Busted hanger

[Cate&Rob]

the grease fitting end , also the end that the nut is on, is still attached to the broken part of the hanger.

But . . . the grease fitting is not on the same end of the bolt as the nut.

Rob

[Country Campers]

But . . . the grease fitting is not on the same end of the bolt as the nut.

Rob

Yes that is right. I edited my previous post. I though I was on a pretty good roll there but I will slink off to bed.

Back to your regular scheduled program.

Brian

[Beachcamper]

It’s been a very long day. The mobile tech left about an hour ago he had a bad day. He looked at all the hangers and the one that broke was not installed the same way. It looked to him that it was as if one person did the welding on 3 and another person on the one that broke. It was not lined up the same way to the 2 x 2 as the rest and had rust on the cracked edge. It seemed the hanger which is 4 1/4” long, had one side that failed and tore off. This probably sheared off the bolt and also pushed the U Bolts at an angle. I drive below 65 mph and don’t recall hitting a big pothole. I have been on rough roads however through I 10, Indiana and Michigan to name a few. But who knows how this happened but it totally failed between last camp and this one a total of 85 miles. I don’t believe the bolt failed I believe the hanger failed causing the spring to put pressure on the bolt and U bolts.

The repair took a good 6 hours as we are in a campsite not close to much with little cell service so can’t really download any pics now. It took him a couple of hours to set up and just prep and before that, backed up his truck alongside our 303 and accidentally ran over a rebar that was sticking up from ground which punctured a tire on his dually. Once he got the hanger removed and area prepped for welding, his welder would not stay on and he could not weld. He had to go back to his shop and bring another truck in with welder. It is now 6:30 pm and getting dark, poor guy. He did get the job done and it looks good, all bolts torqued and we are ready to head home. I will paint the hanger when set up at our winter lot. Will download pics hopefully tomorrow when I can get some service.

i just realized he did not get a hanger bolt with zerk fitting. What to do now?

[Beachcamper]

Here are pictures of broken hanger and a hanger on opposite side for comparison. I know nothing about welding so don’t know if it’s a bad or good weld. Just looks to me like not enough welding material in broken one and it’s not set at same plane on the 2 x 2 as adjacent hanger. What do you think?

At one point in him prepping area asked if anyone had ever replaced that hanger. He said it looked very different from the others.

[Country Campers]

In the third picture , as I have outlined here, is a rusting discoloration that I had spoke about earlier. This , in my opinion , has been cracked or broken for some time period I can not guess. This more than likely is the cause of the failure.

Brian

[Beachcamper]

In the third picture , as I have outlined here, is a rusting discoloration that I had spoke about earlier. This , in my opinion , has been cracked or broken for some time period I can not guess. This more than likely is the cause of the failure.

Brian

Brian, I agree this is where the failure happened. However, would that not be something a trained tech would see as a potential problem? I had my suspension checked at Lippert in Goshen this past July 25th and all passed. I typically check every rest stop to make sure things look good and nothing is out of place. In Sept I broke my ankle and did not do any checks while trying to get home as I usually do. Tried to in wheelchair when at places that were not dirt or gravel stops. Two weeks ago took it to dealer for annual Warranty Forever inspection and they supposedly look at suspension. That was 2 weeks ago.

Just wondering how quickly this happens with so many eyes on it. My plan is once my ankle is healed, spray some brake cleaner to get all gunk off the welds and just examine them carefully for cracks. I will sand and paint anything that has rust. What do you think?

Thanks, Vivian

[Country Campers]

Vivian

It is possible that the crack was there at manufacturing of the hanger. These hanger are bent on a large press and a crack can result from this process. A small hair line crack can be covered up by paint only to appear over time. I have experience in this bending process and if not done correctly these are the results. During the weld process there is also a heat affected zone along the weld , this is where problems can occur as well. Poor , imported material, could be to blame as well. There are may thoughts and ideas for the fixing of this issue , I am not sure which I will do this winter.
My belief of the reason this is happening , along with all of the symptoms I have listed above , is the length of the hanger, the height and weight of the trailer, these are causing severe stress on these very important connection points. A cross brace, v-clip, or some kind of stiffening of these points is definitely needed to allow us to travel long distances on these well kept highways.

Brian

[Guest]

Country Campers
Hi Brian,

I agree with your analysis . . . except that the bolt is the other way around. What remains in the inner torn away hanger looks to be the head end of the bolt (probably retained there by the spline). The nut and the grease fitting are on opposite ends of the bolt. The bolt fracture appears to be at the shoulder between the threaded part and the straight shaft of the bolt. This could be from over torquing the nut . . . but there is no way to know this because the nut and its contained end of the bolt are long gone. A close look at the fractured end of the bolt might give us some clues.

Rob

Rob,

I'm heavily leaning on the over torqued scenario. With so many folks checking the torque (was a torque wrench used every time?) it looks like the lock nut was over torqued where the bolt yielded. These lock nuts do not need to be re-torqued once they are installed. Axle U bolts are different where occasionally checking torque would be good.

Once the bolt yielded, forces applied to the single hanger plate resulted in its failure. Once the failure began, rust would form quickly even after a single drive cycle.

I should also add that when I attached a camera under my Imagine and performed some severe simulated sway, it was the center hanger that was exhibiting all the motion. So I installed the MorRyde cross member which eliminated the bending on the center hangers.

Failure that we occasionally see on the rear hanger is different where this is a fatigue issue caused by spring wrap and the overloading of the rear hanger due to front axle rise on heavy braking.

Jim

[Beachcamper]

I torque shackle bolts to 50 and the U Bolts to 65 plus add grease to zerks before each trip. Lippert re checked and Torqued bolts at mid trip this summer. So no, it was not as a result of over torquing.

[Cate&Rob]

A "fatigue" break usually progresses very slowly until the metal is reduced to the point where it "snaps" apart. In the picture below from my 2015 303, the heavily rusted area indicating that this part of the break had been like this for a long time, extended almost 90% of the way across the hanger with the final length that "snapped" being only about 1/4". Both sides went together and exhibited similar breaks. This is also consistent with pictures of other hanger failures that I have seen. I had visually inspected this hanger (and all the other ones) about 300 miles earlier, before leaving for the Rally. There was no evidence (that I could see) of this pending fatigue failure. The two sides of the break must have been pushed tightly together.

The failure experienced by Beachcamper looks different. The right side (in the picture) might be a fatigue break but it is not rusted so has happened very recently. The left side with the light rust looks like a tear rather than fatigue. My guess is that the bolt broke, then the hanger tore half way across, then the single partly torn hanger carrying the entire load began to work back and forth and quickly fatigued the rest of the metal.

Rob

[Beachcamper]

I sent pics to Lippert I would like to know what their input is. Will post their comments when I get them. Stopped by an RV dealer next town over and bought a spare hanger and a couple of hanger bolts. I have an extra leaf spring with me highly suggest carrying one of each. Service dept said they don’t really stock the 4 1/2” hangers as they sell so few of that size.

[Guest]

Not seen a failed hanger where only one side fails, since both sides will flex equally and will fail together.

Lippert's torque methods are most likely just like MORrydes with those perfectly calibrated impact guns.

If folks go over the nuts more than once with an impact, they are being over torqued.

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q...E657&FORM=VIRE

[Cate&Rob]

Guest

Hi Jim,

Agreed that “torquing” any fastener with an impact gun is just wrong. That’s what torque wrenches are for. I know that it takes a little longer. In the MORryde video, note the floor jack under the center of the axle tube. I understand that they are just lifting the weight of the axle . . . but, this is also just wrong.

Rob

[Guest]

Rob,

I had seen this as well and while they were lifting just the mass of the axle, they are sending the wrong message. I'm sure beachcampers was very meticulous to torque the nuts and other hardware with a torque wrench but I doubt these are used much or if at all by others. Its just too time consuming for them.

Jim

[Dave27]

Attached are two photos showing V clips installed by Lippert in their Goshen, IN facility last week. I have the long hangers with Correct Track welded to the 2 inch spacer. Similar to what others have mentioned.
Dave