small update. I got the body off and my brother started pulling off all the old crap, like the old wiring harness, gas tank and various things that the trailer doesn't need anymore. He just started cleaning it up a bit really, scraping the frame and such. The axle is leaking so my cheap route of just flipping it over is not going to work, I will have my brother weld on new spring perches and flip the axle right side up as it should be. That and hopefully have the new tongue completed this weekend too.
I know I am bringing up a bit of an old thread, but I have a question I hope someone can give some insight on. I am looking at a free way to lift my truck bed and of course flipping the axle over came up. I remember seeing on this thread that it creates a problem with the vent allowing the fluid to leak. My question is, what if I adapted a tube to the vent, ran it up the pumpkin to once again face up?
The problem I think that will cause is that the fluid will still be blocking off the vent which would then be blocking it's venting ability. This isn't a problem when the vent is facing up because the fluid level is below the vent area.
So, what do you guys think? The tube would prevent it from leaking but may prevent it from venting as well. So if pressure builds in the rear end it will either push fluid up and out the hose, or possibly cause issues with the the seals if pressure is too high.
I know it's potentially cheap and easy to get the perches welded to the top but I just can't get over the idea of a quick fix I can do in my driveway right now. I actually intend to swap the original truck axle with a true trailer axle next spring, so this would just be a temporary fix until then.
Also, in case it impacts your answer, I don't expect to put more than a couple of hundred miles on this trailer before swapping the rear axle out next year. Just regional camping mostly. I don't intend to do any real traveling until our Colorado trip planned for next summer. My intent is to do a ton of work on the trailer between now and then.