just my opinion.
JMTCW
TeJay
 

berky

Well-known member
If they didn't change from the 2012 design, the axles are Lippert 4400# axles. If you go to the Lippert site to order parts, you'll quickly find they don't list a 4400# axle. Turns out the spindles, bearings, and seals are standard 3500# items mounted on a larger 3" axle tube.

For the first year probaby the only thing you really need to worry about is adjusting the brakes after 1000 miles or so. Taking tips from Tejay, I'm upgrading bearings and seals after the first year and 5000 miles. No problems that I know of, just playing it safe.
 
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