Raising trailer height

brulaz wrote:

69 Avion wrote:

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Those axles are "not" rigid to the frame. That axle mount is designed to flex even though it appears to be solid. That is how it allows the axle to flex.
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OK, that makes sense. Dexter does provide the axle mounting bracket along with the axle as an integrated system. And as long as they're designed to flex (and don't fatigue/weaken as a result), there should be no problem.

And so to lift a trailer with Torflex axles, you probably want to just move the brackets down by thickening the frame with box steel or whatever. And not reinforce or modify the brackets themselves.

But it wouldn't really matter if the axles were never loaded to where the axle lost some camber, or if the axle load and resulting camber were relatively constant.

Which may be the case my 3500# rated Dexter Torflex axle. Even when loaded to within a 100# of the axle rating, it's noticeably bowed up and doesn't appear to flex much if at all.

I've read elsewhere on the web (for what that's worth) that the axle camber is designed to protect against extreme over-loading of the axles, and you don't really expect it to change under normal use.

There is a lot more to figuring out the bow (camber) in the axle than just using a press to put the bow in it. The distance between the mount and the hub face (not counting wheel offset) will be a major factor in the amount of bow necessary. That distance determines the amount of leverage on the axle. I think some folks confuse the suspension from the flex that occurs on the axle. They are different, but the susupension can influence the flex. For example, since a rubber torsion axle doesn't have an equalizer, one axle may at times carry the entire load. When that happens, the flex is increased on that axle and decreased on the other axle. It is one of the draw backs to rubber torsion axles. That is why a rubber torsion axle should be rated at 1.25 times it's intended load, when used as tandem axles. Example: 10,000# axle weight for a tandem trailer should have two 6,250# axles.
As you can see, the mount on rubber torsion axles are designed to flex. That is why they aren't "boxed" but mainly anchor on one side. It is also why you will notice that on one end the mounting bolt may be close to the axle but the other one is much futher away. This allows the mount to flex as the axle camber changes. If that flex is removed by reinforcement, something somewhere else "has to" flex. If the new part isn't designed to flex properly it may eventually fatigue and break. That is where the problem occurs.