WC Axle Realignment Costs

I have read many comments on the axles being out of alignment. I just returned from a 1200 mile trip and my tires are ate up. I can really tell that the axles are badly aligned. The bad news is that my warranty is gone and I am just now seeing this. But we usually don't go on many long hauls. Has anyone paid for this out of their pocket and how much will I be expecting? Do the local dealers handle this type of work? With just the sides missing off the tires, I think I can rotate them one time and get a little bit more out of them, until I can get the Ole' Cat re-aligned.

Make sure your running the right air pressure in all the tires at the same time first. If all thats good, then you probably do need aligned. I priced it at a place in atlanta, I thiink it was called big daddys garage or truck garage, But it was gonna be around 1500 in a worst case scenario. Depending on if they were gonna have to lift the whole rig or something.
I'd do some serious bush beating around your area and you may find someone that could do it pretty reasonable.
My camper was used when I got it from the first owner, The tires were whipped out pretty good. I changed a couple of tires and ran the right air pressure and they seem to be wearing fine now.

I paid a truck spring shop to align my camper after I installed an Equaflex suspension with wet bolts. The original bushings were shot on my camper. I did wear one tire down in the inside. I was out of alignment some - cost me $175 to have them realign it (they were able to move the axles enough by loosening a u-bolt clamp and moving the axle slightly. It was not out very much - they think the worn bushing caused my problem ....

There should be some recourse for "unknown" situations such as this. It's darn near impossible to know whether your axles are out of alignment or not when you do the PDI. By the time most discover they have a problem, the original warranty has already expired.

TC

I think I am in the same boat. I noticed one tire wearing on the outside more than others with less than 4000 miles total on the camper. I think I can do a little rotation to finish out this set of tires, but thought a alignment was in order before the next set of better tires. I was wondering about the cost too.

Just had alignment done on my 29rlbs WC today in Colorado Springs, Co to correct tire wear. The cost was $200.00 they have to bend the axles to correct the alignment. According to the alignment shop after 3 alignments you have to replace the axles. This shop does 3 or 4 trailer alignments a day and stated that the mfg are not putting heavy enough axles under 5th wheels for long hauls. Forrest River replaced the axles twice under warranty. We have had our WC on the scales and it has always been well under the weight limits. When I contacted Rod Batts about my tire wear on long trips his E-Mail reply was "Your over weight". When we are on the road I check air pressure every day and tow at 60-65 miles an hour. After our trip back across country I will be up grading the axles and suspension before the next long trip This is just my 2 cents worth. Happy Travels to All. Jim

Jim:

What was the name of the place in Colorado Springs and were you pleased with their service?

Keith

Keith
Top Tech Automotive/Newbill's Alignment 719-635-2652 124 South El Paso Street. They seem to be knowledgeable on 5th wheel/trailer axle problems. And we were happy with their service. I want know if it fixed the problem until I pull back to Georgia. As I stated before we only see abnormal tire wear on long trips. By the way we are enjoying your State this summer work Kamping in Pueblo,CO. Jim

stanford,,,, I was hoping that was gonna be a place in Ga that did the alignment.



I Wouldn't take your tires off the trailer for less than $200 bucks,
And taking the axles off and stick them in a bending machine.
I just can't see even bending them and making them stay in that new position without cracking the pipe......

Thats pretty wild that its that cheap.......

How much heavier of an axle is the guy recommending ?

I'm starting to think the east coast models are suffering from being underbuilt in the frames and axles department(not to mention tire ratings).

The west coast frames are built by Zieman Manufacturing (now a Lippert Subsidiary). They built my trailer with 6000# axles, 16" wheels and tires. I have never had any issues. I think I posted this in another thread, but the Zieman plant manager said the frame I have is rated for 15k Gross and 3k pin weight (the math even works out - 12k at the axles) even though FR rated the trailer at 11630# gross (my sticker shows 15" tires and 5200# axles). FR refused to reprint the stick to reflect the actual equipment. I'm over the GVWR on the sticker all the time.

I have a '06 28RKDS. My tires started to wear on the inside on the right side of the trailer. I live in Edmonton, AB.CA and I went to a heavy duty spring place - City Spring, and they rebent my axles. It cost me $200. Have yet to take the unit on a long distance run. Hopefully it will have fixed the problem. Will post later the results.

My cat came from the factory with the optional 16" wheels but the labels showed 15" wheels and GAWR (gross axle weight rating) at 5200 lb. I got my dealer to request the correct lables showing the 16" wheels. The new lables show 16" wheels and GAWR at 6000 lb. Is there a way to tell what axles I have? I'm sure that just changing to 16" wheels doesn't change the axles capacity. Maybe the GAWR is limited by the tire capacities. I always run the tires at the maximum pressure shown on the tire sidewall (65 psi cold). So far I have towed this trailer 10000 kM (6200 mi) and my tires do not show any wear.

Ken

There should be a metal tag attached to the axle which has the details of the axle.