caissiel
Senior Member
We purchased the Unit in August 2010 , and the unit was manufactured in March 2009. The unit was in possession of the dealer during that time.
While reading posts about the spring problems, and my experience with the last unit I became conscious that the 7000 Lbs axles could also give me some problems.
While reading the posts on the spring I started to doubt my own and started to take pictures of the setup and communicated with Lippert. According to the correspondence with the warranty dept we assumed the springs were possibly starting to fail on the rear axle.
After the first Pics I used my torque wrench and check all the U-Bolts. The rear axle U-Bolts were actually loose, and needed 2 turns to tighten them enough for 70Ft-Lb. The right side front U-Bolts were at about 40 Ft-Lbs. But the front springs looked much better then the rear axle ones.
It was determined if I wanted to do the repairs myself I would have to pay for the springs and if they were bad I would get my money back. But because I had loose rear U-Bolts Lippert proceeded and shipped me new U-Bolts and Plates.
I received the parts Wednesday and proceeded to do the repairs Thursday afternoon.
To my surprise the left rear spring center bolt was broken at the axle alignment hole and the spring was pushed back by about ¾”. This surely misaligned the axles. But all my tire wear was normal, so this only happened lately. The spring fell apart when I removed it, so I proceeded to change all the springs.
When I tried to take the first shock the bottom nut could not be removed due to the shock stud being bend so much that it damaged the threads. So I proceeded to remove the spring only and decided to replace the U-Bolts. When I tried to replace the U-Bolts I noticed that the new bolts were much bigger and could not be installed in the existing plates. So I removed the shocks by the top nuts and replaced the larger U-Bolts and the heavier plates that Lippert sold me. The U bolts are longer and 9/16” dia. The plates are thicker and have only required holes that make them much stronger.
This clarified my assumption that the U-Bolts did not loosened up but the Plates bend under the extra stress of heavier springs. The installation really looks great and in line with heavy springs. The plates and U-Bolts are as heavy duty as the ones on the Ford SD I tow the trailer with.
I feel the the shock were going to fail anyway because the rubbers at top and bottom are all cracked due to sideways forces on the studs.
I have not reinstalled them and waiting to get home and modifying the installation of the shocks so they are not exposed to so much side forces.
I am keeping the springs for spares because I never traveled without spares with the previous and was in the lookout for new ones anyway. The new and old springs are build with a flat section on the center portion, when loaded they appear having a reversed arc at the axle. So the new axle installation looks exactly as the old springs did. I concluded that the flat section has to bend under load and I had assumed it was the springs failing. I am surprised that the technicians at Lippert did not tell me about it that it was normal. I am glad I did install the heavier Plates and U-Bolts. I will be in contact with Lippert next week about my results.
This trailer frame has been designed to fail and in no way I could let it be that way while I have to tow it across the countries of Canada and USA. I cannot believe that I drove this unit this far without checking the Axles home while I had all the tools required.
I though with a new trailer I was going to be free of any major maintenance. But so far I have made more repairs to this unit in 8 months then I did in my previous unit in 12Years.
I am not complaining about the building of this unit but I feel that these units should be properly serviced at the dealers before we are left to travel with them hooked on our trucks. This has made my experience with the previous trailer, valuable but not enough to tackle the problems I have faced with this one.
We love our unit and will have it for a long time, but I wish that all owners of these units be aware of the maintenance requirements of these heavier designed units.
The following attachments are the pics of the axle observations during this maintenance procedure.
While reading posts about the spring problems, and my experience with the last unit I became conscious that the 7000 Lbs axles could also give me some problems.
While reading the posts on the spring I started to doubt my own and started to take pictures of the setup and communicated with Lippert. According to the correspondence with the warranty dept we assumed the springs were possibly starting to fail on the rear axle.
After the first Pics I used my torque wrench and check all the U-Bolts. The rear axle U-Bolts were actually loose, and needed 2 turns to tighten them enough for 70Ft-Lb. The right side front U-Bolts were at about 40 Ft-Lbs. But the front springs looked much better then the rear axle ones.
It was determined if I wanted to do the repairs myself I would have to pay for the springs and if they were bad I would get my money back. But because I had loose rear U-Bolts Lippert proceeded and shipped me new U-Bolts and Plates.
I received the parts Wednesday and proceeded to do the repairs Thursday afternoon.
To my surprise the left rear spring center bolt was broken at the axle alignment hole and the spring was pushed back by about ¾”. This surely misaligned the axles. But all my tire wear was normal, so this only happened lately. The spring fell apart when I removed it, so I proceeded to change all the springs.
When I tried to take the first shock the bottom nut could not be removed due to the shock stud being bend so much that it damaged the threads. So I proceeded to remove the spring only and decided to replace the U-Bolts. When I tried to replace the U-Bolts I noticed that the new bolts were much bigger and could not be installed in the existing plates. So I removed the shocks by the top nuts and replaced the larger U-Bolts and the heavier plates that Lippert sold me. The U bolts are longer and 9/16” dia. The plates are thicker and have only required holes that make them much stronger.
This clarified my assumption that the U-Bolts did not loosened up but the Plates bend under the extra stress of heavier springs. The installation really looks great and in line with heavy springs. The plates and U-Bolts are as heavy duty as the ones on the Ford SD I tow the trailer with.
I feel the the shock were going to fail anyway because the rubbers at top and bottom are all cracked due to sideways forces on the studs.
I have not reinstalled them and waiting to get home and modifying the installation of the shocks so they are not exposed to so much side forces.
I am keeping the springs for spares because I never traveled without spares with the previous and was in the lookout for new ones anyway. The new and old springs are build with a flat section on the center portion, when loaded they appear having a reversed arc at the axle. So the new axle installation looks exactly as the old springs did. I concluded that the flat section has to bend under load and I had assumed it was the springs failing. I am surprised that the technicians at Lippert did not tell me about it that it was normal. I am glad I did install the heavier Plates and U-Bolts. I will be in contact with Lippert next week about my results.
This trailer frame has been designed to fail and in no way I could let it be that way while I have to tow it across the countries of Canada and USA. I cannot believe that I drove this unit this far without checking the Axles home while I had all the tools required.
I though with a new trailer I was going to be free of any major maintenance. But so far I have made more repairs to this unit in 8 months then I did in my previous unit in 12Years.
I am not complaining about the building of this unit but I feel that these units should be properly serviced at the dealers before we are left to travel with them hooked on our trucks. This has made my experience with the previous trailer, valuable but not enough to tackle the problems I have faced with this one.
We love our unit and will have it for a long time, but I wish that all owners of these units be aware of the maintenance requirements of these heavier designed units.
The following attachments are the pics of the axle observations during this maintenance procedure.
![DSCN0396 [800x600]..jpg](/data/attachments/6/6068-14b48f613ad53f49e5816cef6908d082.jpg)
![DSCN0398 [800x600]..jpg](/data/attachments/6/6069-c793841dbdffcbab73ba91561e8fa4a9.jpg)
![DSCN0397 [800x600]..jpg](/data/attachments/6/6070-a5fba89f962297db53271dd7436a9747.jpg)
Please post a forum thread w/pics when you get back so I can imagine "one day". Enjoy yourself and have a great time. Also, ur a smart man putting the spring shop on your itinerary. When and if I can move my brand new 3670RL I think I too will visit one thanks to Laurent's problems and fiasco...
