Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I bought an old pop up camper. Have it tore down to just the metal frame and I'm about to begin brushing the old rust down and prime and paint it. Will probably have to end up getting a new axle. Right now it has a torsion axle and I don't think it will be possible to change it with a regular leaf spring axle because the trailer is almost all channel tubing.

My question is.. Is it possible or safe to lift a torsion axle? The trailer itself is approx. 6x9 but at the moment the wheels are set in the trailer. This makes the main bed area much smaller than I'd like and I am not wanting to make the bed lay horizontally. What would be a good option here?

Search for Flexiride, a torsion axle that has the arms fitted with splines in order to provide for adjustability.

They will sag with age as the rubber ages, you could I suppose change the angle of the axle in a number of fashions. You might be ahead by replacing the axle, ours is a Dexter but Flexride allows you to adjust the angel http://www.theuniversalgroup.com/flexiride

My solution was to install air shocks

By lift, do you mean raise the frame relative to the wheels? if you can remove the axle from the frame, I don't see why you could not put a spacer - like a piece of steel tube - between axle and frame.

If it's an old trailer, just put a new axle in place & forget about it. Dinking around, shims, lifts & spacers won't help one that's worn out. Why go to all the time & trouble of building a trailer with a bad axle? Buy once, cry once....

Dexter sells frame spacer kits and hanger brackets that can be used to "lift a torsion axle."
installation instruction for Torflex lift kit
installation instructions for side mount hanger brackets

noseoil wrote:If it's an old trailer, just put a new axle in place & forget about it. Dinking around, shims, lifts & spacers won't help one that's worn out. Why go to all the time & trouble of building a trailer with a bad axle? Buy once, cry once....

The plan is to buy a new axle. The only thing is that as of right now, the wheels sit inside the frame. Which is fine but it means I would have to build around the wheels. I just was wondering if it's possible or safe to lift a torsion axle after I get a new one.

QueticoBill wrote:By lift, do you mean raise the frame relative to the wheels? if you can remove the axle from the frame, I don't see why you could not put a spacer - like a piece of steel tube - between axle and frame.

That is exactly what I mean. Instead of having to build around the wheels I'd like to be able to just have one completely flat surface inside.