Broken spring hanger bracket

[dbhutchins]

One more major issue on this long cross-country trip (see separate thread on the broken cargo door): Discovered yesterday that one of the spring hanger brackets (rear axle, right side front) broke right off at the bolt holes. The axle has shifted about an inch to the left, and obviously the two tires on the right side are carrying almost all of the load on that side, with the right rear spring half unsupported.

I'm within 75 miles of home after an 8,300 mile trip, and since it seems to be riding OK, I'm gonna slow way down and ease her home to have my local shop do the repairs. It's been a tough trip: Cargo ramp fell apart, stranding my motorcycle in Mississippi. Water pump burned out. One of the China Bombs gave it up yesterday (all six will be replaced asap) and now a broken suspension. My local repair shop is gonna love me this year! Any recommendations on upgraded suspension components?

Sure wish I could sing the praises of these rigs, but at this point I'm thinking they're WAY under-designed and under-equipped. Bottom line: Ronald Reagan was right - Trust, but VERIFY (every component, every time you get underway)...

 

[57chevyconvt]

Don, I just replaced the springs and shackles to a six leaf spring and wet bolt kit by Moryde from Tweety's. The shackles are 1/2" thick compared to the original of 1/4" in thickness. This was done in preparation for our trip to Canada and Alaska this summer. I have about 5,000 miles thus far on the BH. When I removed the springs and shackles, I noticed one of the shackles was bent.

 

[Ray LeTourneau]

Don & sue, Sorry to hear of your troubles. The spring hanger bracket probably failed due to the nylon bushing wearing out and this ends up causing the bolt to wear through the shackle and the brackets. The only prevention for this is wet bolts (greasable bolts) or never wear bushings. Both have been topics of discussion here on the forum in the past.
Of course you already know about the China Time Bombs.
I tend to agree with your thoughts of design and equipped trailers but I truly believe every manufacturer in this price point uses the same concept. If they all used the highest quality components available, no one would be able to afford it. Even some of the higher priced rigs use the same components.
I'm glad we have this forum so at least we are "informed". We know what to expect.

 

[caissiel]

Balancing the trailer wheels goes a long way to help bushing wear.
I had a previous unit that wore through bushings every 2 years. Every time I checked the bolts I could see bushing wear.
After installing LT tires and balancing them contrary to instaler's sugestion, bushing wear was eliminated.

On our 3 year old unit with balanced wheels the standard bushing wear is nill.
My experience with the product the bushings are made off is that its great for wear on smooth surfaces. The enemy is rough steel surfaces and shock loading. The bolts don't rotate but the springs vibrating causes the bushings to rotate on the bolts at an alarming rate by an unbalanced wheel.
My 5 tires took a lot of weights up to 8in on both sides of the rims. So they were way of compared to any wheels I ever balanced before. The tech had a hard time to balanced them and told me I surely was doing the ringht thing.
E

 

[dbhutchins]

Thanks to all for the inputs.

I'll be replacing the hangers with one or the other of the options. Want to see what my local shop has experience with/recommends. Happily I've had good luck with them, and respect their opinions. Interesting note on balancing the tires. Who knew...? I'll certainly do that when the China Bombs get tossed (as soon as the suspension and ramp have been fixed).

Will post the final solution to this thread...

 

[dbhutchins]

OK - all's well with The Hutch (actually has been for some months, but been too busy to update this).

Replaced the spring hangers with Equa-Flex Trail-air suspension equalizers and never-wear bushings. They were recommended by my local shop. I have to admit the cost was reasonable and the result is spectacularly good. Surprised me that the RIDE was significantly improved- by as much as we got from adding a Demco Glide-Ride Pinbox a couple years ago.

Add that to the upgraded rubber (I replaced the China Bombs with Michelin XPS LT 245/75R16s from COSTCO) and the towing is now smooth as silk. Absolutely not a hint of the severe chucking and bouncing we had in the early days. I can HIGHLY recommend any of these upgrades as well worth the $$. Add the peace-of-mind you get running down the road NOT worrying about the next chassis failure and I've got to say, I'm only sorry I didn't do all of this earlier. We had 20,000 miles on the rig before the tires and hangers failed. Do yourself a favor and look into these things BEFORE your suspension and tires tank on you!