Failed axle = no boat for vacation

I wish I would have noticed this earlier, but glad I didn't notice it any later. The tire is tucked in the fender on the port side. That side is against the wall in my garage so I didn't notice until I pulled the boat out to leave.

I know boatmate will replace the part and that this only happens to 1/1000 trailers. Just sucks that it's my trailer on the day I leave for vacation.

The only reason I'm not crying in a corner right now is that jjolson has a matching boat and will be there too. It will be a full boat but at least I won't be stuck on the shore.

Jerry at Boatmate has always been great in the past and I'm certain they'll step up again. This is a timing frustration more than anything. Boatmate closes shop at 11 on Fridays so I'm guessing it will be Monday before I hear anything.

I got my axle and new fender (paint bubbled due to heat from rubbing) in exactly two weeks from first email. If you haven't emailed Jerry the full info, here's the email he sent me.

"Please provide me with the following info’:

-----name

-----address

-----telephone number

-----trailer’s 17 digit VIN

-----axle serial number……there is a small tag (approximately 1” x 3”) that is spot welded to the bottom of the axle tube

-----date of purchase

-----since it is a Mobius XLV, I assume that it’s a tandem axle trailer……please indicate of the problem is on the front or rear axle

-----since there was damage to other parts on the trailer, I need pic’s of the related damage with a description of the part(s) need to correct the damage (fender, tire, etc…)"

Ed, I hope you don't delete/close this thread either. Axles go bad, we know this, we are not bad mouthing Boatmate because we know they outsource there axles. We have never complained about Boatmates customer service because it's top notch. I still do not know why you deleted the other axle post because we as members provided good info and did not say anything bad about Boatmate. We are providing information based on experience to other members.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by you da man

I got my axle and new fender (paint bubbled due to heat from rubbing) in exactly two weeks from first email. If you haven't emailed Jerry the full info, here's the email he sent me.

"Please provide me with the following info’:

-----name

-----address

-----telephone number

-----trailer’s 17 digit VIN

-----axle serial number……there is a small tag (approximately 1” x 3”) that is spot welded to the bottom of the axle tube

-----date of purchase

-----since it is a Mobius XLV, I assume that it’s a tandem axle trailer……please indicate of the problem is on the front or rear axle

-----since there was damage to other parts on the trailer, I need pic’s of the related damage with a description of the part(s) need to correct the damage (fender, tire, etc…)"

Ed, I hope you don't delete/close this thread either. Axles go bad, we know this, we are not bad mouthing Boatmate because we know they outsource there axles. We have never complained about Boatmates customer service because it's top notch. I still do not know why you deleted the other axle post because we as members provided good info and did not say anything bad about Boatmate. We are providing information based on experience to other members.

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Thank you very much for the info at the top! I wouldn't have had access to that information come Monday, so you probably saved me quite a bit of time. Seriously, thanks a ton!

As for this thread being deleted, Ed said it well. Everyone keep the gloves up and all will be fine.

One of the leafs springs is broken ?

I was in the same situation last weekend. I strapped a large 6x4 hemlock piece under the upper body of the trailer and let the wood piece sit on the leafs springs right where the U-bolts are. It ended up with a 3 inchs gap between tire and the fender .That left me without suspention on one side of the trailer but i've been realy careful to not hit large bumps and i've been able to carry the boat with me at the lake.

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Originally Posted by MartinCaron

One of the leafs springs is broken ?

I was in the same situation last weekend. I strapped a large 6x4 hemlock piece under the upper body of the trailer and let the wood piece sit on the leafs springs right where the U-bolts are. It ended up with a 3 inchs gap between tire and the fender .That left me without suspention on one side of the trailer but i've been realy careful to not hit large bumps and i've been able to carry the boat with me at the lake.

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I don't know if the 08 LSV uses leaf springs on it's trailers but if it's a tandem axle it has torsion axles

It's a torsion axle. It's a 7 hour trip so limping along won't cut it. Oh well, stuff breaks, it sucks, you move on. I'll still get plenty of wakeboarding in I'm sure.

Sorry to hear the bad news. That is why I go on vacation with at least one other boat in case one breaks down. Breaking down in your garage is much better than along the road.

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Originally Posted by zabooda

Sorry to hear the bad news. That is why I go on vacation with at least one other boat in case one breaks down. Breaking down in your garage is much better than along the road.

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When my torsion went out it was on the way back from the ramp to my storage which was only 2 miles thank goodness. Thank God for tandem axle trailers.

I feel your pain. Mine went out 2 block from my house, But we had just gotten home grom a 600mile round trip. It took more than a month to get parts, but I had to go through my dealer. That prolly slowed things down a little.
Hope it ends up more like AJ's! Dude thats quick!

I was lucky it was the end of the season.

Brain,
sorry to hear about the trailer issue. that can just be fustrating enjoy your vacation, none the less.

My 02 Outback LS trailer did this same thing. I called the dealer and he said to remove the wheel and bring it in. It did fine on the road until the hub dropped and was about to hit the road. I tied it up with a rope and off I went. They went ahead and replaced all 4 since they were afraid it was a bad run of torsion axels. I could not have been more pleased with the service. Fortunately I was only out of commision for about 3 days. It just happens, buy a boat, expect some repairs and issues.

Quick update... Jerry at Boatmate was great, as expected. He said it would be approximately 1 week to get the axle through paint and shipped out and that's exactly what happened. He got my email Monday and it was at my door the following Tuesday. Great service IMO!

But now I have to install this thing, ugh... I guess I didn't realize that it was the entire axle tube that needed to be replaced. Supporting the boat and trailer weight so that I can remove the axle will be no small task. My 2 auto jackstands aren't going to cut it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ed G

Before this spirals out of control, I've fired off a note to a Boatmate Rep to come on here to address the situation.

Let's hope he responds soon.

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I really hope someone does respond. It seems that BoatMate has had some bad press lately. I for one panicked and began closely examining my trailer (single axle, '04 LSV). I found that it had negative camber, oh my. After contacting BoatMate, I was informed that there is no recall, there were no "bad lots", the failures cover many years, and are relatively few in number. I also learned that negative camber is designed into the axles. Having grown up with a mechanic as a father, and working some for him while in school, I understand negative camber. I would suspect that they do this to make the trailer track straighter when being pulled.

I wonder if it's possible for you single axle owners to install a second axle, and swap out the fenders ??

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Originally Posted by davinci

I wonder if it's possible for you single axle owners to install a second axle, and swap out the fenders ??

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Now that's an interesting idea... I sent boatmate an email posing the question so I'll let you know what I hear back.

Sure you could do it but it's a lot more than just adding an axle. You have to remove the existing one and relocate it so that the proper distribution of weight is maintained. You'd be better off IMO to just sell the single and buy a double.

I agree, you're definitely cutting & welding brackets in order to get the right weight distribution. It will come down to cost, like most things.

It would seem difficult to swap a custom painted trailer though, no?

I think it would be alot cheaper to add the axle, the parts are not very expensive and the welding shop won't cost that much IMO

I used to have a boatmate trailer....that damn trailer cost more in annual maintnance than my boat.

It's not a hard job at all but you'll definately want one other person to help. The tedious part was the brake lines. Bleeding the brake system was super easy. Two floor jacks helps lifting/lining up the axle easier.

Jerry said the single to double conversion isn't cost effective. BOTH axles need to be replaced as they are different, all 4 side steps, fenders, even the brake actuator is different. Oh well, it was a good thought.

Now who wants to come help me install this thing?! I'll buy beer, you bring your jack stands.

Just an update that my brother-in-law came to help me get the axle installed. I owe him big now...

The install was simple enough on paper but was actually fairly difficult. Just getting the boat high enough to yank the axle was a challenge since my auto jacks and jack stands aren't tall enough to reach the frame rails. And of course I didn't have big enough wrenches/sockets to pull off the trailing arms.

Pulling off and replacing the axle was the easiest part by far. We used a floor jack on each end to drop/raise the axles and that worked out great. But then the trailing arms did not want to fit on the new axle splines. Really had to open up the arms and even then it took a big sledge and a 4x4 to get the arms mounted to the axle.

Even setting the right arm angle was tough too since you can't dial the angle in precisely the way the instructions describe. We got within a couple degrees but you're limited by the splines. Move it one spline away and it's either way too high or too low, so you just pick the closest to 18 degrees.

Still have to bleed the brakes then I'm back in business. All things considered I am really happy with the support by Boatmate. They got me the axle in record time and were great with questions.

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Originally Posted by brain_rinse

Just an update that my brother-in-law came to help me get the axle installed. I owe him big now...

The install was simple enough on paper but was actually fairly difficult. Just getting the boat high enough to yank the axle was a challenge since my auto jacks and jack stands aren't tall enough to reach the frame rails. And of course I didn't have big enough wrenches/sockets to pull off the trailing arms.

Pulling off and replacing the axle was the easiest part by far. We used a floor jack on each end to drop/raise the axles and that worked out great. But then the trailing arms did not want to fit on the new axle splines. Really had to open up the arms and even then it took a big sledge and a 4x4 to get the arms mounted to the axle.

Even setting the right arm angle was tough too since you can't dial the angle in precisely the way the instructions describe. We got within a couple degrees but you're limited by the splines. Move it one spline away and it's either way too high or too low, so you just pick the closest to 18 degrees.

Still have to bleed the brakes then I'm back in business. All things considered I am really happy with the support by Boatmate. They got me the axle in record time and were great with questions.

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Before we took off the bad axle, my friend and I measured the distance from a fixed point on the good trailing arm to a fixed point about a foot above it. When we put on the new axle we followed the instructions and then double checked the distances we recorded earlier.