2018 T@G boondock broken axle

racpat · February 18

On our spring trip to the US South West the axle of our trailer broke. It was quite the shock to see the wheel pass us on the road. We were very lucky: there was no other traffic and the trailer did not flip. Local people were very helpful and a towtruck was able to transport our stricken trailer to a repair place. We decided to drive 8 hours back home and await repairs.

The garage that has our trailer is trying to source a new dexter axle to replace the broken one, but is running into to issues sourcing one. It sounds like Dexter builds these axles specically for NuCamp, and it would be difficult the get the right one directely from Dexter. It sounds like the quickest solution would be to buy one from NuCamp.

Has anyone have any experience dealing with this situation? We were hoping to head back witin a week or so to continue our trip, but it sounds like this might take quite a few weeks.

Patrick

RayjoeJim · February 19

Dexter Trailer Axles | Quality Parts | The Trailer Parts Outlet

racpat · February 19

Thanks.
The repair place has been very helpfull and did a lot of calling around. They were told by Dexter that the only way to get an axle quicly was to get one from NuCamp, otherwise the axle will need to be built. NuCamp CS responded to their and my enquires but did not seem interested in helping out, so we went ahead and ordered one from Dexter. It will take a minimum of three weeks to get one, so our trip is pretty much over for now. I am disapointed in CS from NuCamp.
The garage told me they see teardrop trailer with broken axles fairly regularly. I wonder if there might be an issue with these light-duty axles on little trailers like this. I have taken mine on many rough roads, after all it is a "boondock" model, but maybe the axle isn't quite up to that. From here on I will have my axle inspected regularly, and not by the local dealer who is pretty much useless for service. Even with this mishap we feel lucky, had this happened at higher speeds on a busy road this could have ended very differently.
Patrick

JamesDow · February 19

Glad that everyone are safe.
My 2018 standard 5 wide has gone on a lot of miles on rough dirt roads. Hope mine is still ok.
Too bad about sourcing issues.
Best of luck.

ScottG · February 19

I'm not absolutely certain about T@Gs, but my understanding from the T@B side is that the "Boondock" package is mostly cosmetic. Pitching the axle and fitting larger wheels gains a bit of ground clearance, but I don't believe the components themselves are any more durable.

Sorry nuCamp wasn't much help in getting you back on the road quickly, but at least you found a good service place that went the extra mile to find a solution.

racpat · April 22

To wrap up this "adventure". It took the garage in Utah almost a month to get the new axle from Dexter. Good news was that it all fit and they were able to install it in a couple of hours. Cost of the whole ordeal was just over $2000. It also pretty much killed our first long trip with the T@G. All in all we think we were lucky, this could have been a lot worse and people could have been hurt. I am left with a bad feeling about NuCamp. Their service sucked and it sounds like their might be a systemic problem going on with their light-duty axles. That might explain the lack of communication on their part. Some day there might be a recall, or even a class-action lawsuit.

2018 T@G boondock broken axle

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