Bent Hanger"s

[Routemaster]

How would you go about straightening out this hanger in the picture, would I have to drop the spring down also what would be the steps to fix this. Or might I be able to jack it out?
The spring is also pushed in so now there could be an alignment problem?
Once I put it right I was looking at X Factor in there.
Den.

 

[david-steph2018]

How would you go about straightening out this hanger in the picture, would I have to drop the spring down also what would be the steps to fix this. Or might I be able to jack it out?
The spring is also pushed in so now there could be an alignment problem?
Once I put it right I was looking at X Factor in there.
Den.

Make sure you double check the weld, especially on the outside. We had 1 hangar that broke the weld on the outside of the rear hangar. I had to have a mobile welder come to me for repairs, later in the year we went ahead and had the Morryde IS system installed.
But you may want to consider a trailer repair shop that does alignments as well.

 

[danemayer]

Is there a crack on the left side? Even if not, you should consider having the old hanger cut off and a new one welded on.

 

[carl.swoyer]

What do all the other ones look like ?
Possibly a realignment and add gussets

Sent from my moto z3 using Tapatalk

 

[centerline]

that can be perfectly normal... and not an issue except to the eye, unless its broke..

it was installed that way and not a product of road hazard. when onne buys the hangers, they are about a half of an inch wider than the springs, and so one side or the other, or both sides need to bend in when tightened. in that case there, the spring eye was closer to the one side of the hanger than the other, so rather than expecting that little piece of quarter inch material to pull the spring to it, the bolt pulled the hanger to the spring..

the spring suspension systems are very crude, and how it all looks when installed can depend on how exact the installer was in the placement of the hangers, and whether the springs were tight to the axle when the hanger bolts were tightened...

for that hanger shown to fail, it would either have to be broken, which is not likely because its made out of mild steel, or both springs would have to work loose on the axles AND the other side fail too, to allow it to shift sideways enough to collapse...

without a series of events taking place causing it to fail, it wont.... for it to fail on its own without several other issues being present, the spring itself would have to twist between the axle and the hanger to allow the hanger to move from where its at....

its amazing how much abuse and torque trailer suspension takes during rough road travel, and during tight maneuvering in parking lots, driveways and campgrounds... yet very rarely fail in any catastrophic manner.

 

[JWalker]

How would you go about straightening out this hanger in the picture, would I have to drop the spring down also what would be the steps to fix this. Or might I be able to jack it out?
The spring is also pushed in so now there could be an alignment problem?
Once I put it right I was looking at X Factor in there.
Den.

We had a rear spring hanger break while traveling. Roadside assistance came and a welder fixed us all back up. But one of the spring hangers is bent slightly inward like your picture. I have run it for several thousand miles like that with no issue. Alignment is good. Tire wear is still good. I recently had it reinforced with gussets and supports. About 10,000 miles on it now. No issues.

 

[wdk450]

Looking closely at the top of your photo, I am wondering if your frame I-Beam is slightly twisted. It happened to me with both I beams near the suspension hangars, and I was lucky to find a talented welding shop with transport trailer experience who was able to twist the I - beams back to close to original shape, and bridged the damage along the base of the I - beam with thickwall rectangular steel tubing.

 

[Routemaster]

Re: Bent Hanger's

No crack there Dan.
Here are some more pictures I have. The mate to the bent hanger is pushed over as well.
In the small picture above is were I bought this coach it was backed into a very tight space, this were I am thinking this took place. We just pulled her the 2000 miles home on freeways.
I have set of bearing bronze spacers I made a while ago that I was going to install either side of the spring eyes to get rid of the taper off the hanger, maybe I will get to it now.
Would it be best to raise the frame until the wheel spins plus then place a jack under the axel put some load on that undo the wet bolt and use the jack to let down the spring would that be safe ??
Thanks Den.

 

[danemayer]

Re: Bent Hanger's

No crack there Dan.
Here are some more pictures I have. The mate to the bent hanger is pushed over as well.
In the small picture above is were I bought this coach it was backed into a very tight space, this were I am thinking this took place. We just pulled her the 2000 miles home on freeways.
I have set of bearing bronze spacers I made a while ago that I was going to install either side of the spring eyes to get rid of the taper off the hanger, maybe I will get to it now.
Would it be best to raise the frame until the wheel spins plus then place a jack under the axel put some load on that undo the wet bolt and use the jack to let down the spring would that be safe ??
Thanks Den.

You may have to lift the other side to align springs and hangers and to manipulate the wet bolt. If the axle isn't quite perpendicular to the frame, which can happen while parking the trailer, you might get the wet bolt out, but not get things realigned. Not sure whether you'll need to lift the axle. Some years back I helped a friend and I don't think the axle and frame both had to be lifted.

 

[Routemaster]

Hey Dan.
I made a set off 6 of these for our Everest never ever used them my be over built cause I was going to lift the Everest up 2'' for the Chevy but traded the E in.
Den.

 

[hoefler]

If you look closely, you will see one side is straight, and the other is leaning in. The spring is too narrow for the hanger, most likely a 2.25" spring in a 2.5" hanger. There is no straightening it out with either install new springs or new hangers. It is not really a problem, just looks bad.

 

[Doubleringer]

that can be perfectly normal... and not an issue except to the eye, unless its broke..

it was installed that way and not a product of road hazard. when onne buys the hangers, they are about a half of an inch wider than the springs, and so one side or the other, or both sides need to bend in when tightened. in that case there, the spring eye was closer to the one side of the hanger than the other, so rather than expecting that little piece of quarter inch material to pull the spring to it, the bolt pulled the hanger to the spring..

the spring suspension systems are very crude, and how it all looks when installed can depend on how exact the installer was in the placement of the hangers, and whether the springs were tight to the axle when the hanger bolts were tightened...

for that hanger shown to fail, it would either have to be broken, which is not likely because its made out of mild steel, or both springs would have to work loose on the axles AND the other side fail too, to allow it to shift sideways enough to collapse...

without a series of events taking place causing it to fail, it wont.... for it to fail on its own without several other issues being present, the spring itself would have to twist between the axle and the hanger to allow the hanger to move from where its at....

its amazing how much abuse and torque trailer suspension takes during rough road travel, and during tight maneuvering in parking lots, driveways and campgrounds... yet very rarely fail in any catastrophic manner.

The spring hanger's sides, at the bend, become fatigued and will break off. This is not due to the weld breaking but the side metal being fatigued.
This is not an uncommon problem with double/triple axle setups. A hanger that breaks need to be reinforced/boxed to reduce this fatigue breakage.

 

[Routemaster]

I just got around to making my own cross brace and straighten up the hanger. I found that the hangers (pt#36155) welded on this coach have 2.010" gap and the spring eye measures 1.720" so all my hangers smashed down to the eyes so not 100% face location of the eye. I made bronze bearing shims to take up the slop I will tackle the other four hangers later. I still have deal with the bent frame. I was told that they could take care of the dish in the frame on the drivers side.
I hope this might help others.
Den.

 

[Routemaster]

How do you stop the axle from moving this one front door side is 3/8"inch over the center line of the frame look at the twist on the spring?
Is there a reason that the 9/16" bore not closer to the "I" beam?
Even if the axle is square to the frame I guess the check from king pin to wheel will be out?
Den.

 

[Routemaster]

So the other day whilst installing my brace I checked that hub to frame as you will see my numbers in pic and sketch. it is off!!
Check my numbers please see if I am right.
The other right front hub is 3/8" off to the right (door side).
Why is there a difference in centers line of axle and center line of I frame I guess might be something to be with camber?
So she is crabbing going down the road? Even if the axle's are square to the frame now the pin to front wheels would be out?
It looks to me that I will have support the frame to take off all four wheels loosen all U bolts and set the hubs equal about the frame Yes?
But now my concern is that when on the road will the body twist the suspension out of line?
This would be a good time for IS can't go to that yet.
I don't if said but I was advised to add a third axel to remove some of the long rear overhang.
Cheers Den.

 

[danemayer]

Den, I can't say I'm following your discussion all that well. But it sounds like you're saying that the axle is not centered left-to-right under the frame. I do know that the factory doesn't mess with any of that when building the trailer. They hook the springs/axles to the hangars that are mounted to the frame. So if it's not centered, either Dexter (or Lippert) made it wrong, which is unlikely, or it slipped, which also seems unlikely. Or it was taken apart and put back together slightly wrong.

I'm not 100% certain what would result from a left-to-right offset of the axle. But I'd guess it might stress the springs and hangars and some of the stress on the hangars might cause some frame twisting - but it would seem like the hangar would fail before the frame. A weight distribution problem from the axle placement could cause the equalizers and springs to spread differently on each side, causing the axles to not be parallel - crabbing.

 

[Routemaster]

Hey Dan. Yes the axles are off set to each other one goes east and the other west. I do know the history of this coach , it look to me that the nuts had not been moved. We know that the frame is bent.. that was seconded by the Lippert's tech, but who knows.
We are aiming to take her to AZ next month to the frame builders.
Den.

 

[Routemaster]

Does anyone know if Heartland align these coaches before they leave the plant, how heck would all this happen nightmare? As you can see in pictures that I have front axle is out of square to the frame by 1/8inch by checking from king pin to target on the tires. Then also the axles are off center line of the frame by 3/8" see day light on road side and no day light on curb side, working on this tub when I can.
Thanks.
Den.

 

[Kzxpilot]

We had a rear spring hanger break while traveling. Roadside assistance came and a welder fixed us all back up. But one of the spring hangers is bent slightly inward like your picture. I have run it for several thousand miles like that with no issue. Alignment is good. Tire wear is still good. I recently had it reinforced with gussets and supports. About 10,000 miles on it now. No issues.

I've just had the same issue, waiting to get the bracket welded. How much should it cost, and is there any kits to reinforce the bracket?

 

[Kzxpilot]

Ive just had the same thing happened to me on road. Waiting for a welder now. Does anyone make the reinforcement parts, or do I just need to have the fabricated?