i'm buying a trailer from my local dealer to haul my jeep, i have the choice of either the Dexter Torflex axles or regular leaf sprung axles!

anyone have any experience with the dexter's?

pro's and con's???

tia
jeff

I have the torsion axles on a 12k goose neck and the trailer rides nice loaded or empty. I don't know if it's because of the goose neck or the axles but compared to the leaf spring ball hitch I was using it's much better.

I have regular spring axles on my 12k trailer, and I really like them. Of course, i'd probably also like torflex axles......

One advantage of leaf springs with equalizers is that all 4 wheels have theoretically the same ground pressure all the time. This should make the braking and tire wear more even....

flip a coin.

Torsion ride so much nicer and are quiet. I'll never own another leaf sprung trailer again.

Pmurf, let me ask you this, just out of curiosity. How much does your trailer squat when you load a truck on it? Yours are 3500lbs, correct?

My trailer actually rides damn smooth, even empty considerering the springs are rated at 3500lbs each.

Torsion axles are nice but leaf spring axles have one huge advantage over them... availability. Every Torsion axle I have ever ordered had to be built and took 6-8 weeks to come from Dexter. I can usually get you a leaf spring axle in a day. Granted, there aren't many parts on torsion axles to break, but slide that trailer into a curb and bend the axles, and you're done. They are also very expensive. IIRC, you can probably get a pair of #5200 axles complete with brakes, springs, equalizers, u bolts etc. for close to the cost of one torsion axle.

I have a 3500 lb trailer I built several years ago. I built it with the Dexter torsion axle. Once you install one of those, you'll never go back to leaf axles.

Al

the trailer i use from my work has tor-flex axles in it,and i tows so damn nice.when i get or build my own trailer i would sure like to use them,but they are real expensive.
i went and talked to the guys that built the trailer(thomcat equipment),and they said they tow nice because of the castor built in to them because they are trailing arms?does that sound right?also,the only real thing i have to compare how well it tows is a u-haul car trailer,and they suck!!
my work trailer only goes down not more than an inch when i put my 5000# rig on it,and i have a few hitches to chooose from to get the wheels of the trailer flat on the ground so the pressure per tire is pretty much equalized(on the flat road anyhow!)

I've used both the Dexter and conventional leaf spring car haulers. The above observations are good. My current car hauler is quite a bit lighter than the alum. dexter axled one that my bro has, and I've used for years. I don't have any problem deadheading my trailer as I don't haul the ramps around. As pointed out, the high cost of Dexters would be a deterrent for me. I'm going to do a SOA on the leaf spring trailer, as it sits a bit low for off-highway use. This is very simple on a leaf spring rig with square axles. My bro did a 4" lift on his Dextered Feather Lite and it was not so simple. I think a conventional leaf spring set up has more latteral strength that the Dexter.
I too have pulled my rig around on a U-Haul car hauler for K's of miles and don't like it very much. It weighs 2000 lbs, dry.
I guess if you can get the Dexters for the same price as leaves, do it.
regards, as always, jefe

also,the only real thing i have to compare how well it tows is a u-haul car trailer,and they suck!!


well.. that's mostly the U-haul trailer to blame.

Having towed the u-haul car trailer and mine that I built using leaf springs.

I would have went torflex, but it was cost prohibitive.

Mine does tow nice and smooth behind me, unloaded or not.

I picked up my custom length axles in Phoenix in a weeks time from ordering them. Granted it's a big city, 6-8 weeks I would still wait. A couple of years ago, they were under $800 with one braking. It was about $200 more than a conventional set if I remember right. They reason I went with them was I used my boss's Featherlite aluminum trailer a few times and that trailer towed unreal. It was so quiet, you couldn't even tell it was behind you. The only noise it ever made was dragging the dovetail.

Motornoggin, another nice feature is that the ends are a drop out design. Let's say I tag a curb real hard and need to change an axle, I can just grind off the welds and slide a new rubber/axle assembly in without changing the whole tube. I know some of them bolt in to the main tubes too. If I hit something hard enough to bend one of these, it would have bent any axle leaf or torsion, so it's dead point IMO. If you've ever had a bearing seize up and dropped an axle on the highway, you'd appreciate this feature. I had a wheel pass me once when a bearing seized on my old snowmobile trailer. Didn't damage the springs or tube, just bent the stub shaft up and gouged the highway. If I had a spare insert and torsions, I could have theoretically changed it out, but instead I got towed to get a whole new axle even though the other side was still good. In a perfect world even with no spare insert, I could have been towed to a local trailer place and had them grind four welds and install a new insert and reweld it in. That's assuming they had the part, which I would give a 50/50 shot.
Chevota, I don't really even notice the trailer squatting at all to be honest with you, mine are 3500#'s. I have over 9000# of pipe on it including the weight of the trailer and they were fine. I wasn't driving on the street, just short runs on a military base.
It's all personal opinion. I like them and am willing to pay extra for them. Some guys drive Chevy's and are happy, others want a Lexus. Same difference.

When i built my trailer, I had initially planned to go with torsion axles, reguardless of the price. I lucked out and found a pair of brand new 6k axles, with 12" elec brakes on both with 4 3500lb springs for $450 on Ebay. I got a good deal i think because they ended on Christmas day.......

Anyways, i think the same setup in torsion axles would have cost me double that. Like i said, flip a coin..

I picked up my custom length axles in Phoenix in a weeks time from ordering them. Granted it's a big city, 6-8 weeks I would still wait. A couple of years ago, they were under $800 with one braking. It was about $200 more than a conventional set if I remember right. They reason I went with them was I used my boss's Featherlite aluminum trailer a few times and that trailer towed unreal. It was so quiet, you couldn't even tell it was behind you. The only noise it ever made was dragging the dovetail.

Motornoggin, another nice feature is that the ends are a drop out design. Let's say I tag a curb real hard and need to change an axle, I can just grind off the welds and slide a new rubber/axle assembly in without changing the whole tube. I know some of them bolt in to the main tubes too. If I hit something hard enough to bend one of these, it would have bent any axle leaf or torsion, so it's dead point IMO. If you've ever had a bearing seize up and dropped an axle on the highway, you'd appreciate this feature. I had a wheel pass me once when a bearing seized on my old snowmobile trailer. Didn't damage the springs or tube, just bent the stub shaft up and gouged the highway. If I had a spare insert and torsions, I could have theoretically changed it out, but instead I got towed to get a whole new axle even though the other side was still good. In a perfect world even with no spare insert, I could have been towed to a local trailer place and had them grind four welds and install a new insert and reweld it in. That's assuming they had the part, which I would give a 50/50 shot.
Chevota, I don't really even notice the trailer squatting at all to be honest with you, mine are 3500#'s. I have over 9000# of pipe on it including the weight of the trailer and they were fine. I wasn't driving on the street, just short runs on a military base.
It's all personal opinion. I like them and am willing to pay extra for them. Some guys drive Chevy's and are happy, others want a Lexus. Same difference.

I am not knocking the Torsion axles at all. I think they are great, but I think the leaf sprung axles are more user friendly. You said yourself, it took you a week to get them to Phoenix. Dexter must have had them already built.
Yes, you can replace the ends, but you need to have or find the right one. IIRC, they have two or three different angles and a right and left side. Because of the variables and the price, I don't know of anyone that keeps them in stock (in a retail store). On the flip side, almost every RV/trailer store has (or they should) everything but the axle, and like I said before, you can usually get those the next day (at least we can). Even if you need to swap the tube, you can get one for around $100, or get one with everything new cap to cap for $200 or less. That's brakes, drums...everything. Just for kicks, tomorrow, I will do a price comparo between them. Springs, hangars and all.

I have a really nice tilt-bed trailer with torflex axles. The axles are worn out and the cost of replacing them was more than buying a new trailer with regular axles. So I have a new trailer and the expensive trailer sits and collects dust.

I never really was very happy with the way that trailer towed either. It is due to the layout of the trailer is my guess, but my point is axles alone aren't going to make a good trailer.

We built a 16 ft tounge pull double axle utility trailer with 2- 3500 lb torsion axles. I haven't liked them because the hitch height is very critical. If the hitch is too low, you take all the weight off the rear axle, and it whips. (less margin for error) We bult a second tounge pull, and used springs - I like it better. I think torsions would be better for gooseneck setups when your hitch height is more consistent.

I have built two trailers with torflex axles, and will never go back! One is an ATV single axle 2,000, which rides awesome on dirt roads and washboards, it hardly ever bounces off the ground unlike the springer that we used to use.

Second trailer is my hauler, it's 18 feet long with twin 6,000 torflex axles, all with brakes. The trailer tows great unloaded, with 2.000, and with 8,000 lbs on it. I usually drag it quite a ways off maintained roads with no issues. There is no way you could convince me to run springers ever again!

I prefer leaf springs myself. My TPD bike trailer I believe uses torsion style and it sits to low and drags on every driveway. It also seems to bounce a bit like it needs shocks on some stretches of highway. The key to having a good car trailer suspension for me is to run the standard or heavy duty style 3 leaf springs. The 4 leaf ones are too damn stiff and lift tires just running up a curb. This actually puts a lot of strain on the tires and axles etc when you hit the curb whereas when you have some flex the tire just runs up the curb. I used to always break the spindle to axle welds on my 3500lb and 5200 lb axles. Now with the 3 leaf springs and 6000 lb axles I have no more problems. I think the 3 leafs are rated for 1500 pounds and the 3 leaf heavy duty are around 2000 pounds. I usually buy the 1500 lbs ones and change them out every 5 years. I've had three failures before doing this but I often have a total trailer weight of 9000 lbs. I have progressive bump stops to keep the trailer fenders off the tires when running chains and a heavy load but have run them without. I'd like to try adding some gas shocks next.

Jason :)