hershey wrote: When flipping the axle, why couldn't you just also give it a 1/2 turn so that the old R wheel is now on the L wheel side so you don't have to weld new pads and the wheel alignment would remain the same?
On a non-cambered axle and no brakes -sure.
Cambered axle or an axles with brakes -no.
Thanks for the info. Never thought past a simple straight (aligned) axle.
hershey - albuquerque, nm Someday Finally Got Here
My wife does all the driving - I just get to hold the steering wheel.
Superman was an illegal alien.
Expedition - Suzuki Grand Viagra
while I don't intend to do anything right away, I did stumble across another option.
while searching a trailer suspension website, it appears that several depths (or heights?) of axle hangers are available quite affordably.
I would still be paying someone to weld them on, but I would have more control over the final lift amount.
rignt now, I'm thinking that for my needs a hanger that will give me around 3" or 4" would be preferable to the full 7" for an axle flip.
You're worried about the camber and caster with a flip, which doesn't actually change either, but what about your idea of simply dropping to the lower spring perch? Won't that also affect them?
(Answer: Yes!)
There are lots of folks that have flipped the Coleman/Fleetwood axles without an issue. Welding the perches is a relatively easy and straightforward job almost any shop can do, and they don't need the camper present to do so.
If you just want to drop the back of the spring, it *might* net you an inch or so. When I couldn't get the first bolt on our Coleman Monterey to turn with a 24" breaker bar, I decided an inch wasn't worth the effort and let it be.
wtb wrote: anyway, I noticed that the spring hangers have a second mounting hole about 1.5 inches lower than the one the bolts currently pass through.
this looks like an easy way to raise the trailer a little bit.
am I missing something? do these holes serve some other purpose?
will remounting the springs have any negative cosequenses?
I just did this very thing two weeks ago to my 2006 Fleetwood PUP. I didn't get a full 1.5" because the holes were only on the front hangers and not the rear ones. Still, it was free and is better than it was.
I could do nothing myself to break the rusted bolts - cheater bars, penetrating oil, wire brush on exposed threads, etc. I ended up putting a box wrench on the nut and using my hydraulic floor jack to move the wrench the right direction. Put on wrench, pump it up, release jack, move wrench to lower position, repeat. It was tedious, but I had missed going to the gym that week so I made up for it.
I did install new hanger bolts from Tractor Supply Co. when I moved to the lower position. You'll need to use a floor jack or something similar to help you position the loose axle when lining it up to put in the new bolts. I had to use the same jacking technique in reverse to draw the new fluted bolts into the hanger. Sure would be nice to have an impact wrench, but I have what I have.
I wish I could do something similar to the spring arm location on the rear, but that part of the arm rests directly on the underside of the frame and needs to float freely.
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