Woodalls Open Roads Forum: Fifth-Wheels: broken leaf spring


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dale716

Tecumseh, Oklahoma

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Joined: 06/30/2003

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Posted: 07/03/03 05:30am

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I have a 35 foot manhattan made by travel line (no longer in business) and on a return trip from Texas last week I pulled into a mall parking lot to get the grandaughter breakfast. When we came out I noticed something hanging down behind the back trailer tire. I looked underneath and found that the rear leaf spring was broken at the bolt hole that holds the leafs together. (It must have happened when I pulled into the parking lot)

I called Good Sam roadside service and got the name of a shop that could fix it (in Tyler Tx). The shop was about a mile away and I thought I could limp to it.

About three blocks down the road a lady pulled me over and I found that the rear axel was moved severly to the aft of the mount location. I called Good Sam again and they sent two wreckers to help me. THe drivers chained up the back axel and I was able to get to the shop.

I had all four springs replaced with heavy duty for $270.00 including labor. I think that was a real bargan.

The point of the story is: Check your springs. Mine had an old crack half way through the bolt hole that I might have noticed if I had looked before the trip. If that spring had broken at highway speed I think I might have been pulling a sled with no wheels.

Alumaliter

Northern Virginia

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Joined: 10/25/2001

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Posted: 07/03/03 10:10am

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I had the same thing happen on my old Alumalite. I determined that it was beacuse I stored the trailer on a very unlevel parking surface and had to crank the landing gear up a great deal to level it. After I corrected the storage issue the problem went away.

Moral of the story, don't store a trailer out of level for long periods of time. Excessive weight on just one axle causes spring to break.

Enjoy,
Bill
'02 Mallard 24 5M
'04 F-250SD XLT,V-10,4X4,3.73LS,

Lightningjack

Florida

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Joined: 04/06/2002

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Posted: 07/04/03 04:30pm

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Dale, thanks for the warning. I have read in the forums where the bolt hole may elongate so that might also be a precursor to failure. It's one thing I always check each day while traveling. Good post.

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Open Roads Forum > Fifth-Wheels

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