Airstream axles

Finally new airstream axles. We have been riding on the old axles for way too long. We picked up the new axles from Auto Saftey house on friday. The axles are Dexter axles and we went with 22.5  degrees (which added 3 inches!)  . They came out to $446 each thanks to a friends discount. Orginally they would have been $550 but thats still much less then what the airstream websites would have charged. Inland RV was about 745 each plus shipping.  We had to drill new holes but it really wasnt that hard to do. I used a stepper bit from harbor fright that went right through the frame. We saved around $700 drilling our own holes.

 

UPDATE AS OF 08/27/2014:

(I have had a little over a year on the new axles and I am happy with the quality however, I would highly recommend going more than 22.5 degrees. If I could do it over I would do 26 to 32 degrees.)

before



after

Just looking at it you can tell its time to replace. It’s done its job for 40 years which is pretty amazing. I wonder if the new ones will last that long?   

I did research online and found that torsion axles really don’t need shocks. We are not installing shocks on the new axles. If for any reason in the future it becomes a problem I cut off the brackets from the old axles incase I want to weld them on.

Chris removing the first axle

Here you can see the new bolts. I used Grade 8 bolts that I bought from Napa auto parts. The bolts are not in the original holes on the airstream frame. We just picked a new spot and drilled away from the old holes and made sure we drilled as high as we could from the bottom of the frame using a stepper bit. Drill the new holes with the axles inplace. Drill through both axles and frame and just slide the bolt in.

Chris, Jason, Allen

Dad, helping out.

Thanks Jason for the help!

20"

23"



After everything was done we gained 3 inches!

If you are planning on doing axles yourself, I will be posting all the measurements, where I got the axles, tools I used and where I dilled the holes. Email me if I forget. It took about 3 hours.

You will need:  5/8 grade 8 bolts. I got 8 of them at napa auto parts. nuts bolts and washers came out to $35.

Suggestion: You could go with ½ inch bolts. They are MUCH easier to find and you can buy a half inch drill bit almost anywhere. If you do go with 5/8, Sears has 5/8 drill bits. If you use a stepper bit you will have to drill at a slight angle.

*Please feel free to email me if you would like more information