Check your axles

[Phil Eyler]

I hardly ever post, but I felt the need to relay my experience to my fellow Montana owners. I was traveling east on I 70 in Colorado pulling me Montana and had just passed Vail Co. and started up the mountain when I noticed the fifth wheel was pulling a little hard. About that time I heard a loud bang and noticed I had blown a tire( Goodyear G 614) Luckily, I found a place to pull off the highway. When I went back to look at the tire, I discovered that my rear axle was cockeyed. Three of my four tires were ruined beyond repair and I was on a mountain in Colorado with traffic rushing by. Good Sams Road Service, of which I have been a member for many years, proved to be not real helpful.I ended having to pull the fifer off the mountain myself. Scary experience.
I later learned that the pin that holds the springs together had snapped off which allowed the springs on the right side to slide back. One axle was going one way while the other was going the other.
I spent a week in Frisco Co. waiting to get repaired enough to haul my rig back to Indiana. So I would advise everyone to check your axles!

[richfaa]

Originally Posted by Phil Eyler

I hardly ever post, but I felt the need to relay my experience to my fellow Montana owners. I was traveling east on I 70 in Colorado pulling me Montana and had just passed Vail Co. and started up the mountain when I noticed the fifth wheel was pulling a little hard. About that time I heard a loud bang and noticed I had blown a tire( Goodyear G 614) Luckily, I found a place to pull off the highway. When I went back to look at the tire, I discovered that my rear axle was cockeyed. Three of my four tires were ruined beyond repair and I was on a mountain in Colorado with traffic rushing by. Good Sams Road Service, of which I have been a member for many years, proved to be not real helpful.I ended having to pull the fifer off the mountain myself. Scary experience.
I later learned that the pin that holds the springs together had snapped off which allowed the springs on the right side to slide back. One axle was going one way while the other was going the other.
I spent a week in Frisco Co. waiting to get repaired enough to haul my rig back to Indiana. So I would advise everyone to check your axles!

Had the exact same experience with our 2006 3400 in Michigan several years ago ruined all 4 tires. Our solution was to install the Mor Ryde IS system. We also installed the Mor Ryde on our 2013 3402 Big Sky.

[rmthelen]

A great reminder to all to check bolts on shackles and U bolts to axles. That is one of the first things I do whenever we purchase a new unit. Every one of them has required tightening.

[1retired06]

Originally Posted by Phil Eyler

I hardly ever post, but I felt the need to relay my experience to my fellow Montana owners. I was traveling east on I 70 in Colorado pulling me Montana and had just passed Vail Co. and started up the mountain when I noticed the fifth wheel was pulling a little hard. About that time I heard a loud bang and noticed I had blown a tire( Goodyear G 614) Luckily, I found a place to pull off the highway. When I went back to look at the tire, I discovered that my rear axle was cockeyed. Three of my four tires were ruined beyond repair and I was on a mountain in Colorado with traffic rushing by. Good Sams Road Service, of which I have been a member for many years, proved to be not real helpful.I ended having to pull the fifer off the mountain myself. Scary experience.
I later learned that the pin that holds the springs together had snapped off which allowed the springs on the right side to slide back. One axle was going one way while the other was going the other.
I spent a week in Frisco Co. waiting to get repaired enough to haul my rig back to Indiana. So I would advise everyone to check your axles!

What was the problem with Good Sam ERS if you could share?

[WeBeFulltime]

Originally Posted by rmthelen

A great reminder to all to check bolts on shackles and U bolts to axles. That is one of the first things I do whenever we purchase a new unit. Every one of them has required tightening.

Same here. I took our 2008 3400RL to a trailer shop years ago to have wet bolt kit installed and when they started removing the u-bolt nuts they were all loose. As soon as we purchased our 2012 I checked them and they all required more torque.

[BuilderBob]

That's a good lessen to all to check all your bolts on your Rig! I had something like that
happen about 10 years ago on an SOB and it almost flipped the rig over not fun! glad you
maid it down the mountain Phil.

Bob & Carol
Tacoma WA
2017 352RL 2008 Dodge DRW crew cab 4x4 6.7L

[vipermanden]

I posted this a couple of weeks ago on another thread. I had a thread going a few weeks ago showing how my left rear Goodyear G614 rear tire wore really fast on the inside edge. There is a Goodyear Commercial Tire shop in Reno called Purcell Tire, and they thought I had a loose wheel bearing to cause this problem, so after they mounted two new tires and i put them on a couple of weeks ago, I decided to bring the 5ver by today before our next trip to have them check the wheel bearings. They discovered very little grease in two of the wheel bearings, and two more were really loose. Then he said oh oh and showed me the rear shackle bolt on the left rear, and it had spun and bent the flanges that are there to keep those yellow octagon washers from spinning. The bolts are supposed to be tightened to 75 foot pounds, and this one was loose and could be moved with a small wrench. So he measured the distance between the axles, and it was 3/8" difference since the octagon washer is used to make adjustments, had rotated from the 6 o'clock position to the 4 o'clock position. So he lubed and adjusted it back to normal, and bent the flanges back. So hopefully my next trip will go well. He said he was surprised that two of the wheel bearings had very little grease in them, when my rig is only about 14 months old, and I told the RV dealer to grease the wheel bearings and suspension before the beginning of this season??? So now i have one more thing to check while traveling, and that is to make sure that those shackle bolts stay tight and the yellow octagon washer does not spin.

[Texan]

Had problem with my shackle bolt breaking also. Obviously this is quite common. Now have Mor-Ryde I.S.

[artfuldodger]

I went out this AM to grease the wet bolts and found the rear ,left one missing entirely. Called Montana- no help- just call the dealer. Ours is a 2017 Legacy 3720. Called Lippert tech support and they were very helpful. The tech said he would send out the req'd parts by day's end as goodwill.

[vipermanden]

Wow, that is crazy. Everyone here needs to check the torque on those bolts, and make sure they are at 75 foot pounds.

[rohrmann]

A group of us were talking several years ago about this problem, and think the problem is that the axles and springs come assembled from Dexter, torqued to whatever they torque them to. The problem may be that the springs are curved and without load on them, which would flatten the curve some, and once the trailer is built and the springs are loaded and straighter, the nuts would be loose. They should be torquing the nuts at the plant once the trailer is completed, but this is not being done. This is only a problem with axles mounted below the springs like on the Montana.

[vipermanden]

Well I had my wet bolts serviced by my RV dealer, along with re-packing the wheel bearings, before the start of our second season, and apparently, they did not check or tighten them either?

[beeje]

I had missing and bent bolts also on my 2011 3544sa. I replaced the entire suspension. New (Emco) springs/Mor ryde wet bolt kit/u bolts etc. I took the extra precaution of putting a second nut on all the wet bolts to prevent them from backing off.

I look at all my suspension parts every time I stop and inspect them really good when I get home by rolling around with a creeper to get a good look.

I also grease the wet bolts before every trip. The bronze bushings I replaced were WORN IN HALF and the spring eyes were egged out.

[Phil P]

Hi

We had the same problem in MO. The bottom spring leaf broke thru the center bolt hole. The center bolt was not broken. I had checked the “U” bolt torque in the past several times.

When you do maintenance or have any reason to be under the trailer take a good look at the the spring packs if any look like they are not uniform then you should have a closer look. Commonly a broken center bolt allows the springs to move some so you can see they are not uniform.

The only way to check for the type of failure we had is to remove the “U” bolts and inspecting the springs for craxks.

I don’t do this and don’t recommend it as a common inspection.

Phil P

[beeje]

I agree philp, There is no way I'm going to take the springs out to inspect them. Everything I replaced cost a total of $287 if I recall. If I take it apart, new stuff is going back in.

For me, if I have any more issues with the suspension I will tow it to Mor Ryde in Indiana and have it removed and have there IS installed and be done with it forever.

[Phil P]

Hi

I don’t know why my name is in red not my doing.

Phil

[rohrmann]

It's not in red that I can see.

[Phil P]

Hi

Thanks just Phil is in red when I look at them. LOL

Phil P

[Mel B.]

I had a broken rear right leaf spring in Oregon last month, got lucky and found a truck repair shop in Shasta Ca. $175 and an hour later I was back on the road with a new leaf spring and no damage to my first trip SALUNS. Now I have a appointment for the 5ver to go in for new leafs, new brakes, new bearings and seals. And my leaf spring hangers are going to be rebuilt with channel iron welded from side to side. I've only been a montana owner for a little over a year now, I've owned 6 or 7 SOB RV'S but it shocks me how cheap those hangers are. When it comes out of the shop, are home should be sold about the same time. So it looks like we will be traveling/staying in or RV through next year, maybe longer depending on construction of a new home in a better state. Bottom line is I'll still be checking my mirrors often (Old habits) but I don't expect any repairs on my axles for many thousands of miles.

[scottz]

Originally Posted by vipermanden

Wow, that is crazy. Everyone here needs to check the torque on those bolts, and make sure they are at 75 foot pounds.

Where did you find the torque rating for the U-bolts?