New Axles Arrived - they have changed in 40 years

[M2HB]

If someone is concerned about the heat getting to the rubber, wrap the axle tube, where the rubber is, with a wet rag. My concern with welding would be if the torsion arm had been heat treated, the welding could affect that. Evidentally, they haven't been heat treated.

[Silverflames]

When I installed mine, the warranty stated that welding voids the warranty. With that said I have heard/ read from multiple sources that it is commonly done with out problem. If you can wait to get the shock mounts, weld them on before installing the axle. Also, have the shock installed on the axle. It will make life easer since there is not much room between the bolt and mounting plate. Good luck😃!

[Tom Bray]

I now have all the pieces parts to complete the project. For the record, the problem with delayed shipments was the receiving department at work, my name wasn't part of the shipping label and they couldn't look at the box and see my name written above the label - and at that point it became "that box of metal parts that we didn't know what to do with" ... in retrospect I should have paid the extra amount to have it all delivered to the house, it would have been far less stressful for me and for the staff at Inland RV.

I think I have someone lined up with a big MIG welder rated for the job that will come to the house tomorrow night. If that doesn't work, I'll take axles to the "other" welder in town on Wednesday. I am hoping it happens tomorrow night since I'll be able to put a coat of POR15 on the areas that are welded or cleaned of all paint.

Based on the old axles, it looks like the shock mounts are located 3 and 1/4 inches from the mounting bracket. That really doesn't leave a lot of room for installing the shocks. I I cleaned up all the metal so it is nice and shiny in the area where it will be welded and I also cleaned up the shock mounts, so that should be good to go.

Taking everything apart wasn't nearly as bad as I had thought it was going to be. The first one took 5 hours, the second one an hour which included moving the first axle out of the way. So far the only casualty seems to be my CH Impact wrench, I don't think it is happy and it probably isn't worth trying to repair it. I only had to grind one nut off, the rest unscrewed with the impact wrench and a generous soaking in penetrating oil.

Putting it back together will either be a piece of cake or could be a royal pain - the new axle mounting brackets are set 1/8" further out than the old ones. My plan is to remove as much rust from the inside of the frame as possible which should allow everything to go back together.

My concern about the slots, has turned into a non issue. The frame has a cutout where the new axle tube goes that will limit how far up in the frame it will go. It also eliminates any thoughts of needing to align the axles, it is either correct or we have to deal with slightly poorer tire life (assuming they don't rot before the tread is gone).

After this is all through, I will post pictures and detail how we did it. So far the best tool, beyond the impact wrench has been my pallet jack - it has made moving axles around easy and made it fairly straight forward to get the old axles removed. The jig I made to hold the axles was good during the removal process but I think it will really come in handy installing the new ones, plus the pallet jack will just about lift them into the correct position.

Tom

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by keithgrowe

When I installed mine, the warranty stated that welding voids the warranty. With that said I have heard/ read from multiple sources that it is commonly done with out problem. If you can wait to get the shock mounts, weld them on before installing the axle. Also, have the shock installed on the axle. It will make life easer since there is not much room between the bolt and mounting plate. Good luck��!

Hopefully, the sale of Dexter will resolve the shock bracket issue, as well as voiding the warranty.

Personally, I think this all came about from a "real old timer" at Dexter, who obviously is way way behind the times.

Airstream owners, get their way sooner or later.

Andy

[crispyboy]

Originally Posted by Tom Bray

Based on the old axles, it looks like the shock mounts are located 3 and 1/4 inches from the mounting bracket. That really doesn't leave a lot of room for installing the shocks.

Putting it back together will either be a piece of cake or could be a royal pain - the new axle mounting brackets are set 1/8" further out than the old ones.

Tom

Install the shocks on the axle before you slip it into place to make the job easier.