member of the axle loosing club

Well Saturday nite coming down the pa turnpike, got off the turnpike
and my rear axle came loose! Blew a tire! What a mess. 4 hrs to get the axle back in place and put the spare on. All the u bolts were loose. Checked the front
axle, also all the u bolts were loose. It ripped all the brake wires off.
Guys get under your rigs and check the u bolts. Lipert has a problem.
Have a call in with Rod at Forest River- nice guy
we will see what happens
I will let you now how I make out.
Also will try to post pictures later>

Sorry to hear that Pacat1!

I will be under mine in about 4.5 hours to check everything! Was under there this weekend and didn't even think to check the U-bolts...

Hope the damage was just limited to the tire and you and the family are ok?

Post the pics when you can......

pacat1 wrote:Well Saturday nite coming down the pa turnpike, got off the turnpike
and my rear axle came loose! Blew a tire! What a mess. 4 hrs to get the axle back in place and put the spare on. All the u bolts were loose. Checked the front
axle, also all the u bolts were loose. It ripped all the brake wires off.
Guys get under your rigs and check the u bolts. Lipert has a problem.
Have a call in with Rod at Forest River- nice guy
we will see what happens
I will let you now how I make out.
Also will try to post pictures later>

I'm not sure that Lippert is the problem here, because the axles didn't fail I think that FR owns the problem because it would seem that the axles were installed improperly. The loose U-bolts are a sure sign of improper installation. I installed an additional "keeper" nut, with a touch of Lock-tite, on each thread of the U-bolts on my 29RLBS after reading about some of the problems on posted on this site.

PACat, I hope you and your family are all safe and sound.

When it happened I was by myself- because I had just picked it up from the dealer- they had it because I had a hydrolic leak.
Turned out to be the pump and they replaced it under warranty.
Well to get back to the axle problem
Lippert got back to me, they are going to replace the axle tube
all u bolts, the tire, and all the leaf springs.
He told me they have had problems with the leaf springs.
I still think it was just the u bolts were loose
And I will be adding Lock- tite to the nuts!

pacat1,

Glad no one was harmed and that Lippert is going to take care of you. If memory serves me correctly, and that is a BIG if, FR buys the frame w/ the axles mounted from Lippert. If that is true, then it is solely a Lippert issue.

Good luck w/ the repairs and let us know how they take care of you.

Thanks for the heads up!!! We will be headed out Sunday for a favorite State Park in the N. Ga. mountains, but tomorrow morning I will be under the unit with a wrench!

Thats part of my Air check routine. Check the Ubolts , brake lines, lug nuts, and the ubolts that hold the extention leg on the front Hyd. legs. etc........

That had to of brought out a few choice words when you looked back and saw that.....

favorite State Park in the N. Ga. mountains

Would that be Vogel ?

I lost the rear axle before my first camping trip. They replaced it under warranty but never concluded what the problem was. It's not fun.

Any particular torque to tighten them to?

Been there, done that too! Mine happened in the driveway before we were to head out on a week long trip. Luckily I wasn't out on the road towing the boat as planned. The dealership replace the axle and all four leaf springs no questions asked and in short order.

Pickle wrote:Any particular torque to tighten them to?

Pickle,

If i remember correctly, from the old forum, its 80# of torque.

Axles falling off! Now that is scary. Talk about livin' on the edge, really just beyond it I guess.

It's amazing how little attention is paid to quality in the RV industry. I was crawling around under ours a few weeks ago and found one of the bolts connecting the leaf spring to the frame was loose. Tried to tighten it but could not budge it. Guess the movement screwed up the threads. Got replacement from Al-Ko. Have no idea why this one came loose, all others were okay.

Pickle wrote:Any particular torque to tighten them to?

Axle u-bolts: 55-75 ft lb; got this from Lippert when I changed mine.

MaxRock wrote:pacat1,

Glad no one was harmed and that Lippert is going to take care of you. If memory serves me correctly, and that is a BIG if, FR buys the frame w/ the axles mounted from Lippert. If that is true, then it is solely a Lippert issue.

Good luck w/ the repairs and let us know how they take care of you.

Im not a Wildcat owner but have a FR model 5th wheel and just got my trailer back for the same reason... I have an 08 Salem 24.6 and what i was told is the FR builds the unit then lippert sends them the under carriage for that unit.. Here are a few pics of my mess.. $10,349 worth of damage..

LittleZeke wrote:Im not a Wildcat owner but have a FR model 5th wheel and just got my trailer back for the same reason... I have an 08 Salem 24.6 and what i was told is the FR builds the unit then lippert sends them the under carriage for that unit.. Here are a few pics of my mess.. $10,349 worth of damage.

Wow, that axle looks a lot like mine did. However, I did not have all the collateral damage; I was only doing about 5mph when mine let go.