Cruiser RV axles.. Could my axle be one of the problem ones?

DatacomGuy wrote:
That'll fix the camber issue?

Yes. When my Lippert axles were out of alignment I had them realigned at a shop that specializes in it. The tech guy told me that the axle material was soft so he said he put some extra camber in. They can manipulate the axles anyway they need to. It's done with chains and hydraulic pumps.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRyTeqYuGBk

That'll fix the camber issue?

You can have it professionally aligned at a heavy duty truck/trailer suspension shop for little more than the cost of freight and labor to install a new one which may or may not be straight when it comes from Lippert. In addition they will check and adjust all 3 alignment factors. Tracking, toe and camber on both axles. If you think your axle was out out of spec when installed why waste $$$ on another one that could be the same?

B.O.

All, here is what Lippert came back with. This is bull****. What does this testing consist of? Now i'm at the mercy of Lippert and who they want to invoice to do the work?

"I have reviewed the additional pictures that Tim has sent. After looking at the pictures it appears that the axles do have camber, but it also looks like the front axle may have been put in a very hard or sharp turn condition, meaning that it was binding in one spot more than the other side of the axle. Here is what I can do. I can authorize a replacement axle beam, however, I will request that the axle beam in question be returned for testing. If it’s determined that the axle beam was bent or damaged as of a result of being put in a binding or stressed condition then the repairs would not be covered under warranty. Please let me know if you find this acceptable and I will contact the dealership and have them order the part. The dealership will have to order and pay for the parts up front. If the beam test bad then we will pay the claim under warranty. "

I don’t know about thin axles, but almost all of the axle tubes that are used for our RV’s are 2 3/8 OD with a 3/16 wall tube (small), and rated at 3500 lbs.…
Above 3500 lbs. up to 5200 lbs. will almost without exception be a 3inch tube with a 3/16” wall (larger)…
When you get into 6000 and 7000 lb. axles you may run into be 3inch tube with ¼” wall or larger OD tubes…
Of course there are smaller tubes for lighter axles that we don’t see too often especially on tandem axle trailers… however bent axles on RV trailers are not all that uncommon… the bend easily and are usually loaded to near the axle limits because of how the trailers are weight rated by reducing the tongue weight from the axle weights…
Hopefully you don’t have a problem getting it fixed but they may not automatically assume responsibility because of low mileage… the do bend easily and it can be caused by the road conditions, curbing, hitting CG tree roots, rocks or stumps, and other things… the axle could be positioned wrong instead of bent and create the same situation…

Good luck

Ill set an appt in the morning to be sure.

Ive out 1000 miles on it. I want it fixed before there is time for them to blame me.

If you have thin axles, there could be an issue, it would look about an inch in diameter. The axle tends to bend and/or be out of alignment and you get premature tire wear. If the axles look 2.5-3 inches think then you have larger ones which seem to have fewer problems but that does not mean there could not be issues. If you think you are having an issue, keep an eye on it and get it looked at. Good luck.

When I bought our cruiser used, all the tires were new. How nice. After a bit of traveling, I noticed uneven wear on the inside of both tires on one of the two axles. Obviously, the axle was off and instead of fixing the problem, somebody hid the problem and sold the RV. So I bought a new axle, and things have been fine ever since.