Take care

        Moe

Rodney Jarnagin, Surveyor/Rpod Parts Administrator, Plant 37

Phone : 574-642-3119, ext. 209 (that's the same number listed in the info you gave me)

Fax: 574-343-5942

Emai: rjarnagin@forestriverinc.com

My email was answered much sooner than my phone messages, so that might be the way to go.

Again, thank you! Even with our set back, we looked for a long time before deciding on investing in an Rpod, and are planning on many years of happy podding. At least after this, we  know enough not to have any future axle disasters!

Take care,

      Thanks 

       Moe

Moe,

Try email! I wrote early yesterday afternoon and got a response this morning. Updated info is below:

Roger Jarnagin, Surveyor/Rpod Parts Adminstrator, Plant 37

Phone: 574-642-3119 (this is unchanged from the rpod forum info I was provided)

Fax: 574-343-5942

Email:rjarnagin@forestriverinc.com

I hope this helps,

Meg

             Moe

The transportation problem was huge! We were in an off road area in the High Sierras far from any town. The shop where the trailer is now is a AAA emergency road serve agent as well as repair shop (it had local recommendations, for what that is worth). On site, the mechanic was able to patch it together somehow to get it the 30 miles to their shop. To have hired a commercial transport to the valley 80 miles away was a couple thousand bucks! We would like avoid that if at all possible. I didn't get the impression that that the shop would resist us supplying the part, but I guess we will find that out real soon. 

 

Even If you don't repack the bearings every year they should be inspected. If the seal failed grease would leak out or get contaminated leading to premature bearing failure. 

(EDIT) Note that you do not need to put on the same axle that was originally on the Pod as long as it meets the same specs. 

Thank you for the picture. 

The original dealer of the trailer said the failure was likely due to a lack of wheel bearing maintenance. While I don't necessarily doubt that, we know the previous owners used that dealer for the recommended maintenance schedules. Interesting that they would say that. They added that wheel bearings need to be repacked each year, or after 5,000 miles. I was then given the Indiana number to call.

Right now I am in Ohio visiting family. Once California wakes up, I will try to track down the correct part through the service dept of the dealer (or might you have a recommended one that i could talk to?) and then call the mechanics up with what I've found. Hopefully, I can get to the bottom of this part issue today. I suspect it may take some time to get the part.

This is what the spindle looks like. 

We recently purchased a used 2010 rpod 177 from a private party who had purchased the rpod new. On our second excursion into a remote area near Yosemite several weeks ago, the wheel bearings on one side went out. It was quite an ordeal just getting the trailer safely moved to repair shop in that area, since the wheel nearly came off. According the repair shop guys where the trailer was transported, the axle will need to be replaced. We were told that the original axle is no longer made and that a new one will need to be custom built. When I called the service dept. at the dealership where the rpod was originally purchased, I was told that a replacement axle was certainly available, even if the original one was no longer made: it didn't need to be custom built. The service agent added that we needed to know where the unit was built (how do we figure that out?) and/or get the serial number off of the damaged axle to determine a replacement axle. The service agent at the dealership added that this problem had never been encountered at their shop. She gave us an Indiana phone number to call, which we did, and has yet to be returned. We are troubled. We aren't mechanics and are very concerned about getting the repair job done correctly and with the right parts. Any advice/experiences from other rpod owners would be greatly appreciated.