Running Gear Nightmare - HELP PLEASE!

[jm_bc_]

Hi All-

It's been one thing after another with our running gear since we hit the road last month. First we had a bearing issue with our new 8k axle (Thread HERE), and then about 10 days ago we were cut off by a tractor trailer at highway speed and while slamming on the brakes we hit a pothole that sheared a centre bolt on the leaf spring on the street side of our rear trailer axle. Perfectly imperfect timing and a big load of bad luck...

Prior to departing on this trip, I tried to order spare OEM leaf springs from Grand Design, who referred me to Dexter, who told me our springs were no longer a current part (on a 1-year old trailer). They did however send me a spec sheet from the original build, which noted the springs were 26" x 1.75", 3500# rating (they were 7 leaf springs). Using this info, I had my local spring shop order me replacements, but in a 4000# version to match our recently upgraded axles - they were 8 leafs instead of the OEM 7 leafs, but still 26" long. I ordered 5 of them, so we could eventually replace all of them and still have one spare.

After limping the rig to a truck stop, I spent 5 hours and replaced both of the springs on the rear axle only with the new ones I had. During this process, I noticed that the new springs were about 3/4-1" longer than the old springs - not sure why - the new ones were exactly 26" eye-to-eye, so I suspect the original Dexter springs were likely shorter than that but not accurately noted on the build sheet?

The rig now had different springs on front vs rear axles - this was likely my first mistake, but we were supposed to meet with friends about 500km away the next day so after a rough truck stop overnight we continued early the next morning. I did stop at a scale during this drive day and learned at this point our trailer axles were carrying vastly different weights - the rear axle (with the new springs) was carrying about 60% more weight than the front axle (previously had been well balanced). I suspected the issue was the different springs, likely combined with the new springs binding on the equalizer which I hadn't noticed yet (see below).

After meeting with our friends the next day, I spent an afternoon changing the front two leaf springs so they would all now be matching. This process went smoothly for the most part, and I was optimistic things would be good from here on out. The next day I went across another scale, and was pleasantly surprised to see our axles were basically perfectly balanced - only about 50 lbs difference between the front and the rear.

At some point during this day I noticed that the equalizers (still the original stock Morryde CRE3000 for 35" axle centres) were not sitting level, and appeared to be binding on the new springs. The second leaf on these springs runs right under the eye (obviously to support it given the higher weight rating) and the space between the bottom of the spring and the top of the equalizer is too tight to allow everything to move freely when hitting big bumps and the equalizer moves to accommodate that. At some point, it appears the spring got wedged hard in there, and the equalizer just stopped moving. This in turn caused the equalizer to bear more of the weight on one side, and ended up crushing the rubber bumper on one end pretty much right down to the wear point. Not being near any large centre, we continued on to a larger city where we had a multiple day reservation for me to address further.

After thinking about my issues, I figured my problems were likely in large part caused by the longer springs - given that I had replaced all of them, and each was 0.75-1" longer than the old ones, I had now encroached closer to the equalizers by that amount from both directions. Knowing I needed to replace my equalizers, I noticed Morryde makes a CRE3000 equalizer in a version meant for 33" axle centres. The spacing between the holes where the shackles mount reduces from 8" on the 35" version, to 6.5" on the 33" version, which pretty closely matched the increase of spring length from the new springs - height is the same on both models. I assumed (hoped?) that this reduction would help the shackles lean out more and reduce or eliminate the odds of the springs binding, so I found a local dealer with one in stock and proceeded to replace my old equalizers with this new, shorter version. Since I had to tear pretty much everything I had done already apart again, I opted to replace all of my bushings with new ones (Bronze again), and replaced all of the wet bolts and shackles (with the same size Morryde HD as original) as well so that literally everything under the rig would be brand new.

Unfortunately on our drive day again yesterday, the same issue occurred - the springs are still binding on the equalizer. After spending the night yesterday in pretty much the middle of nowhere, we had no choice to but to continue on to our next destination in a larger town. We are here for the next 4 nights. As you can imagine, I am now getting quite frustrated (as is my wife), I am pretty much out of ideas, and am hoping all of you brilliant folks with more experience than me can help me get this trip back on track - it's been a tough 10 days.

I have 2 ideas left that I could try:

1) Replace the 2 1/4" Morryde shackles with 3 1/8" shackles. This would open up the space for the springs, but would lower the trailer a bit (not a problem I think) and also (slightly) roll the axles so the weren't perfectly upright. I do not have enough experience to know what sort of issues this would cause.

2) Trim off some of the length from the second leaf on all four new springs where they run under the eyes - I can see the marks caused by the binding so would know where to cut. I think I would need to shorten them by about 1/2 - 3/4" to get the clearance I need to not have them bind. Obviously this would weaken the spring a bit, but again don't have enough experience to know if this is a major concern or not with a relatively minimal amount to remove.

If any of you have other suggestions, I'm all ears. Regardless if you have any suggestions or not, if you've made it this far - thank you for reading, it is really appreciated.

Josh

[JCR GD]

Sorry didn't read all the post but I think I got the jist of it.

I think the only thing to do is replace the springs with the proper 25-1/4"

Since the spring hangers are in a fixed position, the longer springs will always be causing issues. Not really something you can just put multiple patches.

Good luck!

[WhittleBurner]

Just tossing things out there.......Is there any way to modify the spring by grinding off an inch or 2 without affecting the stability of the spring????
Other than that JCR has offered the best path to take

[jm_bc_]

Hi all-

Just a quick update for you, and for others who may come after me searching for help with similar issues! Finally got this sorted out, but took more time, effort and expense than I was hoping. In summary:

Tried trimming down the length of the second leaves on these longer replacement springs, in the hope that they would no longer bind. Was able to do this without removing the springs by placing a bottle jack under the alternate axle to manipulate the equalizer to provide access to the opposing spring (I have a custom made bracket for my bottle jack that was cut to the diameter of my axles to ensure the load is well dispersed). For example, if I wanted to trim the leaf on the front spring where it meets the equalizer, I placed the jack under the rear axle to tilt the equalizer away from the front spring. Was able to get access with an angle grinder using this method, and was able to trim about 3/4" of the second leaf of all four springs this way. By cutting slowly and carefully, I was able to avoid nicking the main spring at all. Once cut, I painted the ends to ensure no rusting.

While this prevented binding, it did not fix the overall issue of the springs simply being too long. The equalizer could now move, but its default position was still significantly tipped one direction. I did actually place a GoPro camera underneath the rig and verified the equalizer was moving while driving, but the rubber bumper in the CRE 3000 was being quickly damaged by being offset so significantly.

Finally bit the bullet and ordered new (again) shorter 4k springs, and new (again) CRE3000 equalizers but back to the 35" version like the OEM ones were. Got everything replaced last month and am happy to report everything is working as it should be again. An expensive and frustrating lesson learned! Long story short, when ordering replacement springs, make absolutely sure you are getting the correct length.

[WhittleBurner]

​Glad you got it straight, running down the road safely is worth every penny spent

[jm_bc_]

​Glad you got it straight, running down the road safely is worth every penny spent

Agreed - peace of mind & safety is worth it! Thanks again!