Broken spring hanger

david-steph2018

Well-known member
Well we broke a spring hanger. Funny the way it happen, we pulled into Elkhart County Fairgrounds on Friday afternoon, and who is the first people we see, Performance Trailer Braking. Sit down and talked to them and during the conversation told them we were going to Affinity RV for repairs and while there going to get wheel bearing packed. Well John said he could do it for us tomorrow (Saturday morning), so I told them to come on down. When we pulled the rear right wheel we found the broken hanger.
Finally found somebody to come out and weld the hanger back up. Luckily it only broke the weld on the one side and the other side was still holding it.
$350 later back together. Double check other welds all looked good still. Need it to last until October.

Guess the decision to get the IS suspension installed this coming October seems like a smart ideal now.
 

2psnapod2

Texas-South Chapter Leaders-Retired
Just FYI, Performance Trailer Braking actually installs a quicker operating Disc Brake system than Morryde. Have us do the brakes and let Morryde do your suspension!

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david-steph2018

Well-known member
Just FYI, Performance Trailer Braking actually installs a quicker operating Disc Brake system than Morryde. Have us do the brakes and let Morryde do your suspension!

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You guys did the disc install last June during the national rally for us. John and Barb repacked our wheel bearings this morning and that is when we found the broken hanger.
In October we are getting the suspension upgrade done at Morryde.
 

Gary521

Well-known member
Just FYI, Performance Trailer Braking actually installs a quicker operating Disc Brake system than Morryde. Have us do the brakes and let Morryde do your suspension!

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When you say quicker, are you referring to the delay time in the brake actuator? Do you use the Titan actuator ( or whatever they call it now )?
 

2psnapod2

Texas-South Chapter Leaders-Retired
Yes the Hydrastar actuator doesn't get to 10% capacity 30 seconds later and doesn't get to 90% 1.5 seconds after the Brakerite (former Titan) actuator. Just remember each 30 seconds is about 40 feet of stopping. The way we look at it, you could need every foot you can get. They save a couple of $$ by using one that is cheaper but sacrifice safety.

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2psnapod2

Texas-South Chapter Leaders-Retired
We are going to be in Indiana, Oklahoma, Texas and the West Coast. Send us a email and we can get you scheduled. info@ptb.com

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pjones1969

Well-known member
We broke both rear spring hangers on our Cyclone 3800 pulling into Elkhart on Sunday, Oct. 4th. We had an appt. at the factory service center for a sidewall crack repair, we planned to hang around Elkhart and gauge the progress to see if we could return home with our trailer at the end of the week but that plan went south so we made the 1000 mile trek back home empty.

Our last fuel stop was a 100 miles out, in Kokomo, IN, I always walk the trailer at stops and nothing was wrong at this point. I’m not sure where along the way this failure happened as there was no indication that something was wrong. I didn’t notice something was not right until we were turning off of CR7 onto CR6, which is right by the service center, when we turned left I only noticed 2 wheels in my mirror on the driver side! I thought, OMG, We have lost a wheel/tire somewhere since Kokomo! Turning right onto Dexter Drive I saw 3 wheels on the passenger side, the service center is right down the street so I pulled it around back where you leave them. When I got out I noticed the rear axle was offset, a quick look and both rear spring hangers had broken off and shifted the axles and leaf springs and also damaged the wheel well trim. I parked it, winterized, took pictures and left a note on the front cap and went to the hotel.

The Heartland service writer assigned to us emailed me Monday morning saying they got the note and would get back to me once they could get a better look at it. Lippert has been contacted and will be there on the 15th to inspect and do an upgrade hanger retrofit, not sure what that is yet, then it sounds like Dexter will be called in to address axles and leaf springs. Heartland says they will not move the trailer until this is resolved, so then it will go in for the repair we were there for and they will address any other issues caused by the spring hanger failure at that time.

i have been inspecting these but always thought that the welds holding the spring hanger to the frame is where the failures were occurring, that part is still attached as you can see in the attached pics. I was looking on the forum and ran across an older thread that I actually commented on that shows recommended spring hanger reinforcement from Dexter. https://heartlandowners.org/showthread.php/72063-Spring-hangers-failed/page2?highlight=Hanger (post 15) Honestly, I totally forgot about this reinforcement and never did it and because of the inspections I was doing led me to believe that we were one of the lucky ones, this will be happening when we get the trailer back.

811C9B97-5513-46C5-8FDA-D58428292B84.jpeg2D817E16-71CD-412B-BB79-48114B920A1C.jpeg81524FF1-3089-4ECD-A342-97869E1AED1F.jpeg8406C554-A8C6-4237-B83A-BFC46A2A237D.jpeg2A25A5FA-8B65-4E4B-BA65-059B8111A74B.jpeg
 

david-steph2018

Well-known member
We broke both rear spring hangers on our Cyclone 3800 pulling into Elkhart on Sunday, Oct. 4th. We had an appt. at the factory service center for a sidewall crack repair, we planned to hang around Elkhart and gauge the progress to see if we could return home with our trailer at the end of the week but that plan went south so we made the 1000 mile trek back home empty.

Our last fuel stop was a 100 miles out, in Kokomo, IN, I always walk the trailer at stops and nothing was wrong at this point. I’m not sure where along the way this failure happened as there was no indication that something was wrong. I didn’t notice something was not right until we were turning off of CR7 onto CR6, which is right by the service center, when we turned left I only noticed 2 wheels in my mirror on the driver side! I thought, OMG, We have lost a wheel/tire somewhere since Kokomo! Turning right onto Dexter Drive I saw 3 wheels on the passenger side, the service center is right down the street so I pulled it around back where you leave them. When I got out I noticed the rear axle was offset, a quick look and both rear spring hangers had broken off and shifted the axles and leaf springs and also damaged the wheel well trim. I parked it, winterized, took pictures and left a note on the front cap and went to the hotel.

The Heartland service writer assigned to us emailed me Monday morning saying they got the note and would get back to me once they could get a better look at it. Lippert has been contacted and will be there on the 15th to inspect and do an upgrade hanger retrofit, not sure what that is yet, then it sounds like Dexter will be called in to address axles and leaf springs. Heartland says they will not move the trailer until this is resolved, so then it will go in for the repair we were there for and they will address any other issues caused by the spring hanger failure at that time.

i have been inspecting these but always thought that the welds holding the spring hanger to the frame is where the failures were occurring, that part is still attached as you can see in the attached pics. I was looking on the forum and ran across an older thread that I actually commented on that shows recommended spring hanger reinforcement from Dexter. https://heartlandowners.org/showthread.php/72063-Spring-hangers-failed/page2?highlight=Hanger (post 15) Honestly, I totally forgot about this reinforcement and never did it and because of the inspections I was doing led me to believe that we were one of the lucky ones, this will be happening when we get the trailer back.

View attachment 64775View attachment 64772View attachment 64773View attachment 64774View attachment 64776

We are getting the Independent Suspension done on October 27th, broke one in Goshen and that is enough
 

Flick

Well-known member
Man those toy haulers are not only heavy, but really hard on the hangers. Yikes!

I have brought this up in a prior post. If you inspect closely where the hangers are formed, they are formed with a sharp bend to create the hanger. At that bend it seems to be where they are breaking, not on the welds to the frame. The bend creates a weak spot. With just a minor adjustment during the hanger formation process, they could be reengineered and strengthened.
I have been a welder for years and can easily see the problem. Seems like they could see this also. I will be fixing mine this winter.
Time for new manufactured coaches to be produced having this problem fixed.
 

Routemaster

Well-known member
Talking of spring hangers breaking, on my last coach I had one go so I made these up to go on her but did not do it. I machined the top face to keep it plumb and milled the in the top so as to go over the broken hanger as to keep the new hanger in the right place make sense? Also turned up bronze spacers to take up the slop in the spring eye. Drilled grease holes in HT bolt and have nylock nut.
Maybe I put them on this one at some point.
Could be over built would need a cross bar to connect the two together?
This is the toolmaker in me. :)
What do you reckon?
Den.
 

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Flick

Well-known member
Talking of spring hangers breaking, on my last coach I had one go so I made these up to go on her but did not do it. I machined the top face to keep it plumb and milled the in the top so as to go over the broken hanger as to keep the new hanger in the right place make sense? Also turned up bronze spacers to take up the slop in the spring eye. Drilled grease holes in HT bolt and have nylock nut.
Maybe I put them on this one at some point.
Could be over built would need a cross bar to connect the two together?
This is the toolmaker in me. :)
What do you reckon?
Den.

Those hangers are sure a professional job. You must have a nice machine shop to do that caliper of work. You shouldn’t need a crosspiece since you have them tied together as you do. But I agree, it would make them even stronger. What makes the originals weak is that they are not tied together and the torque from side to side just keeps making them weaker. Kind of like breaking of a bolt that if you bend it enough, it eventually breaks of.
I will build mine similar to what you have but I’m looking at a side to side setup that will slip in from the backside and be bolted on with 1/2” bolts.
I know others have welded crosspieces on the shackles and then went side to side. That’s an option I may use also.
 

david-steph2018

Well-known member
Man those toy haulers are not only heavy, but really hard on the hangers. Yikes!

Oh yes, heavy our weighs in at around 20K pounds. But the torque during the turns is the killer on these things. I was watching a friend pull his Fuzion in a space here and the way that 3rd axle was skidding. It was horrible. I try my best not to pinwheel this thing but there at times just turning it is bad. Some turns in campgrounds and on the roads just make them pinwheel and put all of that torque on them.

I am hoping after the Independent Suspension I will have allot less to worry about, but spring hangers are not one of them to worry about any longer.
 

Gary521

Well-known member
I just installed the Morryde X Factor with Correct Track. It took over a month to get them. However, they are just bolt on and not to difficult to install. These tie the spring hanger together without welding. Since I ordered them they have had a price increase.
 

travelin2

Pennsylvania Chapter Leaders-retired
I just installed the Morryde X Factor with Correct Track. It took over a month to get them. However, they are just bolt on and not to difficult to install. These tie the spring hanger together without welding. Since I ordered them they have had a price increase.

I added one of those to the rear hangers of the BH this summer. I’m not convinced on adding all three as there needs to be some flex. If the frame is too rigid then there could be damage elsewhere IMO

I ordered mine from the rvupgradestore.com. Had it in a few days.


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LBR

Well-known member
I added one this Spring on the back of our tri-axle CY...will be adding one more in the front sometime. I also am not going to add the center 2 tho.
 
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