Axle rating 312BH

frankenstang · 09-08-2015, 01:36 PM

I broke the seal area on one of the brake drums. Dumb move, don't need to go into gory details. I'm sourcing a new drum, right? Come to find out it's a 10inch drum, 6 lug. Found a couple places $60-70 new with bearings and seal. These drums are for 3500 pound axles.

The BIG question, why does my 9000 GVWR camper have 2 3500 pound axles? All the other 6 lug setups have 12 inch drums and those usually are rated for 5200 pounds.

I have way warped/out of round drums. It's not the truck's fault this time, that's for sure. 2015 Sierra 2500HD. I don't know if the original owner's truck was man enough to stop this rig or not. But the truck has no problem stopping it with the gain set to 5.0-5.5 any higher and it pulls too hard in back.

I tried calling Keystone customer service and they are closed for the day.

The reason I took it apart in the first place was heavy brake dust on one wheel and a lot of noise while driving slow, I could tell one drum was warped. The trailing shoe is more than 2/3 worn out already compared to the leading shoe, which still looks new.

Why such a weak a$$ axle on a 35.5 foot 9000 pound GVWR trailer? It's a 2014 model.

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bobbecky · 09-08-2015, 03:30 PM

The rig is probably set up to have at least 2,000 lbs on the pin, assuming this is a fifth wheel rig. Would be nice to indicate in a signature line what your rig is. With two 3500 lb axles, that's 7,000 lbs of the rig on the axles, and 2,000 lbs on the pin. None of these rigs have enough axle capacity to support the entire rig GVWR, just not needed. I agree, 3,500 lb axles is awful close, maybe would have been nice to have, maybe 4,200 lb axles if there is such a rating. You can upgrade the axles to anything you want if you want to spend the money. From the photos, looks like someone did something a little odd to the drum seal area, to have caused that damage.

Discovered your rig is a travel type trailer. Those have to be 5,200 lb axles, and Dexter does make 10 inch drums/six lug for those axles. You can go to http://www.dexteraxle.com/ to look at their catalogs and parts.

therink · 09-08-2015, 03:47 PM

Have you looked at the decals on the axle itself. It will tell you the model #. 3500 lb axles have 5 lugs. I bet you have 5200 lbs axles with 6 lugs.

Btw, is that a jack stand being supported by the axle spindle?

jodrey · 09-08-2015, 05:00 PM

it can be a 4400 lbs axle with 6 bolts.

frankenstang · 09-09-2015, 04:36 AM

Oh yeah, the TAG! Forgot all about it. They are 4400 pound axles. Yes, I made a boo-boo and broke the drum. I have in the past been able to pop the seal off using a prybar between the seal and the bearing. My intention was to go machine the drum and see if that stopped that wheel from overheating on trips.

Now I need a new drum and the cheapest I can find it locally is $107. I will just replace the shoes on that one wheel for now as the others are fine. The trailer has barely over 2000 miles on it and I find it hard to understand why the drums are so warped already. I really don't know what kind of usage it was subjected to last year, we bought it used this spring.

And yes, the jack stand is holding up the axle with the jack still under the tube on the other side of the backing plate.

bobbecky · 09-09-2015, 10:23 AM

You might check with Red Neck Trailer Supply, they have locations all over, and also will ship. I have found they have very good prices. http://www.redneck-trailer.com/

bobbecky · 09-09-2015, 10:29 AM

You might also want to invest in a tool to remove those seals, such as one of these: http://www.amazon.com/Lisle-56750-Se...s=seal+remover

B-O-B'03 · 09-17-2015, 09:17 AM

I usually just remove the outer bearing, put the nut back on and yank the hub off... it pulls the inner bearing and seal right out.

Make sure you let the hub come forward enough, so it will drop down and the nut will engage the top of the inner bearing, before you pull.

-Brian

bsmith0404 · 09-17-2015, 09:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by B-O-B'03

I usually just remove the outer bearing, put the nut back on and yank the hub off... it pulls the inner bearing and seal right out.

Make sure you let the hub come forward enough, so it will drop down and the nut will engage the top of the inner bearing, before you pull.

-Brian

I used to do this...

Quote:

Originally Posted by bobbecky

You might also want to invest in a tool to remove those seals, such as one of these: http://www.amazon.com/Lisle-56750-Se...s=seal+remover

Then I bought one of these at NAPA for $10. This tool is too cheap and works to well to not be in a tool box of anyone who will work on wheel bearings, or front timing chain cover seals, etc, etc.

dcg9381 · 09-17-2015, 05:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by frankenstang

Oh yeah, the TAG! Forgot all about it. They are 4400 pound axles.

8800 lbs of axles makes a little more sense with a 9000 lb trailer.
However, with 2k miles on it, something is obviously wrong.... I'd suspect that something is dragging - did you verify any drag first when you jacked it up? Out of round should only be apparently when braking (ideally). I do see the heat spots though. I'd first suspect out of adjustment.

$107 for a drum is nutty... I'll bet it crosses with something that costs about $35, but I dont know what it is.

If it makes you feel any better, a 12k-14k 5th wheel that I have (Carbon) no real difference in stopping with the gain on 5 or on 9. It just doesn't have the stopping power with 2 axles.

frankenstang · 09-17-2015, 05:59 PM

Got the shoes replaced. The drum I got from Etrailer was wrong of course. The proper 4400 pound drum is proving difficult to find locally. The trailer place down the street had the same wrong one ($40 more!) that I got from etrailer.com

I took a snapshot of the axle tag to have him look up the part number for the 4400 pound axles. Try again tomorrow, i guess.

CWtheMan · 10-04-2015, 06:28 PM

According to the specs for your trailer, axles rated at 4040# ea would be correct. (9000# GVWR - 920 hitch weight = 8080# / by 2 = 4040#. So, 4400# axles provide you with some extra load capacity above GVWR which is a good thing.

Nagrompj · 10-09-2015, 05:12 PM

I have the very same axels and had the same over heating problem. I see in the picture of your brake shoes, two problems.
1) Alko brakes.
2) The back plate is mounted with cap screws. (Should be pressed in studs) The cap screws do not center the back plate properly. When you remove the cap screws you will see the spline marks in the back plate from the pressed in studs that were removed and replaced with the cap screws.
Do yourself a favor and replace the entire brake assembly with Dexter.
I replaced my shoes and turned the drums and still had the same problem and then found one of the back plates actually overlapped the centering bosses on the axel, it was that far off center. Then I replaced the entire assembly on all 4 wheels for under $100. No more problems.

notanlines · 10-10-2015, 07:53 AM

And, Frank, along with all this advice is this: Don't support your jack stand on the axle spindle.

frankenstang · 10-14-2015, 04:01 PM

Thanks for the responses. First name is Joe, the screen name comes from this crazy Mustang I built.

To the poster 2 posts up, do you have a link to the dexter part numbers you used? I still don't have a new drum to replace the one I broke. I'm still using it (don't go there on HOW) But the best price for the correct drum I can find is over $100.

And as to the spindle and jack stand thing, the jack was still under the axle the whole time, jack stand was a back up. And there's no way you can tell me that that is any different in loading than having the wheel and drum mounted up.

Nagrompj · 10-17-2015, 05:38 AM

http://www.etrailer.com/Trailer-Hubs...656UC3-EZ.html
I am nearly positive this is the drum/hub you need. The axels we have are a hybrid of a 5200# axel tube and 3500# hubs and brakes = a 4400# assembly according to Alko. So when you need brakes you need 3500# parts.
I look back and found I got the brake assemblies on sale but here is the links
http://www.etrailer.com/Trailer-Brak...er/23-468.html (Left side)
http://www.etrailer.com/Trailer-Brak...er/23-469.html (Right side)
Make sure you go to the hardware store and get nuts and lock washers before you start your project. I hope this helps!

And by the way Nagrompj is JPMorgan backwards. Everyone tells me it sounds Muslim. I just tell them I come from a long line of tent makers.

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