how complicated are trailer axles they're not they're really simple and that's what's we're going to be discussing today and staying on the road to kind of set this up you know I have a passion for certain aspects of RV maintenance as odd as that may sound but I do you know these are usually areas that that I get passionate about that are commonly neglected and when they go unchecked they can easily ruin a well-planned vac and that creates that situation where you say I'll never let that happen
again you know no way but sometimes we do because we get home and get past it and go right back to what we're doing so trailer axles they're an area trailer tires you know not maintaining your tires replac them when they need to be replaced those things ruin trips but for today in this episode we're just going to focus on RV trailer axles motor home axles yes they can have problems you need to pay attention to them but you know they're very specific to the chassis and for the most part they're w
hat I would call static you know they're there you don't just replace them because just because you know you're not going to go to a different axle size because that axle was made for that chassis it was thought out and generally on motor homes they don't undersize axles they're built you know correctly for the motor home they don't seem to have the same problems that trailer axles have so we're going to focus on the RV trailer axles which a lot of this just carries right over into cargo trailer
axles and um you know utility trailers horse trailers things like that but our Focus today is going to be on sprung axles as well in other words they have leaf springs they're not Torsion axles they have leaf springs and it's there's not that many Torsion axles if any on trailers although some do get put on there and and independent suspension is sometimes put on trailers so these are sprung axles that we're talking about it has leaf springs but you know looking at trailer axles they can also b
e a little more Dynamic I kind of touched on that a little bit you know you buy an RV and you might decide that the axles are underrated for the RV and so you're going to upgrade them or maybe something happens down the road for some crazy reason you decide to downgrade the axles you know something might happen while you're out on the road and you know you've got a 5200 lb axle and you need to get on the road and the only you can find is a 3500 lb axle you might downgrade you know and maybe late
r on get it back upgraded but it got you on the road and you know some of those things are doable not recommended but you do what you have to do sometimes you might might be out in the middle of nowhere and it's going to be a long time before you get an axle they just happen to have one laying around well let's throw that puppy in if it'll fit and let get me out of here now that's if it'll fit not all axles are just interchangeable even though a lot of parts aren't I'm going to touch on that so
why does it really matter what axle and suspension you have well in some respects it it doesn't matter at all the trailer came with what it came with and when they is maintenance that needs to be done you just take it to the local Service Center and they repair it and it could be that simple you just pick it up and you're done you don't worry about it you don't think about it you know maybe RV maintenance isn't your thing and you just have someone else do it but on the other hand you might own y
ou might like to do all your own maintenance and knowing what you have as far as the alxo goes can take save a lot of time with purchasing repair parts such as wheel bearings you know you can just bring in the old wheel bearing or you might have the number written down and this is what I need it makes it simple but writing things down and having a record of it is better than having the or it helps with the parts but sometimes you don't have the parts take in and so having a record of what your a
xle is and the parts in it certainly makes it easier especially if you're calling around and asking if they have these parts you know or you you may want to see what you have in the event in the event you experience a breakdown out of the highway and that information saves the day so recording it having it with you you break down on the road maybe you know disconnect the trailer drive into town you haven't taken it apart yet you want to leave it intact until you find the parts and do it all one
shot now that might be what you want to do it might not be the best thing to do it might be better to take the drums off and see how bad it is if the wheel bearings are melted onto the spindle and you got to replace the entire axle or the spindles you know you want to analyze that first but nonetheless the point is if you have the information it makes it easier now most RV trailers fifth wheels travel trailers they have a 3500 lb to a 7,000lb axle so that's going to depend on the trailer's weigh
t and what the manufacturer manufacturer installed at the factory so they determine the weight of the trailer and what axles should go on there and the axles also require the same type of leaf spring if you have a 3500 lb leaf spring I mean actually you have the same leaf springs to go with it they work in conjunction and you might not know what type of axle you have with the weight rating or anything about it you know it's just an axle you don't care well most that information can be found on a
a tag sometimes it's a metal band on the axle and sometimes it's a sticker it's on the axle and it tells you all the information or usually all the information about it you have to decode it sometimes but even that you can look on the internet help get help decoding it or like if it's a Dexter axle you can call Dexter if it's a Lippard components you can call Lippert in fact on lippert's website you can actually put it into their website it'll tell you what a replacement is how much it'll cost
and all the information about it so that's kind of cool but if you have the tag or the label on the axle take a picture of it make sure you put that picture someplace where you're going to have it and also WR down the information off the tag even if you don't understand it just write it down in the same order that's on the tag or the label and record that in your and your book for your RV and that's assuming you keep a little book of some kind or some sort of record keeping method for your RV wh
ether it's digital or paper you should have something and I recommend the picture because tags sometimes fall off they get torn off a dealership might take it off for some reason maybe they're doing a little information on your axle they forgot to put it back on the labels don't last forever you know they get all smeared Road Grim chewed up so and then the event that you don't have the label or you can't read it or the tag is already gone it's not that hard to figure out what actually you have i
t's just a few measurements and some common sense and a little bit of time and you can do this and sometimes you might have to take the tires and wheels off to get a real accurate measurement it's probably better to just plan on doing that at least on one side of the axle um it it will help make it easier cuz what you need to get to help you do this is the axle's complete it's together so you want the Hub face to HUB face so that's the outside of the Hub where your lug nuts are where the wheel w
ould press up and rest against the face of the of the Hub or the drum it could be either or a hub or a drum most trailer travel trailers are going to have drums on it not a hub that would be more like a uh utility trailer so drum face to drum face then also you have the the uh spring perches or spring supports for the leaf springs they're welded to the axle if you measure across from those Center to Center that's a measurement and then here's another one that's a little harder to do the axle len
gth so the axle you'd have to have it stripped down the drums or the backing plates taken off so you can get a good axle or length or you'd have to put a straight on the tip of each axle and then measure in between it so that can take two or three people to do that but that's another option as well and the flange to flange measurement actually having all of these makes it very concise so if you do need a new axle calling around makes it much easier and even knowing the lug pattern on the wheel i
s going to help and you want to keep your wheel size and the tire size and the lug pattern also recorded as well keep that in your book because those are important things too if you need a wheel you know exactly what you have what the lug pattern is the diameter if it's 15 in 14 in 16 in and then the width of it if it's five six or 7 in you should know that that way you can walk into a store and buy a wheel for let's say a spare and not have to do all this measuring again because you've done it
you've done it the first time and the lug patter is important too there's different patterns but sometimes they look very similar like there's a you know two five lug patterns five lug on 4 and 1/2 in or five lug on 5 in and to determine your pattern you just put the measuring tape in the center of one lug and measure across to the other one um the one closest to Center and that's the size you have five on four and a half five on five six on six whatever it might be so that keeps it simple but t
hose things there can help you identify axle now it's not going to tell you everything you need to know about your axle because you do need to know the weight rating of it that's very important and that's where the wheel bearings and some of these parts come in but knowing this that let's say you have a SE 7,000 pound axle that the wheel bearings and the grease seals will fit from your axle will fit all 7,000 7,000 pound axles for the most part unless there's just an oddball axle out there but y
ou can actually walk into a store I need wheel beares and grease seals for a 7,000lb axle and it shouldn't be an issue now some stores might not have the experience and they're going to have to look it up or you might have to bring samples just for them to be sure but ultimately though you really don't have to do that but if you have numbers that helps too but a 7,000lb axle is going to take the same wheel bearings as any other now let's really dig in out to the part that matters once you deter
in which actually you have all the parts as I said are going to be the same based on the weight rating so a 5200lb axle all the parts going to be the same as any other 5200lb axle so I'm kind of reiterating that but I want to make sure that you understand that so the bearings are going to be the same the grease seals are going to be the same the drums would be the same the hubs would be the same if you had hubs so it makes it easier so but nonetheless still record all your wheel bearing numbers
just in case you might get some place where they absolutely can't do it by weight they're going to say I need the bury numbers period so then you're prepared to do that you're helping them at that point especially if you're out on the road you don't want to be arguing with somebody over this stuff you want to just get your axle back together and get back on the road and do what you do best RV and have a good time now 3500lb axles are kind of in a category all by themselves their parts don't matc
h anything else a 3500 lb axle is a 3500 lb axle so if you have one of those which would be on a smaller trailer maybe 22 ft 24 ft um 28 ft depending on the manufacturer you're probably going to have five lugs on a 5 in or 4 and 1/2 inch pattern so just you need to know the wheel size and actually on that particular one the wheel size the lug pattern is going to tell you the axle pretty much for the most part but there's still a tag on there and then you need to know that 30 or 3,000lb axles are
n't common on travel trailers but they are out there so like I said that comes on smaller trailers now a 5200 67,000 uh 7,000lb axles going to learn how to talk here today they are all the same axle everything on them is identical but the difference is they take different bearings so the inner bearing is the same on almost on actually it's the same on all three of those sizes and the outer bearing varies by the actual size now the grease seals are the same but the drums can be different so the b
earings the uh outer bearing is going to be different the grease seals are going to be the same but the drums can be different and the drums are going to be different due to the wheel bearing size and the lug pattern so the lug pattern is going to play into this as well so these are little things you need to know but the axle itself the tube they're all the same it's just the bearing configuration and the drum configuration so one other point worth knowing is if your axle is under or over slung
under slung means the axle is mounted on top of the leaf spring so the leaf spring is underneath the axle overslung means the leaf spring is mounted on the top of the axle and this is good to know because if you're replacing the axle it might come up the question is going to arise is it over slung under slung because everything else on the you have everything else but that so that's good to know if you're not sure just take a picture of of the axle and the Leaf Spring and most Parts guy can figu
re that out and help you uh you know determine whether it's over or under slung and there's also this term that floats around called flipping the axle and you don't really flip an axle anymore it's it's a terminology that came from years ago when axles were made a little bit different but what it does the idea behind it is raising the trailer or actually you could lower it too but generally it's done to raise the trailer if the if it's under slung so the leaf springs are under the bottom of the
axle you would well Leaf ping leaf spring perches on the top of the axle and the leaf springs would now sit on top and that would give it a 3in lift but the axle stays the same you're not flipping it because it has a bow in it that bow needs to stay at the top so it's just changing the trailer basically putting the trailer on top of the axle so hopefully this makes some sense and you see the value in it of knowing what you have because it makes it a lot easier when people come into the store and
they tell me they have a 3500 lb now I don't have all the numbers memorized but our boxes are identified and then we have a cheat sheet we look at which will be on our website which I think is already on our website but I'll make sure it's there again um and there I go again saying the stuff when it's already going to be there it'll be there it is already there how's that but it just makes it easier and even you can print our cheat sheet and just keep that with you maybe Circle the parts you ha
ve for your existing trailer and a lot of people you know they just have problems with this they go to part stores they don't know how to look it up you know it it's all on you know who you talk to and how much experience they have doesn't mean they're you know idiots if they can do this it just means they don't have the experience but just simple little things like this can make life easier when it comes to maintaining your RV even if you had a problem you just jump in your car I need a new whe
el bearing and you take off and you get to the store oh I forgot what bearing number that is or I forgot to bring the bearing but hey I got a 7,000lb axle it's the in Berry they should know what to give you see how that pays off all right so I hope you appreciate this information so that's going to bring us to the end of staying on the road and as a reminder at sunpro manufacturing we have slide out awning fabrics for all the major brand slideouts whether it's Solera dedic Carefree now it's pret
ty much it anymore so those three brands we have a replacement slide out Fabrics check them out they got threeyear and 5year warranties and even a 10-year warranty great product great prices so I want to thank you for listening this is Eric Stark with the smart rvr podcast it's been great hanging out with you if I don't see on the road let's connect to the smart rv.com
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