Al-Ko Axles - can they be refurbished..?

[Mutley7370]

Evening all. today was spent reinforcing a 3.5 tonne trailer - we added some box section cross members etc. in doing this we rolled it over to weld the underside of each joint, at which point I noticed the welds on the Al Ko axles were cracked about half way around. (Where the axle box section passes through the bracket which bolts it to the chassis)

This trailer is used for a lot of off roading and firewood collection out of forests so it has had a hard life. It would be an easy repair to weld the cracks but for one problem, the rubber suspension bushes would be destroyed. Knowing these axles are firghteningly expensive, does anyone know if they can be stripped out and re-bushed, as we could strip out the old bushes, grind out and weld the cracks and then rebuild with new rubbers etc.

We had a quick look tonight but can't immediately see how the axle comes apart. Anyone out there got any ideas or knowledge on these things??

 

[steviec_lj]

According to this; http://www.al-ko.co.uk/edit/files/handbooks/caravan-chassis-handbook.pdf

The axles are one piece and welding is prohibited. Looks to be 3 pieces of rubber around a triangular internal shaft.

 

[Mutley7370]

yea thanks, That looks like the one. if the 3 rubbers are ' replaceable spare parts ' we should be ok though? Buy new rubbers, remove old, weld, fit new rubbers? It's not an Al Ko chassis it is a 'Page' but hey have used Al KO braked axles.

 

[Mutley7370]

this looks like it could be expensive, maybe convert to leaf springs....

 

[Fazerruss]

They look like the usual torsion suspension design used on lots of trailers. I've looked in to replacing the rubbers on my trailer as the are sagging. I think most designs are just pressed in so you will need a decent hydraulic press to shift them.
I found a rubber cord supplier in Leeds (Rubberlast) I think the a shore hardness of 80 is the norm for trailers.

 

[pedrobedro]

Make a new axle from 50mm RHS and fit Indespension units.