Axle flip on a Kenskill Standy?

[Roly Nelson]

My 45 year old 10 ft Kenskill Standy has HUGE interior sheetmetal fenders sticking above the floor. When completely rebuilding the interior, I decided that the wheel covers only had to be 4" higher than the floor instead of the 16" as it was manufatured with. So, I cut one of them off with a sharp chisel, then realized that if I wanted to make it more handicap accessable for the sweet wife, I could flip the off-set axle and lower the whole rig 9", making access easier for her.

Has anyone done this? I proceeded to jack up the trailer, remove the wheels and tires and undo the U-bolts and flipped the axle over. Then the opening for the wheel and tire was too small, so I had to attack it with my saws-all and create an oval-topped fender opening in order to install the wheel. I'll cover it later with a fender skirt to match.

My question is, why were the HUGE interior fenders made so high if flipping the axle would not allow installing the wheel and tire? Surely very few later owners ever enlarged the openings like I did. Did Kenskill have some other idea in mind that I don't know of?

Bottom line is, I'm glad I did it, even if I had to make another new HUGE wheel cover inside to replace the one I destroyed. The cabinets hide the whole thing, so it is no longer an issue. Only a little more work on the completly new, "Nelson-ized" interior and I'm ready to go camping.

Roly....... never realized how much larger the interior of a 10 ft Standy was compared to a little 8 ft teardrop. (My wife will love it.)

[Roly Nelson]

Wow, 58 reads and no answers. I just thought some vintage trailer guru would enlighten me. Guess not. However, if someone does know anything about these axles, thanks in advance...........
Roly

[angib]

My question is, why were the HUGE interior fenders made so high if flipping the axle would not allow installing the wheel and tire?

Do you reckon they just used a standard size fender they had available, probably from another model? Making every last cubic inch of interior space usable isn't normally part of a trailer manufacturer's plan.

Andrew