Increase Ground Clearance

[twilight10]

I have a 78 Tradewind ( 25 ft) My wife and I like to get away and take the trailer dry camping off the main road on dirt roads. I have been beating up the belly pan pretty badly, not to mention scraping the bottom several times.
Does anyone know how to increase the ground clearance on this trailer?
I heard something about rotating the axles... anyone?

[azflycaster]

Welcome to the forums. Nice looking Trade Wind, I have a 75.

Your axles look a little low, but you must be going down some rough roads to scrape the pan. I have never done that and I travel a lot of dirt roads. There are no adjustments to these axles. Flipping them is not an option on this type of axle, but I have seen it done on some leaf spring type trailers, mostly pop ups. You could replace them with new and specify a greater angle on the arms. That would cost some bucks, but give you several more inches of clearance.

[Aerowood]

Welcome from Arvada. As AZflycaster has said above, the only way to increase ground clearance on a torsion axle is to replace it with either a greater angle of deflection on the swing arm, or with a taller profile on the mounting angles, which also is an axle change. My axle was shot and I gained 4 inches with a new one. I ordered it from Redneck Trailer in Firestone, They are the area dealer for Dexter Axles and were very good to deal with.

[centennialman]

It definitely sounds like it could be the axles. I had excellent service and reasonable pricing when I had mine replaced at Intermountain in Colorado Springs.

Good luck!

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by twilight10

I have a 78 Tradewind ( 25 ft) My wife and I like to get away and take the trailer dry camping off the main road on dirt roads. I have been beating up the belly pan pretty badly, not to mention scraping the bottom several times.
Does anyone know how to increase the ground clearance on this trailer?
I heard something about rotating the axles... anyone?

Sound like your axles are shot.

The following article will help you check them out yourself.

Dura Torque Axle

Henschen axles were the original equipment. Other brands are available with some associated problems.

1. You must provide all the specs.
2. If your specs are wrong, you eat it.
3. They will not build a 35 degree starting angle.
4. There are only 3 ratings available from them. In your case, way under, way over and way way too much.
5.They will only supply 10 inch brakes.

On the other hand, we only need your trailer serial number for proper identification.

You now have 2600 pound axles, that we can change to 3000 pounds, no more.

We provide the axles with 12 inch brakes

We provide a maximum starting angle approved by Airstream and Henschen.

You cannot, as you asked, rotate axles. That is not the problem. The problem is with the rubber rods, as they have given out and/or solidified.

In either case, the trailer is bottoming out, which will cause all kinds of damages, that get to be expensive, quickly.

Andy

[centennialman]

I forgot to mention two things earlier:

Mine sat up higher off the ground after the axle replacement, and.....Andy is the BEST one to get advice and the axles from. He has great service!!

[bedfords]

Welcome to the forum! Great to have another CO in the crowd.

You have a great looking trailer.

[twilight10]

Thank you for all your kind help
Twilight