Check Your Springs

navyAZ1

Well-known member
Well we pulled in to set up and noticed our wheel chocks would not fit in between the tires, this seemed odd? We had also noticed that we could feel the coach move a lot more when one of us was walking across the floor. Crawled under the coach yesterday and found that a piece of the leaf second from the top had broken off at the front of the spring on both sides of the rear axle. The portion of this leaf that is exposed from the third leaf had cracked and then just fell off. This left a long portion of the top leaf with no added support and it bent down which also pushed the equalizer towards the front and made the spring really weak. Changed the springs today and gave the front axle springs a close inspection they seemed to appear to be okay. Springs weren't all that expensive but the over night charge for shipping was really high, but I had to get them so we can head for Goshen on Saturday to get the new landing gear installed next week. The worst part is now we are $300 shorter on our "fun money" for the rally. Oh well at least nothing happened while we were on the road causing major problems.

See Ya At The Rally,

Ron:D
 

Hastey

Oklahoma Chapter Leaders

Never had any problem on the RVs but busted a few on the farm stuff over theyears. Seems to be a pattern of the rear axle breaking springs. Now I know weare talking about travel trailers, but, a trailer is a trailer. Seems that mostof the weight gets shifted to the rear axle (60/40 ish) and combined with thehigh quality roads we travel (sarcasm LOL) they just give. Even though we aretalking about leaf springs they are still metal and just like bending any pieceof metal back and forth it will eventually find a weak spot. Bottom line, checkyour load displacement on your axles. Just my thoughts.
 

cj11302000

Member
I just took a trip from Western Washington over to Eastern Washington for a camping trip with my 2009 Sundance 2997BHS fifth wheel. When I got to the campground, I did notice that the trailer appeared to be sitting lower on the passengers side...but me and a friend thought it was because I was on a sloped site. After the trip, I drove to the dump station before going home and noticed it was still low. Further inspection showed that the rear axle on that side had a completely broken leaf spring! All four leaf's were cracked in half right at the axle. I also had a broken shock as a result. We were so lucky that the whole axle didn't come loose. I do remember some rough roads after the pass, but we were not overloaded. I was really surprised the whole leaf spring broke! I reinforced the axle and limped it to a nearby service center where it is being repaired. I had the broken leaf spring replaced on the rear wheel and I'm having the front leaf spring on the same side replaced too. I called Lippert and of course, there is only a one year warranty on the axles. Check your leaf springs!
 

kakampers

Past Heartland Ambassador
This is also one very important reason to have your coach individually weighed...it allows you to see exactly how much weight is on each tire/axle, and lets you make necessary adjustments to correct. We did this in 2009, going into the Heartland rally, and found we were 500 pounds heavier on the rear axle...we adjusted our hitch and were able to get the axles to a 25lb difference....really helps to spread the load as evenly as possible.

Everyone coming into the rally should consider having this done on the way to their site....
 

navyAZ1

Well-known member
We have had our coach weighed twice and each time we were okay on weights plus there were only 75# difference between front and back axles, plus we only had a 50# difference between each tire. So, I don't think weight is the problem it is just cheap steel.
 

Cimriver

Well-known member
This isn't the first time someone has noticed this issue.

//heartlandowners.org/showthread.php/16395-Lippert-springs-strike-again?highlight=springs

Yup, everybody should check their springs.
 

SilverRhino

Well-known member
Make sure the replacement springs are NOT MADE OF CHEAP CHINESE STEEL!

CS

I've been keeping track of my suspension components since we rolled our BC of the lot. Currently looking at the Dexter system with wet bolts and possibly changing out the springs at the same time. Short of running each leaf through a Magna Flux how can I be assured that the springs I use as replacement are not the same as the Lippert OEMs?? What company/ies handle springs that are built with quality steel??
 

boatdoc

Well-known member
Emco springs in Ok. You can't buy from them but they will give you a dealer. I know for a fact that Lippert has their springs as that is where I bought our spring # 72-79 springs from. They are a bit stiffer than the junk that came on our 3670 and the set Lippert sent to replace the stock set. The Emco's still have an arch after 4K miles, not like the China crud before.
 

lwmcguir

Well-known member
Dexter usually has good quality springs as well. We replaced the 7K with 8K Lippert and so far they are holding up. Easiest way to keep track of them is to measure the arch. If you don't have 1 1/2 inch's or so then you need to change out your springs. Going to 500# per wheel/spring is usually the best thing to do as the factory springs are just to close to the maximum that there isn't a substantial safety margin.
 

TravelTiger

Founding Texas-West Chapter Leaders-Retired
Can someone who has replaced springs give a play-by-play of the process? (How to find service, what to ask for, how much it costs, how long did it take)

E
 

caissiel

Senior Member
On my previous Trailer I changed many springs on the road. I got caught the 1st time without a spring on the weekend so now I carry a spare pair like a spare tire.
1. I need to have the trailer rolling straight in order that the axle is aligned properly.
2. Leave the trailer on the truck so the front will pivot as you jack the trailer on one side.
3. Jack the trailer on one side till the wheel you are changing the spring is about 1/2" from the ground.
4. Undo the 2 U-Bolts from the axle.
5. The axle will now drop enough to slide the spring off the center pin later.
6. Remove the both spring bolts at each end of the spring. Tap the threaded end lightly to allow the bolt to slip out. I found that leaving the nut in and hitting the nut helps in protecting the threads. The spring shackles on the equilizer will move out with the spring bolts still in the plate. That's ok.
7. Slide the spring of the axle you might just dropone end to remove it from the anchor end U-Plate.
8. Slide the new spring in place and install the bolts, the new spring also has new plastic bushings that I favour to make the installation easier. I never had a spring outlast the bushings.
9. The bolts still in the plate of the equalizer end makes it easier to push the bolt in properly. I usualy try to align the splines of the bolts to make it easier to pull in to seat it.
10. Install the nuts and torque then just enough to pull the bolt into its seat. I usually feel a hard stop when the torque is right. If the bolt do not seat I usualy hit on the head with a hammer to ease the torque required.
11. The axle U-Bolt can now be installed and thighten using a circle torquing procedure in order to get them to thighten evenly.
12. Drop the trailer or procede to the next one on the same side if doing 2 or 4 at a time.

I once broke 2 springs on one axle and it was a bear to get the springs aligned, so to make the job simple you need to have to keep one side of the axle anchored.

I have done one spring change in less time then it took the wife to prepare me super. We had just pulled in a rest area and we were on our way again after having a good meal. So for me its like a tire change, and I am sure the emergency insurance policy should cover the spring change on site if a spare one is available, for someone not equiped with the required knowledge.
 
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