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Eriba and Rapido Axle Repair

Early Eriba and Rapido caravans had steel torsion bar axles which are known to fail any time after twenty years.

Failure occurs in two ways.

They break. The bars are made of two spring steel pieces 1in. x 1/2 in put together and welded at each end to form a torsion bar 1in. x 1in. square.

When one bar breaks the other one cannot carry the weight and will itself break soon afterwards.
They lose their strength and allow the caravan to lose height.

It is many years since Al-KO had stock of spare torsion bars.

A customer's experience...

Dear Fraser,

Thank you for the safe delivery on Friday of the refurbished axle . I fitted it over the weekend and all is good - I'm delighted with it.

I would just like to say I am full of admiration for achieving the perfect alignment of the fixing brackets on the axle square section tube and especially the alignment of the swing axles to each square bar that fits inside the axle tube with the rubbers. As far as I could determine with my relatively crude methods the wheels are perfectly aligned. I have good engineering understanding and appreciate the accuracy you must have worked to. I have never attempted welding but can also appreciate the excellent welds on the axle. Please give my thanks to your staff who were involved in the refurbishment for such an excellent job. Thanks to your and their efforts a 27 year old caravan will be back on the road again for many more years to come.

I should also mention how impressed I have been with the very efficient service you provided. I could not have expected better service. If only all businesses could be run in the same way.....My email to AL-KO a few weeks ago enquiring about a new axle still remains unanswered.

It has been heartening to know that excellent engineering skills still exist in the UK.

With kind regards- Chris

Our Repair and Refurbishment Process

We recover the axle by changing it to IRS (Independent Rubber Suspension). We salvage part of the trailing arms and mounting brackets and manufacture the rest.

The result is an axle which will fit perfectly and outlast the caravan. We boost the capacity of the axle to 1300 kgs. This does not affect the ride but has the advantage of adding longevity and making the axle more able to cope with bad roads.

Transportation

We handle all carriage arrangements - we collect your axle and deliver the remanufactured axle making the process a straight forward, no hassle service.

Preparing for Collection

To have your axle refurbished please remove the brakes and mount it on a frame as shown in pictures. Please replace the stub pin nuts to protect the threads.

Cut two pieces of 3 x 2 timber an inch longer each end than the axle to prevent overhang. Make a travelling frame as per pictures. Wrap in plastic and it is ready to collect.

No Hidden Charges

The cost of this conversion is £650.00 plus VAT. This includes collection and delivery by TNT. The work takes 6 working days from collection to return.