Hello,I am about to flip my axles for more ground clearance.TTHave you done yours and regretted doing it, if so why?Thanks

MACHZER wrote:Hello,I am about to flip my axles for more ground clearance.TTHave you done yours and regretted doing it, if so why?ThanksI have done all 3 of my TTs. Absolutely no regrets.The only downsides I have noticed:The steps are higher. Easily remedied.A loss of about 1 MPG. Easily remedied as well. It just costs a little more.

Huntindog, what steps did you take to prevent over-extending (compressing?) of the suspension? I'd like to flip my axle, as my little trailer is really low slung, but I'm concerned about having the leaf compress too far when it has more room to travel. Right now it just bottoms out on the frame if I hit a particularly bad bump.

My former Fleetwood was just to low. I hit the gas station aprons pulling out and dragged on the sand when beach camping. Never had an issue.

We did it on our 2015 Sunline. No problems afterwards and it sure helped with dragging issues.

GordonThree wrote:Right now it just bottoms out on the frame if I hit a particularly bad bump.Could I ask (for clarification), what hits the frame? Is it the top of the axle? "Flipping" axles is just the process of moving the axle from on top of the leaf spring and relocating it below the leaf spring. The springs will behave exactly as before. If yours is bottoming out, perhaps you need a heavier spring? And make sure you aren't overloading the springs (and axles)? Sorry if I'm stating the obvious or have missed your point. When I relocated my axles there was no difference in spring performance.Steve

Any Regrets Flipping Axles? | Good Sam Community

28 Replies

Snowman9000
Explorer
Mar 31, 2017
Depends which part is over the other! :) :)

Obviously they say overslung to mean the spring is over the axle.
mobeewan
Explorer
Mar 31, 2017
Am i reading this wrong? It looks like that per Dexters instructions, bump stops are only required when axles are "slung" over the springs

14. Reinstall wheel and tire; lower vehicle to ground.
Recheck wheel nut and U-bolt nut torque. Check for
proper braking function. Recheck wheel nut torque
periodically thereafter.
Note: When converting from underslung to
overslung, the installation of bump stops to prevent
suspension over travel and resulting possible spring
damage or breakage is highly recommended. Axle
travel should be limited to the amount available prior
to mounting conversion.
When converting from overslung to underslung,
adequate suspension travel is required to prevent
the axle(s) from bottoming out prematurely,
resulting in axle bending.
Note: The Dexter Operation Maintenance Service
Manual is available for downloading at
www.dexteraxle.com.
Snowman9000
Explorer
Mar 31, 2017
Spike, the issue is this.

You start out with say 3 inches of travel before the axle hits the frame.
You move the axle underneath. Now you have 6 inches of travel available.
The springs are not meant to flex that far.
spike99
Explorer
Mar 31, 2017
I'm confused over the "add bump stops" comments.

If your trailer has axle tube "on top" of leaf spring packs and NO bump stops (as seen within - click here - ), then simply simply re-position axle "under" the leaf spring packs. If round axle tube, then tube saddles should be welded ontop of axle. I don't trust bolt on under/over kits. Due to axle arch / bow shape, the axle isn't really flipped. It's actually re-positioned under the leaf spring packs. For example on my boat trailer - click here -

If you are concerned current leaf spring packs having "too much" compression, simply +1 "up size" to their next available size. For example, 3,200 lbs leaf spring packs to 3,400 lbs leaf spring packs. Especially if you want more compression strength safety buffer for those double / triple railway tracks.

This works for me...
Snowman9000
Explorer
Mar 30, 2017
The travel can change. On a bad enough bump the springs can invert.

You can just have someone weld a short block of rectangular tubing to the frame to stop the spring's bolt plate from moving too far up. That's what I did. Most likely you'll never hit it anyway.

There are various bolt on rubber bump stops out there, not necessarily for RVs.

Like these:
https://www.amazon.com/Energy-Suspension-9-9101G-Purpose-Bump/dp/B000CNB5OK

Probably 99.99% of the people don't have anything and never have a problem. So who knows.
Camper_G
Explorer
Mar 30, 2017
I didn't read all the replies, but in short, no regrets at all. My Layton was low also and drug the rear bumper going into my driveway. No issues after the relocation. I love it this way. Good luck
Huntindog
Explorer
Mar 30, 2017
opnspaces wrote:
deltabravo wrote:
Huntindog wrote:
I'd like to flip my axle, as my little trailer is really low slung, but I'm concerned about having the leaf compress too far when it has more room to travel. Right now it just bottoms out on the frame if I hit a particularly bad bump.Put bump stops on it. Just like how cars do it.

The travel distance does not change when doing a spring over axle conversion.

If you hit a bad bump and the spring bottoms against the frame, that same thing will happen after the conversion.

Nothing changes with the mounting of the spring to the trailer frame, travel distance cannot increase.

The difference is that the spring can travel an extra 3-4 inches as the axle is no longer on top to contact the frame. So now on a really big bump the spring has to flex up extra high before the axle that is hanging under it contacts the frame and stops the flex.

I did a spring over conversion on mine many years ago. I did not install bumpstops and the suspension just does not flex that much to be a problem. I did pick up an alignment problem and can see the tires are wearing funny. Some day I'll fix it, but it's just not a priority right now. With the amount of towing that I do the tires will age out long before they wear out.
Check your bearings. That can cause funny tire wear. And it can leave you stopped on the side of the road when they fail. BTDT.
opnspaces
Navigator III
Mar 30, 2017
deltabravo wrote:
Huntindog wrote:
I'd like to flip my axle, as my little trailer is really low slung, but I'm concerned about having the leaf compress too far when it has more room to travel. Right now it just bottoms out on the frame if I hit a particularly bad bump.Put bump stops on it. Just like how cars do it.

The travel distance does not change when doing a spring over axle conversion.

If you hit a bad bump and the spring bottoms against the frame, that same thing will happen after the conversion.

Nothing changes with the mounting of the spring to the trailer frame, travel distance cannot increase.

The difference is that the spring can travel an extra 3-4 inches as the axle is no longer on top to contact the frame. So now on a really big bump the spring has to flex up extra high before the axle that is hanging under it contacts the frame and stops the flex.

I did a spring over conversion on mine many years ago. I did not install bumpstops and the suspension just does not flex that much to be a problem. I did pick up an alignment problem and can see the tires are wearing funny. Some day I'll fix it, but it's just not a priority right now. With the amount of towing that I do the tires will age out long before they wear out.
deltabravo
Nomad
Mar 30, 2017
I am pretty sure Nash and Arctic Fox trailers have the springs over the axles.

When I was doing RV transport, I liked the extra 80 or so miles I got from going to the Northwood factory, but I sort of hated towing them because they sat so high, the darn tongue jack wouldn't lift them high enough to get them on my hitch ball when the hitch head was mounted high enough to tow them level.
deltabravo
Nomad
Mar 30, 2017
Huntindog wrote:
I'd like to flip my axle, as my little trailer is really low slung, but I'm concerned about having the leaf compress too far when it has more room to travel. Right now it just bottoms out on the frame if I hit a particularly bad bump.Put bump stops on it. Just like how cars do it.

The travel distance does not change when doing a spring over axle conversion.

If you hit a bad bump and the spring bottoms against the frame, that same thing will happen after the conversion.

Nothing changes with the mounting of the spring to the trailer frame, travel distance cannot increase.