Mor/ryde CRE 3000 Suspension Question

Scott M wrote:
We have owned our fifth-wheel for about 3 years now and it had been holding up well with no significant issues to date with one exception. We recently took a trip from Florida to North Carolina. The roads (interstate and secondary) on the have become very rough with potholes.

We make a point to run with the holding tanks empty and only about a 1/4 tank of potable water and we are relatively light packers, using probably less that 1000 lbs of the 4500 lb payload capacity of the unit.

The clearance between the rear tires and plastic fender trim has always been about an inch or a little less on each side. When we got to North Carolina I noticed that the clearance has gone from from about an inch to a 1/4" and it appears that an inch of the plastic had been worn away by the tire. The metal at the top of the wheel well also had rub marks from the rear tires (both sides) bottoming out. There were no rub marks from the front tires and the separation distance from the plastic fender trim remains unchanged.

When we originally picked up the fifth-wheel,the hitch was adjusted to tow relatively level. When the unit is disconnected and level, the clearance between the rear tire and plastic fender does not change. I looked that the Mor/ryde suspension and the springs all all appear to be normal. The clearance from the top of the wheel well and the tires is virtually the same, except for the wheel that is rubbing, which has at least 3/4" less clearance than the other three tires.

I did not see any places where shackles or springs had moved or shifted and cannot see any broken leaf springs. My first thought is to replace the leaf springs on the problem axle. Any other ideas on what I should do?

Thanks!

2 things come immediately to mind. The spring shackles and hangers, bushings, bolts and the spring eyes could be worn enough to cause this issue. Might want to pull the springs and see how worn they are. If the hangers are worn, then they would have to be cut off and new ones welded in; any other worn parts would also need to be replaced. If you put a wet bolt kit in, it will come with new bronze bushings, shackles and bolts, which will take out a lot of slop. If the spring eyes are worn to the point that new bushings won't stay in place, then you'd need to replace the springs, too. This leads to the second issue, and that's the fact that springs =can= lose their arch. Springs can be re-arched at a truck suspension shop, but you'd really want to balance that with simply replacing the entire spring packs, as a re-arched spring will flatten out again.

Lyle