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Old 01-24-2020, 05:25 PM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Iowa Dave View Post
Perhaps the difference between an original axle suspension height and the current height of the axle could be determined and could be used to determine “wear” or “sag”.
It's actually very easy to determine the degree of sag in a Torflex suspension, as long the wheel is removed. I described this several times in FiberglassRV, and still found that people like to use various rules of thumb rather than a direct measurement, so I gave up... but if someone is genuinely interested, I'll dig up the description.
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Old 01-24-2020, 05:47 PM   #22
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Brian
I am certainly interested, but first need to determine if I have a Torque Flex suspension on my 2010 17B, which has only one axle. I presume I crawl under the trailer and see if there are leaf springs or not?
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Old 01-24-2020, 05:51 PM   #23
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Quote:
Originally Posted by marant View Post
I am certainly interested, but first need to determine if I have a Torque Flex suspension on my 2010 17B, which has only one axle. I presume I crawl under the trailer and see if there are leaf springs or not?
No need to check - other than the first two years of the 5.0TA, all Escapes have Torflex axles. They're even all the same model (load capacity range): the Torflex #10.

This is what I posted in FiberglassRV in 2007, and it assumes that you have removed the wheel to be able to see the suspension clearly:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian B-P View Post
The inner bar of the Torflex and similar axles is 45 degrees rotated from the outer square tube at zero load, so if you look at the end of the bar where is goes through the arm, you can see that its corners point straight up, down, left, and right. The square hole is the arm is made at the desired start angle.

The following image is "borrowed" from a Dexter document, and I have added (in blue) where I would read the start angle, regardless of current axle position, as the angle between the arm and the diagonal (line between opposite corners) of the inner bar.


This won't be really precise, because the outline of the inner bar is somewhat obscured by the welded joint, but with only a handful of start angles available, it should be reasonably easy to determine which one it is. The example has a 22.5 degree down start angle, just guessing by eye (it looks like half of 45 degrees).

If the rubber has really sagged, the diagonal line of the inner bar will be as much as 30 degrees off of horizontal with the trailer weight, but the angle between that diagonal and the arm is always the start angle.
The amount of sag (really permanent set) due to degraded rubber is how much that diagonal line is off of parallel to the frame with no load (such as with the wheel removed). Another way to think of it is that the amount of sag is how far the unloaded arm angle has changed from the start angle.

I'm pretty sure that I did a more complete explanation with an illustration using a real trailer photo some time later; I'll look for that.
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Old 01-24-2020, 11:06 PM   #24
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Originally Posted by Brian B-P View Post
It looks like you would want a larger overall diameter. While you can go somewhat larger, I don't think there's as much room as you might think, especially between the two tires on the same side.
The spacing between tires was also what came to mind as the limitation until I realized we are talking about a single axle 17.
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Old 01-25-2020, 01:47 AM   #25
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The spacing between tires was also what came to mind as the limitation until I realized we are talking about a single axle 17.
Okay, not a problem!
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Old 01-25-2020, 06:27 AM   #26
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Ty Brain good to know
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Old 01-29-2020, 01:27 PM   #27
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The link below will take you to a segment of the Dexter Manual for your axle. The last page has diagrams of tire wear which might help you in your diagnosis. Does look like a wheel balancing issue as has already been suggested. Good luck.

https://www.dexteraxle.com/docs/defa...rsn=fedfe048_0
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Old 01-29-2020, 03:55 PM   #28
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Replace the axle

I have read many threads over the years. The life span of a torsion axle is 10 to 15 years. If the bearings are installed correctly, it's probably the axle. The rubbers in the tube harden over time. The trailer may have been overloaded at one point, or hit a Michigan sized pot hole. If you don't want to replace the axle at about $800 to $1000 with brakes, just carry and extra tire. Tires are cheaper.

I was concerned the axle on my 2007 17B was close to the end of its life, the trailer sat really low.

I wouldn't change tire sizes unless your talking about your Jeep.
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Old 02-02-2020, 10:08 AM   #29
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Well, with all the help here I am finally done with this part of my 17B maintenance. I ordered two 15", six ply RV wheels and tires through Walmart ($154) then, when they arrived, took them to the local Walmart tire center to have them checked for balance. One was ok, the other wildly out of balance.

Since I had never pulled a wheel on the trailer I gathered all the tools I thought I would need. Good exercise, because I did not have some I needed, and my bottle jack seals were bad, so off to HF. Now not only am I familiar with the process, I have all the necessary tools in the truck for the future. Better now in my driveway than on the road in the rain.

The suspect tire was indeed cupped, only on about 25% of the circumference. I think that is a pretty good sign it was severely out of balance.
Thanks to Brian I took a look at the axle, it appears it is fine, though I did not use a protractor to measure the actual angle.

Brakes seem ok, with just a hint of contact, but spin freely. Did not actually pull the drums.
Bearings have been recently serviced. No play or other signs they need any maintenance now.


All of the items I have had to fix make me wonder about the seller. Obviously my PPI could have been a lot better, but when I looked at the spare it looked ok. When I took it off to put the best tire on the spare I discovered that though the top of the old spare looked fine there was a complete failure down to broken cords on the bottom, where it could not be seen. Glad I never needed it.


Lots of lessons learned in this whole process.
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