straightening my axles

Here is where I stand on the axle problem. I took some toe and camber measurements a couple weeks ago and found I was 3 time out of limit on both of those measurements. I pulled the axles off the trailer and delivered them to FE Trailer (builder of the trailers) so they could run them up to UFP (supplier of the axles) in San Marcos.

On the phone UFP sounded like they would straighted the axles and return them to me, free of charge. After they got them in hand they changed their mind and thought it would be best if I replaced them. They offered me a new set of axles complete with hubs, bearings and brakes at their cost ($400 each). After bitching them out and hanging up the phone I cooled off and realized I would be spending $500-$800 next year on hubs, rotors and brakes as normal up-keep, so I called him back and gave him the go ahead to start building the new axles.

Part of the deal was sending my old axles back to me so I could use the trailer while I wait out the new axles. I got the old ones back today and run them up to the shop to see what I could do about fixing the alignment problems they have. After a couple hours of building a jig and pressing on them with a 20 ton ram, I've got a perfectly aligned set of axles that I will install in the morning.

When the new ones are ready I will run up to San Marcos and check the alignment on them with the customer service manager as a witness. If they're good I'll buy them as a spare set. If they're bad, then they will see they have problem in the manufacturing.

Mike

Axle press
http://members.cox.net/noslack/axelpress1.jpg

Did you pay extra for the striped tires too?

I always heard stripes make me look thinner, so I thought I would give it a try.

The stripes are part of the alignment check. You need to paint a white stripe around the tire then scribe a line in it as you rotate the tire. Do the same for the tire on the other end of the axle and now you're ready to take some measurements.

For the toe-in/toe-out you measure the distance between the scribed lines on the back of the tires and compare that to the measurement on the front. If you have 1/8" or more difference in the two measurements, you're out of spec and can expect abnormal tire wear. Camber it the difference between the top and bottom measurements. Unloaded axles may have 1 degree positive camber(top wider than bottom) to compensate for some flex when you put a load on them, If you have 27"-30" tires, that's about 3/8" wider at the top than the bottom.

Mike

Mike,

I’ve always been impressed with the things you do that I understand. Once you got past the axles were not right you lost me on this one. Sounds like things are good now though. Damn he makes me feel stupid.

Yale