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Had a bad one today. Got to the lake and noticed that the fender was cutting into the tire on the passenger side. Got the boat off the trailer and had to look for a few minutes to figure out what happened. The arm that connects the wheel to the axle has apparently come loose. The whole tire/brake assembly actually slipped up in the fender. I had to take the fender off at the ramp. Loved that! It slipped some more on the way home. It nearly cut the hose on the brake line. This connecting arm is like a clamp that just clamps around the axle. I suggest that everyone check and tighten these periodically. The lake is only six miles from the house. If I had to go any further, I would have not made it. When this thing starts slipping, it goes quick. Just giving everyone a heads up because you don't have much timne when it starts slipping. I did save the tire though.
kaneboats
04-11-2011, 10:24 AM
Thanks for the warning. One thing I do is I make sure I either park the truck/trailer or fetch it each time out. I give the trailer a good once over every time with the boat off it. You'd be surprised what you can find with regular visual inspections.
Well, this is an update on my trailer woes. It is actually the torsion section in the axle whcih is apparently broke. I am going to have to have a new axle. Already have the trailer on blocks. Waiting for Jerry @ Boatmate to Email me the info. This really like !@@$$%#@@@.
zabooda
04-11-2011, 08:38 PM
You are in company with others as this issue has come up quite often.
SC_LSV
04-11-2011, 09:13 PM
What year is your trailer? I've seen multiple forums about this problem happening on trailers? Anyone got an idea of year models this affects? or if there is tell info in trailer serial number that would prob you are vulnerable?
you da man
04-11-2011, 09:40 PM
My XLV tandem axle trailer is an '08 that I got new in '09. In less than one year I had both torsion axles fail. Jerry will make it right and is very fast on the emails. First axle took 11 days from first email to arrival, second failure only took 7 days. Keep in mind, this is the beginning of the boat season so you might be in the 10 day range. Got the axle swap down to about an hour now...since I've had practice
Just ordered the axle from Jerry today. My boat and trailer is an '05. Jerry said it should ship in about a week. I already have the trailing arms off. I hope to drop the axle tomorrow but in no hurry. Axle won't get here any faster. How do you all position your trailing arms when you put them back on? I used an angle finder to find the angle on the good side before I took it off. That is what I will use to put it back on. Got to plant garden this weekend anyways but it really doesn't help. How did you all bleed the brakes?
Oh yeah, Jerry said they have fixed this problem on the new axles I guess.
you da man
04-12-2011, 10:00 PM
Just ordered the axle from Jerry today. My boat and trailer is an '05. Jerry said it should ship in about a week. I already have the trailing arms off. I hope to drop the axle tomorrow but in no hurry. Axle won't get here any faster. How do you all position your trailing arms when you put them back on? I used an angle finder to find the angle on the good side before I took it off. That is what I will use to put it back on. Got to plant garden this weekend anyways but it really doesn't help. How did you all bleed the brakes?
Jerry should email you a PDF file with torque specs and bleeding instructions
jmvotto
04-12-2011, 10:15 PM
How many miles on the trailer when these things go?
you da man
04-12-2011, 10:50 PM
How many miles on the trailer when these things go?
There is no magic number. I promise you I had less than a 1000 miles on my trailer when the first axle failed. Thank God from my storage to the ramp is only 2.5-3 miles
I agree. There is no set mileage. You are right, You Da Man, If I would of had to drive over my 6 miles to the house, I don't know if I would have made it. That thing moved all the way home. I nearly broke the rubber brake line to the Caliper, off. I got the axle out just a little while ago so now I wait. Thank Goodness for an air compressor and an impact. I asked Jerry about a warranty and he said technically, no but the axles are improved and that I "will never have the problem again, trust me, it is bullet proof". I quoted his Email. Hope he's right!!!
Canuckle Head
04-15-2011, 02:20 PM
Anyone have some pictures so we can see what to look for? I trailer my boat everywhere and would hate for this to happen while on the road.
brain_rinse
04-15-2011, 04:30 PM
The only thing you can look for is the distance between your tire and fender. It's not the trailing arm that is the issue, it's inside the axle tube where you can't see/check it.
Brain_Rinse is right. The only way I noticed it was walking by and seen that the tire was cutting into the fender. I just happened to look down. Really don't know why I did. Couldn't miss it. You could see that the fender got a little warm where is was hitting the tire. Jerry just Emailed me today and said my axle should be here Monday the 18th. I must say, a pretty fast turn around. Less than a week. Guess I'll be on the water next weekend hopefully.
I got my axle today. Less than a week. Not bad. I already hung it and put the trailing arms and spindles back on today. Should be done tomorrow or wednesday. My back is killing me though. I think all the heavy work is done. Hope to be out for Good Friday.
brain_rinse
04-18-2011, 08:46 PM
Good deal. It's not a great situation but Boatmate is addressing it very well, IMO. Getting a custom painted anything delivered in under a week is crazy fast, especially when that anything is as big as a trailer axle!
moombadaze
04-18-2011, 08:48 PM
jmb-glad to hear its coming along nicely.
Did you take any photos of the job?
you da man
04-18-2011, 09:20 PM
Shipping weight on that axle is 95lbs so it's awkward to lift/hold into place. Two people and a floor jack is awesome
No, sorry, didn't take pics. Really, not much to it when you look at it but kind of a pain in the rear. I just finished up tonight as a matter of fact. Everything went fine except my back. The axle and spindles (calipers) were heavy for me to man handle. You have to make sure you get the right angle on those trailing arms. I had to bleed the brakes a little more tonight. I pulled the truck forward, made sure the brake resevoir was full and then backed the truck up with a block behind the boat wheel. That pushed the tongue in and then I went back a cracked the bleeder. Got back in the truck and pulled forward and pulled the tongue back out. Repeated the procedure 3 times and the brake fluid came out. Thats how I did it by myself. BOAT IS READY TO GO AND I HAVE GOOD FRIDAY OFF. I just thought it got time consuming.
kaneboats
04-20-2011, 09:44 PM
Glad to hear you got it licked. Here's to some holy boating on Fri.!
phospher
04-26-2011, 01:00 AM
Is there anyone who has a lot of miles on your trailer and has NOT been bitten by this bug? Starting to think it's inevitable.
mmandley
04-26-2011, 04:36 AM
Not sure if its a lot of miles but we tend to put 200 - 300 a week on ours and its on the thrid season, id estimate we have around 10K on ours and we havnt seen any issues as of yet.
Im curious if the majority of these failures are single or tandem trailers?
We have a tandem
rdlangston13
04-26-2011, 06:40 PM
yeah, this worries me as i have road trips planned this summer with the boat. i would hate to encounter this issue while on a 300 miles road trip.
i noticed something the other day on my trailer. the right front wheel had "the vault" black thing sticking out a good bit farther than the other 3 wheels after a tow and when i touched the hub (chrome thing the black thing fits into) it was considerably warmer than the other three. now i have not gotten the truck to ride level with the trailer yet since i just got the truck, the trailer leans forward slightly but this will be corrected when i add my airbag helper springs. So i am not sure if the front axle is taking the bulk of the weight or is that wheel bearing is not getting lubricated or what. Anyone else experience an issue like this?
I would seem to me that the other wheel bearing would be getting hot also. I don't think everyone is experiencing these axle problems. The way my luck runs it would happen to me. Everything seems fine now. Twoed it all 3 days last weekend. Lake is only 6 miles away though. One this thing goes, each bump it feels, it moves. You won't make it too far. I guess I would have had to put it on a roll back or something if I had to go much further. This problem has hit single and double axles both from what I have read. I wish this on nobody.
jixim
05-01-2011, 08:40 PM
I've a 2008 LSV with a single axle boatmate trailer from 2006 (don't asked why years don't match... the dealer knows :()
The torsion axle failed.
Tire and fender melted. Hopefully we noticed after driving for only a couple hundred yards and were able to make it back home without blowing the tire!
7604
Well, I hope parts will be here soon, and that it's not too difficult to replace, I've never done that. So if anybody has any tips, that would be great :D
mmandley
05-02-2011, 11:24 AM
man that sucks.
A little off topic but wondering, Have any of you guys noticed surface rust on your disk brakes on the trailer? I was under ours the other day pulling boxes out so i can get the boat out of the garage here soon and noticed my rotors are rusted over.
This is common on cars when you dont drive them to much. I plan to just use an air sander and go over them with a sanding disk for metal to brush off the rust, just wondering if anyone else notices or does anything about this?
jixim
05-03-2011, 05:25 PM
I've a 2008 LSV with a single axle boatmate trailer from 2006 (don't asked why years don't match... the dealer knows :()
The torsion axle failed.
Tire and fender melted. Hopefully we noticed after driving for only a couple hundred yards and were able to make it back home without blowing the tire!
7604
Well, I hope parts will be here soon, and that it's not too difficult to replace, I've never done that. So if anybody has any tips, that would be great :D
Jerry from BoatMate is taking good care of me. He ordered the parts today and said it should be at my door within a couple weeks (time for painting the new axle + shipping). Good customer service so far.
I'll start working on taking apart the broken pieces. I'll post pics when completed.
rdlangston13
05-03-2011, 06:34 PM
man that sucks.
A little off topic but wondering, Have any of you guys noticed surface rust on your disk brakes on the trailer? I was under ours the other day pulling boxes out so i can get the boat out of the garage here soon and noticed my rotors are rusted over.
This is common on cars when you dont drive them to much. I plan to just use an air sander and go over them with a sanding disk for metal to brush off the rust, just wondering if anyone else notices or does anything about this?
mike, when you toe as soon as you hit the brakes the rust will come off. rotors are just bare metal, normal for them to rust a little.
mmandley
05-04-2011, 10:34 AM
OK i hope so. I know in my old muscle cars i didn't worry so much about it when they set for a long time but i just don't want to see the ole locked up wheels you see on pickups that sit a lot of the time.
You know the one that pulls up the light and the last 50ft his rear wheels are locked up.
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