5th wheel springs

[iva1615]

My Dexter springs did not break they flattened. Unit was weighed and was under the limit.

No trauma (pot holes -- bad roads ) .Just normal wear. Unit is one year old.

Has this happened to anyone else?

Why did this happen?

[SmokeyWren]

RV trailer manufacturers install the minimum springs, tires, and wheels they can get by with. The result is often broken springs and blown out tires. I had both.

My manufacturer, Keystone, agreed to replace the springs with heavier-duty springs, but they would not upgrade the tires because the tires were rated for enough weight capacity for the max axle weight. So Keystone installed heavier duty (= more weight capacity) springs, and that was the end of the springs problems.

My trailer came with Goodyear Marathon ST205/75R15C tires on 5.5" wide wheels. Nice fancy chrome wheels. Two blowouts on the first long trip. Neither Keystone nor Goodyear would do anything about the tires, so I replaced all the tires with Cooper ST225/75R15D trailer tires, and the rims with 6" wide rims required for that size tire. And that was the end of my trailer tire problems for the next 8 years and about 80,000 miles. (Yep, we put lots of miles on that trailer between 2001 and 2009.)