Axle Corrison

[sjb]

I know I am not the only one who deals with this, but trying to head it off. I have an enclosed snowmobile trailer that is all aluminum except the axles. There is a bit of surface rust I would like to take care of. I know my first step will be to sand down the axle to bare metal, prime, paint, and then what? I would rather not make this an annual deal. Is there a preventative I could coat with? What about coating with something like flex-seal or fluid film? Or using the material that coats a truck bed?

Any thoughts?

 

[swampcat]

A old farmer taught me years ago, crawl under there when new and shiny, with a glove on and just slather GREASE on everything. He used to have 5 gal. buckets of the stuff.

 

[maddogg]

I use Fluid Film on my axels and the bottom of all my vehicles. Doesn't prevent the rust but IMO slows it down significantly.

 

[mrbb]

once things start to rust, its pretty hard to stop
basic primer and paint will NOT do much IMO

there are way better things you can use
look into POR-15, its a much better product for what your hoping to do, but some of the damage is already done and there will be parts you cannot get to to coat

another option for when BUYING a new trailer or axle, is also to get them galvanized coated, that is normally a option when ordering them, it will NOT stop them from rusting, as chips from rocks while traveling and wear and tear will still get things to rust, but it will take a LOT longer

when I get my NEW axles, I also coat them with POR 156
the stuff is a super hard coating, as good as powder coaating, and again, its MADE to stop rust

I add it just due to its added layer of a coating that has to come off first before it can damage the galvanized coatings


as for coating everything with grease
I would NOT do this to a snowmobile trailer axle,
and reason is, grease holds things, and that can be SALT, dirt, and what not', and then maybe even causing things to rust faster in some places than others!
be a sloppy mess too if you have to work on anything

think globs of it coming off at each washing too? drive way stains, or tracking grease all over if you then step in it!

more mess than a solution
here is what a galvanized axle looks like as to a standard one
and be careful when removing rust, don't go too far down, on torsion axles!
and also, some pic's of what to look for on older axles, they will rust and fail over time!
a regular check every season should be done!

 

[G]

Trade every 4 years and don't worry about it.

 

[1fujifilm]

Trade every 4 years and don't worry about it.

My thoughts exactly.
If you sell at a reasonable cost, these Tritons with 2K covers sell fast.

Want a deal, head to the snow show on the last day and you may be able to buy the demo on the floor. Trailer MFG would rather go home without the trailer.

Bear

 

[gary_in_neenah]

The very reason I traded my trailer a couple of years ago. It was beginning to look like the ones pictured above and I didn't want to risk being the guy we've all seen pulled over along the Interstate with a broken trailer. On the new trailer axle I used a heavy coating of Turtle Wax paste. Not sure if it'll make a difference but it can't hurt. Also, at the end of the season I blast it good with High Pressure wash so at least it's clean during the summer months. But at the end of the day these axles are in the worst environment possible so it's just a matter of time before they start to rust.

 

[bogiewheel]

I have been impressed with those rust stop jelly type products. Also a concern on snowmobile trailer axles are the drum brakes. I wish Dexter made a disc brake axle such that one could easily wash off from outside the assembly prior to storage. To properly wash the drum and components, you need to open the bearings meaning you now need to clean them and repack each year.

If anyone knows of a trailer manufacturer who has disc, I would like to know for the next purchase.

 

[mrbb]

also keep in mind that there is a sacrificial piece of metal between the axle and the trailer, that over time, can NEED to be replaced
as two different types of metals touching each other have a reaction!

I can sure see how trading in a trailer every few yrs can be done if you have the money to do so, but not all folks do, or want to

up keeping a trailer to make them last isn;t that hard

my one open place CAT CARRIER, is over 20 yrs old now, on its third axle, and been towed all over across and up and down the usa many times over its yrs , its just been a great trailer, that simple repairs were all it took to keep it going and its still in great shape today!
almost sold it many times too, but I its just come in handy so many times over the yrs and doesn';t cost much to keep!

as for brakes, I am pretty sure you can get stainless steel conversions to disc brake's, won't a super easy fast swap, but I gather it can be done

I know a few yrs back when I was looking at few used trailers, the one used one was just converted, to all stainless steel system on galvanized axles!
NOT sure if Dexter brand axles or not to be honest!
pic of axles above are Dexters , and know galvanized option is there for them!, but them have no brakes on in above pic's

 

[euphoric1]

POR 15 works really well, make sure you use their prep before painting though, will be a very long time before you will have to do it again