The Axle Replacement Saga

[Greg A]

Installment #4: "Don't Sell My Axle - The Axle Saga Continues"

The next week comes and I go up the burned out shop to see when they can put the axle on. Only the office mgr and one younger employee remain and they tell me to check back the following week to see if they're ready. I return the following week and they've had to lay-off all the remaining employees except the office manager, but they tell me the shop manager will call me in a couple of days and come up and put the axle on. He is now employed at an RV dealer, but wants to make some money moonlighting. Another week goes by and no call.

I find myself driving by the shop one afternoon and something is telling me to pull in and see what is going on. I've learned over the years to follow those feelings so I exit and head for the shop. There is a fella there with the office manager and they are going around the yard looking at all the axles. Finally, she comes over and says that he wants to buy all the axles and isn't mine somewhere in the pile?? She tells me her salary has been cut in half and the owner didn't have enough insurance so he told her to sell everything to anyone and they would be through. All of their records were destroyed, but she knows I paid them something for the axle so just go ahead and take it before this fella loads them up. She tells me the shop manager never called me to put the axle on because he broke his ribs and is laid up. Unfortunately, this isn't the end of the broken bones.

Not being one to argue, I find my axle quickly and load it in my Jeep and me and the Dexter #9 head south as quickly as we can. Phewwww, pays to listen to those feelings. Half an hour later and my axle would have been sold.

So, one month after returning home from the "Fires of Yellowstone" to the "Inferno at the Horse Trailer Shop" the axle is the closest it has been to the Scamp. Only one problem: It is laying on the floor of the garage by the Scamp and not installed on it. Late at night when I'm working on the Scamp in the garage, I'd swear that axle is just grinnin at me - naw, can't be.

We're back to the sometimes you have to sit with things for awhile before you get in the mood to deal with it again. We actually take a couple of trips on the old axle in Sept and Oct and each time we return home the new Dexter #9 is there to welcome us back.

Don't miss installment #5: "Don't Break Your Finger, Just Install My Axle - The Axle Saga Continues"

[Alf S.]

Hi: Greg... And all along I thought it was only ME!!!
Alf S. North shore of Lake Erie

[Pamela H]

Ok...its been 3 days since we've heard on the saga...WHAT HAPPENED???

[Greg A]

Installment #5: "Don't Break Your Finger, Just Install My Axle - The Axle Saga Continues"

In the last episode we rescued our axle right before it was sold to salvagers and it has been sitting on the garage floor for over a month. I finally decided to and started looking for options to have it installed.

Suddenly, I remembered there were two horse trailer shops that I checked with intially that said they could do it. The other one, was right across the highway. Off I go to see if they are willing to install my axle for a reasonable price.

This shop was smaller, which is why I had picked the other one, but they had a well equipped shop and an installer who seemed to have a lot of experience. Price was reasonable so I made an appointment.

I brought the Scamp and Dexter up to the shop on the appointed day and the installer and I went through how I wanted to mount it. I was told it would be ready late afternoon or next day.

Two hours later I get a call from the shop that I needed to come up right away to discuss... Now, in most cases, that wouldn't set off too many alarms, but this axle install was haunted so I began to think - WHAT NOW!

I go up to the shop and there's my lil Scamper up on jacks with his old feet cut off. The installer comes out and is lookin pretty whipped. He tells me that he got the old axle cut off, but it was a bearcat. His assistant had also dropped the trailer the last few inches on the jacks, and unfortunately his finger was still on the top of the jack and was now broken... Oh no, more broken bones.
Now he can't get the new one aligned properly. We went to take a look and he had it underneath as a trailing arm setup.

Ah, I said. You forgot I told you we needed to flip it.

We went through a whole bunch of stuff with Dexter when we originally ordered the axle and they don't make a leading arm axle anymore, but the Dexter pros said that we could flip it and it would be fine.

He looked at me and said, "Oh, you mean spin it? I couldn't figure out what you meant by flip it." (Now I don't even resemble an axle expert, so I'm not sure why he thought I would know the axle installation jargon) He immediately "spins" the axle on the jack and we proceed to align it. One problem down. Next he tells me that the way these trailers are built with the wood flooring and the location to where the axles have to be welded on that it would be very easy to catch them on fire when welding. Remembering Marjie S post on how she lost her Scamp I relayed this to the fella. He said when he began welding they would proceed very cautiously and he'd have the assistant standing by to put anything out that started smoking.

I left the shop with "Marjie S" syndrome. Oh, to come all this way to have the lil Scamp smoked. How dreadful, can't even imagine what she went through. I tried to stay busy that afternoon so as not to think about it.

At noon the next day they called and told me she was ready to go!
Off I went to pick her up.

Everything looked great and it raised it about 1-2" which is what I was looking for. We have an HOA and I have to store in the garage, so I was wanting pretty much a stock install with a bit of height gain, but not much. The job came out perfect.
Install cost was $245 so the total for axle with 7"brakes installed was $445.

Now this journey began the first week of May 2008 when the axle was ordered. It has now officially ended six and one half trying months later.
It was the last big item needed to restore the 81 Scamp and it is done.
My wish is that all of you won't encounter anything near what has transpired here in this axle tale when it is time to change out yours. Maybe, in the hearing of this tale you can avoid one or two of the issues that have plagued axle changes in the past. Marjie's tale made me have the fire discussion with the installer and perhaps allowed us to avoid a similar fate.

As one comment asked, does it help to write about it? Yes, it does.
It also helps that when I step into my Scamp it now springs back up instead of the way it used to sink down and stay there.

God bless, and may the roads rise up to meet your wheels for many safe trips ahead.

[Darwin Maring]

I sure hope it did not come with brakes as they are keyed to Left and Right sides and could B backwards and not work after the Spinning Process.

[Roy in TO]

No fair Greg!
Not only did you get a much better deal than Jim or I, you also got a much better story to go with the delay.
Well worth the wait in my opinion

(Darwin is right on the brakes, but they can be swapped from side to side and marked as to the side) Now all you got to do is figure out which way they label them ... I can't remember, is L streetside or curbside?

[Darwin Maring]

Just like being on a ship as you look out the front window the brake with the R on it will be on the port side.

[Jake Jacobson]

What a crazy story - almost unbelievable, but I have had similar sagas also in my life, so I know how these things go. You start to wonder if the darn thing is cursed...

[Raya]

Just like being on a ship as you look out the front window the brake with the R on it will be on the port side.

Wouldn't the "port" side be the "left" side as you look out the front window, so it would be the opposite? (i.e. "right" would be "passenger" or "starboard"; and "left" would be "driver" or "port")

[james kent]

Greg
Well done. I enjoyed every waiting word that you penned for us. These things are meant to exaspirate us but the enjoyment of over comming these problems fulfills us again. Have you got another story [in multi parts] to give us?
Jim

[pjanits]

Wouldn't you just be able to swap the right and left brake assemblies on the axle plates?
Just checking for future reference.

[Darwin Maring]

Yes, That is all U have to do. They should B marked on the back with an L or R.

If yyou can not find the marking, remove the hub and visualize the wheel traveling in the forward motion and when voltage is applied to the magnet the arm with the magnet will move in the direction of moving the brake shoe further apart.

[Roy in TO]

That's a lot better description for us land lubbers. Port? Starboard?

It took me a while to grasp the concept of curbside and streetside with a tow vehicle in front.

[Pete Dumbleton]

The plates should eventually wind up with R to starboard and L to port.

Easy way to remember:

Port=Left=Red All the shorter word
Starboard=Right=Green All the longer word

In North America, one can add Driver and Passenger to the above list.

[Roy in TO]

Thanks Pete,

You do have a memorable way with words when it comes to explanations.

[Andrew Gibbens]

The word 'Port' was chosen because everyone knew what colour port wine was and seafarers knew that the red light on their ship went on the left side. Up until then the English word for the left side of a ship was 'Larboard' and in poor conditions too many seafarers mistook it for 'Starboard'.

In Britain, for vehicles we also have 'offside' and 'nearside' (nearside being near the kerb, sorry, the curb). Of course that's the other side from your kerb, as Britain wasn't in love with France at the time, unlike the US.....

And now - back to trailers.

Andrew

[Darwin Maring]

My Bad onthe Port Mixup. Maybe I had 2 much Port at the time.

To the Brit: Why do you drive on the Port side of the road?

[Pete Dumbleton]

Because they drank too much of it?

BTW, Starboard reportedly comes from Steering Board...

[james kent]

I always learned it as port...dockside where you could see the town lights
starboard...harbour side.. where you could see the sea and the stars

[Andrew Gibbens]

To the Brit: Why do you drive on the Port side of the road?

Wikipedia has it well covered: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driving..._left_or_right

Until about 200 years ago, the US drove on the left and it continued in some Canadian provinces in to the 20th century. Newfoundland was the last to switch to the right in 1947.

The jibe about the US loving France is that it was Napoleon that forced France to switch from left to right and so it being pro-France (the Americans' friend) and anti-Britain (the Americans' foe) probably helped the US to make the change.

Andrew