On Tuesday 6 September I was towing our Jayco Sterling from Nowra to Canberra. Due to heavy rains the roads, which except for only 4.7kms of gravel, were all sealed but with numerous potholes and washaways.
We passed through Bungendore then to the Federal Highway (saved going through Queanbeyan) and just before the ACT border we pulled into the Eaglehawk servo for a break and as I got out of the Ranger a man approached me to let me know that something was dragging on the ground under the van.
When we both looked found that the main leaf spring on the left-hand rear wheel had broken in half and was dragging on the ground, hence the scraping noise. That meant there was no support whatsoever at the front of the axel, it was entirely held in place by only the spring on the rear side of the axel. Apparently, one of the deep potholes must have broken the spring leaf, although I never felt anything untoward.
How the axel remained in place while I was towing at 90km/h touching 100km/h going down some of the hills is beyond me. And that was on the Kings Highway which was in good condition with only the odd pothole with no washaways. Suffice to say I will never have to waste my money buying lottery tickets ever again as I have used up all of my luck!
Anyway, as I was only a few kilometres from the ACT border I figured the spring would hold on for a bit longer and I limped into the ACT at just above crawling speed and drove into the newish caravan in North Canberra called simply 'Canberra Park' where I left the van in the storage area to arrange replacement of the broken spring.
Had the axel let go while I was driving no doubt the result would be catastrophic and could well have been put down as failure to drive to conditions, poorly loaded van or inexperience.
That is another factor to consider when people wonder how a rollover occurred to other vans.
Murray
PS: I was able to replace the spring myself, if anybody else has to do it there are two things to do. One, call a professional, and two, learn a few more swear words - you will use every one of them!
Edit: Mentioned photos.
PPS: I have a couple of the dangling broken front half of the spring on my phone. I'll see if one of my granddaughters can download them for me!
-- Edited by Long Weekend on Saturday 10th of September 2022 12:41:55 PM
Good outcome to the story Murray, which as you say could have been a lot worse.
I think BB had a spring hanger let go and the axle/wheel went back thru his step well and did a bit of damage.
Be interesting to see the photos, as the leaf spring should be at it's thickest in the centre and for it to snap in half is a worry.
Have a beer or dozen to settle down.
Cheers Bob
Waaay back I used to drive a New Holland bale wagon, a self-loading truck with the cab and and much weight well ahead of the front axle. This meant that a lot of weight was being carried by the front axle, and regularly we were breaking springs right where the centre bolt went through the spring pack. Investigation by a spring-maker soon established that the springs were breaking on the rebound stroke, and that speed was the issue. Once I learned to slow down on uneven ground there were no more problems. Last year on the Suttor Development I was in a bit of a hurry to get to the Mt Coolon pub and destroyed a couple of spring packs, actually driving one wheel through the floor of the van. Replaced all 4 spring packs with much heavier packs, and after reading advice on the forum from Peter'n'Margaret, I fitted EFS shock absorbers. No more trouble. Cheers
P.S Terrible picture, but shows front overhang and weight ahead of axle.
-- Edited by yobarr on Saturday 10th of September 2022 03:14:18 PM
I was driving my friend's Toyota Landbruiser and works trailer to Adelaide for a conference. Normally he and I both travel by road, but in this case he had other work and he then flew into Adelaide where we did the job. I was travelling along the Mallee Hwy early on a Sunday morning, and came to one of the many small towns on that road in SA. I stopped for a wee break and a bite to eat, and as I usually do when towing a trailer or caravan, I walked around the rig and felt the tyres to see if they were OK. I saw that the axle had crept forward on the Right Wheel. By chance, I had stopped directly across the road from the only service station on that that was (a) open and (b) had a mechanic on duty. I drove the rig over to his forecourt and had to wait for about an hour whilst he finished off another job. He then came behind with a fork lift, and raised the trailer off the ground and we stripped the axle from the trailer.
The centre pin had sheared - primarily because the U bolts had not been tightened. Not only was my friend lucky with me finding the only facility to fix the problem, but the garage even had a couple of new center pins as well. I certainly did not relish separating the spring leaves on the roadside by myself, even if I had a replacement centre pin. An hour's work, and I was on my way again, and the trailer and all the gear was then ready and available for the conference the next day. My friend was VERY lucky - as a minimum, the tyre would have scrubbed out as it was rubbing against the chassis, at worst, the whole rig could have somehow crashed. Thousands of dollars of audio/visual gear in the trailer...
Naturally, this caused me to examine the U bolts on my caravan. I had fitted a new axle to the van a few years before, and the van had done about 40000 km since. When I checked the U bolt tightness, I found that I could get about a quarter of a turn from each nut, except for one which I managed to get nearly a full turn from. Moral of the story - check the tension in the U bolts on your caravan. You could be well away from help when they let go. Australia is a very big place....
-- Edited by erad on Saturday 10th of September 2022 09:22:37 PM
A friend just happened to notice a crack on the centre of the centre hanger bracket of his rocker roller suspension on his Jayco. A closer inspection revealed a crack on the inside too.
A friend who has a camper trailer manufacturing business & therefore qualified for that sort of welding, effected a repair & precautionary mod to the other side including the use of gussets.
Why I fit a good shock to handle the bumps and harmonics . Driving a car people forget the vans suspension is very horse and cart tech !!! Although VERY durable ? Often over looked good bump stop helps springs also !!!Our roads are not going to get any better from the way I have seen repaires !!! Too many accountants not enough proper road repaires !!
On Tuesday 6 September I was towing our Jayco Sterling from Nowra to Canberra. Due to heavy rains the roads, which except for only 4.7kms of gravel, were all sealed but with numerous potholes and washaways.
We passed through Bungendore then to the Federal Highway (saved going through Queanbeyan) and just before the ACT border we pulled into the Eaglehawk servo for a break and as I got out of the Ranger a man approached me to let me know that something was dragging on the ground under the van.
When we both looked found that the main leaf spring on the left-hand rear wheel had broken in half and was dragging on the ground, hence the scraping noise. That meant there was no support whatsoever at the front of the axel, it was entirely held in place by only the spring on the rear side of the axel. Apparently, one of the deep potholes must have broken the spring leaf, although I never felt anything untoward.
How the axel remained in place while I was towing at 90km/h touching 100km/h going down some of the hills is beyond me. And that was on the Kings Highway which was in good condition with only the odd pothole with no washaways. Suffice to say I will never have to waste my money buying lottery tickets ever again as I have used up all of my luck!
Anyway, as I was only a few kilometres from the ACT border I figured the spring would hold on for a bit longer and I limped into the ACT at just above crawling speed and drove into the newish caravan in North Canberra called simply 'Canberra Park' where I left the van in the storage area to arrange replacement of the broken spring.
Had the axel let go while I was driving no doubt the result would be catastrophic and could well have been put down as failure to drive to conditions, poorly loaded van or inexperience.
That is another factor to consider when people wonder how a rollover occurred to other vans.
Murray
PS: I was able to replace the spring myself, if anybody else has to do it there are two things to do. One, call a professional, and two, learn a few more swear words - you will use every one of them!
Edit: Mentioned photos.
PPS: I have a couple of the dangling broken front half of the spring on my phone. I'll see if one of my granddaughters can download them for me!
S
-- Edited by Long Weekend on Saturday 10th of September 2022 12:41:55 PM
All suspensions need good quality Shock Absorbers - otherwise all you have is a "Pogo Stick" - compression and UNCONTROLLED REBOUND...... KB
Long Weekend wrote:
On Tuesday 6 September I was towing our Jayco Sterling from Nowra to Canberra. Due to heavy rains the roads, which except for only 4.7kms of gravel, were all sealed but with numerous potholes and washaways.
We passed through Bungendore then to the Federal Highway (saved going through Queanbeyan) and just before the ACT border we pulled into the Eaglehawk servo for a break and as I got out of the Ranger a man approached me to let me know that something was dragging on the ground under the van.
When we both looked found that the main leaf spring on the left-hand rear wheel had broken in half and was dragging on the ground, hence the scraping noise. That meant there was no support whatsoever at the front of the axel, it was entirely held in place by only the spring on the rear side of the axel. Apparently, one of the deep potholes must have broken the spring leaf, although I never felt anything untoward.
How the axel remained in place while I was towing at 90km/h touching 100km/h going down some of the hills is beyond me. And that was on the Kings Highway which was in good condition with only the odd pothole with no washaways. Suffice to say I will never have to waste my money buying lottery tickets ever again as I have used up all of my luck!
Anyway, as I was only a few kilometres from the ACT border I figured the spring would hold on for a bit longer and I limped into the ACT at just above crawling speed and drove into the newish caravan in North Canberra called simply 'Canberra Park' where I left the van in the storage area to arrange replacement of the broken spring.
Had the axel let go while I was driving no doubt the result would be catastrophic and could well have been put down as failure to drive to conditions, poorly loaded van or inexperience.
That is another factor to consider when people wonder how a rollover occurred to other vans.
Murray
PS: I was able to replace the spring myself, if anybody else has to do it there are two things to do. One, call a professional, and two, learn a few more swear words - you will use every one of them!
Edit: Mentioned photos.
PPS: I have a couple of the dangling broken front half of the spring on my phone. I'll see if one of my granddaughters can download them for me!
S
-- Edited by Long Weekend on Saturday 10th of September 2022 12:41:55 PM
-- Edited by KJB on Wednesday 21st of September 2022 06:00:53 PM
All suspensions need good quality Shock Absorbers - otherwise all you have is a "Pogo Stick" - compression and UNCONTROLLED REBOUND...... KB
That certainly is good advice Kerry. After being assured by spring makers that the springs on my van would be all that was needed I set sail from Brisbane on my "forever" travels around Australia. Because I still had doubts about the springs I had I gave them a bit of a "test" on the Suttor Development Road from Lake Elphinstone to Mt Coolon, successfully destroying the spring packs, which disentegrated. After locating 4 brand new spring packs in Brisbane, at $500/pack, I drive overnight to pick them up, and fitted them next day. When I got to FNQ I visited Wilkinson Springs, in Atherton, where I had 4 EFS XTR shock absorbers fitted. Many thousands of kilometres later, on second rate roads like the Western end of the Bowen Development Road and the Boreline Road, in WA, there have been no more troubles. If you plan to travel on second rate roads, you MUST fit shock absorbers or your springs will likely break on the rebound stroke. Cheers
Yes, that is how I had to fit my new spring - laying flat on the ground. While not on dirt like Yobarr's photo the grass was wet on both days so it was uncomfortable.
Regarding the photo I uploaded, I have no idea why it came out sideways, it was correct while I was processing it. Also don't know why it pasted itself on the original post - it was supposed to be a quick reply at the end of the chain and looked OK until I clicked on 'submit.'
I would like to mention that our van was in no way overloaded: the water tanks were empty, we only carried normal rations and clothes. We do not have a Webber, Waeco, bikes or a generator and haven't carried the annex wall panels for quite a few years.
While the roads between Nowra and Canberra are not normally considered 'second rate,' they were in about the same condition at the time.
