179 Axle Issues

I now have 10,000 miles on my 2014 178. 8,200 the last month. Never traveled with less than a full case of wine and full case of beer and dodged a few buffalo. No axle problems here! 

I believe my tires have always leaned in at the top.  15,000+ miles so far and the only oddity is the 2nd ring of tread from the inside, on both sides, is worn down more noticeably than the rest of the tire.

Originally posted by lippy1979 Its typical for torsion axels to behave in such a way.  The wheels will canter out when unloaded and as you increase the load, they will canter farther in.  I personally would never travel with a full tank of fresh water.  Fill up at the campground or just buy 3 gallon containers.  Water weighs A LOT and puts undue strain on the axel.  Not to mention making it harder to control going down the road. .

Yes the wheels have positive camber when unloaded.  When loaded they should ideally have zero camber. If they have negative camber at rest the axle is bent or overloaded.
The axles are made with an upward bow in the axle tube to create the positive camber.  My axle on the rpod has no such bow now, it had it when new.

I own multiple trailers with torsion axles and NONE of them except the rpod have negative camber.


As for filling up at the campground-  some campgrounds out west have NO water, it has to arrive with you.

Water places no undue strain on an axle- unless the manufacturer under spec'd the axle.  Proper engineering would require the axle rating exceeds the weight of the trailer with ALL tanks full.  To do otherwise is poor design.  
FR cut it too close with a 3500 lb axle with a trailer that weighs right at that or over ready to go....add some road pounding and there goes the axle alignment.

It may not have had the upward bend when purchased but it did when it left the axle factory!
I confirmed with Dexter that MY axle, which they looked up the specs by the serial number, was built with positive camber via the upward bend.  

As I said I have other trailers with Dexter Torflex axles and they do not have the negative camber issue.  Of course neither trailer has ever been run with anywhere near axle capacity, both are 7,000 lbs rated with two 3,500 lb axles.  Heaviest has probably been in the range of 5-6000 lbs loaded max..

Anyway- my replacement 5000 lb rated axle is due to arrive at the distributor today...I hope it is on time as a forecast 2 days of rain is on the way.  Need to get this swapped ASAP as we head out soon on a multi week 10,000 mi+ trip!

Would be no point with them replacing it with the same axle and tires, which by the way the tires are over weight spec also, especially on the left.
No way am I going 3000 miles from home with a known issue. 
An axle or tire failure could easily cost more than the replacement axle and tires, not to mention the hassle.
When I get back I will probably put the original axle and tires back on and press the point with FR.     Don't have time to deal with them before the trip.