Flat springs and now a bent axle

Question

Earlier this year I was doing bearing maintenance on my 2017, 17 ft, single axle TT, bought in 2018. I noticed a small dent in the frame where the spring U-bolts had bottomed out. The springs had lost their shape and were flat. I replaced the springs with American made springs from Northern Tool. Old springs had 1" clearance, new 3 1/2". Much better.

I recently installed new tires on my TT. Upon inspecting the old tires, I found that they were wearing along the inside edge of both tires. I checked the axle to see if it was bent. The axle is bent so it needs to be replaced. I think the axle got bent because of the flat springs bottoming out.

I weigh the TT before most trips because I have free access to a commercial scale 1 mile from my house before I get to the highway and am not overloaded. I checked the axle tag and it say that it is a 3200# on a TT with a 3500# loaded weight.

I will be checking with the dealer that sold me the TT to see if they will replace it. I will let you know what happens.

grit_dog · Answer

Of course they’ll replace it. If you’re looking for warranty on an almost 6 year old RV, not a chance I'd say.

time2roll · Answer

When my springs went flat the axles became out of alignment due to the sagging geometry.  New springs was all I needed.

pianotuna · Answer

When I had my springs rebuilt I failed to do an alignment. Now I need new tires (and an alignment).

vintage465 · Answer

Trailer axles aren't really to good at taking a hit like bottoming out against the frame.  I had to replace the axles on our horse trailer for the same reason.  I think the next axle up the load level rating is a 3500# axle and that isn't really enough.  I'd move up the ladder at least to an axle in the 4000# area.

pbutler97 · Answer

BarabooBob wrote:
I checked the axle to see if it was bent. The axle is bent so it needs to be replaced. I think the axle got bent because of the flat springs bottoming out.

I weigh the TT before most trips because I have free access to a commercial scale 1 mile from my house before I get to the highway and am not overloaded. I checked the axle tag and it say that it is a 3200# on a TT with a 3500# loaded weight.

Checked how? An axle is purposely bent up (Cambered). If you run a string or straightedge on the underside of the axle, from the inside edge of spring perch to spring perch when the trailer is unloaded, it should camber up @ 5/8" which would result in the wheel leaning out at the top @ 1-1/2 degrees (positive wheel camber). For tires to wear on the inside the axle would need to have it's camber opposite of that, or the spindles would have to have bent out of plane with the axle camber, resulting in the wheels leaning in at the top (negative wheel camber). That's almost if not impossible to make happen, a hit that hard would damage other stuff first, like bend the hell out of the spring hangers. The intent is when the trailer is loaded the axle camber comes out and the wheel camber comes back to O degrees. It's hardly an exact science on a trailer.

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Flat springs and now a bent axle

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