Spring Hanger - Broken!

[bw2]

Having the wet bolt kit installed today by Morryde. As I sit here in their waiting area, they have just notified me, with photos too, that the rear spring hanger on the driver side had completely broken, both sides of the hanger. I had looked at the hangers after returning home from our Charleston trip and they appeared ok to me at that time. So I can only surmise that the hanger broke on my trip to Elkhart from Indianapolis this morning. I feel pretty lucky that it occurred at this moment and not on a long trip and in the middle of nowhere.

[bncinwv]

I guess I am going to have to get under the rig and do a complete inspection of the suspension system before the 15 hour pull to Destin at Thanksgiving. All of these suspension snafus are giving me the heebie-jeebies!! Appreciate the heads up!!
Bingo

[8e3k0]

Would be interesting to know if it failed over time, from rough roads, or maybe from one excess sharp turn. Was it sheared at the welds or was it metal fatigue? I have noticed with our 3400RL that the axles shift excessively on a shrp turn (80 to 90 degrees) and place an excessive side thrust on the the springs, spring shackles and hangers. Great that you caught it in time and no failure resulted at highway speeds.

[bw2]

In my opinion, the failure is due to all of the above issues, rough roads, the stress of the sharp cornering while backing into the many tight camp sites, and possibly poor welds. The driver side hanger is broken on both sides at the frame. On the passenger side, the hanger is bent to the inside of the trailer. So the stress on the hanger during the sharp backing turns is probably the main culprit. My wet bolt visit is taking a more expensive turn.

[KTManiac]

quote:Originally posted by bw2

.....My wet bolt visit is taking a more expensive turn.

Have you called the Keystone Service Center about this? Maybe you can limp over to Goshen and get it fixed there, or at least get a repair authorization from them(and Lippert) to have MOR/ryde fix it under warranty.

[bw2]

I am trying to work with Keystone and Lippert. My initial effort has been rebuffed. I have a 2006 3400RL. Warranty on the from etc... from Lippert, 2 years. The spring is just hanging, there is no way I would be able to move it. I am at Morryde in Elkhart, In. So, I will again try to see if I can get any help from either of them, not holding my breath.

[HamRad]

BW2,
Sorry to hear yet another story about broken spring hangars! Aren't the frames and suspension covered by Lippert for about 5 years or more? Even if they aren't still under warranty you'd think they'd want to make it good for you.

Just yesterday my brother came over to help me with some things around the house and RV. I had him check all the suspension stuff and thankfully he said he couldn't find any problems. And that includes checking the U bolts! So I'm a happy camper at this point. But every time I read a story like yours I want to crawl under the rig and check everything again!

Good luck and let us know how it turns out for you.

HamRad

[bw2]

My conversation with Lippert, the frame is warranted for 2 years, not 5. Part of the issue for having a conversation with anyone above the customer service staff, it is Friday and apparently this is a shorter work day. I will have pictures provided by Morryde of the hangers, one broken and the other bent and rubbing the spring. So I hope when I can share the pictures with Keystone and Lippert, they will attempt to help. I clearly understand I am no longer under warranty and this would then be all my responsibility.

[8e3k0]

From my observations and comparing the 7000 lb axles, springs and shackles of our Montana to our 2006 20 foot car hauler with 2 7000 lb axles there is a great difference in the number of leafs in the springs, the shackles came with wet bolt installion at the manufacture and the shackle hangers are thicker plate, plus longer on the run of the frame for stronger reliability, welds are quality noting type of weld with no undercutting, porosity, etc; also included on the car hauler the brake drums are 1/4 wider with the same circumferance as our Monty. This is a "Made In Canada" trailer; so why can't the RV manufactures spec a higher and better quality for suspension parts rather than putting the suspension at or near 100% capacity when it leaves the factory with little or no room for personal items (payload)?? Cost for these options would be a very small amount when you look at the quantities that the RV manufactures buy, and would institute a high relaiability with a higher safety factor for the unit when travelling on the highway systems..

[richfaa]

Those guys at Mor Ryde are good....Let them repair it. Taking advise from post on this forum we have always avoided tight turns, we always ask for pull troughs. We were always aware that that was a weak point . We finally had the Mor Ryde IS installed in Sept after our U bolt failure.We had a outfit at home that builds custom frames look at the OEM suspension on this 3400 and he nearly choked. I am sure he was exaggerating but he said he would not drive around the block on that suspension. Point well taken..

[KathyandDave]

Others have had plates welded across the forward and rearward spans of the forward and rearward hangers, respectively, then gussets welded between the backs of the plates and the frame. I seem to remember that it was either Keystone, Lippert or Mor/Ryde that did the work. Sailer did his own.

[snfexpress]

We were one of the firt to post this problem on the forum: Spring Hangers. After crawling under our 2009 Big Sky, I noticed that the spring hangers are about an 1/8 of an inch thicker than what we had on our 2006.

I would suggest that all 2006 3400's should have the hangers replaced under an extended warranty through either Keystone or Lippert since it is obvious from the posts about this problem that the hangers were inadequate at the time of manufacture for that much weight. I would push it with Lippert and Keystone. My opinion...

[stiles watson]

When mine broke, I had a welder come out to the site. He welded on a new hanger. I sent the bill to my dealer who was 600 miles away. The dealer sent the bill to Keystone. They paid the dealer, then the dealer reimbursed me.

[sailer]

AS kathyanddave have said ,,i had mine fixed before we ever left wisconsin as the welder said he would never drive it the way it was ;; had a 1/4" plate welded front and back on the spring shakel and then a gusset going to the frame of 6" long ,,, i now feal i can drive and not worry.. as lippert said when he saw it , you should not have to do that because now it will break someplace else;;; bat coment in my mind but mr lippert said it ;;;sailer

[Champ_49]

Ok I have to ask. Has anyone had problems with these on the 2007 3400? It gets a little scary here at times listening to all these problems that Lippert seems to have.

How thick are the plates that are breaking? Looks like something more we have to worry about.

Dave

[richfaa]

There have been problems with those hangers and I believe most of them have been under stressful conditions. We are heavy users and had no problems with the hangers over 41 months. We did have the cross brace installed by Mor Ryde just in case. That is not a expensive option and we would recommend it. Later we did go with the Mor Ryde IS susension but that is because we are heavy users and felt the cost worth it.


This is My Opinion only but I do not feel that Lippert is entirely at fault on the failures their products suffer. Many of us, my self included, use these Montana's hard and subject them to more than normal stress. I still feel they shuold have a "heavy duty" package like we have on our truck so those of us who need it can have that option.

[mail2us]

Bob, hope all works out to your satisfaction. Not sure if the info below would help in your situation but Richfaa posted the info sometime back that maybe beneficial to you:

quote:Posted - Oct 09 2009 : 8:45:49 PM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

...Rick Deisler is the Sales and service manager, Customer service division. He was the person who looked at my sidewall seperation at the fall rally and made the appointment at the service center for me. His e mail is deislerr@keystonerv.com phone 574-537-3996. You might start by having a chat with Rick and he may be able to steer you in the right direction.Unquote.

[scductman]

Bob thanks for posting this. We just got back from tenn today and I will get under mine monday am and ck. Sure glad that did not happen on your way home from down here in SC.
bobby

[Jay Bird]

Bob,
Sorry to hear about the hangers but at leat you did not have any damage as a result. Good luck on your repair.
George

[simonsrf]

Here's a picture of broken spring hanger:


..and here is a picture of the parts to fix the problem:


.....and here is the completed project: