The original topic of this thread went way off course so has been edited and the original topic has moved................................
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Hi @Drover,you cannot just rotate your axle , your brakes won't work and alignment will be out, Don't Do It.
I must also point out before doing this, on a level pad measure the height of your tugs towball from the ground then measure the height of your vans tow hitch when level, add 90 -100mm to it because your tugs tow ball will need to be 25mm higher than the vans, so just see if it's possible to get this extra ball height on your tug first.......tugs ball as a rule of thumb should be around 25mm higher than the van to give a reasonable chance of being level when hooked up.......extra height of van is determined by width of spring pack and width of axle...................
Hi @Drover,
thanks for the very detailed step-by-step guide.
I have a question:
Would it be possible to both rotate the axle AND swap it around (Left to Right)? If I understand this correctly, brakes would then be in the correct position.
cheers
Mike
If you read the OP you will see its stated that it applies to STRAIGHT axles.........you don't have a straight axle, I think if you pull the drums off you might find a few other things changed. And since this thread is for underslinging straight axles I'm not getting into some banter about bent ones.
Can't help myself, the locating pin you mention is actually the centre bolt of the spring, found on all spring sets, the small plate is called a spacer, required to allow room for centre bolt, the big plate the U bolts goes thru is called a fish plate.....and with an off set axle they are designed for the stub to be about the height of the spring so the gain from the set up being under or overslung isn't great mostly...........the backing plate holes are offset so brake fits one way unless you drill a new set of holes......from your pics it seems you have a left hand brake set on the left hand side so nothing changed, might be a factory set up.........not mistaken at all, thank you.
The change in height by moving an off set axle would only be in the 10 - 15mm range, they were made to keep the vehicle low, use smaller wheels so the axle was out of the way, with axle underneath the spring a 50mm axle with a 50mm stub welded on one edge means the axle stub is in the same line as the spring pack which is possibly 50mm, there fore the thing making the height movement is the 10mm spacer block, if I wanted to increase the body height I would chuck the off set axle and fit a straight axle............Changing tyres/wheels would change the heights also.......................of course the bigger the difference in spring pack/axle thickness does vary the height gain or loss.
If you pop a brake drum off and look at the workings of the brake you will see why they only work on one side, rotation, gravity and angle of the dangles dictate it, interestingly the electric brakes won't work in reverse, well not real well anyway.
I dare say your caravan fella rolled the axle, removed and swapped the backing plates so the drums would be in the correct position, if it all works for you and your happy then it's the perfect set up.........a bigger spacer block would increase your height if needed...
I rise to "Bait" easily at times, also you can see the reason why I stated applies to straight axles, I suppose I should also note that these Off Set axles are also called Overlay Axles......maybe a thread on Off Set axles would be better.
Thanks for the reply @Drover
I for one would be interested in your thread on Off Set or Overlay Axles .
Short and to the point!!One line only..................................Gain not worth the effort really.
Hi @Drover,The brake line wouldn't get hit by the chassis if hitting a monster hole would it ?
after seeing yours @mikerezny it confirmed that they were slack when doing @Boots in Action axle
the U bolts are upside down on his........