Axle Riser DIY

Since I didn't see a writeup for this, I figured I'd give it a go.  Sorry in advance for having so few pictures, but it was so hot out when I did this that sweat kept running off my gloves and onto the camera, and I didn't feel like causing any damage..so I really only took one to start, and when finished.  So we'll have to work with that.  Anyway, here goes.

Total time, < 2hrs.

Tools/supplies needed for this job:
1 axle riser kit
19mm Socket
15/16 socket
15/16 wrench
dykes (or sharp scissors)
2 Jack stands
1 Floor jack
zip ties
wheel chuck

Recommended Tools:
Impact Gun (Makes the job so much easier)
Torque Wrench
red loctite

Ok, first things first, place the wheel chuck behind the tire opposite of where you are going to work.  I started on the right hand side of the pod, just so I could get working around the step out of the way.  After you have the wheel blocked up, place your floor jack under the axle and bring the jack up tight against the bottom.  If you don't have an impact gun, now is the time to break your lug-nuts loose.  Now is also a good time to check your jack alignment, to make sure you can freely move the handle before continuing.

Once you are sure you're ready to go, go ahead and raise up the camper.  You'll want to get the wheel about 2-3" off of the ground.  Next, place your jack stands under the camper on either side of the wheel, careful to leave yourself enough room to move the jack around, and to work.  Once positioned, carefully let the camper back down to rest on the stands.  Before continuing, check to ensure the camper is secure.  Give it a good hard wiggle, and make sure it's steady before going any further.  Once your comfortable with it's stability, go ahead and remove your wheel.

The next step is to take your dykes and cut the two white wire-ties that hold the wiring for the brakes.  There isn't enough slack in the wire as it sits to lower the axle and install the riser.  Once cut, just move the wire to the side so that it doesn't get in the way of lowering the axle.

Below, you can see both of the zip ties (small red arrows) and the rear facing axle bolt (large red arrow).



Now, the next step is to remove those axle bolts.  To do this, place the jack back under the axle, as close to the end as you can get it, while still giving yourself room to work.   Once you have it positioned, raise the jack back up to the axle so that it makes contact, and leave it.  Now you're ready to remove the axle bolts.  The bolts on my 2011 176 were 15/16", and were on pretty darn tight.  This is where an impact gun makes the job much easier, but it's not required.  Once you have the bolts out, go ahead and slowly let the jack down to lower the axle.

You're halfway there.  Now you need to install the riser.  The riser installs with the open end facing out, with two of the bolt holes facing down, and the other two facing towards the inside of the camper.  The axle riser kit only comes with enough  washers to put one washer on each bolt/nut combo, which I didn't like since the factory used washers on both sides.  So what I did was re-use the washers from the factory install so that I could have a washer on both the bolt head, and the nut.  Go ahead and put the riser into position, and put the bolts into each of holes.  Once there, hand thread each of the nuts on as far as you can (make sure the oblong portion of the nut is goes on last, otherwise you won't get it on very far).  At this point, you can put some loctite on the bolts too if you wish (I did, partially because of what I"m about to tell you).  Now, BEFORE you start tightening the bolts, make sure your riser is positioned how you want it, and raise the axle back up against the camper.  DON'T lift the camper back up off the stands, but do give it enough pressure to hold it in place.  If you don't do this, the riser will shift when you tighten the nuts and you'll have to start over (ask me how I know...).  Once you have the riser in position, and wedged in place with the jack, go ahead and tighten all of the nuts.  I couldn't find the torque specs on these, so I went ahead and used the german specs (goodntight).  Again, impact gun makes this easy, and lets you run the bolts on VERY tight with little effort.

GREAT "How to"!

Terry

Wow! What a great description of how to put on axle risers. There is enough information there that I know my husband (graduate of the School for the Mechanically Declined) is not going to attempt it. Plus he would use it as an excuse to buy more tools.

Only one new tool!? How about one for each level of the house or garage?

Originally posted by techntrek We had a long discussion on them, which I linked to on this page:  http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1723&PID=14735&title=creating-an-instruction-maintanence-manual#14735 But, I don't think we've had a good installation thread yet.  The "manual" thread has been in hibernation lately, when it gets going again I will make sure I link to this.

Cool.  Yeah I'd seen lots of discussion about them, but no install threads which is why I wrote this one.  Not the best I admit, but workable I hope.  Also, the link you just posted doesn't work?