How to Determine if a Torsion Axle Needs to be Replaced and Lifting a Trailer Off the Ground

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Question:

Follow up question: Thanks for the quick response. The trailer has the torsion axles so no suspension to check. However my mechanic was saying he heard its rare but the torsion axles can get weakened and have to be replaced. Thoughts on that? I looked at the axles, I know it is all internal so cant see much but it all seemed normal, the arms coming off the axles to the spindles all seemed to be at the same angle. Would imagine if an axle was bad, the spindle arms would not all be the same? Thanks for the info on tires, I will stick to radial trailer tires, just try to find a quality tire. One more question: being this is a boat the trailer sits in our yard with the boat on it most of the year. We had a smaller boat before this and we would raise the trailer off the ground during the off season, would you recommend doing the same? This boat is quite bigger and would be a little more difficult but if it saves from having to deal with these issues, Ill figure out how to get it in the air. Thanks for all your help.

asked by: Colin

1

Helpful Expert Reply:

It is certainly possible for any axle to wear out enough over time to need replacing. Since the suspension is built into a torsion axle if the suspension part was to wear out pretty much the only solution would be to replace the axle.

If the deflection, or amount of travel of the wheels, on the torsion axle has increased, caused the trailer to bottom out, or is not the same on each side then that would be a good indication that something is wrong.

Having the weight off of the tires if the trailer will be sitting in the off season is not a bad idea. You could use a floor jack to raise up the trailer and then use some stabilizers such as # UF48-979004 to support the trailer. Each one in the set of 4 can support 6,000 pounds.

expert reply by: Michael H

1

Wayne K.

3/3/2020

I have a tandem axle cargo trailer that will lift any one of the tires off the pavement when traveling through a rain gutter in the road. It happens when ever a tire has to move over anything that is more than three inches in height. It has torsion axels in it and I don’t know anything about them, but I would think they would have more than 1 or 2 inches of travel. What am I missing?

Chris R.

3/4/2020

You should definitely get enough travel on those torsion axles to prevent what you're describing. A couple of things come to mind that could be causing this. The first would just be the weight of the trailer. Do you typically tow with the trailer empty - or does this seem to happen more when it's empty. A trailer that's too light can certainly hop around a bit, especially as your speed increases. The other thing I would check is the angle of the torsion arm on each side of the axle. Make sure this is the same for all 4 arms. You might even take the trailer up to a local shop/dealer to have them take a look to be sure. Let me know what you find and we can go from there.

Lyle P.

9/7/2020

What would cause the tires on a tandem axle trailer to be out of alignment with torsion bar suspension? The back tire on the left side of the trailer is rubbing the frame.

Jon G.

9/10/2020

For a torsion system all of the different tires essentially have their own suspension. If one of the arms is out of alignment then I would venture to say that the arm was damaged at some point. It could be that you hit a pothole while at a higher speed or maybe you took a left turn too sharp and hit the curb? Either that torsion arm is messed up or your spindle is bent pretty bad.

Lyle O.

9/10/2020

@JonG thanks I’ll check it out

Baine

9/16/2024

@JonG I am in a similar position at the moment, the tire has negative camber and i can see a larger gap on the bottom of the torsion arm where it meets the axle tube compared to the top side. I am assuming the torsion arm is bent or rubber bushings are extremely worn. It is a 3500 lbs Lippert axle, I called and they said the arm itself is replaceable but cant find any information on the process. Any insight or advice would be appreciated.

See All (4) Replies to Lyle P. ∨

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How to Determine if a Torsion Axle Needs to be Replaced and Lifting a Trailer Off the Ground

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