New Axle

I had a new Lippert torsion axle installed on my trailer last month. When I drove to Oregon in August I had a bearing go out. When I got home I inspected the axle and decided to replace it. I have wanted to upgrade for some time because I had the inside tire wear problem from the camber going out of the axle. I had a local trailer company, Pac West Trailer in North Highlands, California do the work. The new axle cost $900, I also had to get 3 new rims at $45 each. The old axle was rated at 3500 pounds and the new one is rated at 4771 pounds. The new axle has 12” drums with 6 bolt on 5.5” centers (that’s why I need new rims). The old brakes were 10” drums. The old axle had Easy Lube Hubs and the Self Adjusting Brakes. Pac West does not recommend the easy lube hubs or self-adjusting brakes. I always had to back off the adjusters when I pulled the drums off my old axle. It’s very easy to adjust trailer brakes and I don’t have to worry about putting in too much grease. The old axle came positioned in what Lippert calls the Diamond tube, and the new one is square to the frame. Old axle was zero degree angle and the new one is 10 degree up. I wanted to achieve a little more clearance so this gave me almost an inch more height. I love my BF Goodrich all terrain T/A KO2 tires and didn’t want to go any larger. I took the trailer on a 350 mile trip to the cost in October and it towed great. I do not have a sway bar or load levers. It took about 6 weeks for the axle to arrive at the shop once the order was placed.

I could tell no difference from inside the truck while towing. I would think the trailer ride may be harsher, but at this time I only have the one trip to judge it on. It could be the trailer feels the same bounce when it is loaded because the old axle was close to its limit and so when compressed it had very little rotational movement left to absorb the shock. The new axle is far from it so the spring component of the rubber at that point is softer.

My new axle is built from Lippert 5,200-LB torshion axle. The first number in the part number is LCI52-4771 which Lippert told me means "Requested to be 5200# though from the dimensions it is only rated at 4771#". The old axle number was LCI35 which means "3500# axle".