Casita Trailer Frame... BEWARE.., Changing axles... is your frame flat? Options

[Phillip]

My axle was doing this /--\ so ...
I took my lil egg to a small local trailer manufacturing company which had never worked with a lil egg before ...they measured and while they were doing that I made a cardinal mistake, I mention that I had read where someone had used a Dexter #9 on a little trailer.... it was a boler... (I'm betting they have a FLAT TRAILER) to install these axles you must turn the around backwards... He checked it out and ordered one ...the axle arrive from redneck, the employee cut off the old axle, welded on the new bolt on brackets right where the old bracket had been and bolted on the axle .... and IMHO thats when things went from from bad to worse. it changed the center of the hub backwards 4 1/2" ....I told them that I could have bought the axle and messed up this bad myself!!!!!!for lots cheaper... as I was telling the owner that It was really unacceptable...

so now they have been spending today modifiying the trailer to allow for the axle to move 4 1/2" forward... 1st Major problem the bends on my castia are right in front the axle and wont allow the plate you bolt on or weld on to the frame to be able to move forward ..... Solution add a 3" lift between the axle and frame ... the bend in the frame is close to a 45 deg angle ... so my calculation figure for every 1" lift they can move the mounting bracket foward 1 "
So they are adding lift between the axle and frame and reinforcement...how they are going to gain the other 1 1/2 " to get back to center is still a mystery to me at this point ... But after I complain about the install job the owner agreed to make it right.. Heres a Before and After pic..... I will post a new After AFTER pic when I get the Egg back...

 Our_New_to_us_Casita_001.jpg ( 45.54K ) Number of downloads: 55
 axle_014.jpg ( 40.69K ) Number of downloads: 65
 axle_013.jpg ( 40.38K ) Number of downloads: 62

 

[Ed Harris]

I guess I don't understand why this is a Casita frame issue?
If I read it correctly they didn't order the same axle as the one that was on there?

[Donna D.]

Hummm, is it because the old axle had leading arms, and the new one has trailing arms? Or vice versa??

[curtis c]

they ordered the wrong axle. that load bend is there for a purpose. Have it fixed properly. make the owner order the correct axle. you cant just flop axles around like that. I'm not saying it wont work but i would never monkey up a trailer like that and tow it 10 feet.

[Phillip]

Hummm, is it because the old axle had leading arms, and the new one has trailing arms? Or vice versa??

bingo...

[Ed Harris]

Well that is what I was getting at.

The title of this post makes it sound like there is an issue with the frame itself but that does not seem to be the case......sort of misleading?

[Donna D.]

bingo...

Yeah, and they shouldn't have flipped it. There was a reason Dexter changed the arms.

Ooops.

[Phillip]

Well that is what I was getting at.

The title of this post makes it sound like there is an issue with the frame itself but that does not seem to be the case......sort of misleading?

welll the problem with the frame is the step up... this is a time where it would have been nice to had a flat trailer ...

[Donna D.]

welll the problem with the frame is the step up... this is a time where it would have been nice to had a flat trailer ...

I just added the subtitle. That helps with "search" too

[Greg A]

Actually, ur OK "turning" a Dexter #9 so it becomes a leading arm. "Flipping" is different. As Pete D pointed out, you just need to make sure the brake backing plates end up on the correct side after you turn it. We've now almost completed a year and it is fine and the tire wear is excellent which reinforces that it is fine to turn them.

In our 13 Scamp Axle change documented here our axle shop had contacted Dexter directly about this issue since they don't make leading arm axles anymore.

The bolt on brackets didn't work on ours either as it would have resulted in exactly what Phillip's turned out like. The bigger question would be why they ended up putting it on like that? In order to do a stock retrofit our shop had to weld the replacement just like the original. The bolt on brackets can be made to work with a lot of alteration and would have raised the trailer a good bit which we couldn't do since we store it in our garage. You can also alter these to trailing arm setups, but again it raises the trailer a good bit which was counter to what we were trying to accomplish.

[Phillip]

I guess I don't understand why this is a Casita frame issue?
If I read it correctly they didn't order the same axle as the one that was on there?

I didnt want what was originally on the there because I wanter a heavier load axle the original was a 1200# axle the new axle is 2000# and I wanted trailer brakes which didnt come orginal..and I dont know if the even make a leading torsion axle anymore..

But all is well, Orginally the bottom of the frame at the door was only 6" off the ground and .. So it was givin a 3" lift.. and the axle is back where it belongs... and it pulls good ... now I have the door hinges and the cabinet doors to do..

 axle.jpg ( 46.41K ) Number of downloads: 33

 

[Phil Underwood]

looks good

[Roy in TO]

The bolt on brackets didn't work on ours either as it would have resulted in exactly what Phillip's turned out like. ... The bolt on brackets can be made to work with a lot of alteration and would have raised the trailer a good bit which we couldn't do since we store it in our garage.

I don't believe the bolt on brackets had all that much to do with any major change in height or positioning of the axle. The bolt on kit is essentially a piece of angle iron a little longer than the mounting bracket. It fits between the mounting bracket and the frame. It is coloured light blue in the attached picture.

 bracket.jpg ( 17.75K ) Number of downloads: 21


Edit to add this description:
The low profile mounting bracket is orange and the high profile mounting bracket is red. The axle is grey and the frame is a diagonal stripe.

This post has been edited by Roy in TO: Jun 20 2009, 06:01 AM

[Roy in TO]

My axle was doing this /--\ so ...
I took my lil egg to a small local trailer manufacturing company which had never worked with a lil egg before ...they measured and while they were doing that I made a cardinal mistake, I mention that I had read where someone had used a Dexter #9 on a little trailer.... it was a boler... (I'm betting they have a FLAT TRAILER) to install these axles you must turn the around backwards... He checked it out and ordered one ...

The initial problem was possibly that they had never worked on an egg before and the guy doing the measuring was not the one to weld the axle on.

I looked at a lot of frames and axles before deciding what I neeeded for mine. Most of our trailers have a portion of the floor which drops below the frame in the kitchen area to maximize interior head room. If one is changing the axle direction from leading to trailing, or even just swapping an axle the key is measuring. Many of our trailers have axles that were made 30 years ago by someone other than Dexter. The measurements may differ. The same can be said for the frame. If you think about it, just because it is an egg, it does not necessarily mean that it is going to have the exact same frame over all these years.

To get an axle to fit just right either as a straight swap or while "spinning" it, one may have to tinker with frame modifications, mounting bracket height, arm length (some manufacturers offer different sizes), start angle and even tire/rim size. The key is to research, measure and plan. My axle swap post explains everything I had to consider in changing axles. If in doubt, there is a lot of experience on this board.