Lets talk trailer axles.

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Ok so a few years back I bought a 20ft deckover trailer with tandem axles.

It only has 2 brakes on the back axle.

I noticed either right when I bought it or after that the axle tubes looked a little different, like the front one seemed to have more of an arch while the rear axle was more straight.

I never thought about it much until recently the front axle appears to have much more camber then the rear axle.

Now the rear axle could very well be bent at this point but when I got it I know for sure it didn't have as much arch as the front.

Now it would seem to make sense to me that they would make one axle arched and the other straight to help with handling characteristics.

I kinda compared it to an old camper frame that we have around that will eventually be a trailer and the front axle has more camber then the rear axle just not as extreme as my deckover.

i recently put all new tires on it because the sidewalls were cracking and the wear on the tires didn't seem to be to out of the ordinary considering how much skidding they do when turning etc.

I guess my next question is if I do decide on replacing the axle assembly is it gonna screw up the handling if I put another axle on that is cambered the same way as the front axle?
 
In my opinion, no.

I've installed thousands of Dexter axles ranging from 6k to 22.5k in the years that I worked building trailers. I can say that when it came to camber, the 7k and below axles were the most noticeable- they were also both the same.
 
I've seen this on trailers that have been severely overloaded. What you can try to do is cut a hole in the floor of the trailer or remove a plank and wrap a chain around the bent axle and use a strong floor jack from above to bend it back straight.
 
Any commercial truck places that align and/or repair big rig trailers can check it out for you.
 
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