My 5 lug axles were rebuild?

[Yostfmx]

Before I bought my 18' sunder (82) the guy selling it said that he broke the axle. Had it replaced/rebuild with the same a new iner axle, but same 5 lug. The shop said that they had done a lot of the toyota motorhomes. He said the they gave him a deal for $500. So the question is: Is there anyway that the axle would have been or can be beefed up with more bearings to help it out? I read the facts about beefed up 5 lug but I think they have to be made that way, right?

[Maineah]

No way. There isn’t enough support with a single bearing it’s not the bearing that fails it’s the axle that brakes because of the flexing. Now maybe if the new axle was 4” in diameter….

[Geysergazers]

No way. There isn't enough support with a single bearing it's not the bearing that fails it's the axle that brakes because of the flexing. Now maybe if the new axle was 4" in diameter….

I was told the direct opposite by National RV. The balls in the [overloaded] bearing spall which makes them run rough which causes vibration which is transferred to the axle shaft. This vibration causes Fatigue Failure of the axle. That is why the original "fix" (before availability of the full floating axle) was replacement of the wheel bearings at 30,000Mi intervals. To test the condition of your wheel bearings :

1) remove each axle shaft

2)suspend the axle in a horizontal orientation (NOT supporting the spline end) by the bearing/retainer/brake-backing-plate

3)rotate the axle shaft and feel for roughness.

4)rotate the backing plate assy' a few degrees and repeat

5)do this until you have gone the whole way 'round

6)If you detected roughness at any orientation replace the bearing (HINT-the outer race develops a worn spot at about 1-2 O'clock representing the vector addition of weight and forward thrust)

Lew

SKP #100106

Hotel Dolphin-400 nights and 50,000Mi in 4Yrs

http://traveldolphin.blogspot.com/

'86 21Ft RB Dolphin, 22RE, A43D, One Ton Rear Axle

5960LB rolling on P195/70R14 Load Range "B" tires

Kyocera 125W Solar, Solar Boost 2000E MPPT Controller

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Atwood 7916II, Dometic 2410, Insinkerator 2.5Gal 1500W WtrHtr

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Permanent Macerator Sewage Pump (no Stinky Slinky for us!)

Rostra Servo-Motor Actuated Cruise Control

Sprint Sierra Aircard 595 in an IBM ThinkPad R52

Cyfre Dual-Band Cellphone/Aircard Amplifier

[Yostfmx]

Can you put a 4'' axle in? What size comes on them?

Thanks for the info on checking the bearings. Sounds hard, but probably not. The guy said it snaped the axle in the middle. So then I'm guessing that they had to put new bearings in it then. Only 15,000 mile the new stuff at the most, should be good...

[Maineah]

I think you’ll find the problem was broken axles out side of the bearings generally and the wheels and brake drums coming off together. A standard axle is basically supported only at a single point, the bearing. The differential end carries no weight to speak of unless it is overloaded. Overloading the axle bends it and it no longer spins on center because of the fact it is only supported at one point. Yes this is very hard on bearings also. The floating hub runs on two bearings and the axle “floats” inside the hub there are no bearings attached to the axe it can not flex. If you overload the assembly it will fail the single bearing axle was never intended to carry that kind of weight. If you have a truck with out a floating axle you need to investigate the manufactures weight limitations and be sure it is not overloaded and it is real easy to do as the stock Toyota truck was rated 1000# Will it carry more sure it will but would you pile 2000# in it and take a 500 mile trip? Toyota and paying owners would never have spent huge sums of money to replace the rears if they thought they could get away with it. The bottom line it is your safety that is the issue it is a known problem with a known proven cure.