Leaf springs

[kakampers]

I crawled under our 2008 Bighorn 3600RL, and took some pics of my springs. They are Lippert 7K and they look like they are overloaded, flat and have some reverse bow, but I didn't see any breaks in them. Please take a look at the pics and tell me if this is normal. We purchased the unit in May of 2007.

Steven...if the flat springs in the pics are on your rear axle, you might want to check how level you are. If you are setting "pin high", you are transferring too much weight to the back axle. We had the same situation, had our rig weighed, and determined that we were 500 pounds heavier on the rear axle than on the front axle...thus causing the flat springs.

We check and we were actually several inches high in the front, even though it did not look like it. We adjusted the pin box and the hitch, bringing the unit as close to level as possible, and we now have less than 25lbs of difference between the two axles....

 

[StevenJ]

Thanks for that advice about the weighing of the axles, I think I'll do that this spring and check the weights of each axle and pin weight. Thanks to all who responded with advice, it really helps give direction.

 

[wdk450]

Springs/Suspension Problems More than Just a Year Old

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!

I did a search of the forum using "Springs" as a search term. The earliest relevant post with the same frequently reported problems I found was from 2006 - 4 YEARS AGO!!!

 

[lwmcguir]

I did a search of the forum using "Springs" as a search term. The earliest relevant post with the same frequently reported problems I found was from 2006 - 4 YEARS AGO!!!

Try some different searchs. There are a lot of them in the past 6 months.

 

[Jimofhudsonville]

I had a problem with my springs on my 09 Big Horn 3670. The springs on the front axle were broken, so I called lippert and told them what happened. The person that I talked to was nasty to put it mildly. He told me I must have run through the median or hit a curb hard. So with no help from them I had to find someone to fix it. I got lucky I found a repairman that would replace all 4 springs right on my RV site in texas. So I got back to Michigan with no problems, NO THANKS TO LIPPERT!!! PS I only have 8,000 miles on the trailer

 

[Tankie]

Sure is nice of Lippert to stand behind their products . I only have 10,000 miles on my 09 3670, thank God I caught them before they broke!
Thats not a very good business model, give 1 yr. warranty and hope it expires before anyone has problems then claim sorry you are out of warranty. I am sure I'll be a repeat customer.

 

[lwmcguir]

The fourth pic is the right side and the others are the left side. I was closer to that left side with the camera. Shouldn't these springs already be 3500# with 7000# axles?

You need to get 4000# springs. Last time I checked Lippert was the only vendor that had them in the correct length. Dexter and a bunch of folks go to slipper springs when they go past 3500 pounds. Good luck and get them changed.

 

[Larryheadhunter]

I recently upgraded from 6K axles with 3 leaf springs UGH!, as the driver side springs completely broke, to 7K axles with 6 leaf springs. My question is that the spring leaf set was attached to the new 7K leaf springs with brakes, so what pound springs are the new ones? I don't know if they are 3500# or 4000#. I must add that my 16" aluminum rims said G, so I upgraded to G Goodyear 614's, which I understand mean 3750 lbs per axle. I don't know if that means anything regarding the springs.

I also would like to anyone who has suspension problems and haven't added your comments to my thread regarding Lippert Warranty doesn't care about Safety, please do so as I will be speaking to the VP of Lippert Warranty once again this month. Dragoon was able to get a satisfactory result, as well as several others, partially due to that thread, and I would love to help resolve HL owners suspension problems if I can, so help me help you if I get lucky. No promises, but if I were an unhappy owner of a Lippert component that has failed, I would first contact HL customer warranty service, then if out of warranty call Lippert, whose phone number is in the portal section of the forum. If I still wasn't satisfied after speaking to one of their reps, then talk or leave a voice mail for Andrew VonShoink. I wish all of you good luck. This week the West Coast Lippert Technician, Julio Garcia, is finishing up the last of my repairs. I will report on my rig's condition on my thread once he is finished.

 

[beardedone]

Just for your information when I had all my (expensive) undercarriage repairs done it was at a Large commercial operation that manufactures and installs their own springs. On our trailer they took the spring packs apart and inserted another leaf to bring them up to 4000 lbs. With everything I did (see my previous post) everything rides wonderfully. The trailer does sit higher now but that is fine and we are still totally level going down the road.

 

[Tankie]

Thats kind of funny when i talked to Mike at Lippert warranty and asked him if i could put 4k springs on 7k axles. This i what he said: 8K axles would require a complete axle upgrade. You would not be able to replace just the springs. The tube, u-bolts, and tie-plates would all have to be changed out as well. so whats up with that?

 

[RollingHome]

Larry, I know you've tasked yourself with this concern and you are to be commended for it. Good luck my friend, I wish you success ! Tom

 

[caissiel]

Lippert told me the same when I replaced the 4 springs on mine. They supplied me new heavier 9/16" U-Bolts and heavier plates with much less holes drilled.
The old springs were not bad so I covered all the costs and changed them myself in 2 hrs.

 

[beardedone]

Thats kind of funny when i talked to Mike at Lippert warranty and asked him if i could put 4k springs on 7k axles. This i what he said: 8K axles would require a complete axle upgrade. You would not be able to replace just the springs. The tube, u-bolts, and tie-plates would all have to be changed out as well. so whats up with that?

Well the experts I dealt with in Calgary, Standen's Spring, are very long on experience and respected for their work on commercial vehicles and RV's. They have a very large manufacturing plant also, to supply their needs and that of others. They approached the job with a great deal of confidence and the end product speaks volumes about their ability. Yes it can be done, so take your time and check around. Visit the shops to see how they operate and what kind of customers they have, such as the number of RV's and commercial companies. Don't be afraid to ask for references either.

 

[Paul & Nan]

I had posted 2 days ago about our broken spring and the other three messed up. Turns out our 7K axels had 4 3000# springs. After 4 ruined tires ($1200) and another $1150 for parts and labor, we have 4 3500# springs. We lost 3 days on the road as well, but thank God that we were in a safe place when we found the problem. We have lots of documentation on this whole mess, have spoken with Heartland CS, and been blown off by Lippert. Very dissappointed that our equipment was not up to snuff. The spring shop was amazed at the size of the springs and would not allow anything that small to go back on. Hopefully that will be the end of our problems with this sort of stuff. Westward ho, and North to Alaska. Nan

 

[boatdoc]

Imagine that " blown off by Lippert". WELCOME to the club!!!

 

[Tankie]

I had the new springs Lippert sent me installed and said to say they look kind of like the old ones a little flat. As far as the issue of Lippert claiming I overloaded them not true Had it weighed I am 12480#'s on my axles. Thats 1520#'s under.
I am having Henderson Line-up install the CP system Mon. and have talked to them about inspecting springs and advising me.

 

[lwmcguir]

I had posted 2 days ago about our broken spring and the other three messed up. Turns out our 7K axels had 4 3000# springs. After 4 ruined tires ($1200) and another $1150 for parts and labor, we have 4 3500# springs. We lost 3 days on the road as well, but thank God that we were in a safe place when we found the problem. We have lots of documentation on this whole mess, have spoken with Heartland CS, and been blown off by Lippert. Very dissappointed that our equipment was not up to snuff. The spring shop was amazed at the size of the springs and would not allow anything that small to go back on. Hopefully that will be the end of our problems with this sort of stuff. Westward ho, and North to Alaska. Nan

Sure would recommend the CP system considering the roads you are going to travel over. Really reduces the chucking and shock to the Coach.

 

[Tankie]

We just came up I-5 out of So. CA, that stretch of road is horrible. It was hard to drive 55. In fact when I got to WA springs looked a little flatter then when I left. That is were I think the flaw is the springs they are installing can't handle the roads we are driving. Hoping the CP take some of the beating off the springs.

 

[boatdoc]

I had the new springs Lippert sent me installed and said to say they look kind of like the old ones a little flat. As far as the issue of Lippert claiming I overloaded them not true Had it weighed I am 12480#'s on my axles. Thats 1520#'s under.
I am having Henderson Line-up install the CP system Mon. and have talked to them about inspecting springs and advising me.

I'm looking forward to the program Henderson is putting on at the Oregon rally. My second set of Lippert springs didn't stay arched for 500 miles, just as flat as the originals.

 

[aatauses]

Hi
Just a quick note on this post. I also had a concern about my trail air "tilting". I posted a few pictures here and several advised to sent to HL who in turn sent to Lippert. They stated that was normal and thought possibly the rear was loaded too heavy? We do not have anything in the rear that did not come with the unit (BH3670) so not sure what to do. My springs do not look bad, but just wondering if the trail air continues to be tilted what is happening to my springs??
al