[VAC] Re: Buying Axles

["Mr. Joy H. Hansen" <joytbrew@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Dave,

It was a phone conversation with Henchen that informed me about the Inland
contract.  They went with the Inland contract because Henchen didn't want to
be burdened with customer special orders that required research, etc. and
the time to work with individual customers.

 They just want to make axles for Airstream, like cookie cutters.

It's my thought that Inland does the research/specifications for vintage
Airstreams, and has the drawings for the hundreds of Airstream/Argosy units.
Keep in mind that my vintage Airstream/Argosy axles only have the maximum
capacity for the axle on the identification tag.  There may differences in
model years other than weight.  With Inland's records, Henchen gets the
right axle fabricated for the customer the first time.  Non-vintage
Airstreams have a model number and serial number that allows fabrication of
an exact duplicate of the original.    The customer is happy with the
product, though not happy with the price.  I may have to bite the bullet.
It's not reasonable in today's computer environment to say there's more than
a couple of minutes to identify a vintage axle.  Then, there may be other
factors involved.

I may be unhappy with Inland's pricing, but I won't bad mouth Andy.  I think
he's doing his job and providing the list members with valuable insight
based on many years of experience with Airstream.  It would be unfortunate
and a great loss to Airsteam restorers if he were to withdraw from making
VAClist contributions.

For example, my learning about wheel/hub balancing, and identification of
worn out axles is pretty important in the scheme of things.  The thread has
informed list members how important properly tuned running gear is to
satisfying Airstreaming.

Ignorance may be bliss, but it can also be very costly!  Well, so is
knowledge.

                            Cheers, '74 Argosy, Joy