Made in USA leaf springs

[John and Debbie]

51 minutes ago, Geronimo John said:

Thanks Mike.  That's the one.

Sometimes it is nice to plant happy thoughts.  I sent this to June:

Same place for us.  Great breakfast. 

John

[Mike and Carol]

14 minutes ago, John and Debbie said:

Same place for us.  Great breakfast. 

John

The service was good, too.

[John Dorrer]

I have ordered Alcan Springs and will need to decide whether to install as 5-leaf or 4-leaf. I have a truck service place that will do the work.

 

Their recommendation is to install 4-leaf based on trailer weight.

 

Without going through the entire thread, are there any owners that went Alcan 4-leaf?

 

We don't plan on driving rough gravel roads. That got done pre-Oliver. Our 2022 LE2 has the 5,200 axle.

Edited yesterday at 01:38 PM by John Dorrer
Updated Comment

[Galway Girl]

2 hours ago, John Dorrer said:

Without going through the entire thread, are there any owners that went Alcan 4-leaf?

We have 3.5K Axles and used 4 leaf Alcan, had them do the install, they gave me the 5th leaf to carry with me if we wanted to install it later.  After 5k miles with 4 leaves we're just fine.   That said if you have the 5K axles on your trailer, then most folks use the 5 leaf version to match the axle rating.

Edited Friday at 02:45 PM by Galway Girl

[theOrca]

On 3/12/2024 at 5:54 PM, Patriot said:

If anyone’s custom shop is that good there should be no reason why they can’t stand behind their product 💯%  with a very solid 3-5 year warranty. Mike at Alcan told me he has been in business 40 years and they have never had a broken leaf spring returned. 

A 90 day warranty is honestly laughable on custom suspension leaf springs costing over $700.00.
Agree with @CRM stand behind your product if it’s as good as stated. Gotta have some skin in the game and up the warranty. 

 

Just an observation.

 

I would rather have a great product with no warranty than a fair product with a great warranty. The time and PITA factor in obtaining warranty work/recompense is ..., well, a PITA.

[2008RN]

3 hours ago, John Dorrer said:

3 hours ago, John Dorrer said:

I have ordered Alcan Springs and will need to decide whether to install as 5-leaf or 4-leaf. I have a truck service place that will do the work.

 

Their recommendation is to install 4-leaf based on trailer weight.

 

Without going through the entire thread, are there any owners that went Alcan 4-leaf?

 

We don't plan on driving rough gravel roads. That got done pre-Oliver.

 

 

We have the 3.5K axels  I put the 5 leaf springs on the Oli. I have almost 11K miles on them.  The first couple of days (750 miles) seemed a little rougher then they mellowed out.  I do go on gravel, and some of the 2 lane roads in the nation are as bad or worst than gravel roads.  

I just got done doing a lub on the wet bolts and checking everything out. All seems fine.  The Oli weighs about 6500 pounds when loaded.  I haven't notice any problems in the interior, it was worse with the original springs.  The trailer stays pretty mellow  with movements of an inch or two after uneven pavement.   Where it used to bob and weave like a drunken sailor before making it harder to control.  After the leafs no control issues.  

I think you would be fine either way. 

 

Edited Friday at 04:15 PM by 2008RN

[jd1923]

We went 5-leaf since Alcan designed it this way specifically for the Oliver. They installed a few 4-leaf springs only due to Oliver owner requests. I would guess over 95% of us have installed the standard 5-leaf system.

I've had to go over a lot of speed bumps lately. My truck suspension, being so tight, bangs hard over speed bumps, but the Oliver suspension glides over them so nicely! Looking through the sideview mirror, you can see each tire articulate up and down without affecting the other axle, while the hull does not budge an inch! I should buy Alcan leaf springs for the rear of our tow vehicle! 😎

We always tow with a dog bowl half full of water. The water stays put, and never had a drawer open. We did have items jostled in the Attic and hanging clothes fall in the closet once in the first few miles. Once I worked the first required torquing of wet and U-bolts, we never had another issue. 

[theOrca]

On 5/28/2025 at 3:30 PM, CRM said:

Why the focus on the weight of the spring and where does this number come from? I admit that I know nearly nothing about leaf spring tech, but shouldn't the weight rating of the spring and the quality of the steel and construction be all that really matters? 

Great question. Such focus on weight alone makes NO allowance for the quality of the steel nor the quality of the heat tempering. 

[Steve and Mary]

10 hours ago, John Dorrer said:

I have ordered Alcan Springs and will need to decide whether to install as 5-leaf or 4-leaf. I have a truck service place that will do the work.

 

Their recommendation is to install 4-leaf based on trailer weight.

 

Without going through the entire thread, are there any owners that went Alcan 4-leaf?

 

We don't plan on driving rough gravel roads. That got done pre-Oliver.

We recently upgraded to the 5200 lb Dexter axles, purchased thru Alcan, and chose to use the 4 leaf Alcan springs to match the weight of the trailer.  We also purchased the Dexter EZ flex and wet bolt kit from etrailer, replicating the stock setup, since we preferred to use step bolts. In addition, we replaced all four shocks with new factory style Monroe shock absorbers.  We performed the installation ourselves. Our tire pressures are set at 45:psi which we monitor with our TST tire pressure monitor.  We’ve had excellent results, the springs are noticeably firmer, both when towing and when set up for camping.  We find that the ride is not unduly harsh and we haven’t had any issue with items coming loose or things falling off.  Time will tell if the Monroe shocks will work well long term.  We are very happy with the setup and our interactions with Alcan Spring.  

[John Dorrer]

27 minutes ago, Steve and Mary said:

We recently upgraded to the 5200 lb Dexter axles, purchased thru Alcan, and chose to use the 4 leaf Alcan springs to match the weight of the trailer.  We also purchased the Dexter EZ flex and wet bolt kit from etrailer, replicating the stock setup, since we preferred to use step bolts. In addition, we replaced all four shocks with new factory style Monroe shock absorbers.  We performed the installation ourselves. Our tire pressures are set at 45:psi which we monitor with our TST tire pressure monitor.  We’ve had excellent results, the springs are noticeably firmer, both when towing and when set up for camping.  We find that the ride is not unduly harsh and we haven’t had any issue with items coming loose or things falling off.  Time will tell if the Monroe shocks will work well long term.  We are very happy with the setup and our interactions with Alcan Spring.  

Thank You. I have time to decide. Our 2022 LE2 has the 5,200 lb. axle. I can do 4-leaf and add the 5th leaf later, or have the 4-5 leafs in the basement when we decide to sell.

[theOrca]

I have tried to run through all xxx-hundred posts on this subject at least twice. I still cannot find reference to the actual Dexter part number of the correct D52 axle for my E2.

My Olly (615) unfortunately has the old 3500 axles and cheap CCP springs. I intend to have the work done locally. I have ordered the correct ez-flex and shoulder bolts from e-trailer, will order the 5 leaf springs and U-bolts from Alcan. I want to have the local shop order the correct complete axle assemblies directly from Dexter. 

Would someone please chime-in with the correct part number for the Dexter Axle?  Pretty please with a shot of single malt...

Bill

[Galway Girl]

13 hours ago, theOrca said:

number for the Dexter Axle?

Sorry I checked my quote from Alcan and part # not there either.  We ended up sticking with our original 3.5k’s as we had just put in new brakes and bearings.

I suggest you ask Alcan when you order your springs as they’ll have that p/n for sure and it will need to match for the spring order.  They also know the axles lead time by heart! 
 

Craig

Edited 4 hours ago by Galway Girl

[jd1923]

16 hours ago, theOrca said:

Would someone please chime-in with the correct part number for the Dexter Axle?

Not all Oliver TTs use the same axle. Our older hull was fitted with a 50" bracket length and most others have 50.5" (note the 50.00 marking on my labels). Since the axles on our Oliver were unique, Alcan took a picture of my original axle label for the custom order, copied all the specs except went from D35 to D52 for 5200 LB axles. They only make Nev-R Adjust and Nev-R Lube axles now, so the rest is the same.

So, the part numbers for our hull will NOT be what you need. Likely if a Forum member that upgraded recently with 50.50" axles posted a picture of their label, it would be what you need. But to be certain, take a picture of your axle label and then call Dexter Customer Service. They are not bad to talk to and they will give you a proper part number for your D52 upgraded axles. I'd want to be certain spending $2K plus shipping!

HF stands for Hub Face, the measurement between hub faces.
SC or Spring Center is the distance between leaf spring centers.
These numbers must remain the same for the new D52 axles.

Our before & after axle labels to follow:

Edited 1 hour ago by jd1923