Bent Trailer Axle

[Dean Ellison]

Hello everyone, My name is Dean, and I'm new to OFC.

 

I Recently returned from a trip to the French River.

After 4 hours of highway driving, I parked the boat in the driveway and chocked the wheels.

To my dismay I noticed the two inner treads of my tires were nearly scrubbed bald!

The Rightside Tire:

The Left Tire, not quite as bad:

 

At first I suspected underinflation, but after checking, this was ruled out.

 

I then used a 3 foot level placed vertically to measure how square the rims were to the ground.

After carefull measurement I discovered the top edge of my 13" rims were nearly 1/2" in compared to the bottom of the rim

on the right side, and 3/8" on the left.

 

 

 

The axle bent just outside the U-bolts

 

Turns out my 1000# axle is a little underated for my 16.5 ft. aluminium Tracker with a 50 Merc. I'm sure the speeds I drive at also contributed

 

I'll be upgrading to a 3000# axle for $180, plus 2 new Goodyear Marathons (Made in USA not China). Hopefully this will be the last axle I bend

 

 

Just thought I would relay my experiences, and advise others their axles may be suspect.

 

Watch the Tracks!!!!

Edited August 23, 2009 by dean's washing lures

[Greencoachdog]

Drive like a civilized human being and you won't have these problems!!!

[Dean Ellison]

Drive like a civilized human being and you won't have these problems!!!

Have you driven some of the donkey trails north of Parry Sound, Ontario lately?

 

You're right though, I need to keep her under 65 .

[Jonny]

Have you driven some of the donkey trails north of Parry Sound, Ontario lately?

 

Moose trails. We don't have no donkeys up here. We did have some mules once, but someone shot one of them during moose season.

 

About 10-15 years ago a French (from France) "tourist" was making a cross-country trek with two mules hitched to some sort of cart or wagon. On a bush road south of Timmins, he stopped by a river for a rest. He unhitched the mules and let them drink in the river. A guy came along in a pickup and shot one of the mules. The Frenchman went back to France.

 

True story!!!

Edited August 23, 2009 by Jocko

[Sandbag]

By the looks of the shackles and U-bolts the trailer wasn't that old either.

 

Thanks for the heads-up

 

Cheers

 

Craig

 

PS....welcome to OFC

[Dara]

Moose trails. We don't have no donkeys up here. We did have some mules once, but someone shot one of them during moose season.

 

About 10-15 years ago a French (from France) "tourist" was making a cross-country trek with two mules hitched to some sort of cart or wagon. On a bush road south of Timmins, he stopped by a river for a rest. He unhitched the mules and let them drink in the river. A guy came along in a pickup and shot one of the mules. The Frenchman went back to France.

 

True story!!!

 

 

I thought you had a donkey named Harris from that town a while ago

 

You must be hitting it though. A 16.5 and a 50 shouldn't overload a 1000 lb that bad

Edited August 23, 2009 by Dara

[Jonny]

Watch out for potholes.

 

One time on a long (4 hr) trip, I pulled the truck and trailer off to the shoulder to check something, and the right trailer wheel caught a deep, sharp pothole at the very edge of the pavement. BAM! The right trailer spring snapped. It took us better than half the day to get it replaced.

 

I'm convinced that if we hadn't hit that pothole, we would have been OK. (It might have let us down somewhere else though.)

[Jonny]

I thought you had a donkey named Harris from that town a while ago

 

That would be North Bay, not Timmins.

[Dara]

That would be North Bay, not Timmins.

 

 

It says you live in North Bay

[Dara]

We were back in the bush above Wawa years ago with a severly overloaded trailed. The azle caught a rock in the middle of the road and bent about 15 degrees. I could see the wheels wobbling in my mirror. We hooked a comealong to the axle and winch post and cranked and beat the axle with an axe and cranked some more and beat some more till we got it straight. Drove 200 miles like that. When we unloaded the springs looked like gull wings. Took the comealong off and the axle seemed to stay straight. I ran it like that for another 10 years before I changed the axle and springs. Just didn't overload it anymore

[Jonny]

It says you live in North Bay

 

But the story is from Timmins.

[Dara]

But the story is from Timmins.

 

 

Oh alright

[Dean Ellison]

By the looks of the shackles and U-bolts the trailer wasn't that old either.

 

Thanks for the heads-up

 

Cheers

 

Craig

 

PS....welcome to OFC

Thanks for the welcome, it's a 2004 BTW. Don't build them like they used to! Hey, when did I become a minnow?

Edited August 23, 2009 by dean's washing lures

[Dean Ellison]

We were back in the bush above Wawa years ago with a severly overloaded trailed. The azle caught a rock in the middle of the road and bent about 15 degrees. I could see the wheels wobbling in my mirror. We hooked a comealong to the axle and winch post and cranked and beat the axle with an axe and cranked some more and beat some more till we got it straight. Drove 200 miles like that. When we unloaded the springs looked like gull wings. Took the comealong off and the axle seemed to stay straight. I ran it like that for another 10 years before I changed the axle and springs. Just didn't overload it anymore

 

I could have taken it to an autobody shop and had them put it on a frame straightening rack, but I figured I'd just bend it again and scrub off another set of tires!!! Thanks for posting.

[Dean Ellison]

That would be North Bay, not Timmins.

Is his first name Mike?

[Sinker]

I had the same thing happen to my trailer axle, only mine did snap off...........just as I pulled over the curb into my driveway.........thank god.

 

Its way better now with a 2500lb'er .

 

 

S.

[Andy]

Interesting. I have a similar problem. Bought the boat used last year, after a couple of trips noticed one tire bald on the inside edge. Measured and that side was about 1" back on the trailer frame, looked like it was that way since new. Moved it ahead on the one side, put on a new tire, and this year noticed the same wear on the inside of the new tire, and wear on the outside edge of the other tire. Both feathered too. Took off the axle, measured and found out that the tires were, at the rim, toed out 3/8 of an inch, about 1/2 " at the rubber. Axle was perfectly straight, likely that way since new. Camber was actually pretty good. Brought it to a metal shop and pressed/bent the axle so it is toed in ever so slightly. Hope that does the trick. Don't like the idea of getting new tires every year. If problem persists, I'll likely look at getting a new axle made up. How old is your trailer and tires?

[Dean Ellison]

Interesting. I have a similar problem. Bought the boat used last year, after a couple of trips noticed one tire bald on the inside edge. Measured and that side was about 1" back on the trailer frame, looked like it was that way since new. Moved it ahead on the one side, put on a new tire, and this year noticed the same wear on the inside of the new tire, and wear on the outside edge of the other tire. Both feathered too. Took off the axle, measured and found out that the tires were, at the rim, toed out 3/8 of an inch, about 1/2 " at the rubber. Axle was perfectly straight, likely that way since new. Camber was actually pretty good. Brought it to a metal shop and pressed/bent the axle so it is toed in ever so slightly. Hope that does the trick. Don't like the idea of getting new tires every year. If problem persists, I'll likely look at getting a new axle made up. How old is your trailer and tires?

 

The trailer and tires are originally from 2004, bought new in 2005. I purchased this unit used in June 2008. Put about 7000km on them without any problems untill this recent trip. It's probabley a blessing this happened, I'd have likely blown a tire at highway speed soon due to the age of the tires. I'll replace my tires every 5 years from here on out, since I travel so much, just to be on the safe side. Most axles are prebent a little (in this direction /\ )when viewed from the front, and straighten slightly when loaded.

[Andy]

I was kinda frustrated trying to figure out what's up with the tires, but like ya said, it's a blessing that we saw the problems before a blowout took place. For example, blowing a trailer tire on #11 north of Orillia on a busy weekend could really make a trip go bad in a hurry.

[Dean Ellison]

Ewwww, that's an uggggly thought!