OT: Mal-formed axle

This is just another tid-bit to help you think out of the box in an unusual repair situation.

When I trailered my GMC Safari Van on vacation the left rear tire on the trailer had strange wear and the right rear was worn completely out when I got home. "What the hell?" I didn't hit any curbs or anything and especially not while backing up and the RR wear was definitely excessive toe-in.

Yesterday I got a chance to pull that axle with several heat breaks in front of a fan while the sweat quit dripping off my nose and my t-shirt dried out a little.

I won't get into it, but all but the smallest trailer axles have some camber bent into them. It looked like this one got two shots in the bender, one for camber then a mistaken one that put in about a half inch of toe-in. My buddy Benny has a wrecker where I keep the Travco and trailer and it has some shovel like feet on the back for pressing into the ground to hold the rig fast while doing heavy wenching. I used a pair of press blocks on the concrete floor to make a set-up under one of them, put a piece of 2X8 wood between it and the axle and pressed it out straight fore and aft. The camber bend didn't change.

Benny had suggested straightening it in his hydraulic press. That would take both of us to handle it and several presses along the total length of the axle. The way I did it removed the total bow and I did it by myself while he was gone for parts and coffee. When he got back we stretched a string down both sides of the axle and it can't be made any straighter.

Nice job John. You saved yourself alot of time and money for either refabbing or replacing. Hate it about the tires as expensive as they are. Seems like I cant keep tires on my tandem axle hardly either.