Trailer axle bent

[Scoop]

I have a 2018 2 and the front axle on the trailer is bent. After reseraching this topic on this forum I came across North Texas Trailers and called them but they do not have any galvanized axles. It is pretty much useless to get a non-galvanized axle since I use trailer the boat into and out fo Salt water.

I tried the Shorelander website but it is very hard to navigate and I would not want to order without speaking to someone - unfortunately they have non phone number listed. Anyone have any thoughts. I have the VIN number but can not seem to find anyone who can help.

Thanks

 

[Wayloncle]

How bad is it? Some trailer axles are meant to be bent. That’s how they align trailer tires.
If it’s not bad I’d take it to a trailer shop and have it aligned.

 

[Mainah]

71509 is the shorelandr part number for the axle assuming everything is swapped over. It is an 80 inch 3500lb drop axle. This is assuming your trailer is the same as mine aside from the fender updates. Same part number whether the braking axle or not.

Perhaps a trailer shop can bend it back but once the wall integrity of a square tube is compromised by bending past a certain point it will be prone to bending in the same place unless reinforced. Even the the reinforcement must be done the right way not to introduce new stress points. All of that plus even a slight bend can impact tire wear negatively unless designed that way and compensated for.

I would be interested to know how this bent. The load from the trailer frame and axle carrier is very much near the ends of the axle. One of three things comes to mind. Impact with an object, force induced from getting jarred or bounced, or the axle in integral to rigidity of the trailer frame. If it is the later a split torsion axle upgrade would be ill advised.

Good luck.

 

[Scoop]

Its not bent very badly but it happened at the begining of a 1600 mile tow from NJ to Ft Worth. We were pulling into a very tight gas station (stupid move) and caught the left fender/tire on one of those posts that protect the gas pump. We were only going about 2-3 mph and the trailer just kind of banged the edge of the post and bounced to the right. There was a 1 inch crack in the plastic that comes down in front of the diamond plate which was bent about 1 inch toward the tire. We didn't even notice the alignment issue until the tire starting to go bald the next time we stopped. It was just out of alignment enough to scrub the tread off my tires. The factory supplied Bias tires went totally bald in about 200 miles. I stopped and replaced the bald tire with a radial which lasted over 500 miles. My buddy and I were like an Indy 500 pit crew pulling into rest areas and rotating tires in about 10 minuts. Good thing we had the floor jack with us! My intent was to replace the crappy bias ply tires with radials after the long tow - now I don't have a choice. I think it was the stiffer sidewalls on the bias tires which didn't have as much flex or give that caused them to wear much more quickly when the alignment was off.

Anyhow after striking out with numerous online trailer parts suppliers I came across Champion trailers in Slidell, LA. which will build the axle to specifications and measurments and ship via FDX. Not the cheapest solution but not that bad at $324 for a 3000lb galvanized axle.

If anyone is interested these are the measurements for my 2017 Shorelander trailer:
Hub Face = 93"
Brake Flange =87"
Spring center = 78 1/2"
Bolt pattern 5 x 4.5

 

[Mainah]

Out of curiosity is it the spindle or the axle that bent? I would consider a 3.5k replacement as that is what the factory ones appear to be based on the title and load sticker.

 

[Scoop]

The axle as you can see from the top picture looks pretty straight. On the bottom you can see by the Carpenters square that the spindle is bent.

 

[Compatico]

Have you tried contacting Yamaha support to see if they can direct you to someone? Shoreland'r makes the trailer, but they're not the seller since Yamaha sources from them. I've found second level support and customer service at Yamaha is excellent - the front lines are drones reading a script and you have to tolerate them until you get through to the second tier people.

 

[dgfreeze]

I'm a little late to the party here, but did they offer you the option of a beam only? You would then reuse your existing hubs and bearings (or slap new bearings in, either way). I sell and service trailers for a living, but don't deal much with boat trailers, mostly commercial trailers. Being an idler axle, there likely wouldn't have been a huge difference in price, but depending on your comfort level with something like that, it might've been worth it. Also, in my experience, bias ply tires seem to simply wear out sooner than radials, that's why we quit handling bias ply tires. I suspect they're a softer compound, but I'm not sure... Either way, good luck!