Axle replacement finished

[uwe]

I finally got it done. I removed both axles about 2 weeks ago and installed the new ones yesterday, finished the job today.
It is not a difficult job, but it is somewhat straining due to the weight of the axles.
I had a friend, a floor jack, and a bunch of wooden blocks to help me. It required removing and replacing the gas line for the water heater, and reconnecting of the brake wiring.
I replaced the shocks and hardware at the same time, also got new GoodYear Marathons in load range D.
I soldered all the brake connections and used heat shrink tubing to protect the solder joints.
The entire job can easily be done in a full day, with a little help from a friend.
I did buy complete axles, with new brakes and bearings and all. The additional money seemed worth it to me to have peace of mind for a few years.
The trailer sits higher now, but because of the lower size of the new tires still fits inside the warehouse door ( 10ftx10ft door) I was worried about the batwing antenna clearing the door opening.
I just got back from a short test drive, and it feels and tows great. Much smoother. I will have to re-adjust my tow hitch now, because it has a different ride height now. But that's for next week.

[Pahaska]

I had to replace the torsion axle on my old Scamp. You are right ... it is heavy and cumbersome to handle but the job is straightforward. The results are well worth it.

[Stefrobrts]

Just curious, how did you jack up and support the trailer while you removed the axle? Also, did you have any problem with the shocks? This is a project I may be tackling in the near future.

[uwe]

Stef,
I have 4 heavy duty jack stands, and an assortment of wooden blocks. The blocks are several 2x4's cut in 2fr pieces, and several 2ft sections of a support beam, I'm guessing it's a 4x8 or so. I used the wooden blocks to help with the axle positioning.
I jacked up the trailer with a floor jack by the axle mounting rails, and then put 2 jacks per side, one in the middle between the axles, and one behind the rear axle. I used 2 wooden blocks under the tongue jack, so that the post is kept short to avoid it moving too much. I jacked the trailer up in 2 steps, and adjusted the tongue jack to level everything between steps. Off came the tires and wheels, and then I put blocks under the brake drums. Remove the gas line, disconnect the brake wiring, remove 6 bolts, and the axle with shocks drops down. I ended up just kicking the old axles off the blocks and dragging them out from under the trailer. Installation required much more balancing, so as to not damage the underbelly or axle mounting plates. It would have been really easy with 3 people. One on each side, and one to coordinate and work the floor jack. The shocks will not come off with the axles installed, so this is a good time to replace them. The axle side shock mount barely clears the axle mounting plate, and the pivot stud for teh upper shock bushing points towards the inside, not leaving any clearance to remove the shock. Make sure the fat end of the shock goes on the axle side. This will end up being the higher point of the shock, once installed. I went to tha hardware store to get new shock mounting nuts and washers. The axle mounting kit did not include those. Some say you can do one axle at a time by leaving the wheels on the opposing axle, but this won't work for you, since yours is single axle. I wanted to clean and paint the axle mounting plate, which is why I removed both axles with the trailer jacked up.

[DPeakMD]

Congratulations Uwe!!! I didn't have the time to do this myself so I had the local axle place install them. I had the shocks replaced all within the past couple of years already.

I assume you got your axles and brakes through the sole aftermarket source, correct?

Did you notice anything funny about the "tightness" of the wheel bearrings? My axles were so tight that it was difficult to spin the tires with the brakes backed off all the way! I had to loosen up the castellated nut and give them a little play. The reason I suspected this was I pullled it home about 15 miles from the axle place and the hubs were too hot to touch! I also had next to zero braking power and had to adjust that as well.

My brakes have also been a bear to adjust. I still don't have the stopping power I used to have with the old brakes.

-Dallas

[TBKP's Overlander]

I had 3 guys and it did make it easier. It took us about 2 1/2 hours. Used a floor jack and some jack stands. I needed a prybar to get the axel to fit in between the frame. I thought it was fairly easy, but I'm a farmer and had a couple mechanic type workers helping me. If you call AAA to change your tire it's probably not for you.

[uwe]

Dallas,
I am not sure about the brake efficiency yet. I did not change the brake controller's settings yet, and it does seem that the old brakes were more aggressive, they used to have a tendency to lock up for the first few times after sitting for a while. I can feel the new brakes working, though. The bearing adjustment seems ok, the hubs are spinning freely with just a slight amount of drag from the brakes.
Yes - the axles were bought from you-know-who. They are close by and I was able to pick them up and pick his brain for installation advice and pick his parts department for all the necessary hardware.

[Stefrobrts]

I've restored a 68 mustang from the ground up, suspension and all, but I'm still a little nervous about tackling the airstream's axle. Mostly because where to jack it up is kind of a mystery, what with the belly pan covering everything. I know I can jack it up right behind each wheel, because I have already done so to do the bearings, but lifting it enough to get both wheels off the ground is puzzling me. Hopefully by the time the axle definitly needs to be replaced, I'll have figured it all out.

[Pick]

It's pretty easy to do. I did mine all by myself, but it sure would have been nice to have help. The hardest part was moving the axles in and out from under the coach. Bare axles made that task much easier. It would have been impossible for me to do it myself with hubs and brakes mounted to the axles.

I did find one hub running hotter than the others with my infrared gun thermometer. I backed the castle nut off one notch and it is running in line with the other.

We've pulled her about 750 miles so far, this summer with the new axles.

[qqq]

Stef,

Nobody could explain it better than UWE , don't worry about the belly pan , the axle mounting plate is the only perfect jacking area

Hart

[Ken J]

When brakes and brake magnets are new its takes a little bit for them to break in so it will feel like they are not working well. I had my magnets replaced and when I first applied the brakes it was like I didn't have any brakes - so after a few miles they will start to work much better.

Ken J.

[Stefrobrts]

I haven't done it yet, so I can't say for sure, but if you're not working on gravel this tip might help. When I had to rebuild my mustang's rear end. I used a furniture dolly (a rectangle of 2x4s with casters on the corners) to move it around. The thing was way to heavy to wrestle around by myself, and the dolly let me just roll it out from under the car, back under the car, etc.

I'm going to have to go crawl under there and look for the axle mounting plates. Perhaps I haven't spent enough time under the trailer yet

[qqq]

Stef

You don't need to crawl under... you can see it in front and back of the tire

Hart

[Austin Runner]

Saturday was my axle replacement party. Had three working and a whole host watching. My '76 Argosy has two axles so we used the roll-one-set-of-tires-up-on-blocks technique. First axle took about 3 hours, second took one hour. Here's what worked well and what didn't. Two floor jacks helped keep both sides 'even'. One guy underneath working both jacks; one guy on each side eagerly sharing his perspective on how things were going. When one side was lower, things tended to bind up. The (mentioned in previous post) moving dolly was useful getting the axles into position. Replacing the shock absorbers CANNOT be done with the axles on the trailer. Make sure you have new shocks mounted on the new axles before putting the axles in place. There is next to no clearance between the shock-attachment bolt and the trailer frame, so binding is a problem. We used a wire brush and WD-40 to clean off the frame before reinstalling the new axle. Our shocks also did not have new mounting hardware so we used the old washers and nuts. It didn't occur to me to adjust the brakes while the tires were off the ground - silly me. First trip will be to a shop where I can get tire balancing done on the trailer.

[Pahaska]

Welcome to the forum, neighbor.

I live in the Dripping Springs ETJ, over on Camp Ben Road (1826). We're getting quite a "around Austin" crew here on the forum.

We tried getting together a forum rally in the spring without too much success. I would like to try again about November.

[HowieE]

I was somewhat suprised at the statement the shocks could not be changed without removing the axle. Is this a problem with a proticlar set of years or "ALL" years? I have over 80,000 miles on my 91 and had considered changing the axles but would have liked to change the shocks first. Any additional comments?

[overlander63]

Hi. Does anyone have access to one of those Rotary above-ground twin post automotive lifts? It seems it would be the perfect way to re-axle a single axle trailer, just put the lift pads under the four jack points on the trailer, and hit the "up" button.
When the old axle is ready to come out, lower the trailer, and finish removing the old axle, and lift the trailer up, slide it out from under, and the new one in place. Am I missing something? Like, the trailer will do a nose-dive from 8ft in the air? Or are the lift points far enough apart it would be stable? Any thoughts? Good, bad, or other?
Terry
(in Florida)

[Austin Runner]

Hey HowieE, I can only speak to my axle/shock absorber hookup but you can check yours without removing anything. My shocks each have two attachment brackets. Each is a hole with a rubber insert that fits around a post. One post sticks out from the trailer frame and the other is part of the axle assembly. The axle assembly post points toward the frame - in fact it almost touches the frame - there is NO clearance to remove or add shocks with the axle installed.

[Inland RV Center, In]

All Airstream shocks can be replaced without dropping the axles.

Use a crow bar to bend the bracket on the axle torsion arm. Leave the nut in place to protect the threads.

Won't hurt a thing.

You can also leave the bracket bent, as it will not interfer with the shock operation.

Andy

[Stefrobrts]

Hey Andy, would you like to chime in your opinion on the proper way/places to lift my Caravel for axel replacement?