Broke Spring?

[Shorty Cox]

Did you ever hear of a spring breaking on a 5th wheel? A friend was returning home from a trip, stopped to get a bottle of water from the fridge, smelled hot rubber and discovered rig was setting on one the tires. Spring had broke.

Makes me wonder, what caused it. (btw, non-Jayco)

Shorty

[Marcm157]

Metal fatigue will cause springs to break just like any other metal that is under stress. It likely was a combination of a serious road hazard like a large pothole, or other high impact event coupled with metal stress.

[schiguy]

Lucky he did not lose a tire or two.

[Plowtoy]

I bought an old 35' camper with a new awning this spring only for the awning. I towed it back home about 100 miles and was the worst trip of my life! 50 MPH was top speed as it was all over the road. Upon farther inspection, the LF axle spring had been broken and the front axle was pushed back about 3 inches on that side. How I made it home is beyond me, but I did. I took what I wanted and unloaded the camper. IT WAS A WRECK, ive never seen water damage that bad. The guy that bought it said he was going to fix it up and use it. SOLD AS IS! I did make him aware of the spring and water damage...

Ive seen the spring links break a few times and that will do crazy things too. I now check those often. Glad no one was hurt in this deal! Dave

[Cdash]

Manufacturers make thousands of parts a year. All it takes is a little air bubble inside one piece of steel, which cannot reasonably be detected, and you can have a break. It happens from time to time, luckily, it isn't widespread.

[Rustic Eagle]

Sometimes all it takes is a worn or broken shackle...., and those plastic bushings are another story.

Bob