Dexter Axle 2021 17b moved forward

[marant]

With all the discussion on bolts securing the axles to the frame I decided to crawl under our 2022 21C to check. It has about 4000 miles on it.

The axles are attached to the frame with two bolts on each side, each axle. The nuts are very large, too large for any socket I own. I checked each nut as best I could, all are tight. In addition, all 8 nuts have red reference lines across the nut and the bolt. None of the reference lines are out of alignment. I think I can rest easy that all the nuts/bolts are properly torqued and as they should be. Glad I checked.

[Iowa Dave]

The simple act by the installer of painting reference marks is certainly reassuring assuming everything is square, and there’s no reason it wouldn’t be if they went to the trouble of making it. I had a mechanic who was a combat engineer in Viet Nam. He referenced about everything he worked on as some seasonal employees thought they would “fine tune” his work.

He also did the military thing on tire pressures using excellent penmanship, he would put the T.P. 45 or whatever at the top of the fender arc.

Later he personalized the doors in some park trucks for the people who had the truck assigned to them specifically with a tiny “Mikey B” Or “ Fritz the Cat” on the upper door panel.

When questioned I responded “For Esprit de Corps.” Things changed after I left though. Some management just didn’t understand or think the way I did.
Iowa Dave

[mr.stang]

Project complete. After I contacted ETI they took ownership of the mis-mounted axle. They engineered a set of mounting brackets to relocate, and arranged flat bed transport from Sarasota Fl to Jacksonville Fl, about 300 miles. Retro Renos did the axle relocation, fiberglass repair and had new goodyears installed. These guys only work on fiberglass trailers from rebuilding to repairing. They are a ten in my book, all the repairs are professional, communication was great. ETI picked the entire tab and I am back to camping. Kudos to ETI and Retro Renos, it's a shame this happened but they picked up the ball and ran with it. I am good, Stan

[Centex]

Sounds like an excellent outcome for a particularly rare manufacturing defect (and a reminder to 'give ETI a chance' when something seems amiss). Thanks for the follow-up.