Idea's for bent trailer axle

By purplewg Date 11-08-2002 20:31

I'm still trying to put my fathers stock trailer back together after years of abuse. Upon inspection I see the camber is off. Severe wear on inside of all tires. Now I know my dad had the springs put on top of the axles to raise the trailer a little so I look under it to make sure the axle arc's are up and sure enough they are. With the arc's up and wear on the inside of the tires these axles must REALLY be bent. (Welding part) I was thinking about building some sort of cross brace, weld all thread bolts to the axles maybe six inches apart. I would use these bolts to go through the cross brace (all the way across the axle) with nut on them to adjust the arc of the axle. Am I crazy? I wish I could post a picture. Would I be smarter to replace these axles rather than try to straighten and stiffen? If you think about it, with the arc up and you place weight on the trailer it should cause the camber to go negative. This just causes the already WAY too much negative camber to get worse. If I just flip the axle over it would correct the negative camber problem but I suspect there is more going on here. Correct me if I am worng but usually overloaded axle's will loose their arc and the tire wear indicates outside tread wear. I have a good upward arc but negative camber. I wonder if somehow the spindles are bent. I guess I will have to check that out. Sorry about the long post, just looking for ideas....Thanks

By CHGuilford (****)

Date 11-08-2002 21:30

I'm trying to build a mental picture of your problem. I wonder if you might have a toe-out problem, by itself or in combination with a camber problem. Either way, if it were me, I would try new axles. Unless you want to experiment, by the time you build a cross brace and fiddle around trying to get everything right you might still need new axles. But that is just my own view.
CHGuilford

By welder_guy2001 (***)

Date 11-09-2002 02:37

cut it off at the spring mounts and weld a whole new axle assembly on it. if the axle is permenantly bent in some way that means it's fatigued and won't do it's job correctly. kinda like a spring when you pull on it too much and it doesn't return to its original size or shape...it's useless after that. maybe your trailer was overloaded...maybe the axle wasn't mounted correctly.

By purplewg Date 11-11-2002 16:13

Good advice guys and thanks. I did some welding on the thing over the weekend. I still haven't had a chance to get it up on the concrete, get under it and see what is going on with the axles. It is mainly the very rear axle. Could have a toe-in problem but definitely has a negative camber problem. I need to get under it and take a look. I also need to look at where the spindles attach and what I see. If all else fails, you're right I will slide another axle or axles under it. Boy trying to weld thin wall tubing with an old arc welder is no fun. I always thought I could run a pretty good bead for an amateur until now. Had to turn the current up to where I could at least maintain an arc. Not pretty but stuck and the grinder makes things look better:-)