I seriously looked at FB as they have a good reputation. But the small repairer that was prepared to remove and replace the axle were not prepared ( understandably) to warranty it. Plus they would make the transport frame and arrange courier, but Labour costs were at their normal rate, or I could do it myself or use a carpenter.I am very lucky on this occasion as the company doing the work have got a recently refurbished Fraser Brown axle in and are doing the job in one day for me - the brake drums and shoes on my existing axle are only one year old so they will get swapped over as well.
Steve
Even just replacing the axle with a new Alko one wasn’t straightforward. New ones were available from Western Towing but they couldn’t guarantee fitment. Even though the failed axle had its manufacturing label and bar code on it Alko could not confirm that Western Towings new axle would fit. So I talked to my Swift dealership, Tilshead Caravans, and the liased with Alko. Too their surprise Alko would not supply a new axle even with the failed axles label, serial number and barcode supplied to them. They insisted the caravan was physically measured against a drawing supplied by Alko. So the dealership had the van in for a couple of hours to measure it and liaise with Alko. Once that was done they got Alko to accept an order for a new axle. Tilshead then gave me a firm price for supply and fitment of a new axle assembly with warranty. Even they were surprised at the “faff” involved.
So you are quite lucky in having found a repairer with a Fraser Brown unit in stock and ready to fit.