Near Disaster

[Milocka]

Front driver side spring broke in 2 spots (where the 2nd leaf ends), could have been a disaster if the other leaf on the passenger side would have let loose too, thank goodness it held on. Going 65mph on I-70 just outside of Eagle, CO noticed 5th wheel wasn’t tracking laser straight like it normally does. Pulled off to find this:

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Can’t believe how lucky my family and I are, can’t imagine what would have happened if that front axle totally separated.

Springs are rated at 3,000# each, 5200# axles, Mod-Ryde equalizers. Trailer weighs 10,500 loaded. All the math adds up to within specs. Stumped, must chalk it up to bad Chinese steel?

Anyone ever see anything like this?

[German Shepherd Guy]

Thankfully you all are safe. How did you get home?



Looks like a cold short in the steel. Snapped off where the second lead ends?


Glad you avoided disaster.
Oak

[Milocka]

Mobile Mechanic replaced the spring and we were on our way. Lucky again to find a mobile mechanic in a mountain town of Colorado. Need to buy some lottery tickets [emoji16]

[busterbrown]

Happy to see your trailer made it without any war wounds. I had a similar spring failure last year but at much lower speeds. Left us stranded at the campground for a few days. Anyways, good to hear you were on your way after the fix. Safe travels.

[JRTJH]

We were on I-70 this past May. The road from Silt all the way to Idaho Springs was in "DEPLORABLE" condition and I made the comment several times that even going the minimum speed (45MPH) was a quick ticket to disaster for the trailer suspension. When we got to Idaho Springs, I pulled off the interstate and carefully inspected the trailer suspension. I didn't find any significant problems, but I'm convinced that section of the interstate system is responsible for the hub/bearing failure I had about a month later.

It's good to know that you found someone that had parts on hand to repair your trailer and get you back on the road. I'd have suspected a week or more "waiting for parts from Denver" in that area.

[Milocka]

The I-70 surface is terrible from about Kansas to Utah [emoji16] CDOT needs to figure out how to build expansion joints. I try to avoid it at all costs but didn’t want to spend an extra 2 hours on the “long” way home. Hind site is 20/20 I suppose.

PS - I went to Glenwood to buy the spring from Tractor supply, I took the part sourcing job into my own hands. Gonna buy a spare before next season, after I upgrade all 4 to five leaf packs instead of the stock 4 leaf.

We made the most of our 6 hour delay, posted up at the Eagle Visitors Center. Should have seen the look on people’s faces thinking we were actually camping there.

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