broken spring

[treichelt]

I was leaving for our weekend camping trip. when turning right into a side street another car who was turning left from the opposing traffic didn't leave me enough room to turn as I intended. I ended up jumping the curb with my rear right wheel but slowly.

Fortunately, I was just around the corner from sonic where I was trying to grab a bite to eat. when I looked at the RV I noticed that one side was much lower than the other. The tires on that side were touching the bottom of the RV.

As I tried to figure out what happened I found the rear spring with a clean cut. A neighbor came and helped me to put a piece of 4x4 between the axle and frame and was able to get it home that way.

This could have turned out ugly if this would have occurred travel down the highway.

Has anybody ever experienced this happening to their RV springs?

[Dick Noble]

I did have this happen on an older 5er. Had to replace all 4 springs and reinforce the shackles.

[geotex1]

Happens all the time, unfortunately. Plenty of us here and every other manufacturer's forums.

[treichelt]

anything I can do to detect , maintain or is there a recommended time to replace them? kind of scary if this happens while driving faster ....

[geotex1]

anything I can do to detect , maintain or is there a recommended time to replace them? kind of scary if this happens while driving faster ....

Exactly what is taught to every CDL holder - inspect, check, and verify every trip. Visual inspection is key, and you don't necessarily need to verify bolt torque every time with a torque wrench. After you torque everything matchmark fasteners a d bearing surface so you can visually see if something loosened or moved. Regularly servicing bearings, greasing wet bolts, etc. should be regular routine versus afterthoughts. Finally, build and carry a kit of spare parts. Mine includes a leaf spring, set of inner and outer bearings and races, wet bolts and locknuts, bushings, grease seals, set of brake pads (I converted to disc brakes), dust cap, grease, and tools for service... I had to rebuild and reinforce my suspension in first year of ownership with relatively few miles!

[treichelt]

thanks for the info. It never occured to me to check the springs. I had a guy come out and replace all 4 springs. watching him, I'll be able to do that myself next time, but trying to get the parts and not having done this before ... I always try to build up my spare parts inventory but thanks for the reminder for these other items.
we looked at the spring and it was all rusted through and broke clean where the other leaf was below.

Ted