Torsion Axle
Printed From: R-pod Owners Forum
Category: R-pod Discussion Forums
Forum Name: Podmods, Maintenance, Tips and Tricks
Forum Discription: Ask maintenance questions, share your podmods (modifications) and helpful tips
URL: http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=15415
Printed Date: 19 Jun 2025 at 12:31am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 9.64 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Torsion Axle
Posted By: JimBinOC
Subject: Torsion Axle
Date Posted: 04 Aug 2022 at 4:48pm
| I have a concern about our torsion axle on a 2017 179. I seem to remember that these axle housings are supposed to have a slight arch (crown?) to them. My question is how much? Ours seems to have about 3/16" over the length of a 4 ft. level. I'm concerned ours might be sprung since it's had a hard life. |
Replies:
Posted By: GlueGuy
Date Posted: 05 Aug 2022 at 10:21am
|
The easy way to tell if your axle is un-bent (so to speak) is to check to see if there is any outward cant to the plumb of the wheels & tires. The wheels & tires should be vertical to the ground. If they are inclined inward at the top, then you axle may have lost some of its curve. I don't recall what the amount of bend is there by default. 3/16 or 1/4 inch sounds about what I remember, but I'm sure someone else will chime in. ------------- bp 2017 R-Pod 179 Hood River 2015 Ford F150 SuperCrew 4WD 3.5L Ecoboost |
Posted By: offgrid
Date Posted: 05 Aug 2022 at 5:50pm
|
Yes, about 3/16 is right, but not the 4 ft distance. Run a string line from end to end of the bottom of the axle tube and measure the gap in the center.
As StephenH suggests, the more important measurement is the camber angle of the wheels themselves. If you are concerned about the axle getting bent (and you should be, it's not uncommon) you can reinforce it. I have a series of posts on how to do this (as do several others with various methods) You can use the advanced search and go back a few years to find it. ------------- 1994 Chinook Concourse 1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft 2015 Rpod 179 - sold |
Posted By: JimBinOC
Date Posted: 09 Aug 2022 at 1:37pm
| Thanks for the informative responses. I will check camber and remeasure the crown. I will also look into reinforcing the axle. We have to tow this trailer over 3 miles of dirt ranch road to get to our vacation spot so like I said before, it's had a hard life and gets used often. |
Posted By: offgrid
Date Posted: 09 Aug 2022 at 2:40pm
|
While rpods aren't made for rough or off road use I found I could get pretty much anywhere I wanted to go as long as I went really slow.
It's high g forces that will bend things, and high g's come from hitting potholes or bumps hard. So speed is the enemy. Just roll through really slowly, crawling speed, and you should be ok. Might take an hour or more to go the 3 miles but what's the rush? ------------- 1994 Chinook Concourse 1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft 2015 Rpod 179 - sold |
Posted By: jato
Date Posted: 09 Aug 2022 at 2:59pm
|
How true. A few years ago we planned on a NFC on Lake Superior in Michigan's UP. For a couple days before that an unprecedented rain event happened. The road was dirt and below the grade of the surrounding area. It took us over an hour and a half to travel 4 miles to get there, the water was 6-8" deep and I was so glad I had installed risers a few years earlier. At one point I had to stop as the water was over a foot deep. At that point it was a consideration to turn around but there was no way to do it as the road was too narrow. ------------- God's pod '11 model 177 '17 Ford F-150 4WD 3.5 Ecoboost Jim and Diane by beautiful Torch Lake "...and you will know the Truth and the Truth will set you free." |
Posted By: Pod People
Date Posted: 09 Aug 2022 at 9:30pm
|
I think the absolute roughest road that we ever traveled was going to Chaco Canyon. The better road was closed for repairs and we had to go in the east entrance, which is dirt-red dirt. It was about 14 miles of ruts , washboards and washouts. I doubt that I rarely got to 10 mph. It took us over 2 hours to get there. It was a great time at Chaco and the good road was repaired by the time we left. Rpods are not made for that-and I have always felt guilty about doing that to our trailer. but sometimes you just gotta go Travel safe and often Vann ------------- Vann & Laura 2015 RPod 179 https://postimg.cc/0zwKrfB9"> 
|
Posted By: offgrid
Date Posted: 10 Aug 2022 at 8:10am
|
I think it's fine as long as you don't create impacts. Just rolling slowly and carefully through potholes isnt going to result in high g forces. As long as youre not bottoming out (or in Jatos case not flooding the trailer) an rpod should handle it ok. It's just going to take time, so try to do it when you won't be blocking faster traffic (like hikers or mule teams). ------------- 1994 Chinook Concourse 1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft 2015 Rpod 179 - sold |
Posted By: chasl
Date Posted: 10 Aug 2022 at 10:12am
|
We accidentally got on a road like that near Chaco Canyon. It was about 20 miles of the worst washboard I 've every driven, and I am used to dirt roads. I don't think it harmed our axle on the Rpod, and I was traveling without water or waste, but it shook a lot of stuff loose in the trailer. I would have done a u-turn but there's no room to do so on those roads. I was fortunate that some locals gave us some directions back to paved highway, because it wasn't apparent how to do that, and in that region the phone signal was too weak. Not that I would rely on google maps or apple maps again. I was following google maps directions. It turned out ok, but was a road I would not take my Rpod over again. C ------------- cl |
Posted By: poohbill
Date Posted: 10 Aug 2022 at 12:16pm
|
Coachman  responded to my question on their Catalina Expedition series by speculating their claim the trailer was offroad-ready came from the torsion bar axle.Remarkable resilience to obvious abuse. ------------- 2016 179 Gastropod 2017 Ridgeline |
Posted By: mjlrpod
Date Posted: 10 Aug 2022 at 2:56pm
|
My new camper, surveyor legend 19rble, has leaf springs. I assume thats a good thing? Is it better, worse, or equal to a torsion axle? Some roads I travel fairly often are pretty bumpy. ------------- 2017.5 Rp-172 2020 R-pod 195 2015 Frontier sv 4.0L 6cyl I'll be rpodding |
Posted By: lostagain
Date Posted: 10 Aug 2022 at 5:01pm
|
My Sonoma also has leaf springs that, as I've mentioned before, are mounted right at each end of the axle so there is no overhang or cantilever issue. We've never had any issues on rough roads, though always take my time and do my best to avoid jolting impacts. The biggest impediment to rough roads is the height of the torsion bars on the WDH. mjlrpod, what is the chassis configuration on your new trailer? Is it the box beam type configuration like the rPod or do they use I-beams for the frame rails? We'll watch for it as we drive through MA this weekend on the way to NH's White Mountain National Forest.
 ------------- Never leave footprints behind. Fred & Maria Kearney Sonoma 167RB Our Pod 172 2019 Ford F-150 4x4 2.7 EcoBoost |
Posted By: offgrid
Date Posted: 10 Aug 2022 at 8:58pm
|
It's not that either leaf springs or torsion axles are better or worse, it's just that the engineering considerations and objectives are different.
Torsion axles are light, compliant and are self dampening, but inherently create stress points that leaf springs don't. So it depends on what the designers objectives and specs were. In the case of rpods the designers were looking for low cost, light weight, and a compliant suspension. They weren't looking for high clearance or to take high g forces from running rough roads at speed. So the design objectives favored the use of torsion axles. High ground clerances and better ability to handle g forces would favor selection of leaf springs. It's not that torsion axles can't be designed to be more robust and have higher clearance, they can. Its just more costly to do those things than thanif the designers chose to use leaf springs. You can even reinforce the frame and axle on your rpod to address those weak points if you want to. ------------- 1994 Chinook Concourse 1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft 2015 Rpod 179 - sold |
Posted By: mjlrpod
Date Posted: 11 Aug 2022 at 10:52am
My leafs are also mounted on the exact end of the axle as well, I'm very happy about that. I'm always so afraid of bending my axle. I really don't know the frame config at this moment. I think it's the same as the pod. It won't be delivered until sometime in September, so I won't know till then. It's a 2023 and so far there is no documentation on 2023's, I believe none have built yet, to know what the new model year will be. ------------- 2017.5 Rp-172 2020 R-pod 195 2015 Frontier sv 4.0L 6cyl I'll be rpodding |
Posted By: David and Danette
Date Posted: 11 Aug 2022 at 1:41pm
|
Our previous two campers the r-pod and Vibe had torsion axles so when we bought the Vista Cruiser with a leaf spring axle I was concerned it having a rough ride. But I can't tell the difference between the torsion axle and the leaf spring axle. We have a thirty year old aluminum utility trailer with a torsion axle and it has worked very well though when towing empty it bounces a little. When we had our r-pod we drove over a railroad crossing which was a bigger bump than I had expected and I think the r-pod went airborne for a few feet and it handled very well. So by my experience a torsion axle may have more of a bounce than a leaf spring axle. ------------- 2018 Vista Cruiser 19BFD (2018- 2012 Vibe 6503 (2014-2019) 2009 r-pod 171 (2009-2014) Middle Tn 2014 Ram 1500 Quad cab |