Well after a few years in the salt a hub has failed and ruined the spindle. There is too much rust to try and replace the spindle. My question is when going with new torsion axles there is a significant price difference for axles that have the ability to change the spindles and those that don’t. I am looking for some advice from those of you who have been around the salt. I am thinking there is no need in paying up for the option to be able to change spindles when after one season in the salt the corrosion will likely be so bad it cant be changed anyway.
IMO, being able to change the spindles is huge. The castle nut on the back of the torsion assembly that allows you to change spindles shouldn’t be so rusty that you can’t get it off after a few years, especially if you remember to grease it occasionally.
Scenario: you have a hub/bearing failure that you didn’t see coming (again), and this time it happened to be while you were at the top of one of Charleston’s many bridges so that you had to limp it 1/2mi to safely pull off. Upon roadside inspection, you find the hub contact has completely ruined a spindle and you’re on the hook for an entire axle (again).
Ask me how i know…
I agree just trying to justify going from a 500.00 axle to a 1000.00 for the ability to change the spindle. I wonder if painting the exposed spindle castle nut with liquid electrical tape that could be peeled off at a later date would help to protect it from corrosion or be a real pain to remove.
Have you thought about a welder? I ruined a spindle down in the Keys. I took it to a welder in Marathon and the dude cut off the bad one, cut a hole in the axel and welded in a new one.
Okay here’s an update. After successfully changing the spindle. When I buy new axles they will have the ability to change a spindle. It took about thirty minutes of grinding the nut off and a little hammer work but it is doable. I was not optimistic to start with looking at all the rust. I will also give a huge shout out to Charleston Trailer for some great advice, and excellent customer service selling me the replacement spindle.