Made in USA leaf springs

[jd1923]

3 hours ago, ChristianD said:

I probably didn't need to replace those, but I wanted everything to be new and not have any wear and tear on them.

2 hours ago, Allen Lee Rohner said:

Thanks for the response,  I am also planning in doing the Alcan upgrade.

I believe you did right in replacing them You also have a good used full axle-spring assembly that could be sold locally to somebody building a lightweight homemade trailer for ATVs or whatever (I have my originals listed on Craigs).

Look at your picture above and you can see the center bushings on both Dexter EZ-Flex equalizers are off-center meaning the center bushing are worn enough to be cock-eyed! You can get the full EZ-Flex set, or I just purchased the equalizers since we went with the Alcan HD shackles and wet-bolts.

See more info here:

 

[TimD]

We replaced the OEM springs on our 2019 LE2 (hull 701) with Alcan HD springs a couple of weeks back.  Certified RV in Holliston, MA did the work and, other than having a drop link flip as we lowered the trailer off the jacks, the work was done without drama and to our satisfaction.

We then did a 650-mile round trip to the Lehigh Valley to meet up with some friends from Pittsburgh. I re-tightened the bolts after 300 miles and will check them again now that we're home. 

Not long after leaving home we felt the HD springs have caused a significant increase in "jounce" (pitch) of the TV, which is a 2019 F-150 SuperCrew, 145" WB, 5'7" bed, FX4 off-road suspension.  The TV bed was lightly loaded, perhaps 125 lbs total, with another 50 lbs in the cabin rear seat area.  The effect is that the rear of the TV is accelerated upwards when the Ollie hits a large bump, more than we remembered. 

Anyone else experience this?   Mechanically it makes sense:  the Ollie suspension is less compliant, so the hull moves more and transmits this motion to the TV.   Something to consider when changing springs...  Improved corrosion protection is one thing, increasing stiffness is an entirely different thing.

As a postscript, we recently spoke with a guy at a campground in Morrisville, VT who was pulling a 30' Airstream with a Ford Expedition (not a Max).  He insisted that bigger / heavier / more stiffly sprung tow vehicles were not obviously better and mentioned a Canadian YouTuber (name?  Too lazy to look) who espoused this view...

We did not change the axles nor replace the equalizers.

Tim

 

 

[Mountainman198]

9 hours ago, TimD said:

We replaced the OEM springs on our 2019 LE2 (hull 701) with Alcan HD springs a couple of weeks back.  Certified RV in Holliston, MA did the work and, other than having a drop link flip as we lowered the trailer off the jacks, the work was done without drama and to our satisfaction.

We then did a 650-mile round trip to the Lehigh Valley to meet up with some friends from Pittsburgh. I re-tightened the bolts after 300 miles and will check them again now that we're home. 

Not long after leaving home we felt the HD springs have caused a significant increase in "jounce" (pitch) of the TV, which is a 2019 F-150 SuperCrew, 145" WB, 5'7" bed, FX4 off-road suspension.  The TV bed was lightly loaded, perhaps 125 lbs total, with another 50 lbs in the cabin rear seat area.  The effect is that the rear of the TV is accelerated upwards when the Ollie hits a large bump, more than we remembered. 

Anyone else experience this?   Mechanically it makes sense:  the Ollie suspension is less compliant, so the hull moves more and transmits this motion to the TV.   Something to consider when changing springs...  Improved corrosion protection is one thing, increasing stiffness is an entirely different thing.

As a postscript, we recently spoke with a guy at a campground in Morrisville, VT who was pulling a 30' Airstream with a Ford Expedition (not a Max).  He insisted that bigger / heavier / more stiffly sprung tow vehicles were not obviously better and mentioned a Canadian YouTuber (name?  Too lazy to look) who espoused this view...

We did not change the axles nor replace the equalizers.

Tim

 

 

My new springs took about 1-2,000 miles to fully break-in, becoming more compliant and soften-up as newly formed steel and freshly painted mating surfaces get to know one another).  Hoping you will notice this too after getting a few more miles under your springs 

I noticed no additional jounce after the Alcan install but then again I had previously installed firestone airbags on the Tundra to address this issue experienced with stock dexter springs. 
 

What tire pressure are you running in your trailer tires?  50 psi seems good for me. Others like something within the 45-55 psi range. 
 

Happy travels!

[John and Debbie]

3 hours ago, Mountainman198 said:

My new springs took about 1-2,000 miles to fully break-in, becoming more compliant and soften-up as newly formed steel and freshly painted mating surfaces get to know one another).  Hoping you will notice this too after getting a few more miles under your springs 

I noticed no additional jounce after the Alcan install but then again I had previously installed firestone airbags on the Tundra to address this issue experienced with stock dexter springs. 
 

What tire pressure are you running in your trailer tires?  50 psi seems good for me. Others like something within the 45-55 psi range. 
 

Happy travels!

I noticed less bounce after about 1000 miles too with the Alcan springs confirmed with less movement of items in the trailer.  I did tighten the U bolts as recommended by Alcan at the intervals they recommended.  Very important to do.

John

[2008RN]

Mine was a night and day difference to the positive.  When I purchased the Oli she would roll about 4-5" to each side  going down a smooth interstate, and on some rough washboard roads the jouce  was so bad it was hard to handle the truck.  I had replaced shocks with bulldogs on the trailer and replaced the truck with  High end Bilstein  shocks all around and this made a some difference with side to side rolling and jouce  about a year  before doing the leaf upgrade .  When this thread came out, I checked my leaf springs and the rears were completely straight.  So  they were probably bowing backwards when hitting road imperfections.  

As @Mountainman198 suggested, after my first 50 mile dry run on the new leafs, I decided to lower tire pressure from 55 to 45, which is actually the suggest PSI by the tire manufacture for the weight  of the vehicle.

i have put 8,500 miles on the Oli this year,  and am happy with the upgrade. I did notice a difference in the ride softening  after around 1,500 miles or so. I try to stay off the interstate highways when possible.  I like going down the back roads at 55mph and see the sights along the way.  This also means the roads will be  a little rougher and less maintained in many cases. 

I'm also running a F250 Super duty XLT long box with  WB 172" that weighs 1500 lbs. more than the Oliver trailer fully loaded going down the road which may help.

Good luck,

[jd1923]

1 hour ago, 2008RN said:

Mine was a night and day difference to the positive.  When I purchased the Oli she would roll about 4-5" to each side  going down a smooth interstate, and on some rough washboard roads the jouce  was so bad it was hard to handle the truck.  I had replaced shocks with bulldogs on the trailer and replaced the truck with  High end Bilstein  shocks all around and this made a some difference with side to side rolling and jouce  about a year  before doing the leaf upgrade .  When this thread came out, I checked my leaf springs and the rears were completely straight.  So  they were probably bowing backwards when hitting road imperfections.  

As @Mountainman198 suggested, after my first 50 mile dry run on the new leafs, I decided to lower tire pressure from 55 to 45, which is actually the suggest PSI by the tire manufacture for the weight  of the vehicle.

i have put 8,500 miles on the Oli this year,  and am happy with the upgrade. I did notice a difference in the ride softening  after around 1,500 miles or so. I try to stay off the interstate highways when possible.  I like going down the back roads at 55mph and see the sights along the way.  This also means the roads will be  a little rougher and less maintained in many cases. 

I'm also running a F250 Super duty XLT long box with  WB 172" that weighs 1500 lbs. more than the Oliver trailer fully loaded going down the road which may help.

Good luck,

I don't have the miles yet, but agree with everything said here and Lance's post @Mountainman198, who was first and started this thread. However, the ride experienced could be different towing with a 1/2-ton truck like the F150 and I do believe the 5200 lb axles make a significant difference, providing a more solid suspension platform.

We had our first road-test yesterday. At home, I ran two 30-mile test drives and before leaving home, I torqued the U-bolts 4 times! We drove from home to Tuba City (180 miles) and I retorqued all U-bolts and wet-bolts. The U-bolts all took a 1/4-turn min to a full turn or so. The wet-bolts needed a bit more tightening since I had not re-torqued since installation.

380 miles yesterday to Delores CO and our rig TOWED LIKE A DREAM! It was like were were on rails! Also, I had just added an aftermarket exhaust brake, so I was in tow-heaven for sure! 😎

During one test drive, a full gallon water bottle and our kitchen garbage can that were under the dinette made it to the entrance door (carpet was removed for cleaning). Yesterday when we arrived, oddities noted were that a plastic dish tub in the kitchen sink ended up on the floor, and ALL of our clothes in the closet came off the closet rod (I'm going to run a bungee across the rod to keep the hangers in place). We had NO cabinets or drawers open (no added drawer straps either) and nothing else was out of order. Not bad at all.

I'm glad to hear that it should smooth out some after some miles. I would not trade back to the sloppy OEM axle and springs for anything, with the the trailer porpoising to and froe and waddling left-n-right like a fat duck. She sits solid now, and with new suspension, tires and fresh alignment on the truck, as I said, we were riding on rails! 😂