Straighten a light weight trailer axle?

[KMinAF]

The trailer has served me well but has developed a bit of negative camber from... well never mind that, and I was considering the possibilities of bending it back into alignment or possibly flipping the axle over which would give me a positive camber situation. Anyone ever done something like that or have suggestions? If I were to get the axle straight again I think I would truss it to give it a bit more strength.

 

[metaleltr]

maybe able to create an adjustable truss similar to a metal brake then you could adjust until it is where you like it, positive or negative will make no difference, it will still tear up tires

 

[plow]

I heated a bent spindle with a rosebud on my BBQ trailer 6/8 years ago. It's been good so far. Local runs only though, the axle is about a 1200# 5 lug, the pit weighs about 8oo#s. I wouldn't have even considered this if it were a over the road trailer.

 

[IOWNJUNK]

Are you sure its the axle and not the spindles or bearings?
I would give bending it back a shot if it is the axle. If you can't get it the way you want you can always just put another axle under it. I've seen them at tractor supply for around $100 with hubs

 

[brownbagg]

cut the ends off and add a new piece of pipe

 

[crf731]

I bent one years ago on an RV that I owned.

Your trailer is probably to light to do this, but on mine I put a jack in the middle of the axle between the springs where it was bent the most and jacked up on the axle until it was straight.

It worked fine for the couple of more years that I owned it.

 

[bgarrett]

straightening bent axles is an everyday thing at truck spring shops. I put a 1935 Ford axle in my press because it was bent like an S and its been on the road for 22 years. The axle shop told me to bend it cold

 

[Charles (in GA)]

As noted, new ones are cheap. Tractor Supply has a rack full of them, I think Northern Tool does also. New, they have a "kink" in the middle of them to give them positive camber. The one on my 5x10 seems to run Ok, but I've had it way overloaded, till the trailer was sitting down flat on the axle (not my idea, the rock quarry way overloaded me and I had no way to get it off).

Charles.

 

[IOWNJUNK]

I ordered an axle kit once from Northern. $139 (long ago) but shipping was almost half again more. It came one part at a time, hangers one day then springs a few weeks later. The axle itself came almost a month after I ordered it and I spent about a week looking for hubs before they finally showed up on my door. 6 months later a brand new tractor supply opened up right down the road from me.

Do both wheels have the same amount of neg camber? I believe you can just loosen the U-bolts up and rotate the entire axle so it will have a pos camber. That should make it even out with a load on it. Be sure to go 180 degrees when you rotate it or you will have to deal with a toe in/out situation.

 

[arsco]

http://www.easternmarine.com/em_store/axles/

Id go new.

 

[McKay]

I have had good luck in flipping the trailer over and using a highlight jack or porta-power the middle of the axle and chain to each end of the axle.

 

[kerrynzl]

The trailer has served me well but has developed a bit of negative camber from... well never mind that, and I was considering the possibilities of bending it back into alignment or possibly flipping the axle over which would give me a positive camber situation. Anyone ever done something like that or have suggestions? If I were to get the axle straight again I think I would truss it to give it a bit more strength.

What's does the other side look like?
If the beam is bent [between the springs] the other side should be similar.
If not , it is bent outside the spring [ spindle ]

You can heat the spindle and straighten it with some HD pipe over it.
But if you have access to a Oxy-Acetylene set you could also cut off and replace a spindle.

Spindles are only about $10-$20 each

 

[MatthewM]

I've seen heating successfully accomplished on axle housings. Here is a website that provides some info, as well as a YouTube video showing it done on a smaller scale (although it works well on long shafts all the same):

http://www.repairengineering.com/shaft-straightening.html

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Vegaman_Dan]

New axle is $100 and less mental stress to deal with this. New hardware makes it easier to install. Sometimes time vs. money really does make more sense to go with new.

That said, I'd be tempted to hold on to the old axle and try to build something with it.

 

[LEVE]

Go to a U-pull it yard and get a Caravan rear axle as a replacement.

 

[koditten]

Done it many times. The easiest is to stick a loaded fork truck on the bed for weight. Floor jack under the bowed axle. Jack it up until you get the camber you want.

Flipping the axle might work , but most axles have the spring perch welded to the tube. You would have to cut it off. Kind of a pain job.

 

[BD1]

''Done it many times. The easiest is to stick a loaded fork truck on the bed for weight. Floor jack under the bowed axle. Jack it up until you get the camber you want.''

I wanna watch the fork truck go through the floor of the trailer if it gets that far. Please take a video.

 

[laser3kw]

Mine bent like that. The trailer was a cheapy HF type. I found the axle assembly was a 11 ga sheet metal formed channel with a bona fide bolt as the axle stub.
I rebuilt the entire trailer (basically saved the title and fabricated new) and installed a new axle assembly from Northern Hydraulic.

 

[gearhead1]

If both ends are the same way, just flip it over. (Assuming bearings and hubs are good.) Run it that way until it looks like it does now, then get a whole new axle.

When you get a new one, consider going up in size. I ordered mine from Rockwell American and they will make it to bolt right in, but will be a heavier duty axle. Just don't overload the trailer frame. At some point you'd have to go to bigger trailer unless it was a one time event.

 

[koditten]

''Done it many times. The easiest is to stick a loaded fork truck on the bed for weight. Floor jack under the bowed axle. Jack it up until you get the camber you want.''

I wanna watch the fork truck go through the floor of the trailer if it gets that far. Please take a video.

Not what I intended to describe.

You just need something heavy to keep the whole trailer from lifting off the ground. You can't use just the forks because the forks are only anchored at the top. The whole fork truck is not in the trailer, just the forks with weight.

Loader bucket works too.

The tube steel on trailer axles is just plain old pipe steel. A few are Schedule 40, but most are lighter. If it was sched. 40, you won't be able to bend it back with a plain old floor jack. The trailer was severely over loaded to bend one of those axles.

 

[scraptor]

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/ford/1699274-how-straighten-you-axle.html

 

[koditten]

That's awesome!!