check it out - new equipment

They have an easy out to avoid warranty on the axle alignment. It's considered dealer prep so really is something that should be negotiated at the sale. The factory just sets it "to spec" which is basically just eyeballing it because they have a production line going and don't want to spend the time to make it exactly right. So it's luck of the draw if you get one that doesn't side track or not. He said the only way they'd warranty it was if there was no adjustment in it and they had to shim the tandem slider to make it track true which they didn't have to do.

So I picked this up directly from the factory and it tracked to the right from day one. Even if i had picked it up at the dealer they would have blamed it on the delivery truck on the trip up running over something and not warrantied it. I'm always so careful to avoid curbs if at all possible but it was just a "gotcha" and I knew that going in - not going to win that battle. I can't believe I fell for the old "70 an hour" line anyways. My bigger gripe was $338 of "shop supplies" I considered a tad excessive for some krylon paint and mig wire.

I'm glad you guys mentioned the affects of braking on the rear air bags when braking. It was something I hadn't thought of but you're right. Anytime you hit the brakes you can watch any air ride trailer drop down from the brake drag pulling them that way. So hard braking could scuff the tires.

When I finished my 62 mile deadhead to the shipper yesterday I did notice it appeared the tires scuffed a tad but it didn't flat spot them. I'll keep an eye on it and maybe adjust that level valve up another half inch or so. I don't suppose it will hurt anything to adjust it up like that on trailer tandems since there is obviously no drive line to keep in line anyways.

 

I have a load tomorrow that's 6,000 lbs 265 miles. Test it out and see how it does.

 

I thought it was important to protect the warranty. Really I don't think $2,000 was expensive or out of line for what it is and that's the price I was expecting on the high end. There's no way you're going to weld it on and run all the hoses in 5 or 6 hours I just don't see that but maybe you're right. There was $586 in charges above parts and labor for just the UBL install its self. FET $234.08, Shop supplies $88.70, environmental $4.00, local sales tax $120.06 and the alignment was $139.58 they were at 1.5 hrs labor on alignment $25.13 in parts and $9.45 misc. It is what it is. I'll make it back in no time.

 

Yeah that's exactly what they told me DOT frowns on that particular set up. I'm going to see how she rolls and go from there. The only thing that really bothers me is what happens during possible hard braking events.