Frame Rot

[ckeysor]

Once again, thanks to Andy! I just bought axles from him and would have hated to destroy them. When looking at jacking the trailer up forum members always say jack from the frame and I could never understand why not to use the axle. now I know.

[vhord]

Originally Posted by swhite832

Andy,
Just out of curiousity, how can you tell his axles are shot?

I am a novice but even I can tell the axles need to be replaced. In the photos you can see that the torsion arm is parallel with the frame or maybe have a slight upward angle to them. The torsion arm should have a downward angle to them as you can see in this picture.

[Jim & Susan]

Originally Posted by floridartist

Thanks folks,Great advice, now I can get under the rig to see where the frame is strongest, the axle mounting plate sounds perfect, there is also three stabilzer jacks that seem worthy as I also have them down...... John

John, if you're refering to the stabilizer jacks mounted to the bottom of the Airstream, you shouldn't use those to support the weight of the trailer. They are there to keep the trailer from rocking around when when you move inside the camper. They aren't designed to hold a lot of weight.

Keep up the good work.

JIm

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by swhite832

Andy,
Just out of curiousity, how can you tell his axles are shot?

Look at the photo that shows the drums.

Then look at the top of the drums, with respect to the top of the axle mounting plate.

If the axles were good, that dimension should be about 4 inches.

In the photo posted, the drum is only about 1 inch below the top of the axle mounting plate.

That says the rubber rods are solidified, and when the axles are loaded, the torsion arms, as they go rearward, will be going uphill, again denoting bad axles.

Andy

[floridartist]

Dear Members, it has been brought to my attention that I have somehow hijacked this thread, being a new member and a first time thread user, with respect to the actual thread maker, I will learn to make my own thread for now on, thank you very much, John

[purman]

That is alright in my book.... It is related to the original topic and thus makes searches easier... This is just my opinion and I am not a mediator, But It seems better to tag onto the end of one than start a new one on the same topic.. Plus I suspect monocoque has resolve their problem and are not sweating you adding on.... I have the same problem I would not start a new thread to ask questions about it... Just my 2 cents...

[floridartist]

That Picture of the frame is so helpful, and the your other picture with the steps is very helpful to me, thank you ,John

[swhite832]

I see it...it appears my axles are toast as well.

[slowmover]

When it comes to summer temperatures, humidity and air pollution to make outdoors work uncomfortable I'd challenge anyone to try and top Dallas/Ft. Worth. On the other hand, I remember San Antonio being highly uncomfortable come August. No wonder the welder was impatient . . . there is NO relief from that heat as the sun goes down.

Great thread, a lot of "fun" in all the learning. I appreciate the thoroughness, the dedication of "in for a dime, in for a dollar". My trailer has more problems than I realized (not of the same sort, I hope), and it is now obvious to me that the belly panels (double-panels on a Silver Streak, same as the walls and roof) have been off at least once.