2011 Shadow Cruiser Axles

[Canuckss]

So i get back after my week long trip and get the trailer in the driveway to unload and happen to notice. All 4 of my tires are worn completely down on the inside edges and the belts have separated from 2 of the four tires. Call the dealer as i read on here about the axles possibly not beefy enough for the unit and asked if there was a recall. He told me not "officially "but they have had a "number" of units in with this problem already ranging from only 500km on the units to 3000km.Talk about a safety problem, Told me to bring it in Monday and they would order 2 new axles and 4 new tires. Good thing my wife is due with our second child in the next few weeks as he told me it would be there for close to a month till the get the parts in and hopefully i did not have any more trips planned. He also mentioned that numerous other dealers are not pleased with Cruiser LLC with getting them all sorted out with warranty claims and dropping the ball on building this unit as it is there best seller and they way things are designed to try and fix are a mess. Needless to say check with your dealer if you have a shadow cruiser and get this sorted out before you end up having serious issues down the road. Will see how it all goes Monday when i drop it off, thats my rant for the night.

[Slownsy]

Windmaker I wood say that ether your sticker or axles are wrong, it is not on common to have larger axles than needed for weight and down rated because of suspension or tiers but they must be minimum what is on sticker.take down numbers on them and contact manufacturer, Dexter or who ever.

[Squirlian]

sorry for the delay in my update...so to recap, 2012 280QBS 3 trips totalling maybe 1500 miles, get from Toronto to Buffalo (first gas stop on way to Pennsylvania) ...no tires left and bowed axles...get home and Cruiser (through my dealer) replaces both axles and all 5 tires under warranty...since then did 2 or small trips, put it away for the winter, then first trip this spring is to Pennsylvania again...now I'm paranoid about checking my tires..i even carry a generator and compressor with me!!! get to my destination all is good...pressures are still fine and the wheels are all pointing the right way!! woo hoo...get home again and the outside edges are gone from tires...back to dealers...they say its because the pressure is too low in tires...okay, that is consistent with the wear pattern, but why is it low? so I ask them to renflate them and call me in two days....4 tires started at 55psi...2 days later 2 are at 50, 1 is at 40, and the last is at 20....long story short, I have changed to the Cooper Hercules radial tires and am 800 bucks out of pocket.

Squirlian

[Windmaker]

I bought the 2012 Shadowcruiser 260 BHS , new, on January 14th 2012. After 3800 miles I had to replace all 4 tires because they were bald.

I then took the trailer to a trailer fabrication company, thinking the axles were out of alignment and that caused the tire wear. They checked the axles and told me they were straight, just too light for the trailer, and the weight of the trailer caused them to go out of camber which would account for the premature tire wear. They suggested welding struts to the axles to help support them, which I had them do because we were leaving on a camping trip the next week. They made it clear the struts are not as good as having the right axles.

I am working with the dealer, Cruiser RV, and Lippert to try to get the axles replaced. They are asking for photos of the worn tires, which I don't have since I didn't take photos before I got them replaced, but I have sent pictures of the trailer sticker and the axle stickers.

The trailer sticker shows a GAWR for each axle of 4370 lbs., but the stickers on the axles themselves show a GAWR of 3500 lbs. each. The GVWR is 7540 pounds. Is it correct to assume that the GAWR rating of the axles should be at least as much as the GAWR on the trailer sticker? If so, then the axles that came with the trailer are clearly too small.

[Fbarberio]

Hi,
Add me to the list - My 2013 280 QBS(delivered in June 2012) - just brought it back to dealer. First trip of this season to White Mtns of NH and noticed wear on both axle inside tires on Left (drivers side) and slight wear on front tire of right side. Logged total of 1700 miles total on trailer. Dealer said they would let me know - came home and searched this forum and came upon this thread.
Is there any concerns i should know - would hate to reinvent the wheel ?
My question is tires - seen a few threads on tires - how does Cruiser handle the tire issue?
Thanks for the help -

[Caryite]

Squirlian wrote:
well, they were installed a year ago....just before this thread was started actually...but have only done four trips since then...and I will certainly ask about the alignment when they call me back.

Hi, any update on this item?

Had each of the 2013 QBS280 axles replaced from 3500# to 5200# as well back in late 2012. Have taken 4 trips at 200+ miles each way in 2013 and have not (yet) seen an issue with tire wear, but am still curious what you have found when asked.

[Squirlian]

well, they were installed a year ago....just before this thread was started actually...but have only done four trips since then...and I will certainly ask about the alignment when they call me back.

[Habemus_Quattro]

Are you positive that the shop that installed the new axles aligned them properly? Or did they just throw them on? I'm only suspicious because they were just installed.

[Squirlian]

wow...so June of 2012 we had this issue with our 2012 Shadow Cruiser 280QBS that is after owning it for 11 months. Our dealer was great about this issue, it did take about a month and a half to get axles from Lipert as they don't stock them(apparently) and make them as they are required.

We live just north of Toronto and were travelling to just outside of Reading, PA.

Well we made it just past Buffalo and had to pull over as there were no trailer lights...checked fuses, checked connectors... and waited til following morning and limped it to an Rv dealer near Rochester. couple hundred dollars later and the cause?? no ground on the trailer?? it has been working so far...grrr...but, oh by the way, your axles have bowed!!

Suffice it to say we limped back home, but not before having all 4 tires flipped on the rims to where there was still tread...

so fixed in Aug 2012 covered cost of axles, labour, and 4 new tires...warranty yaay!.

so 3 more trips in 2012 all under 6 hours each way. First trip of 2013..same trip to Reading got there no problem..checked tires (because I am paranoid now) all okay, very little wear.

Drive back to Toronto over 2 days..get home and outside lug on all 4 tires is worn almost completely off.

Called dealer today, waiting on call back...

oh, and the tag on the new axles says 5200 lbs..

is there a minimum weight these need to level out?

[Atlee]

RusLwt001 wrote:

pwrplay wrote:
You axle rating will be printed on a label that is attached directly to the axle tubes.

You probably have 3500lb axles if your axle weight is 5125lbs.

Thank you I will check this weekend. But after reading these comments, if the axels are 5125 lbs then why would 3500 lb axels be installed? If so, is this safe? Should I get them replaced?

3500# axle x 2 = 7000# total weight for the axles. Just like the individual tire weight is multiplied by the number of tires to get the total weight the tires can carry.

Now if you only have a single axle, the weight is 3500#.

[RusLwt001]

pwrplay wrote:
You axle rating will be printed on a label that is attached directly to the axle tubes.

You probably have 3500lb axles if your axle weight is 5125lbs.

Thank you I will check this weekend. But after reading these comments, if the axels are 5125 lbs then why would 3500 lb axels be installed? If so, is this safe? Should I get them replaced?

[pwrplay]

RusLwt001 wrote:

RusLwt001 wrote:
I am also a Shadow Cruiser owner - 2012 285RLS. Without taking it to the dealer how exactly can the average person check and verify they have the 3500 or 5000 lb axels? Is this in the owners manual somewhere? Is it engraved on the axel? Please be specific - not real mechanical when it comes to this stuff. I am still under warrenty and have not noticed any unusual wear yet....thank you.

OK I just went on the Cruiser RV website and looked at the specs for my trailer; it specifically says "Axel weight - 5125 lbs". Do I imply from this that I have the correct axels?

You axle rating will be printed on a label that is attached directly to the axle tubes.

You probably have 3500lb axles if your axle weight is 5125lbs.

[RusLwt001]

RusLwt001 wrote:
I am also a Shadow Cruiser owner - 2012 285RLS. Without taking it to the dealer how exactly can the average person check and verify they have the 3500 or 5000 lb axels? Is this in the owners manual somewhere? Is it engraved on the axel? Please be specific - not real mechanical when it comes to this stuff. I am still under warrenty and have not noticed any unusual wear yet....thank you.

OK I just went on the Cruiser RV website and looked at the specs for my trailer; it specifically says "Axel weight - 5125 lbs". Do I imply from this that I have the correct axels?

[RusLwt001]

I am also a Shadow Cruiser owner - 2012 285RLS. Without taking it to the dealer how exactly can the average person check and verify they have the 3500 or 5000 lb axels? Is this in the owners manual somewhere? Is it engraved on the axel? Please be specific - not real mechanical when it comes to this stuff. I am still under warrenty and have not noticed any unusual wear yet....thank you.

[CarolinaHokie]

My slideout has gone haywire. I push the button and it only moves an inch or two, in a very uneven manner. I tried the electronic override, it is absolutely nuts, one side moves in and one moves out! I tried the manual override to push it out and could not move it at all (but was able to move it back in all the way).

I will report back after having it checked out tomorrow, and hopefuly reset/fixed. I never expected to have this many problems the first summer we bought this.

The slideout is also made by Lippert.

[Canuckss]

CarolinaHokie wrote:
Add me to the list of Shadow Cruiser owners!

How do I know if I have the inferior axles or not? My shadow cruiser is a 2013, so I hoped I had escaped this issue. But on our last trip 2 of the tires got unusually worn.

I am having it evaluated for the inoperable slide out tomorrow anyway so they are going to also look at the axles/alignment.

This is our first TT so I am not sure where to start. Should I call Cruiser, or should I call Lippert? Our dealer is out of town so a local shop is doing the warranty work. Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated. We have only had it two months!

Try and get the dealer to look after it as you have only had it 2 months and still have warranty. I would get the local shop thats looking at it now if the axles underneath are the 3500lb models or if they changed them. But i would report it to Crusier as well to let them know because this is a big issue now. Right now my dealer is dealing with Lippert with the issue as i was infromed from Crusier this morning. Still not sure why this woruld be Lipperts problem as they just supply what Crusier has speced for axles and ordered from Lippert. In my opinon after this many problems they should do a formal recall and get it over with and get everybody sorted out and keep them happy so you do not tarnish there name.What is wrong with your slideout?