Check your trailer axle!!

[profyamaha]

Last week, while driving from Munising to Ohio, I stopped for a break about 200 miles from home. Looked at my trailer axle and it was cracked about 80% thru. I went to a tractor supply and bought two large u-bolts and a steel bar and crawled under the trailer and clamped it together. Drove two hundred miles at 45-50 mph, mostly in a snowstorm. I was real happy when I dropped the trailer in the barn. Bought a new axle assembly and I'm now ready to go again. Morale: inspect your trailer like you do your sleds!!

PS- snow was great in Munising last week. Rode 300 miles in two days, mostly towards and into Grand Marias. Also stopped on the way home and rode the Jordan Valley trail and along 131. Trail was great, passed the grommer twice.

 

[Old Thumper]

Was it the axle itself, or the frame rail that the axle bolts to?

I have a Sled Bed trailer and the aluminum frame rails cracked on both sides where the axle attaches.

 

[yamaholic22]

I believe he was referring to the axle itself, as he mentioned he got a new axle assembly.

 

[profyamaha]

It's a torsion axle and it was broken near the center of the main tube. I also had a small crack in the trailer frame tube (aluminum) where the axle assembly bolted on.

 

[Old Thumper]

That sucks. I'll keep an eye on my axle tube. How much was the replacement?

I fixed my aluminum rails by inserting 36" long solid alum bars inside the tube, rather than just welding the breaks or scabbing a patch on the outside of the rail tubes.