Question about torsion axles and camber

[atx111]

Had a tire go flat on my front axle the other day trying to get home. Belt had gone on the half the circumference on the outside and noticed some tread separation on the outside of the tire on the other side of the axle. But, the tread separation may have been from riding on it until I could get the rig pulled over. The tires were on about a year with around 3000 miles on them.

Got a whole new set of Maxxis tires(I'm paranoid like that), and after I changed them out, I noticed quite a bit of positive camber on the front axle, enough you can see it, on both front wheels, more on the wheel where I had the flat. The axle is a UFP 3700# torsion axle. I have to turn while I'm backing the trailer into my storage stall, could that cause the camber? I guess I need to check them after running straight for a bit.

At any rate, I'm going to have my mechanic do a thorough inspection as well as repack all the bearings and replace if needed. I just don't want to be chewing through tires every year.

My question is, what could be the other causes of this other than turning sharp while backing?

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Question about torsion axles and camber

Tandem axle torsion suspension trailers have a couple issues that leaf spring tandems don't. 1) torsion tandems do not have an equalizer that maintains constant loading on all wheels regardless what they are doing. Torsion suspension is independent so one wheel can still step over an obstacle, but that wheel now sees extra loading forces that does not occur on a leaf spring tandem. 2) Torsion axle tandems need to be towed perfectly level. I've seen these trailers with either the front or rear axle totally off the ground because of the lack of travel in the suspension. Tongue high towing results in overloading the rear axle. Tongue low towing overloads the front axle. Both of these issues present problems when the trailer is loaded at or near it's load capacity. So the long and short of this is that you may have scrubbed a curb, turned while exiting a parking area with steep driveway, or simply hit a pot hole that bent the spindle. These are easily replaced so it's not a maintenance problem. It may also be that the rubber in the torsion assembly has worn out causing the entire assembly to lose its "spring".

 

[atx111]

Re: Question about torsion axles and camber

Thanks for the help! I think I'm becoming familiar with the short comings of torsion axles, especially when I'm pulling the boat out of my drive(very slowly) and wheels up in the air going over the curb.

I try to be very careful about missing potholes and curbs, but I understand it doesn't take much to tweak them.

On a whim, I went to where I store my boat, hooked up and drove forward in a straight line, got my framing square, put it on the ground and up against the tire flat as I could and the positive camber was gone on both sides. Backed it into my stall straight, rechecked, and it was back.

When I jacked up the trailer, the wheels spun free without wobble or noise and no play when I gave them a shake.

 

[H20Rat]

Re: Question about torsion axles and camber

Not all spring axles are of the walking type, I've seen (actually owned) more than one trailer that had 2 independent spring setups. Also, its rare, but there ARE walking torsion axle designs. Can't say I've ever seen one on a boat trailer though.

 

[Josh P]

Re: Question about torsion axles and camber

Turning would case this issue, But to add to it i just installed a brand new pair of torsion axles on a trailer do to negative camber as well as some negative toe. I ordered brand new dexter axles, the rep told me that torsion axles only have a life expectancy of 5-7 years then the rubber goes bad.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: Question about torsion axles and camber

sounds like you may have a toe issue