Need New Axles

[uwe]

Originally Posted by Inland RV Center, In

Stefrobrts.

Stephanie.

If you think your trailer bounced around with a shot axle, wait until you tow it with the 3500 pound new axle.

Airstream and Henschen engineers drew the line at 3000 pounds, "absolute maximum."

Andy

???? Why did you recommend 3500lb axles to replace my 2600lb axles then? I don't understand?

[bake315]

Andy,

Not too much magical about pallets - other than they're supposed to give freight handlers a simpler, less unwieldy way to handle merchandise with forklifts or pallet jacks. I totally agree with you about wages of the workers in those jobs - it's hard to hang onto quality employees when you won't pay to keep them.

So it sounds like to me that the way to avoid this issue altogether would be to come to Corona, if I didn't want to risk having to receive shipping-damaged axles. Who's to say I wouldn't keep having to refuse them over and over again, because the freight company damages them over and over again? Shoot, it might cost more to come to you out there, but if it meant avoiding the crapshoot of subpar shipping, it might just be worth it.

[markdoane]

Easy lube bearings have a rubber insert on the hub cap. You remove the rubber insert and shoot grease into a zerk fitting in the end of the axle. The axle is bored so that grease goes between the seal and the inner bearing, then through the passage between the spindle and hub, then through the outer bearing and runs out through the opening in the hub cap.
A complaint I have heard is that it completely fills the bearing and doesn't leave room for expansion as the grease heats up. I don't know if this is a problem, as the rubber insert will pop out if the pressure gets to high.

[Stefrobrts]

Thanks Don, I wasn't sure what they were, but the mechanic assured me they were a good thing. I did my old bearings last summer, and found a bad seal that way. I assume even easy lube bearings need to be pulled apart and inspected now and then.

[bake315]

Hey maybe those freight guys are taking the "drop shipment" thing a bit too literally?

[Inland RV Center, In]

Uwe.

Your working too hard.

Your records show that you received two 3000 (three thousand) pound axles on July 10th, 2003.

Additionally, a single axle trailer cannot take a huge increase in weight ratings, unless, it will always be heavily loaded.

Henschen says no more that 3000 pounds for the small trailers. We did have a request for 3500 pounds for a small coach, and Henschen refused to build it.

They assure that it would cause a problem. Since they are the engineers, not me, I must respect their opinions.

Andy

[mtpalms]

Originally Posted by uwe

... Filing claims with common carriers like Postal Service, UPS or Fedex is a freaking nightmare!!!

Indeed. And they will not let you open and inspect the contents of the package before accepting it, so if you get a damaged box, it's a crap shoot whether or not the contents are all right. After all, that's what packaging is for, right? I've sent back numerous damaged packages with no idea whether the contents were damaged or not. Then the vendor has to pay shipping again to resend it.

Freight/trucking companies on the other hand, allow you to inspect the contents before signing for things. We get a lot of damaged boxes, but the merchandise is usually okay. However, if we don't open the box and check, it is hard to get vendors to take back damaged merchandise on our word. The problem we have with freight carriers is whatever the opposite of consolidation is. We used to get stuff via USF Bestway. Now it starts on USF Bestway, and gets reloaded in Los Angeles on a USF BesthingOrOther, and when I call for tracking, one branch has no idea what is going on with the other, so I now play a new game called 'tracking tag'.

[TomW]

Originally Posted by markdoane

Easy lube bearings have a rubber insert on the hub cap. You remove the rubber insert and shoot grease into a zerk fitting in the end of the axle. The axle is bored so that grease goes between the seal and the inner bearing, then through the passage between the spindle and hub, then through the outer bearing and runs out through the opening in the hub cap.
A complaint I have heard is that it completely fills the bearing and doesn't leave room for expansion as the grease heats up. I don't know if this is a problem, as the rubber insert will pop out if the pressure gets to high.

Don, et al

That's what I thought - Sounds like the bearing buddies on my boat trailer. Their purpose is to keep the hub full of grease to keep water out.

On a land based trailer, I have no idea of why you want grease shooting out into the hubcap, or past the seals to coat your trailer

Past threads indicated servicing wheel bearings in as short as 6 month intervals. Once a year should allow one to notice problems. Am I missing some finer point of use of Easy Lubes?

Tom

[markdoane]

Originally Posted by tcwilliams

Don, et al

That's what I thought - Sounds like the bearing buddies on my boat trailer. Their purpose is to keep the hub full of grease to keep water out.

On a land based trailer, I have no idea of why you want grease shooting out into the hubcap, or past the seals to coat your trailer

Past threads indicated servicing wheel bearings in as short as 6 month intervals. Once a year should allow one to notice problems. Am I missing some finer point of use of Easy Lubes?

Tom

Tom,
They're not the same as Bearing Buddies, which i have on my boat trailer. The only time grease should shoot out of the Eazy Lube is while you are refilling it and have the rubber cap off. When you see fresh grease coming out past your fingers, you know you have flushed out most of the old stuff.

I agree that the biggest hazard is that people use the Eazy Lube to replace routine teardown and inspection, but it sounds like Stephanie has already considered that aspect.

http://www.dexteraxle.com/e_z_lube

[overlander63]

Originally Posted by Inland RV Center, In

[b]Uwe.

Your working too hard.

Your records show that you received two 3000 (three thousand) pound axles on July 10th, 2003.

Additionally, a single axle trailer cannot take a huge increase in weight ratings, unless, it will always be heavily loaded.

Henschen says no more that 3000 pounds for the small trailers. We did have a request for 3500 pounds for a small coach, and Henschen refused to build it.

They assure that it would cause a problem. Since they are the engineers, not me, I must respect their opinions.

Andy

I have the exception, rather than the rule, on my trailer. It is a single axle Argosy 20 that came from the factory with a 4500(!) pound axle. For whatever reason, it is a very heavy trailer. I verified the axle rating when I ordered the axle. My truck lets me know in no uncertain terms it is back there, too, when I tow it.
Terry

[Silver Bullet]

ALL the difference in the world. I have had machinery shipped from Oregon and "box palleted" without so much as a scrape or scratch. It just takes alittle thought and respect. Not ragging you Andy, you order, THEY ship.

I can think of two or three box pallet configurations to protect axles.

Now for the good one; "over worked, under paid, UNION! employees?!?" Overworked means "time and a half", under paid probably means "regional economics", Union- check those benifits before coming to ANY conclusion.

I've been on both sides of the fence "union and non-union" in my trade. It all comes down to one thing, employee "responsibility and accountability", Union or NOT! OK, off my soapbox now.

Andy, when I order my axles, rest assured, I will use my dial indicator for trueness of hub on the bearings and spray-on Magna-flux to check for cracks. As the "middle man" I hope and trust for your support should anything be defective and/or damaged.

Whew! OK that's all

Oscar

[malconium]

While I agree that the shipping companies are not doing a good enough job I do not entirely agree that there is nothing that can be done about it by the originating vendors.

I really think this is a case of everyone getting frustrated about the problem and just doing a lot of finger pointing. Instead couldn't we as a group of AS lovers (including Andy) all put our heads together to come up with some way to help make sure that our axles will get to us in the best shape possible?

While I am no expert regarding how best to package this type of thing for shipment would it be all that unreasonable to do something like putting an axle in a crate, fastening it securly in place and filling the crate full of styrofoam pellets? I, for one, would probably be willing to pay a little extra for special packaging to make sure the product is better protected during shipment.

Would it be all that unreasonable to expect that a vendor of quality products (I hope Henschen fits that category) would work on developing a list of preffered shippers that do quality work and insist that they alone handle such shipments? That is ultimately the only way that we can get the shipping companies to pay better attention to what they are doing isn't it?

Malcolm

[Stefrobrts]

Styro pellets protect loose items during shipping. If an axel was fastened down on a pallet, then the trucking company would be able to move the pallet using a pallet jack or forklift, and the axel itself wouldn't be handled at all. A crate would be even better as things could be stacked on it. As long as the axel was contained and fastened down, it shoudl arrive in the same condition it left.

We deal with trucking companies regularly, and most of the damage we see comes from consolidating and rough handling of small boxes. And of course there is always much finger pointing as to who did the damage. Getting anyone to pay up is a pain. Still, it must be caught at the time of delivery.

I would be wary about having something like that shipped to me and it being my responsibility to determine if it was good or not when the truck dropped it off, particulary a complete axel. Another reason I'm going with a local company and not taking it on myself.

[Lee Pace]

I can understand that some freight lines do not handle everything the way they should. Two years ago, we ordered everything we needed to polish our trailer from Airstream Dreams. When UPS delivered them, they were in horrible condition. (mashed & leaking)

We called Steve and he immediately reshipped another batch and didn't charge us a dime.

I know the scenario is different but we were most appreciative.

I hope they got their money back for the shipping.


Don Pace
69 Overlander
WBCCI7287

[markdoane]

Don P.
I'm puzzled. Were the axles shipped pre-assembled? It seems to me that if they were assembled they would be very likely to crack a drum and ruin the bearings if they were dropped. I can't think of a more awkward thing to load and unload. Kind of like a set of barbells.
If that's the case, then Henschen is guilty of gross incompetence.
(In my business, I make at least two LTL truck shipments a week)

[74Argosy24MH]

Originally Posted by Inland RV Center, In

Why do you feel it's Henschens fault or ours?

Maybe because Henschen shipped them by dumping them loose in a trailer. It does not seem unreasonable to me to expect that I receive a product properly packaged for shipment, not loose and beat to pieces. Brake drums are a precision part, same as any other machined part. Gunny said there was no damage visible, it sounds like you expect they should be torn down on the dock to see if the drums are cracked, out of round, etc. While proper palletizing does not guarantee they will arrive without damage, it does give the end user an indication of damage and to check further. Shipping them so the drum takes the abuse is asking for problems. These aren't cheap, and they are easily damaged, drop it once and the drum is out of round. Can you tell that by looking?

As the sole distributor have you discussed this with Henschen? What was the response? And the fact that Dexter has problems doesn't give Henschen a free ride to make the customer the fall guy in my world.

John

[jdleezer]

I ordered two axles for a 69 Overlander six months ago from Inland RV. They arrived just fine, were easily to install, and they ride like a dream. And no, they were not palletized. I've never had a problem with Inland RV, but I'm sure they are a easy target as they seem to be the largest supplier of parts for vintage Airstreams....

[upallnight]

The only problem I have with deliveries of this nature is your expected to do a thorough inspection of the delivery while making the delivery personel wait while this is performed. In the past I managed a NAPA Parts store and I guarantee you that if you made a delivery truck driver wait while I checked the trueness of a crankshaft my next delivery would be damaged or never arrive. If you refuse to sign until full inspection is made good luck on getting your merchandise, it will never get unloaded. So whats the answer? The manfacturer should package the merchandise in a manner that virtually guarantees damage free delivery.

[53flyingcloud]

Andy,
As I understand it..
1.I place the order with you for axle.(You're in CA)
2.The axle is made at Henschen's factory.(They're in OH)
3.Instead of them drop shipping it from the factory to me, we do this~
My question is:
Once all this due process has transpired, except for step three..
What's to prevent me from driving out to Ohio, to pick up the axle myself?
I'm going that way on a trip anyway and, if I have a beef..They can fix it for me on the spot.
And, I don't have to lose sleep over who "screwed up" my order..
ciao
53FC

[Sneakinup]

I managed a company that shipped and received anodized aluminum extrusions that were 12' to 16' long. Expensive stuff. 9 out of 10 shipments had some kind of damage on them, whether incoming our outgoing. No matter how well we packed and crated them, someone would run a forklift blade through the crate. I had a full time person just filing claims with the trucking companies, and you rarely ever got any satisfaction.

On any incoming freight, if there was even a mark on the box or crate, we noted on the bill that the shipment was subject to inspection for hidden damage. I also kept my digital camera handy to verify damage. If the driver refused to initial the bill of lading, we would start inspecting. Time consuming, but it saved some aggravation.

I originally got the wrong shipment of axles from Henschen. They mistakenly sent me someone else's. Not knowing they were wrong. I accepted them They were strapped to a pallet, but still had paint scratched off and looked as if other shipments had been on top of them. My second shipment of axles was not skidded, and only banded together. Two of the rubber end caps protecting the spindles were gone, but no damage. Some minor paint scrapes but everything was OK. The second time I brought my tape measure to check the dimensions of the axles. Overall, it wasn't a bad experience. Stuff happens.