[tgrucelski]

Greetings All:

On edit, perhaps incorrect terminology. Area in question is the axle to leaf spring connection via an "alignment block"/ saddle and and pin arrangement. U-Bolts still intact although somewhat bent.

Read on:

Experienced what I would call a near miss this afternoon. Rolling through Tulsa, OK on the way to CA and going over the usual bump where bridge surface meets road surface, (nothing larger than your average interstate bump) I feel a jolt and the truck starts pulling funny. I look back to see smoke rolling out of the left rear tire and trailer tracking way to the left - as in half of the next lane. Got it safely pulled over onto the shoulder and step out to have a look.

It turns out the U-bolt around axle, block, leaf spring decided to part company; well, still attached but now all the way to the end of the spring.

I did a search but didn't find any other postings on this subject. Anyone else hear of or have this happen?

Got a towing company to help me out, first they winched the rear axle somewhat back in place and then chained the two axles together so that I could limp safely off the interstate and into a more manageable situation. From there they went and got their 54' lowboy and had me drive the whole rig up onto it for a transport to a heavy duty truck/trailer repair outfit for them to have a look at tomorrow.
Couple of scary bridge clearance moments going around downtown Tulsa and was listening to the guys talking on the radio - we were following behind in another one of their vehicles - about a motorist who had called in to the state patrol that we had gotten wedged under a bridge which wasn't the case anyway, the driver had stopped to let some air out of the lowboy bags to drop it down to a minimum.

My question for anyone with any experience on this subject to chime in with is what else could have been damaged? Towing guy said most likely the bolts were under or over tightened. Some rubber peeled off the outside edge of the tire where it rubbed on the fender skirt, will look more closely tomorrow. Still holding air but replace anyway and then both or all 4? (Mission tires) Is it as simple as a couple of new U bolts, alignment pin, etc for that wheel and we are on the road again or am I looking at something more serious?

Rig has the Mor-Ryde suspension, ~18 months old and ~10000 miles.
Dexter 7000# axles. What I do know is that the rig has always had a lean to the left due to the weight I guess of the fridge, range etc.

To be honest I am more than a little scared to hook up to it again after it's fixed, knowing if this had occurred say going through the mountains in AZ or wherever that I might not be writing this... Suffice it to say that if it had to happen it couldn't have been in a better place or we would have been stranded for a heck of a lot longer.

I did buy an extended warranty policy through XtraRide and was on the phone with them to get the ball rolling as far as a tow but will have to follow up with them as to what will need to be repaired.

Should I be calling Keystone, Dexter or Mor-Ryde on this as well?

Thanks for any input.