Axle hangers repair

[Cate&Rob]

Jlawles2 Tom in PGH
Joseph & Tom:

Hangers with a 1.75" internal dimension rather than 2" are definitely a better fit to the standard 1.75" spring and bushing width. I could never understand why LCI would use a 2" hanger (as they did on my earlier Reflection) with standard width springs. But . . . you still have to be able to get that spring and bushing out of (and back into) the hanger for normal service. If you box the hanger at a tight fit to the bushing, it will definitely be stronger . . . but, can you remove the spring to replace it or the bushings?

It would be worth measuring the free hanger outside width vs the length of an assembled bolt and nut. If the nut cannot come up against the shoulder of the bolt, this could cause a future problem. The attached picture is a hanger bolt that I recently removed. You can see the witness mark on the removed nut where it was tightened against the bolt shoulder, but it was free to move against the hanger. A reminder BTW, that these "crunch" nuts should only be used once.

Rob

[Jkalafus]

I have a 2016 398m and within the last year have broken 2 wet bolts from the passenger far back 3rd axle hanger. Any suggestions if the V-Clip supports would help? I also am told the V-Clip is standard in many of the larger GD 5ers now. Can anyone confirm? Just worried what this does to the frame and moving stress. I would rather replace bolts I guess than mess the frame up.

[Cate&Rob]

Jkalafus
Broken wet bolts are rarely reported. Do you have pictures of where/how the bolts failed?
You are correct that V clips are (were for a while?) factory installed on Solitudes. I don't know about Momentum.

Rob

[Jkalafus]

Sadly I don't have the bolts but it was the same hanger. The bolts fell out and I didn't realize till too late and cooked my tires on that axle. This photo is right after I repaired it last week.

[Cate&Rob]

I’m wondering if the broken bolts might have been at the end of threads, caused by over torquing with an impact driver. The 40 lb-ft torque spec is much lower than any air or electric impact tool.

Rob

[Guest]

That does not look like the factory nut on the new bolt. The nut must contact the shoulder of the special hanger bolt in order to stay tight.

Jim

[Cate&Rob]

Guest . . . Good catch Jim! That is definitely not the correct nut in the picture.

The correct nut is a "crunch" torque retaining flange nut with a smooth surface under the flange. Many similar nuts have a serrated surface under the flange which will actually grip the hanger and loosen the nut as the spring moves. Attached is the LCI drawing for the correct nut.

Rob

129767.pdf

[Jkalafus]

Ahh, I really appreciate the info! I did swap out to wet bolts. Does that matter? Should I just then swap the nuts on them to the LCI ones? Or go back to the LCI Bolt and Nut? Still torn on the V-Clip to help.

[Guest]

Ahh, I really appreciate the info! I did swap out to wet bolts. Does that matter? Should I just then swap the nuts on them to the LCI ones? Or go back to the LCI Bolt and Nut? Still torn on the V-Clip to help.

Its critical to use the proper bolt for the spring hanger. It has a shoulder that will avoid compressing the hanger too far so this bolt will set the width of the hanger. The nut that Rob described will bottom on the bolt shoulder and should be torqued to 40 lb-ft. There are wet bolts that can be purchased but these need to be used with brass bushings. Morryde sells a nice heavy duty wet bolt kit with bushings and spring shackles. You will need to verify the shackle length for your rig.

Here is an example.

https://www.amazon.com/MOR-Ryde-UO12...29626427&psc=1

Jim

[Yoda]

Here are the pictures of the repair. Note the v-support is on both sides of the hanger. You can see the smaller guage of steel in the square tube spacer between the hanger and the frame. Probably not a good design. I ended up replacing all of the wet bolts and bronze bushings, I was worried about the heat created by the welding, even though the welder sprayed the welds with water. Lippert admitted the tremendous amount of torque on the hangers when turning and backing. Especially on the rear ones.

Dick
There is one more place to check for cracks. In you first repair photo, above the 2x2 sub frame is a gusset that is welded to the frame web. On my unit the suspension flexing cracked the web at the top gusset weld. My welder, who should start the week, says the welds to the frame web are wrong and the gusset should have gone full height to the inside top web flange location. In your original photos it appears the hanger has bent the 2x2 sub frame at the flange too, so double check for frame cracks. I found 8 total so far and broken welds, I have a post on my frame cracks that might give you a better indication where to look.

I am attaching a few photos of the web cracks above this gusset and others along withe bad factory weld.


A better shot of the web crack above the rear hanger gusset shown right above. Above left is an example of bad factory welds - no penetration in this case.

This crack is at an interior welded cross brace showing through the web to the outside just in front of the front hanger, It was cause bu the gusset plate you can see to the left flexing the web. There is also a crack at the gusset plate weld. In all cases the opposite side has the same cracks.

The other place to check is above the center hanger at the top of the gusset weld, While hard to see there's a crack all along this weld, verified on the inside. If the beam had been reinforced top to bottom flange this would hot have happened, As welded all the stress is transferred to the web.

I encourage everyone to be checking theses locations on your units.

Hope this helps

Keith

[TucsonJim]

And to make matters even more complicated, this photo is for the LCI Correct Track systems that is sold through e-trailer. It shows the nut is a nylon locking version.



Jim

[Jkalafus]

Its critical to use the proper bolt for the spring hanger. It has a shoulder that will avoid compressing the hanger too far so this bolt will set the width of the hanger. The nut that Rob described will bottom on the bolt shoulder and should be torqued to 40 lb-ft. There are wet bolts that can be purchased but these need to be used with brass bushings. Morryde sells a nice heavy duty wet bolt kit with bushings and spring shackles. You will need to verify the shackle length for your rig.

Here is an example.

https://www.amazon.com/MOR-Ryde-UO12...29626427&psc=1

Jim

Thanks for this. I ordered the nuts from LCI and the HD wet bolts I am using have brass bushings already. I will double check the Torque on the nuts when I replace them. When the first bolt broke the tech I think torqued the crud out of it to bend the hanger back(my axles had rotated quite a bit and bent the inside of the hanger). Would explain the second failure I had maybe. The rig is at a really good wedding shop right now so I asked them to check and replace the hanger if needed.

[Cate&Rob]

TucsonJim Jkalafus

I would be really cautious about the "Correct Track" hanger sold through Etrailer. It looks to be cobbled together from welded pieces. An original LCI hanger is one piece (see attached picture) . The reason this is important is that the bolt length to the shoulder is specific the the width of the hanger and the width of the spring. Adding extra layers of metal to the hanger is going to screw this up.

Rob

[Guest]

Dick
There is one more place to check for cracks. In you first repair photo, above the 2x2 sub frame is a gusset that is welded to the frame web. On my unit the suspension flexing cracked the web at the top gusset weld. My welder, who should start the week, says the welds to the frame web are wrong and the gusset should have gone full height to the inside top web flange location. In your original photos it appears the hanger has bent the 2x2 sub frame at the flange too, so double check for frame cracks. I found 8 total so far and broken welds, I have a post on my frame cracks that might give you a better indication where to look.

I am attaching a few photos of the web cracks above this gusset and others along withe bad factory weld.


A better shot of the web crack above the rear hanger gusset shown right above. Above left is an example of bad factory welds - no penetration in this case.

This crack is at an interior welded cross brace showing through the web to the outside just in front of the front hanger, It was cause bu the gusset plate you can see to the left flexing the web. There is also a crack at the gusset plate weld. In all cases the opposite side has the same cracks.

The other place to check is above the center hanger at the top of the gusset weld, While hard to see there's a crack all along this weld, verified on the inside. If the beam had been reinforced top to bottom flange this would hot have happened, As welded all the stress is transferred to the web.

I encourage everyone to be checking theses locations on your units.

Hope this helps

Keith

An easy solution in correcting this issue is to install the X Factor brackets as they will reduce the lateral bending in the frame. They will not work on the trapezoidal Dexter hangers but will work on the LCI square hangers and with the Vclip installed. All that's needed to use with the Vclip is to by longer top bolts for the X Factor and bolt it on the far side of the hanger rather than the inside leg. Another forum member came up with this idea and it was very clever. So there is no need to weld cross braces if the X Factor is used.

Jim

[Yoda]

An easy solution in correcting this issue is to install the X Factor brackets as they will reduce the lateral bending in the frame. They will not work on the trapezoidal Dexter hangers but will work on the LCI square hangers and with the Vclip installed. All that's needed to use with the Vclip is to by longer top bolts for the X Factor and bolt it on the far side of the hanger rather than the inside leg. Another forum member came up with this idea and it was very clever. So there is no need to weld cross braces if the X Factor is used.

Jim

Jim
I have 3 x-factors waiting for installation. They will work with the trapezoidal hanger too. The new instructions say to drill a hole for the second bolt on the inside hanger face https://www.rvupgradestore.com/v/vsp...structions.pdf bottom left second page. I am still having the frame cross braced too.

Thanks for psting
Keith