scratching my head

It’s really bad when a moderator behaves with such sarcasm. You should be ashamed of yourself.
MM49

MM49 wrote:
Wow. I've never heard so much bad advice.
MM49

Why don't you enlighten us with your wisdom then?
Barney

Wow. I've never heard so much bad advice.
MM49

Well I did notice that the Shadow Cruiser S-260BHS has an axle rating of 4355 and it is more or less similair to the slide out trailers we saw of comparable length and weight. I believe the posts I read here about axle issues were specific to the above manufacturer.

The axle rating only needs to equal the GVWR-the tongue weight to be legal. If you purchase a trailer with a large CCC then you will likely get some reserve as it is unlikely that you will reach GVWR with a big CCC, toyhaulers excepted. In my case the dry weight was 6800 lbs but the chassis is rated for 10k. With options and all my junk I barely make it over 9k. The trailer has 5200lb axles and I have never had an issue with them or abnormal tire wear.

People who change to heavier axles do so for piece of mind or added safety. The brakes on heavier rated axles are usually larger which provides for better stopping power and helps keep the brakes from overheating on long downhill runs.

What a lot of folks forget or don't realize is the hitch carries a lot of weight as well as the axles.

There are NO standards used for sizing axles or for designing TT frames. There's lots of tech. data for axle assemblies themselves available on the internet from Dexter and Alko but zip on frames.

Yes, some have found that the axles are under-sized and have been able to get the frame manufacturer to replace them. When looking at axle rating, you need to look at the unit's GVW and subtract the tongue weight. What may appear to be overloaded is actually okay. Sometimes it's the tires that are under-rated. Axles are typically sized to be able to "just" carry the actual weight on them.

Don't expect a dealer, a factory rep. or even the plant to be able to tell you much on tech. info. on a frame and components. A brochure will tell you nothing about frames and axles.

I would be more concerned about the CCC rating. This will tell you how close the rig is to being overloaded. I like to see a CCC of close to 2K# on a trailer that size.

In those sizes a GVWR of around 7500 pounds is normal. So 3500 pound axles are sufficient.