Broke axle on the road....

lmannyr · Oct 18, 2008

I have a towmaster 6000 # Gross dual axle that my 220 Sea Ray Sundancer sits on. I knew the axles needed to be replaced.... When over a speed hump at the recomended 25mph and I heard kccckckrrrrrrrrr. The rear axle broke in the middle.

I was about 15 miles from home so I turtle paced on home. about 2 hous later and a flat on the broken axle it's time to replace. I can't back the boat/trailer into my back yard because of the pitch and the axle digging into the yard quite deep. Any pointers for this?

Also, it's the torsion type axle. Frame measures from outside to outside 79". I was quoted 395 for the axle with brake braket (assuming spindle too). Does this sound right?

What should the axle be rated at?

THANKS!!!

lmannyr · Oct 18, 2008

Re: Broke axle on the road....

Here are some pictures of the damage.

tashasdaddy · Oct 18, 2008

Re: Broke axle on the road....

i had great luck with these guys, shipping quick, prices were good.

http://www.trailerpart.com/

jaxnjil · Oct 18, 2008

Re: Broke axle on the road....

if you have to back it in now i would go ahead and jack it up,block it and take the bad axle out. its got to come out sooner or later. you should be able to SLOWELY and CAREFULY nurse it back with out any more trouble
short of that you could get a floor jack and spot it under the break. then jack it up and see if the weight of the boat and trailer are enough to hold it down and push and bend back up. if it does you maybe back up a little or cobble something on it to hold till you get where you want it.

woosterken · Oct 18, 2008

Re: Broke axle on the road....

could you lay a pipe or 4x4 across the frame under the boat,jack up the axle and chain it up over that just long enough to get her in the yard?

woosterken

lmannyr · Oct 18, 2008

Re: Broke axle on the road....

The back of the trailer really sags now. I set the rear end on jacks and dropped the tongue all the down. I'll try to back it up here in a few minutes with the wife to spot.

Took some more pics...this time of the front axle....check it out...

Thats the front axle driver side. I think I'm lucky!!! So I'll have to replace both...

Gary H NC · Oct 18, 2008

Re: Broke axle on the road....

Man that was luck getting it home! Thank goodness it made it!

I was looking at new axles the other day at Northern Tool and the prices were not bad..Not sure about the torsion type though.

I would guess those are at least 3500 lb axles..

tashasdaddy · Oct 18, 2008

Re: Broke axle on the road....

you may be better off with a newer, used trailer.

wajajaja02 · Oct 18, 2008

Re: Broke axle on the road....

your going to replace these with the boat off the trailer? so that means a trip back to the marina, so you want to have the axels on hand and all new hardware to overhaul the trailer while the boat is in a slip somewhere for a weekend. good time to check the fenders out too and other cross members for rust.

Silvertip · Oct 18, 2008

Re: Broke axle on the road....

Just a word of caution here. Torsion axles outwardly would appear to be very trouble free but there is one characteristic with these axles that makes them less than desireable for tandem or tri-axle use. Think carefully about this -- these trailers need to be towed perfectly level and anything that causes the wheels on one axle to be greatly displaced from those on the other axle, means you have an instant overload on one axle. Why? Because each axle is mounted directly to the frame and the wheels are attached to a swing arm at each end. When you went over the speed bump, you forced first the front axle upward without moving the back axle. This has the same effect as towing the trailer with the tongue way low. When you went over the bump with the back axle, you created a situation where the trailer is being towed with tongue way high. Anything other than perfectly level with a tandem torsion axle causes high stress on the displaced axle which in your case looks like it had a rust problem anyway and the net result is it broke. If that trailer were mine, I would convert it to a conventional tandem axle spring setup. And you will probably do it for less money than replacing both torsion axles. The new setup can be mounted on a cradle that can be adjusted fore and aft to get the proper tongue weight. Torsion axles are fine on single axle rigs but not in tandem configuration when loaded at or near the max and especially if running on uneven terrain. I've seem many tandem snowmobile trailers for example being towed tongue high and when going out of a parking lot the front wheels are off the ground. That means the entire load is transfered to the rear axle overloading it. The same thing happens with a boat trailer. Sprung tandems don't have that issue because the axles are sprung from the walking beam that allows distribution of the load regardless of terrain.

lmannyr · Oct 18, 2008

Re: Broke axle on the road....

The decal says Gross 6000 # Net 980 #

I thought Gross would be higher. What would a the spring type cost me? How would I get the cradle?

The torsion set 3500lb would be ~700 shipped.

Thanks for the tips and suggestions. Keep 'em comming.

Titanium48 · Oct 18, 2008

Re: Broke axle on the road....

You should be able to get a pair of 3500 lb spring-type axles with new brakes, springs and hangers for $700. It's hard to tell for sure from the pictures, but you would probably want drop axles (spindle offset from axle beam) to maintain your current ride height. On my trailer the "cradle" is just 4 pieces of 2 x 3 inch 3/16 thick angle iron bolted together in a 28 by 48 inch rectangle and attached to the rest of the trailer with U-bolts. The spring hangers are attached by the same bolts in the corners. Mine is a much lighter application though, with a single 2000 lb axle. You might also be able to bolt the spring hangers directly to the frame the same way the torsion axles were mounted.

lmannyr · Oct 18, 2008