Author Topic: Camper Axle, Bearings, Hubs and Wheel Studs. Can you buy them?  (Read 3390 times)

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Offline DaveR

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Camper Axle, Bearings, Hubs and Wheel Studs. Can you buy them?
« on: October 22, 2020, 07:11:23 AM »
Swaggers.
Sadly, I can report with 1st hand experience, the sad tale of the worst wow for some very unhappy campers.
I'm in the business of shifting vehicles long haul.
I have moved several broken vans and campers over the last 18 months and seen many move through our yards, and the reasons for them to fail are varied, but, the worst by far is due to manufacturing failure and the availability of replacement items being Nil.
I DO NOT want to start some sort of battle of import v local made argument.

When looking to buy any brand of camper, hybrid camper, or van, please check with the sales people in writing and ask for evidence about the availability of spares for EVERYTHING chassis down.
I have taken a new Camper (no, I wont say what it was) from central west NSW back home due to the wheel studs shearing of and the wheel separating from the axle. The camper was taken on a tilt tray to the local mechanic who then found it was not possible to buy the replacement studs, or anything similar in Australia. Then it was found that the HUBS and AXLES were not standard. The Makers people had no spares for this nor could they find anything either......
Luckily, for the owner, we took the camper to a chassis specialist for a chassis down rebuild of quality components under warranty. We have had several campers go through the yard for this reason.
If you have bought something recently, ask this question to the dealer with evidence such as parts numbers.
2001 HDJ-100, a flash one
2013 Expanda OB
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Offline Beachman

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Re: Camper Axle, Bearings, Hubs and Wheel Studs. Can you buy them?
« Reply #1 on: October 23, 2020, 09:10:45 AM »
That is such good advice. 2 years ago we towed our Australian made Jimboomba Camper to Cape York and before the trip I wanted to buy a spare leaf spring (just in case) so I measured the spring and rang a couple of spring places to find none made that particular size.

I rang Jimboomba Campers who advised they use Cruise Master suspension, so a quick call to them and they had the parts I needed.  They also gave me a photocopy of a parts guide giving me all the component numbers should I need it in the future.

While I didn’t need to use any of the suspension parts, it would have been painful measuring and phoning around on the side of the development road. Plus I’m sure freight would cost more than then actual spring did.