Forum Discussion

Ol_coot's avatar
Ol_coot
Explorer
Apr 28, 2016

Possible Axle Upgrade

Noticed the other day my right front tire was wearing on outside edge on my 5th wheel. Pretty good wear. None of the others show any wear like this. Stopped by the local RV repair shop I've been dealing with for all my repairs and trust. Explained to him what I saw and he indicates it is probably a bent spindle and it would require replacing axle. I hit a pretty bad rut in Yellowstone this past summer is when I feel I may have bent it.
After all that, my question to all, since these axles are going on 6 years with around 45K+ on them and needing to change out one. I was considering just upgrading both and going to heavier weight carrying axle.
Any thoughts on benefits of upgrading or just stay with same ones I've been using and had no issues with other than bad roads and my driving.
  • bpounds's avatar
    bpounds
    Nomad
    Apr 29, 2016
    Get it checked out before jumping to conclusions. It could just as easily be as simple as a bad tire with loose belts.
  • SabreCanuck's avatar
    SabreCanuck
    Explorer
    Apr 29, 2016
    I know back in the day of transport trucking, we used to have a simple laser system that would bolt onto the wheel studs and basically point FORWARD.. There was a bar connected to the semi trailer king pin that the laser would point to. If the two readings were the same on both sides of the bar, then your axles were straight. If not, you had to align them.

    Does such a thing exist for an RV??

    I've seen various systems for 'adjusting' the axles but how does one recognize that the axles are out of alignment except wait for tire wear or take to a shop?
  • Drifter1959's avatar
    Drifter1959
    Explorer
    Apr 30, 2016
    Swampman597 wrote:
    One or both of our axles were bent too so we went to a place in Oregon that just straightened and aligned them. Haven't had tread wear issues since. Just a thought.


    X2

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