Leaf springs

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StevenJ

Member
On my 3600RL I noticed the the center swivel for the leaf springs is tipped towards the front. It's like most of the weight is on the front axle. This is setting level on cement. It seems it should be pointed approx. straight down or it should look like the front and rear spring is carrying the same weight. Also where the leaf springs bolt to the axle, the spring bends down then back up to where it connects to the frame. It looks like the springs are overloaded. This doesn't look normal, any suggestions?:confused::confused:
 
caissiel

caissiel

Senior Member
Can you look and see if there is a sharp bend on the plies. A broken ply sometimes can only be seen if the trailer is lifted of the springs, or when the springs are unloaded. If there is a sharp bend it might mean a broken ply at that location.
 
Bob&Patty

Bob&Patty

Founders of SoCal Chapter
I agree with Laurent, time to crawl under with a bright flashlight and do a inspection of the springs. They should not have a reverse bow or be flat. Bob:D
 
caissiel

caissiel

Senior Member
Unless a main ply breaks, its easier to lift the trailer off the springs and then you can observe the broken ply. If you do not change the spring early enough the main ply will break and then you are in an emergency. I had a history of broken plies on my previous trailer. Most of the time the plies broke in line with the end of the shortest ply, and not on the slide side. It was only after I removed this shorter ply that I had springs last longer. I have a feeling that springs do break when the shocks are weak, as they do on trucks here in the north with rough woods roads. The Heartland trailers have the shocks installed almost horizontal, I have a feeling that it has something to do with broken spring plies. I was always told that springs break when the Trucks are unloaded in rough roads, here in this part of the country.
 
D

dieselengineer

Charter Member
The spring plies usually break when the spring is flex (travel distance) is at the maximum. Since there are no end of travel bumpers on the frame, the only limit is the shock (if equip) or the spring itself. I am working on adding bumpers to my coach's frame. At least for some peace of mind.
 
jimtoo

jimtoo

Moderator
Darn dieselengineer,,,, I type to slow... I was just suggesting that the rubber bumper be added between the spring center and frame. Not to be in contact all the time, but to make contact and help absorb the load if the flex got that bad. These bumpers are on the rear of almost all pickups and also on the front of pickups that use coil springs. They are on the control arm. Might just need to make a clamp on bracket for the trailer frame. Would work similar to a Timbren that a lot of folks use on the pickups, just not be in contact with spring all the time.

Jim M
 
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lwmcguir

Well-known member
Sounds like you need to upgrade axles and springs to be on the safe side. At least the springs and all four of them. We have always had Luxury fifth wheel campers with 4 shocks mounted similar to the HL. Never broke a spring in many many years of towing over all kinds of roads. There is a huge difference in quality of spring material. We put the 4K on our Augusta and there is no comparison with the 3.5K that came on it. Appear to be from the same vendor as well, just different batch and heavier of course. Rides like a dream even with the extra leaf. I looked back at the forum a few weeks ago and found over 50 post with spring issues be-for I got tired of looking. It apparently was an issue which I hope is resolved now for all the new units.
 
caissiel

caissiel

Senior Member
On my previous trailer the axle was no more then 1" from the bumper and the springs were breaking as well.
 
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lwmcguir

Well-known member
When I looked ours over, I decided immediately that the factory axles and springs were not suitable for an expensive camper. We put about $2700 additional money in the fix and it was well worth it. Now I will still check them but not wander if they are going to fall out or pass me on the hiway. There just isnt enough margin in some of the setups out there for safety. Not just HL either.
 
Rmcgrath53

Rmcgrath53

Well-known member
lwmcguir said:
When I looked ours over, I decided immediately that the factory axles and springs were not suitable for an expensive camper. We put about $2700 additional money in the fix and it was well worth it. Now I will still check them but not wander if they are going to fall out or pass me on the hiway. There just isnt enough margin in some of the setups out there for safety. Not just HL either.[/QUOTE

So what did that 2700.00 buy you?. Curious what you did.
Click to expand...
 
L

Larryheadhunter

X-Rookies Still Luving it
Hey friends,
Any spring or suspension issues that you can write for my Lippert thread is just more ammo to get Lippert and HL to address all the breakages. It's a darn shame that 3 leaf springs and 6K axles are standard on 14,800 lb rigs. I have 4 leaf springs on my Ford. Only 2 of 65 posts were negative, and only because they expect they will have to upgrade their suspensions as a matter of fact. That's crazy as I believe it should always be safety first and there have been just too many breakages of leaf springs and axles in less than 2 years of use. I also got 4 PM's supporting the thread. Lippert may make these suspensions for HL specs, but they cannot actually build them if they think they are unsafe. I wish there was some sort of certification to make sure no one has a major accident on the road, over this seemingly easy problem fix. Minimum 4 leaf springs and 7K axles should be the standard. I am speaking to Lippert suspension mgt in the next few days and we shall see if someone is listening. Such an easy fix it's a shame.
 
caissiel

caissiel

Senior Member
For information, I broke a spring ply on my F250. When I went to replace it at the spring shop the technician told me that the F250's had a reputation of breaking the main plies on the rear springs. And he told me it was not because they are loaded all the time. So I asked him if I should carry a spare main ply, he told me it would be a good Idea. So there you go its not only lippert that has problems. As I said before its not loading that breaks springs here in the bush roads I was always told it was the spring returns on these heavier trucks when unloaded in rough roads.
 
G

geeksrus

Well-known member
Larryheadhunter said:
Hey friends,
Any spring or suspension issues that you can write for my Lippert thread is just more ammo to get Lippert and HL to address all the breakages. It's a darn shame that 3 leaf springs and 6K axles are standard on 14,800 lb rigs. I have 4 leaf springs on my Ford. Only 2 of 65 posts were negative, and only because they expect they will have to upgrade their suspensions as a matter of fact. That's crazy as I believe it should always be safety first and there have been just too many breakages of leaf springs and axles in less than 2 years of use. I also got 4 PM's supporting the thread. Lippert may make these suspensions for HL specs, but they cannot actually build them if they think they are unsafe. I wish there was some sort of certification to make sure no one has a major accident on the road, over this seemingly easy problem fix. Minimum 4 leaf springs and 7K axles should be the standard. I am speaking to Lippert suspension mgt in the next few days and we shall see if someone is listening. Such an easy fix it's a shame.
Click to expand...

Larry: I don't believe that either Lippert or Heartland will do anything about this. They've both known about the problems for over a year & they still put the same shoddy components on the units that are barely borderline for the weigh of the coaches. Whenever a customer has a problem they either 'finger-point' at the other party or in Lippert's case, push back via: 'you must be over-weight', "we just follow Heartland's specs, talk to them', 'it is due to your upgraded tires are not the originals that came with your unit', ETC.

I've b*t*h-ed about my incident on this & other forums & in fact even wrote to the CEO of HL, without an answer BTW, & the problems continue on newer unit.

Good luck with your quest.

Eh!

Eh!
 
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lwmcguir

Well-known member
Rmcgrath53 said:
lwmcguir said:
When I looked ours over, I decided immediately that the factory axles and springs were not suitable for an expensive camper. We put about $2700 additional money in the fix and it was well worth it. Now I will still check them but not wander if they are going to fall out or pass me on the hiway. There just isnt enough margin in some of the setups out there for safety. Not just HL either.[/QUOTE

So what did that 2700.00 buy you?. Curious what you did.
Click to expand...

We installed 8K axles and springs. Also the Trail Air suspension. The Trail Air Suspension by itself will most likely stop 90% of the spring breakage that is due to shock.

As far as some of the poster noting that they are breaking springs on trucks, I find that interesting as well have a lot of trucks and never have broken a spring. However the local utility companies with their overloaded service trucks, driving in all kinds of weather routinely break wheels but rarely springs. The local Ford Dealer says they have only replaced two springs in about 10 years. Springs shouldn't break frequently at all no matter what service they are in unless they are poorly designed.
Click to expand...
 
caissiel

caissiel

Senior Member
Ford dealers here never change them, spring shops do. They can make the ply to spec and not charge much. They charged me $120.00 for one of the longer ply. That was installed. If I break a spring on my trailer I will have a spare. I carried a spare for 13 years with the previous trailer because I was left stranded the first time I broke one. With spare its a 30 Min job and you are on your way. Springs are all the same they will break sometime.
 
Last edited:
Riverman

Riverman

Well-known member
caissiel said:
For information, I broke a spring ply on my F250. When I went to replace it at the spring shop the technician told me that the F250's had a reputation of breaking the main plies on the rear springs. And he told me it was not because they are loaded all the time. So I asked him if I should carry a spare main ply, he told me it would be a good Idea. So there you go its not only lippert that has problems. As I said before its not loading that breaks springs here in the bush roads I was always told it was the spring returns on these heavier trucks when unloaded in rough roads.
Click to expand...

I have had 4 of these F250 in the past and never had 1 spring problem with any of them. Must be bigger potholes on that side of the country....or you are putting too many potatoes in the back!
 
caissiel

caissiel

Senior Member
When I bought my 2500 GM I was told to watch the rear spring plies because contractors had more problems with the 3/4 tons then the 1/2 tons. And yes we do have many springs breaking on trucks and they are not necessarely loaded neither. I went with 3 ply springs on my previous trailer and no more springs broke for at least 60K miles. Our transport trucks or wood hauling trucks are constantly in the spring shop. Our wood trucks haul 50% more loads then the trucks in GA. I tried to buy a spare main ply for spare when I had changed the ply on my F250 and they were out of stock, waiting for delivery. So they do change them here on the F250's. Right now with the mild weather after a month of cold weather the frost heaves are starting to show on the highways, I counted 85 of them per mile one time. So driving an RV in May when I get home is like riding a bucking horse.
 
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