Safari 30 bunkhouse owners club!

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, just curious about your axles, so I went outside to look at mine. Although my Safari is a 25'er, it is a 2005 model. Mine is lightly loaded with empty storage tanks and one empty propane tank. From the ground to the bottom of the wheel well lip moulding it is 25.5" and that is right in the ball park with what you two have measured. My axle looks to be slightly down. My frame is 5"s high and I will take a chance and assume that your frame is 6"s. So for Airstream to maintain a consistant tongue height which on most of their trailers including the body and wheel well heights would be the same, when under load, your axle would be slightly up from mine. Therefore I'm betting on everything being normal. At the Ford dealer we would find a similar unit and measure in the same place, ground to wheel well. Let's find a brand new unit and measure it and allow for some settling.

[Minnie's Mate]

Originally Posted by ROBERTSUNRUS

Let's find a brand new unit and measure it and allow for some settling.

Unfortunately, that's a no-can-do. Airstream made 73 of these units from late model year '04 through '06.

Of the 73 made, I know of one that has been extensively modified. Rich's unit has two queen beds plus the salon chairs have been replaced with custom features. My unit on the other hand has a sofa where most have the salon chairs, some have regular stove/oven combos while ours has the convection/microwave combo, so comparisons are difficult even among the units that were made.

Originally Posted by SafariSS

When they install disk brakes they just replace the backing plate out, the spindle and axle stays the same.

Originally Posted by rluhr

True -- my axles are factory original. When the disc brakes were installed only the drums were replaced.

We did very little off-road travel, perhaps a total of 50 miles in the three years of travel, so I doubt that was a significant factor in the wear. The fact that Paul is seeing a greater negative angle on his axles (despite half the miles) would seem to confirm that it's not our use of the trailer that was the problem. But what is?

Thanks for the clarification on the axle vs. drum replacement issue.

[Minnie's Mate]

Now you have my curiosity up. I'm going to have to check mine for sure. However, mine is not parked on concrete. It is parked on the ground and one side is on Linx Leveler blocks. I will have to move it to the driveway to measure the distance to the wheel opening.

[rluhr]

If it's sitting level, you shouldn't have to move it from the blocks. Just measure from the top of the leveling block as if it were the ground.

But I'm equally curious about the perceived angle of the torsion arm on the axle. Take a good look at that too, and let us know what you see.

[Minnie's Mate]

Well, life got in the way this weekend. If it isn't too dark when I get home, I'll try one evening this week. With the new time change it may be the weekend before I see daylight other than on my way to work in the mornings.

[Minnie's Mate]

I left work early yesterday to vote and fortunately the lines were non-existent at my polling location so I was able to get home early enough to take some photos before dark. I wasn't able to post the photos last night, but I will try to tonight.

What I was able to see was that the angle of the axle arm did point downward at what appeared to be more than 5 degrees. The center of the wheel hub is almost down to be even with the bottom of the frame, if that gives any point of reference. It points down way more than either Rich's or RossFam05BH's. The distance from the top of one of the lynx leveler block points to the wheel well opening was just shy of 26".

I recently weighed my trailer at a CAT scale so I will include those weights, too.

[Minnie's Mate]

Well, I was able to down load the photos and resize them tonight...albeit 1:30 AM. I can't put my hands on the CAT scale weights right away, but I will look for them. Below are the photos. Bear in mind that I was laying on my back when I took them. The photos are from the curb side behind the rear axle. This side of the Airstream was on a couple of layers of Lynx Blocks so it was the highest off the ground.
The first photo shows an oblique angle of the torsion arm. The center of the wheel hub is almost centered on the bottom edge of the frame.



The second photo is the same axle from a slightly different angle.
This is a little more accurate depiction of how the wheel hub lines up with the frame edge.



This photo shows the height of the wheel opening.
However, I measured from the top of the peg/post of the leveler block.



The last photo show where I was measuring from.

[robandzoe]

I just spotted this latest topic here on the Bunkhouse thread... Hey Rich - Axis are the way to go!!! A 2005 with a failed axles already... wow! My 50 year old leaf spring axles are still a working great but then again my 30 foot (original) 1958 bunk house is only 4000 lbs.! I'd take it to Area63Productions for those new axles.. in southern California area..

Rob

[overlander63]

Rich and the bunkhouse have safely arrived at Inland's world headquarters, and we held a debriefing over dinner. We'll be taking measurements in the morning, of ball and wheelwell height, torsion arm angle, toe. We're also going to check the disc brakes, there is a squeak when the pads are warm, and we want to make sure there are no further problems in that area. We'll also check to make sure the wheels are true, and there's nothing weird causing all the niggling issues Rich has been having.
We'll take lots of pictures, cull through them, and post the most relevant and instructional of the bunch here tomorrow evening.

[overlander63]

Originally Posted by robandzoe

Hey Rich - Axis are the way to go!!!
Rob

Rob, Axis exited the Airstream axle business a year or so back. The two main choices now are Henschen and Dexter.

[robandzoe]

Originally Posted by overlander63

Rob, Axis exited the Airstream axle business a year or so back. The two main choices now are Henschen and Dexter.

Actually, we are still getting Axis axles and mine are good to go! GSM deals them and I'm liking ours. Good luck with your next 4 years and the replacement thereafter.

R/s, an Axis fan!

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by robandzoe

I just spotted this latest topic here on the Bunkhouse thread... Hey Rich - Axis are the way to go!!! A 2005 with a failed axles already... wow! My 50 year old leaf spring axles are still a working great but then again my 30 foot (original) 1958 bunk house is only 4000 lbs.! I'd take it to Area63Productions for those new axles.. in southern California area..

Rob

Axis, because of a number of problems, "QUIT" selling to Airstream owners, sometime back.

Also, testing by a highly recognized laboratory, the AXIS axles were on the bottom of the list for quality.

The lab results on the Axis axles, clearly showed poor design, bad welds, insufficient welds, especially on the spindle and brake flanges, and an absolute disregard for alignment.

Perhaps that's why Axis, as a knock off product, quit supplying the Airstream owners.

We have, on hand, a couple of "never used" Axis axles, that confirm the lab results.

Andy

[Rick Gillis]

I did a quick check on my unit yesterday. The height from the ground to the wheel well was about 25 inches. Since winter is quickly approaching I'll have to wait until spring or our winter trip to dive into any of the other details. Our Bunkhouse has about 8,000 miles on it.

[wheel interested]

How often do new Airstreams need their axles replaced? Now that you have new axles Rich (and howdy Terry!) will you and the gang at Inland Andy be able to determine why they failed?