Safari 30' bunkhouse owners club!

[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.

[Pahaska]

Originally Posted by rluhr

How does the torsion arm angle compare to yours? Mine is very slightly positive as compared to the frame in front of it. (Frame is black in the photo, torsion arm is brownish.)

Airstream has a sad history of putting underrated axles on some of their products.

My first Airstream was rated at 5000# gross which, when weighed, gave me almost zero carrying capacity. A later change to stronger axles brought the gross of those trailers up to 5600#, making the later trailers more useful.

The first slideout 34s had light axles and C-rated tires. Airstream upgraded those trailers after many problems. The 31 Limiteds had stronger axles in later production, also. Myron Fischer had fits with instability in his 31 with the original axles. It is livable with a Hensley, but still not a real stable trailer.

I'm guessing that the axles on your, admittedly heavy, bunkhouse were probably a bit marginal at the start. If I were ever to replace them, I would go with a higher rated axle.

[overlander63]

Originally Posted by Pahaska

I'm guessing that the axles on your, admittedly heavy, bunkhouse were probably a bit marginal at the start. If I were ever to replace them, I would go with a higher rated axle.

John, we're sliding 5,000 pound axles under Rich's trailer. 600 pounds per axle more will give him a little better margin.

[rluhr]

Yes, we'll upgrade because we can, but I don't think the original axles were underrated in this case. We had two 4400# axles (total 8800# capacity) and the GVWR on the trailer is 8400#. We weighed it during our travels and never found it to be over weight. That's why I've been so interested in why the axle appears to be overloaded on (so far) four 2005 Safari 30's that have been examined. It's still a mystery.

Fortunately, we never encountered stability problems like Myron did with his Classic. Ours has always performed well in that regard.

I'm leaving Thursday morning to drive all day to the L.A. area. The new axles will be installed on Friday.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Originally Posted by overlander63

John, we're sliding 5,000 pound axles under Rich's trailer. 600 pounds per axle more will give him a little better margin.

Hi, measure the ride height before and after; Although the new axles will Settle some. Might even settle on Rich's ride back to Arizona. Are you installing with the same spec angle? [22.5 degrees]

[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.

[overlander63]

Originally Posted by ROBERTSUNRUS

Hi, measure the ride height before and after; Although the new axles will Settle some. Might even settle on Rich's ride back to Arizona. Are you installing with the same spec angle? [22.5 degrees]

Yes, 22.5 degree starting angle. We'll probably post before-and-after pictures for comparison, as well as ride height measurements. If y'all ask real nice, I may also include a couple of pictures of the replacement in-progress.

[ROBERTSUNRUS]

Hi, Terry. Pictures please, please, please.

[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.

[overlander63]

Originally Posted by ROBERTSUNRUS

Hi, Terry. Pictures please, please, please.

We got Rich's Bunkhouse in last night, and this morning I took some measurements and photos. I took measurements at the top of the fenderwells, ball height, rear and front of the tow vehicle at the top of the tow vehicle's wheelwells. The numbers are interesting.
Starting at the right rear wheel, the height before service is 25 7/8", right front 25 3/4", left rear 25 1/2" left front 25 3/8". Ball height was 17 3/8".
The tow vehicle, 2005 Nissan Armada SE 4WD with ride control, again starting at the right rear:
33 5/8", right front 36", left rear 33 3/4" left front 36 3/8".
The lowest point of the HAHA was 8 3/8" from the ground.

[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

[overlander63]

After replacing the axles, and performing some other brake and running gear repairs, we measured everything again.
What we have now is:
Trailer--
Right rear 26 1/2"
right front 26 1/2"
left rear 26 1/2"
left front 26 1/4"
Ball height 20.5"

Armada--
right rear 35"
right front 36 1/2"
left rear 35 1/4"
left front 36 5/8"
HAHA 9"

[rluhr]

OK, as Terry said, the work is done. We hitched up but haven't towed yet. To save everyone from having to do the math, here's the difference between old axles and new axles on my trailer. (All measurements are with trailer hitched up and the torsion bars tightened.)

TRAILER:
Right rear + 5/8"
Right front + 3/4"
Left rear + 1"
Left front + 7/8"

Ball height: + 3-1/8" <----

TOW VEHICLE:

Right rear + 1-3/8"
Right front + 1/2"

Left rear + 1-1/2"
Left front + 1/4"

Low point of HAHA: + 5/8"

------

What Terry forgot to mention is that when we jacked up the trailer with the OLD axles, they dropped only 1-3/4". They should have dropped at least three inches. So the axles were definitely not behaving normally.

The increased clearances should help a lot with problems we've been noticing over the last year. The HAHA has been having trouble clearing bumps at entrance curbs, and it has been increasingly difficult to get the Armada leveled up.

Once I drive it a while (458 miles back to Tucson) I'll measure everything again and see if anything has moved or settled.

[wkerfoot]

Originally Posted by overlander63

After replacing the axles, and performing some other brake and running gear repairs, we measured everything again.
What we have now is:
Trailer--
Right rear 26 1/2"
right front 26 1/2"
left rear 26 1/2"
left front 26 1/4"
Ball height 20.5"

Armada--
right rear 35"
right front 36 1/2"
left rear 35 1/4"
left front 36 5/8"
HAHA 9"

Terry,

As I read and compare the two sets of numbers, the trailer went up about 1" and the ball height went up 3". Is this correct? If so, why? If not, what did I miss.

Bill

[wkerfoot]

Rich,

You beat me to the question. But, I am still confused.

Bill

[overlander63]

Rich's trailer is still here, and I'm going to verify the trailer is level, and remeasure the ball height. We're thinking that Sophie misread the tape measure...

[overlander63]

We just measured the ball height, as well as the HAHA height, and both have in fact increased by about 3". We just verified this, the HAHA low point is 11" without the Armada attached, and the trailer level.