Spring Shackle Flips Lifting Axle

[jjcc246]

I have a Big Tex, 16ft, Tandem Axle, Brakes on both Axles flatbed car hauler. I couple of times now my rear axle shackles flipped and lifted the rear tires off the ground and stayed like that. The procedure to undo this is to unbolt the rear most shackle and flip the middle (front of rear spring) back over, and then reassemble. Some guys have had the luck to flip the shackes without disassembly but my luck doesn't run that way. They only time I noticed this happened was maybe when I was backing the trailer up without any electric attached and parking it. That's the only common denominator I can think of. Now the question, do any of you trailer guru's have any idea why this happens and how to prevent it. I did back off my shackle bolts about 1 turn this time to loosen things up a little. It made a big differance when struggling top flip the shackles back to the right position. All I can think of was the bolts were too tight, compressing the bushings and when the axle spring got to high from a bump or something it wasn't loose enough to return itself. Sorry this is so long but I tried to answer any questions before they were asked. Any feedback on this would be greatly appreciated.

 

[DieselPower]

Sounds like you need to install some simple axle movement limiting straps. Basically the same type of strap you would put on a extreme off road 4x4 truck to limit axle droop.

 

[BTDT]

I wonder if maybe the spring hangers are welded in place to far to the rear. Might take some measurments of another similar trailer and see how it compares to yours. Maybe a mistake from the factory/builder.

 

[zzvyb6]

disconnect the rear axle brakes and see it it stops toggling. If so, you need a f/a brake reaction rod on the axle to stop this motion.