Lippert Axles

[jetting]

Hello my name is Greg. My family owns a 2012 Crossroads Zinger 26BL. It has 2 Lippert Axles rated at 3500#s each. The dry weight is 6270#s.

After returning from a long trip West, over 5000 miles I noticed that my left rear tire was bald on the inner part of the tire. I take it to CW and I am told it is 2 bent axles. Knowing this I only take enough water for potty breaks and really limit what my wife packs.
After contact with Lippert they will do nothing because it is out of warranty even though I raise the issue of the under rated axles in my opinion.
Not to worry I think CW talks me into buying expensive extended warranty plan at the time of purchase. Extended warranty declines it stating it is from a possible pot hole. Bare in mind there is no obvious damage to tires or rims other than the tread wear. I thought a warranty was to cover part failure regardless of cause. If my fridge fails as I roll down the road will it not be covered?
CW wanys 3500$ to repair. This seems outrageous!
Has anyone dealt with a similar situation than can shed some light on it for me?
Extremely angry!!!!

[fhenn]

Take it to a trailer alignment and have it checked possible it did go out of alignment. Also check around for a independent RV tech he or they might be able to do it for less money

[sikoriko]

Too bad you cant do a rounout on the axle with a cheap dial indicator, that would mean you'll have to remove the tires, support the weight, and chock off the front tires, and allow the rear axle to rotate by hand or do one axle at a time . agree with fhenn get a second opinion. if you dont want to do it yourself

[EA37TS]

Jetting

A couple of questions.

First, did you buy the trailer from Camping World?

Second, is the extended warranty through Good Sam Club or Camping World?

If the answer to the second question is yes, you have a possible conflict of interest in that Camping World is owned by the parent company of Good Sam Club. Camping World could be stating the "possible pot hole" in an attempt to keep GSC from having to pay out on a warranty claim.

Also, if it were me I would force the extended warranty company to 1)show where the warranty specifically excludes coverage for damage from "possible" potholes and 2) to prove the damage was caused by a pothole to include the location of the specific pothole that caused the damage.

[Chance]

Many trailer axles of that size (weight rating) are relatively inexpensive, so I'm surprised the quoted cost is that high.

It sounds from description that tire wear may be caused by excessive toe out. If I was going to check it myself I would use a straight edge to see whether all tires are pointed straight ahead. Getting a meaningful reading, however, may be tough unless the axle is bent a lot.

I hate to suggest this, but if it's not affecting safety (and that's a big IF) it may be cheaper to replace tires and spend a little more on gas than spending $3,500.

I'd definitely get a second opinion. Or third. There are also a lot of non-RV trailer places that can probably give you some insight on cause of tire wear and possible fixes.

[RustyJC]

Trailer axles can be readily realigned. Call around to some non-RV trailer fabrication and repair shops in your area. You probably don't want to stand around and watch how they do it (hint - torches and chains are involved), but I'd certainly give it a try before springing $3500 for a REPAIR (not a replacement??) at CW.

Rusty