Trail Air suspension FAILURE!

[Phbouwers]

Hello,

I am new to this forum.

We have a 2009 Bighorn 3580. We really love the unit.

We heard a CLICKING sound coming from the suspension whenever we would back it into a campground etc. Did not think anything about it.

After our fall trip last year, I took the unit into the local tire shop to have the tires rotated and axles greased, check brakes checked etc. Upon inspection, they called me to tell me that the suspension had failed. (Picture attached) The shackles had broken completely on the passenger side rear axle leading edge. The leaf spring was wedged up against the frame. The driver's side main housing, had STRESS cracks. I took some pictures and contacted Lippert, and Bighorn. Both informed me that it was OUT of Warranty. That wasn't my point. My point was, they had SUSPENSION failure, and I thought they would want to know. I asked them both if they had anyone else call in with this issue, and they both indicated NO.

We ordered new suspension, which is dramatically improved. The new suspension is the E-Z FLex system. It is built with 8 grease nipples per side, and the complete system from the shackles down is made of a lot heavier metal.

http://www.dexteraxle.com/e_z_flex_suspension

I just thought I would share this with all of you. Keep an eye out on your trail air, or better yet replace it with the E-Z Flex system.

Paul Bouwers
Pella, IA

 

[aatauses]

Sorry to hear about your incident, it sounds like no one was injured and parts can be replaced. I did not notice any grease fittings on your system? did the spring actully 'bind' in the sleeve and that is what started it or was it something else? Appreciate you sharing your experience to help others.
al

 

[lwmcguir]

The light weight shackles have at best about 6 thousand miles of good service built in. More or less depending on the roads. Wet bolts are a must if you travel many miles. glad it didn't cause you any problems on the road. The heavier weight shackes need to be watched closely as well.

 

[jnbhobe]

Sorry to see your suspension problem Paul, but it is not unheard of I've seen a lot of rigs that way. The factory calls it maintainence items but they should last longer than 3 yrs. I have changed mine over to wet bolts so they will last longer. If you look at your picture you will see two grease fittings right under the trail-air label. Make sure you keep all your fittings greased on your new set up. one other thing I did was to put all the fittings on the inside so I don't have to pull the wheels to grease it every time.

 

[jimtoo]

One other thing that may now happen. In your picture you have a jack and jackstand under the axle. If you or your shop jacked the unit up under the axle as pictured, you may have bent the axle so the camber is changed and can cause tire wear. Watch the tires on that axle.

Jim M

 

[jnbhobe]

I seen that too Jim then forgot to mention it. Must have been a senior moment.

 

[jimtoo]

Mention about what?

 

[PeternLiane]

One other thing that may now happen. In your picture you have a jack and jackstand under the axle. If you or your shop jacked the unit up under the axle as pictured, you may have bent the axle so the camber is changed and can cause tire wear. Watch the tires on that axle.

Jim M

I've never had to jack my SOB nor my new coach up before. How do you jack a coach up to remove the tires or to work under it? On the frame closest to the tires? What type of jack will pick up a coach evenly?

 

[jimtoo]

I think it is recommended that you jack only on the frame. If your springs are under the axle, you could jack under the spring.

 

[lwmcguir]

Many of us use an axle saddle. This allows you to get under the axle safely. However due to the light weight axles you can never jack under the axle away from the spring mount area. You most likely would bend the axle for sure. I dont like haveing the jack way up to the frame so I use the axle saddle and have had no issues. This is the only way we jack any of the trailers due to the loading. If you raise the frame then you have all the weight of the coach instead of approximately half when you jack one axle properly. We also use the drive on type jacks for the same reason. Much safer.

 

[Bob&Patty]

Never jack up the trailer unless it is hooked to the truck. Jacking with the front landing gear down cause cause real problems and damage to the gear or worse.

 

[traveler44]

It looks like the shackle plates are what failed. When they installed the wet bolts on mine, over at Mor Ryde they used heavier shackle plates. I am trying to get grease in all of the wet bolts now. I want to thank the guys who told me to get the wet bolts installed on mine right away. Tom

 

[lspohn]

I just bought a 2008 Big Horn and one of the first things I did was check the tires. I did not see any balance weights so of they came and to the tire shop for balancing. One was way out of balance and if I would have pulled like this I and sure it would have wore the spring shackles. I feel this is the biggest cause of shackle failure. What do you think??

 

[Ray LeTourneau]

I just bought a 2008 Big Horn and one of the first things I did was check the tires. I did not see any balance weights so of they came and to the tire shop for balancing. One was way out of balance and if I would have pulled like this I and sure it would have wore the spring shackles. I feel this is the biggest cause of shackle failure. What do you think??

lspohn, Welcome to the Heartland Forum & Family. Yes, to an extent, unbalanced tires & wheels will contribute to premature failure to shackles or spring breakage. I can't answer why they aren't done at the factory and I don't know of any brand that does balance tires on new rigs. there have been many discussions about this on the forum and many of us have had our tires & wheels balanced, especially after replacing the Chinese made tires. The best thing to add as an aftermarket modification is wetbolts to the suspension. This will add years to the life of the shackles.

 

[porthole]

I feel this is the biggest cause of shackle failure. What do you think??

Nope, inferior or undersized parts put under tremendous loads.