Axle spacer

[Herman M Parker]

Last year we had the axle break loose on the front end on both sides. The wheels folded up in the wheel wells nothing rubbed . Did not know it happened until we stopped in Spearfish Montana after the panic thinking about the what ifs we found a welding shop had the repairs done then
Headed on toward Ill. About 200 miles down the road my stupidity kicked in when I realized I should have had the axle spacer put on so I could put 14 or 15" wheels under the Scamp 5er. My question is has anyone had spacers put on their Scamp and how tall for what size tire. Thanks Herman

[Jared J]

3" spacer, st225/75-15e




If I did it again, I would also use the 1.5" spacer they sent with. If the truck had some weight on it to make it sit level, the trailer would be also, so not a big deal to me. I did have to trim the body around the right tire a bit, it was too close for comfort. Eventually I'm going to put a string in the center if the hubcap and strike an arc to cut both wheel openings perfectly round.

[Roy in TO]

Originally Posted by Jared J

Eventually I'm going to put a string in the center if the hubcap and strike an arc to cut both wheel openings perfectly round.

Suggest you taper or round the ends of the arc where it meets the lower body line. Are the street side and curbside sides different like on a regular (non 5th) trailer? Curbside being lower by about 3" to allow for the floor and door opening.

[Jared J]

Unless I'm missing something, there's no need to taper it. The hub is well below the body line, so its less than a half circle when trimmed. I don't think it's lower on the right, but I could be wrong. The frame drops, don't think the body does.

[Herman M Parker]

Jared did you go with 14 or 15in tires. Herman

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by Herman M Parker

Jared did you go with 14 or 15in tires. Herman

Jared already listed his tire size:

Originally Posted by Jared J

3" spacer, st225/75-15e

That's ST225/75R15 LR-E, or

• Special Trailer type
• 225 mm section width
• 75 aspect ratio
• Radial ply construction
• 15" (nominal) wheel diameter
• Load Range E

[Herman M Parker]

Thanks a lot folks. Seeing as my very old mig welder decided it was time t short out and burn up I guess I will be taking the Florida Snowball to the welding shop to get her a lift job. I pull her with a 2005 Dodge 1500 the Height of the back of the truck and with the 13in tires the terrible downhill angle of the trailer has always had me worried about contact with truck and trailer on some of the angles in some state parks. Herman

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by Herman M Parker

I pull her with a 2005 Dodge 1500 the Height of the back of the truck and with the 13in tires the terrible downhill angle of the trailer...

What does the height of the truck matter? A ball mount with the correct amount of drop will place the ball - and thus the trailer tongue - at the right height regardless of the height of the truck or its hitch receiver. A trailer can be too low for road conditions, of course, but that is unrelated to the tow vehicle.

[peterh]

Yea, several of the Scamp 5ers had axles where the frame mounts were just a bit too wide for the frame, causing them to deform and crack. We heard a couple horror stories, and when I went to look under our trailer I discovered one of the two brackets had a slight crack forming in, too. I took it to our local RV shop and had them weld in a length of 3/8" diameter rebar to support the hangover. It's a simple repair, if you catch it early.

As for tires, we moved our Scamp 5er from 13" to 14" tires after a near-mishap, and are very happy with the change.

When taken to a highway truck scale, we often found our Scamp had 2600 lbs sitting on the back axle, which was very close to the 1360 lbs per tire load limits of our 13" Goodyear Marathons. Even so, we were within the rated capacity of the tires. Nevertheless, one day when I was about to put the trailer into storage for the winter after our last trip of the season, I discovered we had a big, 3" balloon of rubber poking out of the curb-side (the heavier side, with the 'fridge, water heater, and microwave) 13" tire. We were fortunate it didn't blow while we were towing!

Our 5er was already lifted for a previous owner's truck -- we actually had it *lowered* about a year later when I found the crack in the axle mount -- so we had room for 15" tires, but each extra inch in tire size adds an inch-plus to the height of our step up into our already-lifted trailer, so we opted for 14" rims and tires rated for 1760 lbs each, 3500 lbs for the pair. They've been golden ever since.

[Herman M Parker]

My main reason for wanting to put the spacer on the axle and larger tires is to raise the trailer so it will run more level behind my truck. I have already had the 5th wheel overhang come in contact with the top of the truck bed while backing into a very unlevel spot in a state park in Washington St. The increase weight carry is nice but we travel very light.

[Hambone]

Originally Posted by Brian B-P

What does the height of the truck matter? A ball mount with the correct amount of drop will place the ball - and thus the trailer tongue - at the right height regardless of the height of the truck or its hitch receiver. A trailer can be too low for road conditions, of course, but that is unrelated to the tow vehicle.

Herman is probably referring to hitting his truck bed, or having his hitch high enough to clear his bed, the trailer rear end might drag going up a incline. (scamp 5th wheel)

[kirkman]

Originally Posted by Brian B-P

What does the height of the truck matter? A ball mount with the correct amount of drop will place the ball - and thus the trailer tongue - at the right height regardless of the height of the truck or its hitch receiver. A trailer can be too low for road conditions, of course, but that is unrelated to the tow vehicle.

Brian a scamp 5er is a fifth wheel. It does not tow with a trailer hitch.

[Herman M Parker]

I'm not dragging the back of the trailer . The problem is the clearance between the back top of the truck bed and the bottom of the 5th wheel overhang when on rough ground when the front of the truck goes down and the back comes up and wants to hit the trlr overhang.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by Hambone

Herman is probably referring to hitting his truck bed, or having his hitch high enough to clear his bed, the trailer rear end might drag going up a incline. (scamp 5th wheel)

Yes, of course you're right, I lost track of which discussion I was in!

Originally Posted by kirkman

Brian a scamp 5er is a fifth wheel. It does not tow with a trailer hitch.

A Scamp 19' is not actually a fifth-wheel (unless it has been converted like Jared's); it has an ordinary 2" coupler and so it tows with a normal 2" ball... but of course there is not the freedom to lower the ball that a conventional trailer has, leading to the problem which Herman has explained.

Sorry for the confusion!

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by peterh

...we opted for 14" rims and tires rated for 1760 lbs each, 3500 lbs for the pair.

Rationally, since it has a 3500 pound capacity axle, it should have had at least this size from the start. Apparently they do, now.

[Herman M Parker]

Jared thanks for the info. Sorry I missed the tire size in your first post. I enlarged your picture and was looking at it and did not notice the tire size.