We are now owners of a new to us 2018 R pod 178 . We brought it home 2 weeks ago . Looking at it closer at home I noticed a difference from the tire to the fender from one side to the other side . On the side opposite the slide out  there is about 2 inches clearance from tire to fender . On the side of the slide out there is only an inch in some places . I pulled the wheel off on the slide out side to make sure it wasn't hitting the fender and i could see where it has rubbed . Looking at the wheel and axle I see no sign of anything being bent or broke . The tires that are on it show no uneven wear or unusual wear in them . I measure from the cement floor that its sitting on to the trailer and it shows around 1 inch lower on the slide out side  which forest river tells me is ok . The fender is not centered to the wheel on either side , if it was I don't think it would rub . 

Check everything else out, but I believe the fenders are usually different heights.  The one on the road/slide side is lower to accommodate the slide. That said, it shouldn't rub the wheel (of course).  I don't think Pod warranties are transferable, and yours might have expired anyway, but it sounds like a manufacturing defect that FR ought to fix, assuming it's not some other problem with the axle.

I recently had an explosive blowout on my slide-side tire going down the road.  It blew the entire fender off completely and instantly.  So I got a new one and put it on.  Not a lot of trouble.  Two times not a lot still isn't very much -- meaning taking the fender off and moving to a better position wouldn't be too hard, if that's what it comes to.

TT

   I ran a string across the bottom of the axle today and it has about a 3/16 arc in the center high . I jacked both sides up and removed the wheels . Using a 24 inch scale laid across the top of the torsion arm  and measuring from one end of the scale to frame then the other end of the scale to the frame . Doing this on both torsion arms to compare the readings  . I can see where the torsion arm  angle (clocking) on the slide out side is not the same as the angle on the opposite side . Should they be the same . And if so what would cause this . This camper is one year old and the tires show some wear but I don't think there are a whole lot of miles on it . 

If you measured the torque arm angles with no load on them then they should be the same. If the slide site is rotated significantly further upwards then I agree with GlueGuy, it sounds like probably the rubber cords which carry the axle torsion load have been over-compressed. I doubt that the axle tube itself could be twisted without a lot more load on it. 

There is no way to fix that short of axle replacement as the cords are installed compressed and frozen using liquid nitrogen at the factory and allowed to thaw. While FR should take care of it they are saying that a 1 inch height difference is OK, which is pretty unreasonable I think.  So I doubt they will take care of it under warranty, but you can  try by arguing that as is the trailer isn't useable because its rubbing. If that is unsuccessful then unfortunately you'll likely have to buy a new axle if you want to get rid of the 1 inch height difference. Adding a lift kit is fine but doesn't fix your underlying problem. 

If you have to pay for it yourself you might consider getting the next heavier load rated axle which would be 5200 lbs vs. 3500, but if you did you'd need different brake assemblies and 6 lug wheels as well as the axle itself. More $$. Lippert makes these axles so if you want to go that route you could contract them directly, FR and the dealer will I'm sure tell you you have to buy the same axle that's on there now. The 3500 lb axle is a bit weak for the application,  if its any consolation you are not the first person to have had problems with them. 

The 3500# axles are apparently 'industry standard', whatever that means, for trailers of the r-pod's weight. Our 171's axle got bent, somewhere. I've chosen to go thru tires at a 2x rate rather than spend the $$ to get a new axle. I have no idea whether or not that is a feasible option for you. If not, replacing the axle with a 3500# axle is probably your best option in terms of the cost/benefit ratio but there is no guarantee the axle won't get bent over time like ours did. Still, the odds are on your side, there are a lot of smaller trailers out there with 3500# axles that DON"T get bent.

Whatever, don't let this turn you off trailering, once you get past this admittedly nasty incident, get out there and I'm sure you will enjoy your trailer. 

    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 .  

                    

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. 

But it would last almost forever, and the spring pack can be tailored (even side-to-side) for the weight being carried.

Here is an interesting article on the pros and cons of the two axle types:

https://echanicalelements.com/trailer-axle-springs-torsion-axle/ - https://echanicalelements.com/trailer-axle-springs-torsion-axle/

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. 

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. 

I was under the impression that Tent2pod's 1 inch side to side difference was to the trailer frame not to the fender but can you confirm? 

 

I was under the impression that Tent2pod's 1 inch side to side difference was to the trailer frame not to the fender but can you confirm? 

 Offgrid ,  I have it sitting on a cement floor . I checked air pressure in both tires making sure they are the same . Then measuring from the floor to the trailer right in front of each fender and at the back of each fender.

Are your fenders the same height relative to the trailer frame? Put another way, is the 1 inch height difference entirely attributed to the axle or is part of it the placement of the fenders? 

Update on the axle .

  We took it back to the dealer that we bought it from , they are 85 miles away . They took it in to look at it while we waited. After about 20 minutes the service manager came out and told us they agreed that something wasn't right with it . He said it wasn't covered under warranty but seeing how we just purchased it from them he was going to take care of it . After about 15 more minutes he came back out and said  lippert was sending a new axle at no charge and they would do the work at no charge , It was done a week ago but we weren't able to pick it up until yesterday. The slide side still sits lower than the non slide side which I would expect due  to the weight of the slide , but its nothing like it was . Looks like they put the complete axle with hubs and all on . I asked if they had the old axle and he said lippert wanted it back to see what was wrong with it . So I have no answer for what the problem was with the old axle . I was happy with the Dealer (Avalon RV in Medina Ohio) for getting this done a big thank you to them and also to lippert for stepping up  . In all the research that i have done on the R Pod this seems to be an isolated  problem  . We are looking forward to getting the new to us R Pod out  but it won't be for a couple more weeks as my daughter is expecting any day now.

  In the meantime I plan on greasing the wheel bearings on the new axle for my own peace of mind , 

                Thank you all for your help. 

         

  

Please don't tell me I'm the first! 

Both the axle and frame are similar enough in their load capacity though that it could just be the luck of the draw which fails first. One thing that can happen is that the first thing to fail absorbs enough of the energy that the second item doesn't wind up having a problem. That could be why your axle isn't that bad.