Epiphany Gets new Axles

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by TomW

Andy,

You "da man" in my book. I bought my axles from you, and was happy with the second shipment. I will buy from you again. In fact, I am constantly buying from you. I need to order a couple of bin latches now that I think about it.

But

You are the only dealer of Henschen axles. Where else could the factory send anyone?

Tom

Tom.

Airstream also can sell the Henschen axles.

But there is two problems, if they do.

First, they no longer have the specs on the older trailer axle requirements, nor do they want to.

They also don't have anyone in parts, that has the old trailer experience. They concentrate on later models, and do an excellent job at it.

Second, they would have to charge considerably more, than we do.

That's why we also have a contract with them.

We do the dirty work, which gives the factory more time to do the clean work.

For some of the same reasons, we have many parts for the vintage trailers, that they don't, and don't want to, especially since the parts department warehouse space is maybe 10 percent of what it once was.

Andy

[HiHoAgRV]

Originally Posted by jcanavera

Folks let's reread the first post and note that this thread is about the process and not a debate about which is better. No posts regarding the Henschen/Dexter debate. We've seen these threads end up in a closed mode. Let's just follow the originator's reflections of the process.

Jack

OK ya'll
Jacks point stands...

[Jim & Susan]

Originally Posted by Inland RV Center, In

.......We know the Airstream market. Dexter and it's dealers, do not.....

Andy

And yet, there are many members here that are quite happy with their Dexter purchaces.

Jim

[crispyboy]

HiHo,
Congrats on the new axles. Don't worry about jack stand points. Use car ramps or a few pieces of wood as if you were going to change a tire. Leave the trailer hooked to car for stability. The axle will have to drop a few inches in order to get it out from under the trailer. I borrowed a second floor jack from a friend and it was a breeze taking them down and putting in the new axles. Also purchase yourself a carbide tipped cutting bit ($12). One set of holes will line up perfectly and the other will only line up partially. The bit will clean up the partial holes for you. As far as your shock brackets go - I torched the old ones off and welded them to the new axle. Don't forget to install the shock absorber on the axle shock mount before you install the new axle. It will make life much easier for you. Sorry to hear you had so much trouble, things should get much better from here.

[3Ms75Argosy]

He He... I think he was talking about poster "Jack" and his previous point "stands"..... But your method for dropping the axles is well received.

HiHO... was that price for axles ONLY or installed?
Marc

[HiHoAgRV]

Originally Posted by 3Ms75Argosy

He He... I think he was talking about poster "Jack" and his previous point "stands"..... But your method for dropping the axles is well received.

HiHO... was that price for axles ONLY or installed?
Marc

Well my last post had an unusual alternate interpretation

That price was for the axles, delivery and sales tax, $590 *2 +$40 "Energy Charge" + chrome lugs + Tax = $1333. I'll do the install myself. A note of how quick prices are changing- two years ago one of the forum members had axles INSTALLED for that same price at a shop just down the road.

[HiHoAgRV]

Well I finally got time to stick the axles in. There are a several really good threads here on the process so I’ll on only hit on some of the high points.

Axle removal- I ran the rear axle up on ramps so the front tires were hanging in mid-space. This photo shows my total drop between a loaded axle and a hanging axle of about 3 1/2 “. (the boards are true 2” sawn lumber)
Also shown is the missing piece of blue trim that I have posted on the Classified “Wanted” section…

I removed the gas line that goes to the rear water heater, removed the shock bolts and the 4 axle retention bolts and WHAM, it fell out. FYI, my Airstream has the mythical ‘70’s Frame Strengthening Kit as seen in the photo. As the photos show my biggest hindrance was the sloppy working conditions.

[HiHoAgRV]

I cut the rear of the axle slot to widen for the extra size of the #11 Dexter. I started with a ½” drill hole at the new corner to eliminate the possibility of a stress crack then sawed with a porta-band, completing the final touches with an angle grinder.

With the rear axle supporting the entire trailer I had some serious tongue weight!

[utee94]

Nice work-- so, are they both in now, or just one so far?

[HiHoAgRV]

Originally Posted by utee94

Nice work-- so, are they both in now, or just one so far?

Yup, I think the install went faster than my ability to reformat photos and get them posted !

Here is the only thing I haven’t seen photos of. I built a template, sawing it out and using it to fit the axles to the trailer. By doing this the rear slot in the axle becomes a notch and locks the axle into position. Plus I didn’t hog out the hole in my ‘stream!

[HiHoAgRV]

About this time neighbors started showing up with their toys…

1, 2, 3, PUSH! And the axle is underneath

Then things got kinda anti-climatic. We slid jacks under the axle bracket about ½ way between the hub and the main tube and lifted. When the holes lined up, we put in the bolts and tightened to ½ turn before they stripped …

[HiHoAgRV]

The new hubs hung down alot further than the old so I had to jack up the swing arm to get enough height for the tire to go back on. New chrome lug nuts and viola, it’s on.

Repeat the same process for the rear axle and then fry fish and play in the pool (those are actually in the official instructions that most guys don’t read.…)

Ride height went up from 25 ½” to 29” at the arch and the interior movement is noticeably different with the trailer bouncing much more when someone walks inside than it did before. Also noticable is the travel of the suspension. The old axle only needed 3” of lift to raise the other axle off of the ground. The new one is over 5”.

Post mortem on the old axles shows the unloaded angle was +6 degrees and the loaded was -5, a total of 11 degrees travel under load. The new axles went from +32 to +14 for a travel 18 degrees, telling me the old ones are 63% stiffer than the new even though the originals were 3200lbs and the new ones 3600. That makes the old ones equivalent to 5868 lb axles, right? I see a next life under the Hay wagon …

Closure on a couple of issues…Dexter won’t ship loose piece shock brackets and it IS possible to get delivery without the unusable side hanger brackets, the dealer doesn’t get a price break so it’s a no-saving delete. I spent a week getting that answer. What’s the extra install time associated with a custom fit Dexter? Humm, I dunno. I drilled 4 holes, sawed 4 slots and ground out four ½ holes. I made a pattern and smoothed out the slot with an angle grinder. Half an hour, 45 minutes? I didn’t do the shock brackets but if I ordered 22 Degree down angle the brackets would be installed already.

What’s next? Ya notice I skipped the shocks… I’ll take time to measure the ride quality as it stands then try to add shocks and see what in impact might be.

[2airishuman]

good job hiho and nice pix...

but are you working in sandals ?

here is my silly notion about the need or value of shocks with dexters or henschens...

and it's based on YEARS of riding a bicycle with a rubber torsen axle suspension...

on NEW trailers or with NEW rubber axles the shocks are NOT really needed....

because the fresh rubber (compressed cords) provides damping in both compression/decompression...

but as the rubber ages, sets, shrinks and so on it does less on recoil...

and this changes the dynamics so LESS of the unloading action is dampened or absorbed....

so on an older unit or on really old axles the shocks do modify/improve vibration issues.

one simple way to test this theory would be for an owner ABOUT to replace tired axles...

to pull the trailer with AND without the shocks while recording the vibration data as you've done...

then AFTER mounting new axles make the same recordings before and after mounting the shocks...

cheers
2air'

[juel]

What blue trim piece are you talking about. I only see some vinyl insert missing, but maybe I don't know what you really need.

[HiHoAgRV]

Originally Posted by 2airishuman

...but are you working in sandals ?

here is my silly notion about the need or value of shocks with dexters or henschens...
...but as the rubber ages, sets, shrinks and so on it does less on recoil...

and this changes the dynamics so LESS of the unloading action is dampened or absorbed....

so on an older unit or on really old axles the shocks do modify/improve vibration issues.

one simple way to test this theory would be for an owner ABOUT to replace tired axles...

to pull the trailer with AND without the shocks while recording the vibration data as you've done...

then AFTER mounting new axles make the same recordings before and after mounting the shocks...

cheers
2air'

I'm with you on the shock theory as long as the axle failure mode is a collapsed ride height where there is still some travel. For the units that simply get stiff, there is nothing to damp. My shocks seem to be in reasonable condition...I guess they were not really doing anything!

Sandals? Sandals? No way! those are steel toed Teva's in skin tone

[HiHoAgRV]

Originally Posted by juel

What blue trim piece are you talking about. I only see some vinyl insert missing, but maybe I don't know what you really need.

Here's a photo (The PO used blue painters tape...)
All the other sections are in good shape so I only need the one small piece.

[HiHoAgRV]

It looks like I won't have the time right now to gather the new ride quality data, too busy going camping but I will get the data.

Now for a question-
Has anyone had issues with new axles that I need to prep for? It's very likely that the first outing they will see is a 4,500 mile trip!

[markdoane]

I'd sure check the hub temperatures at 20 and 100 miles. The first night I would jack them up, check ease of rotation, and reset the bearings.

[juel]

I have some left over blue vinyl insert. Measure how much you need and what the width is. I think you need the wide one like I used on the bottom of my 76 Sovereign. I can send you a piece if it's the same as I used. Otherwise, it comes in 50' rolls. Here is my Sovereign in the process of putting in the two small vinyl inserts mid-trailer, and you can see the larger blue insert around the bottom in one picture. PM me with your address, width you need, and length you need and I'll see if I have it. It's easy to install on a warm day with a flat head screwdriver and a little patience.

[gparker]

Hey Vernon, congrats on a job well done. Where are you going camping? We still want to meet you, Sarah, and Mac at CLear Springs sometime.
Have fun and keep us informed of the new performance after new axles!
Greg