Torson axles

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Torson axles

Postby Roddy Riggs » Wed Feb 01, 2006 10:40 pm

I am building a Kenskill teardrop. I got my plans from Grant Whipp. Heres the problem. My frame is 57 1/2" wide and the overall width of the teardrop is 59 3/4". When I ordered my Dexter # 9 axle from the local dealer, they sent me the wrong axle. The torsion arms come out exactly underneath the skirt on the kenskill. I tred numerous sources and even called Dexter direct and spoke with an engineer. He tells me that I can only use an axle with an overall hub to hub width of 73" and even then, the clearance between the torsion arms is only 60.60", which will not giev me very much clearance between the sides and the torsison arm.. Plus, the wheels will stick out beyond the fenders. Anyone have a suggestion? Thanks
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Postby madjack » Wed Feb 01, 2006 11:14 pm

Roddy, don't know if this will be much help but on our Flexirde, we have 1/4" between the torsion arms and the body, on a torsion axle the arms go staight up and down with virtually no flex side to side so the 1/4" should be enough...I know that Camp-Inn (and others on this board) cuts away a portion of the body directly above the torsion arms for additional clearance
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Postby Juneaudave » Thu Feb 02, 2006 12:57 am

Maybe I don't get it, but something doesn't make sense here...when I ordered my axle, I filled out a form and had to sign it. It seems to me that if you got the wrong axle, your supplier should make it right and get what you ordered....For what it is worth...the salesman from Six Robblees in Seattle (that I ordered my axle from) took a lot of time to make sure my custom order was just what I wanted. He asked about dimensions, measurements, use and worked me through the order form...
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Postby cracker39 » Thu Feb 02, 2006 8:25 am

Roddy,

I signed a form just like Dave did, but my axle ended up just like yours with about 1/4" between trailing arms and the frame if it is 60" wide. There is only 60 1/2" between the trailing arms when they told me it would be more. My hub face width is 72" as they stated it would be. And, my tires stick out a little more than I wanted, but I am making my own fenders, so I can compensate for that.

Rather than go back to the dealer and wait another 3 weeks for another one, I just cut my chassis steel width 1/2" shorter than planned (59 1/2" rather than 60"). Now, when my 1/4" or 5mm luan is extended down the side of the chassis frame, I'll still have 1/4" between the trailing arms and the plywood. If you can't alter your frame, making a cutout and putting another piece of plywood inside to cover it would work. The cutout would be rather small, probably less than 1/2 square foot.
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Postby asianflava » Thu Feb 02, 2006 4:10 pm

My axle is 74in face-face I still had to cut a notch in my sidewalls for the trailing arm to clear.
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Postby Cary Winch » Thu Feb 02, 2006 4:32 pm

Our axles are 70.37" hub to hub and our body is 60". This gets the tires nice and close the side walls with a 14 x 6 wheel. Like Jack said though we do notch the side wall plywood to clear the trailing arms.

We use Flexiride axles, I think they have a shorter hub to trailing arm dimension.

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Postby cracker39 » Thu Feb 02, 2006 4:40 pm

Cary, Flexiride must use shorter spindles. It seems that everyone ordering a Dexter for a 60" frame gets 72" hub to hub and a 1/4" swing arm clearance. I could have made a cutout in my plywood, but since I hadn't cut the steel yet, I just decided to narrow the width by 1/2" to get my clearance.
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Postby Cary Winch » Thu Feb 02, 2006 6:24 pm

Dale,

That is one of the things I really like about the Flexis. The back of the hub is right up to the trailing arm. No goofy spindle hanging out there between the hub and arm. It does have a slight offset toward the trailer as it gets closer to the stub shaft.

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Postby alaska teardrop » Thu Feb 02, 2006 8:11 pm

Seems to be a common story. The #9 Dexter torflex measures 6.2 inches from the hub face to the inside of the swing arm. Unfortunately that measurement isn't included in every company's literature. Daves' for example. One can calculate the wheel offset, tire size and gap to the body, but not realize that the arm may be closer to the frame/body than the tire. Fred :snow
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Postby Cary Winch » Thu Feb 02, 2006 9:18 pm

Fred,

Well that wouldn't be too different then. I think the Flexi is about 6.06" Not a big difference.

Our frame width is 58.25" so we are right up to the frame with the trailing arms.

Roddy,

what are your hub to hub dimensions on the axle you received? You say it is under the body sides, that may be perfect. With your body width I would think your hub to hub idealy should be 70.12" or so unless running a wide tire for some reason. I think for most fenders and a car tire you really should plan on notching the body to clear the arms.

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Postby Gaston » Fri Feb 03, 2006 12:27 am

I bought my axle from century wheel but it is the same as the dexters in fact I think they are made in the same plant in Texas. to get the tires offset to the body side I used 15"x 6, 32mm offset , front wheel drive wheels. It puts the nside of the rim 1/4"fron the outside edge of the swing arm. I ground a little off the arm to round it and get another 1/4" . It tucks the wheels in nicely.
try the wheels you want to use to check if the center hole will clear the hub. I had to machine 1/4 out to let the hub thru.Image
mine are Eagle 192's 5 on 4.5 the 14" x 6" would hit the swing arm
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