Tire rubbing fender . Looking for advice |
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tent2pod
Newbie Joined: 13 Mar 2019 Location: Western pa Online Status: Offline Posts: 9 |
Topic: Tire rubbing fender . Looking for advice Posted: 24 Apr 2019 at 8:03pm |
After making the checks that I did and reading all of your input the rubber cords being the problem makes a lot of sense to me . The two torsion arms are not at the same angle with no load on them .
I did a lot of research on the r pods and was aware of the axles bending and I made sure there was no visual tilt to ether wheel or uneven tire wear signs before purchasing this one . I didn't read of the rubber cords being much of a problem . We have an appointment to have it looked at by the dealer that we bought it from next week . We are still super excited and can't wait to get out in it . It's just going to be a little later than we hoped but that is ok . Has anyone purchased and installed the axle them self . |
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GlueGuy
Senior Member Joined: 15 May 2017 Location: N. California Online Status: Offline Posts: 2630 |
Posted: 24 Apr 2019 at 8:48pm |
Replacing the axle is not too big a deal if you are handy. There are only a few bolts to remove plus the brake wires. The biggest challenge is supporting the frame so you can remove the old one and install the new one.
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bp
2017 R-Pod 179 Hood River 2015 Ford F150 SuperCrew 4WD 3.5L Ecoboost |
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offgrid
Senior Member Joined: 23 Jul 2018 Online Status: Offline Posts: 5290 |
Posted: 25 Apr 2019 at 7:01am |
When supporting the frame the main thing is to spread out the load, the rPod frame rails are only 0.1 inch thick IIRC. Some 2x4's would probably do it. Lift behind the axle so you don't end up with the trailer coming up off the tougue jack.
I don't think an axle shop can help get a low cost fix in this case. You are not seeing the more common bent axle problem others have reported. That would show up as negative camber at the wheels and/or an axle tube that has lost its crown, neither of which you have. In this case there are a couple of other possibilities besides damaged rubber cords. One is that it is possible that the axle tube has been twisted, although as I said I think that unlikely because tubes are very strong in resisting torsional stress. If you want to exclude that possibility comparing the angles of a couple of straight edges clamped to the flats at each end of the axle would probably work. The other possibility is that the torsion rod inserted into the cords has twisted, in which case the fix is the same as for the cords themselves: new axle. If it were me and I was stuck putting a new axle under the trailer I wouldn't want to put back the same marginal part that couldn't handle the load in the first place, I'd go for a heavier axle. But that's me. An inexpensive fix which you might find acceptable would be add about a 1/2 to 1 inch axle riser on the slide side. 1 inch height difference is pretty high but 1/2 inch is not at all unusual, my 179 is about 3/8 IIRC. After all, the trailer slide side is heavier so it will ineveitably site lower. Good luck with the dealer and FR, please let us know what you end up doing. |
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1994 Chinook Concourse
1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft 2015 Rpod 179 - sold |
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podwerkz
Senior Member Joined: 11 Mar 2019 Location: Texas Online Status: Offline Posts: 966 |
Posted: 25 Apr 2019 at 10:34am |
As a general question, I wonder if it might be practical to beef-up the frame and have leaf-spring mounts welded on and install a regular trailer axle...I suspect the ride would be a bit rougher.
But it would last almost forever, and the spring pack can be tailored (even side-to-side) for the weight being carried.
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r・pod 171 gone but not forgotten!
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offgrid
Senior Member Joined: 23 Jul 2018 Online Status: Offline Posts: 5290 |
Posted: 25 Apr 2019 at 4:42pm |
Actually, everything else being equal, it looks like the frame load is worse with the torsion axle, because it applies both a force and a moment to the frame due to the torque produced by the torision arm. The spring axle only applies a force.
Here is an interesting article on the pros and cons of the two axle types: I suspect that keeping the ride height lower is probably the main reason FR uses torsion axles on the rPods. If you're going to lift the trailer anyway with a lift kit a spring axle might work ok.
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1994 Chinook Concourse
1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft 2015 Rpod 179 - sold |
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GlueGuy
Senior Member Joined: 15 May 2017 Location: N. California Online Status: Offline Posts: 2630 |
Posted: 25 Apr 2019 at 5:12pm |
Corrected link offgrid meant to send: https://mechanicalelements.com/trailer-axle-springs-torsion-axle/
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bp
2017 R-Pod 179 Hood River 2015 Ford F150 SuperCrew 4WD 3.5L Ecoboost |
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StephenH
podders Helping podders - pHp Joined: 29 Nov 2015 Location: Wake Forest, NC Online Status: Offline Posts: 6288 |
Posted: 25 Apr 2019 at 6:58pm |
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StephenH
Happy is the man that findeth wisdom,... ouR escaPOD mods Former RPod 179 Current Cherokee Grey Wolf 24 JS |
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lostagain
Senior Member Joined: 06 Sep 2016 Location: Quaker Hill, CT Online Status: Offline Posts: 2587 |
Posted: 25 Apr 2019 at 7:03pm |
I'm glad my trailer tends to be on the lighter end of the rPod spectrum so I don't have as much risk of axle problems as those who have the heavier versions. I don't plan on ever buying another trailer, but if I did, I would certainly consider looking for leaf spring axle construction.
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Never leave footprints behind.
Fred & Maria Kearney Sonoma 167RB Our Pod 172 2019 Ford F-150 4x4 2.7 EcoBoost |
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offgrid
Senior Member Joined: 23 Jul 2018 Online Status: Offline Posts: 5290 |
Posted: 26 Apr 2019 at 5:13am |
Sorry about the mmmissing "m".... For a mechanical designer these considerations are important but assuming the designer has done his homework they are pretty much hypothetical for the trailer owner. Has anyone heard of someone who has bent the frame on their rPod in the way suggested by the stress model in the article? If not, FR/Lippert have spread the moment load from the torsion axle to the frame out enough that it hasn't been a problem. Pretty much everything in engineering involves tradeoffs. Having the low ride height probably won out in their evaluation of the options, and in theory anyway the designers have adressed the drawbacks so they don't become our problems as owners. Where we unquestionably do have problems is the axles themselves. Here the designers have pushed the limits a bit too far IMHO. We have the known problem with bent axles which is worsened by the inboard mounting points to the frame. That can be adressed fairly easily by axle reinforcement which a couple of us have done now in different ways. Now we have tent2pod's issue which apparently is not a bent axle. So far we're just speculating about what it actually is, so I'm looking forward to a report once tent2pod gets to the bottom of it... Re axle replacement, I have one other reason why i would go with a heavier axle if faced with replacement. Better braking. I think the braking action on the 3500 lb axle brake assemblies is marginal for my rig. Even at full voltage output from my brake controller I'm not able to get my trailer wheels to lock up when following the setup procedure specified for my Prodigy P2, and that is with brand new propery burnished brakes. For sure you back off from that point so you don't actually get lockup, but ideally you want to be just short of that point in an emergency stop. The eTrailer tech I spoke to said this was pretty common with travel trailers. Anyone else have the same issue? The 5200 lb axles have 12x2 inch brakes vs the 3500 lb's 10x2.25. If I did my math right that should result in about 12% more stopping power. |
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1994 Chinook Concourse
1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft 2015 Rpod 179 - sold |
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furpod
Moderator Group - pHp Joined: 25 Jul 2011 Location: Central KY Online Status: Offline Posts: 6128 |
Posted: 26 Apr 2019 at 9:05am |
As a note.. Because of having to clear the movement of the slide, the slide side fender is mounted lower than the curb side...
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