Broken springs

[lucy6194]

Broken spring on return trip home from Florida. Hubby fix on side of road. Carried spare as we travel off the grid. Anyway upgraded springs to 2500# as we felt we were close to max wt. Also adding mor/ryde 4000 system. Anyone else done these up grades. We are pulling a jayco 5th wheel.

[OBSPowerstroke]

I went and picked up four new springs and a complete new wet bolt kit from the local Six Roblees' this afternoon. I tried for upgraded springs, but the stock 1,750 pounders are the most heavy duty you can go on this particular spring length.

I figured I got at least 40K miles out of the original springs with only one broken one towing near max capacity most of the time, so $350 to buy all the parts to rebuild the suspension seemed like a reasonable deal. The guy helping me at the store looked at my spring after I told him it snapped on a relatively small bump and pointed out that there was rust down into the steel along the fracture, which means it had been cracked for quite some time and I was lucky it decided to let go where I could easily drop the trailer instead of the middle of nowhere in Idaho or Utah.

I spent some time today looking at floor plans of the newer trailers and I can't find anything I like better than mine, so I guess I will sink some more money into it and keep it around awhile longer.

[ReferDog]

If you are still happy with T/T Why trade/Up grade to the right springs. Not that hard of a job, otherwise you will get another set of lousy spring.

[TNrob]

This is one of the reasons I was attracted to the little Hideout we have. It has a gross of 6800, and a factory weight of under 4800. Supposedly allows for 2065 pounds of cargo. Loaded for bear it has weighed in on two different trips at just under 6000. Obviously that doesn't mean I will never suffer a failure, but I was glad to find one that has a solid 10+% over capacity once we're loaded with full tanks, an extra battery, pots, pans, food, clothes... well, everything.

On another note, any such thing as a clearing house for camper data? I'm trying to look at 5th wheels and TTs that are under weight and over built for when I upgrade campers. We got the new Ram 3/4 that will make our future trips with the Hideout much better, but once we get it paid don we're going to go for something a bit roomier. Digging through all of the floor plans and spec sheets is such a pain trying to do it one brand at a time.

Which forum should I ask?

[time2roll]

My springs became flattened. Probably ready to break. Upgraded 1750 to 2250 and it has never ridden better.

[OBSPowerstroke]

I broke a spring on my way home this past weekend, too. The trailer managed to make it all the way from Portland to Moab and most of the way back when a spring decided to snap just as I was two blocks away from my dad's house near Boise. I heard a loud bang as I went over a bump in the road, but didn't realize that was the spring letting go until I got parked in front of his house.

It happened at 8:00 PM Friday, so I ran all over town trying to find a replacement spring Saturday morning. Apparently the spring I need is no longer used and no one that was open Saturday had one in stock. I left the trailer in Boise and have to drive back to repair and pull it home next weekend.

Fortunately a place here in Portland has everything I need to fix it in stock, so now I'm debating on replacing all four springs with OEM equivalents or just buying one spring to get me home and through the rest of this camping season, and then look at upgrading springs, axles, and wheels since I noticed my Maxxis tires are starting to show signs of dry rot at only 5 years old.

I'm at the point now that I'm wondering if I should get it patched back up and look for something else or drop a substantial amount of money on it to upgrade the running gear. The sad thing is I just replaced all four brakes earlier this Spring and spent a good chunk of money replacing the A-frame and tongue last summer when I noticed it starting to tear away from the trailer frame. I do know I'm done with trailer service tires and will be going with commercial van tires next time around.

[BruceH]

Here is my upgrade. Fortunately I had it done before any of the springs broke. The trailer was in service to add greasable bushing fittings and the tech told me that he noticed when the springs were off, they had an abnormal bend in them and it was just a matter of time before a failure. (He was not after a sale because he did not have any replacements.)

Ultimately I took the trailer to Dunbar Spring in Phoenix, AZ. They added a full length leaf to the stack and re-curved the original leaf bars. The full length gives support near the eye where the springs break.

I also upgraded to Monroe gas shocks and added the Dexter EZ-Flex shock absorption kit at the same time.

Dunbar has been in Phoenix for ever and I thought they did a quality job and I found them to be knowledgeable and reasonable on the price.

Dunbar Spring Home Page

Here is one of a couple of YouTube videos of the place .....

Dunbar YouTube video

The end result of my upgrades:
- Additional full length leaf.
- Grease fittings on the bushings.
- Dexter EZ-Flex Kit.
- Monroe gas shocks.

I was concerned that the additional leaf would make the suspension to stiff but all seems fine and after over 10K miles, I have not found signs inside were things are bounced around more.

[GordonThree]

Interesting idea to carry a spare spring. I could have used one this winter when I broke the eyelet off the spring on my KZ. The suspension shop put the next heavier springs, the original 2-leaf were rated at 1750 and the new ones are 3-leaf rated at 2250 or maybe 2500?

The surviving spring was very badly rusted and looked near failing as well. Funny it has MADE IN THE USA stamped in the steel - good domestic quality eh?

[RoyF]

Yes, I also suffered a broken spring, and changed ALL springs to heavier than what came from factory.

My scaled weight was 9,800 lbs on fifth-wheel axles (call it 5,000 per axle) and the factory springs were rated at 6,000 per axle. I went up to 7,000 per axle for replacement springs.