Getting ready and found this!

howardwheeler wrote:
Bpounds, you may be exactly right, but we just last year did extensive work on the suspension and at the time whatever stress there was was hidden within the metal. The crack and list to the drivers side has happened in the last year. But I think you're right that some kind of flexing has been going on for some time. All the other hangers seem fine. But we are going to beef up the whole hanger system.

Best thing you can do to the hangers is install the 2 x 2 square tubes across at all three hanger locations. Just about all leaf spring trailers will benefit from this. Chris

Bpounds, you may be exactly right, but we just last year did extensive work on the suspension and at the time whatever stress there was was hidden within the metal. The crack and list to the drivers side has happened in the last year. But I think you're right that some kind of flexing has been going on for some time. All the other hangers seem fine. But we are going to beef up the whole hanger system.

A crack like that is not caused by any single incident. Not even caused by a few jackknife turns. Those plates will bend, but the only thing that will cause the plate to break is repetitive bending that work hardens the steel. You're looking at years and years of flexing back and forth, and you have to look at the length of the part, combined with the cross-block that concentrated all of the flexure at one point.

Veebyes wrote:
I think this spring hanger damage is another good reason to avoid jack-knife turns. Tires absorb a certain amount of twisting stress & the spring hangers get the rest.

I've met a couple guys who carried a 5 gal bucket of sand with them to put under their tires when having to jackknife on hard surface. One said that he'd shoveled dirt under his tires a couple times, too.

Lyle

howardwheeler wrote:
It is an Alpenlite Portofino Villa. A very heavy trailer with a very beefy frame. The hangers are from the factory, but around four or five years ago two springs broke on the same side after hitting a terrible pothole on I10 in Sulfur Louisiana. I replaced all four springs and last year put on the Kodak discs (the best thing I've ever done to the trailer). All spring bolts have been replaced with Dexter wet bolts. They are 8000 lbs Dexter axles. The trailer travels right at 16000 lbs. Tows very stable. Apparently on backing up and jack knifing the trailer to get it on somewhere in the last year, too much lateral force bent and then cracked that hanger. It's travelled many many miles in fourteen years and never had this happen, even through broken springs and Dexter electric brakes disintegrating and jamming the axle hubs. It's at the shop now, and we are going to do some serious welding with additional cross members from side to side on the hangers and big angle iron going up the hangers themselves. Then we will put triangle braces from the bottom of the hangers to the new heavy duty cross braces. It took fourteen years for this to happen, but I'm not planning on it happening again.

Personally, I'd bet that that pothole, along with cumulative stresses, are what caused the cracks.

Lyle

I think this spring hanger damage is another good reason to avoid jack-knife turns. Tires absorb a certain amount of twisting stress & the spring hangers get the rest.

It is an Alpenlite Portofino Villa. A very heavy trailer with a very beefy frame. The hangers are from the factory, but around four or five years ago two springs broke on the same side after hitting a terrible pothole on I10 in Sulfur Louisiana. I replaced all four springs and last year put on the Kodak discs (the best thing I've ever done to the trailer). All spring bolts have been replaced with Dexter wet bolts. They are 8000 lbs Dexter axles. The trailer travels right at 16000 lbs. Tows very stable. Apparently on backing up and jack knifing the trailer to get it on somewhere in the last year, too much lateral force bent and then cracked that hanger. It's travelled many many miles in fourteen years and never had this happen, even through broken springs and Dexter electric brakes disintegrating and jamming the axle hubs. It's at the shop now, and we are going to do some serious welding with additional cross members from side to side on the hangers and big angle iron going up the hangers themselves. Then we will put triangle braces from the bottom of the hangers to the new heavy duty cross braces. It took fourteen years for this to happen, but I'm not planning on it happening again.

Howard, what brand of Trailer is it?

Did the springs come that way from the factory or have they been modified?

We've only been out 2 times in 6 months. So let me re-word my comment..."I'm going to crawl under my rig every time we go out and check that kind of thing." Better?

IBcarguy wrote:
Wow...you are very lucky that it didn't shear off at 60mph on a narrow mountain road. Pretty scary. From now on, I'm going to crawl under my rig every month and check that kind of thing.

Month? I pretty much check that stuff every time it gets coupled to the truck. Matter fact when I pull the wheel chocks I look at the suspension.