Broken leaf springs - third time!
My 2005 Prowler trailer has just had its third case of broken leaf springs. The first occured just 2 years after purchase, and the second 5 years after that. That set lasted a while longer: 7 years; maybe because I took it to a specialty shop and had them put on "extra heavy duty" springs".
Not good enough. Why do they keep breaking? I inspected the damage: The leaf just broke in half close to where it attaches to the frame. The metal doesn't appear to be corroded badly: surface rust but the inside metal looks shiny.
The design seems strange: Though there are several layers of leaves through the center (4 I think) it diminishes to a single leaf at the attachment. That seems like a weak spot. And indeed that's where the break occurred all three times. Is that a normal design?
I'd love to find a fix for this. I know it's an old trailer but is 2-7 years really the longest I can expect before a failure? This is the worst kind of breakdown because it comes without warning and can cause major problems if it happens far from home. Amazingly, the last failure happened 100 feet from my driveway! So all I lost was 4 days camping reservations :(
Trailer GVW is 8000 pounds and I do not have it heavily loaded with gear or supplies.
Not good enough. Why do they keep breaking? I inspected the damage: The leaf just broke in half close to where it attaches to the frame. The metal doesn't appear to be corroded badly: surface rust but the inside metal looks shiny.
The design seems strange: Though there are several layers of leaves through the center (4 I think) it diminishes to a single leaf at the attachment. That seems like a weak spot. And indeed that's where the break occurred all three times. Is that a normal design?
I'd love to find a fix for this. I know it's an old trailer but is 2-7 years really the longest I can expect before a failure? This is the worst kind of breakdown because it comes without warning and can cause major problems if it happens far from home. Amazingly, the last failure happened 100 feet from my driveway! So all I lost was 4 days camping reservations :(
Trailer GVW is 8000 pounds and I do not have it heavily loaded with gear or supplies.
