Spring broke on trailer, in the middle of Wyoming, in the snow...

[silverbullet02]

Made my trip back east from Washington this past week here. Things were fine until we came into Wyoming and got into some good snow. That was fine until the snow melted and then froze. Spent a few hours in the ice that night until we could stop and sleep. Got up the next morning, drove for an hour on the ice and the roads started to clear up. Then the spring broke. Fortunately we had the floor jack accessible, a 4x4 and some straps. Got that rigged up on the side of the interstate laying in the snow with a solid line of semis blowing by us. 30 miles later we found the next town and eventually got directed to a welding shop that just happened to have the right set of springs. Had them replace both sides and we were on the road again. Luckily it happened in the middle of the day on a weekday and we were able to get it to town and then get in and out of the shop. After that, it was a good trip the rest of the way back. Got my stuff in a storage unit in TN and relaxing in Ohio for a few days before I head back down there. I just never expected a spring to break. Anybody else ever ran into that? Oh well, all is good now. Have a good one!

Brian

 

[Alli-drenaline Rush]

Hey Brian..... Stuff happens.... sounds like you're living clean w/ that shop having the right set of springs!

 

[SLOmofo]

Just had left home to go to the lake for the weekend. I was towing the Champion with our motor home so I couldn't see anything of the boat or trailer behind us. Got about 2 miles when I felt a tug. Noticed smoke on the right side and quickly pulled over. The right spring broke just behind the eye on the front of the spring. Axle kicked back and the tire destroyed the fender and sheet metal behind it. The smoke was the tire being chewed up by the fender.
I had to pull the axle forward, block it up so 1. it would support and 2. would stay in place. Luckily I had put the anchor rope back into the boat. Used it to lash the axle into place.
Limped to the next exit and made it back home. A 5 mile trip that took about an hour and a half.
That was a year or two ago.
About a month or two ago I came off the freeway and the left side brake was on fire. Put it out with a bottled water, fired up again, put it out, fired up again, put it out. Jumped into the boat and got all the water out to the deck of the boat. Stood there waiting for about a minute and a half, then the tire blew out.

Through the years of things like this I've figured out.

If I don't see any broken bones sticking out or blood spurting, money will fix it!

Whats SNOW?

 

[GotMyAlly]

I had that happen on a jon boat trailer years ago. It was much worse though - probably due to the fact that it was a single axle trailer. Running about 75 down the interstate at the time too. Spring broke, u-bolt slid off. The axle twisted in the middle and the tire ended up behind the boat wedged between the transom and the motor perpendicular to the direction of travel. That caused a serious bounce. The trailer would bounce off that tire, and slam down on the trailer frame on the right side in a shower of sparks. I'll have to see if I can dig up pics of the wreckage.

 

[SLOmofo]

UGLY! Yes we want to see!!!

 

[silverbullet02]

We were definitely lucky the way things worked out. Nothing spectacular on the trailer, spring broke and tire came up in the wheel well, that was it. The 4x4 got us back on the road pretty quick and the shop had the stuff we needed and got us in and out right away. Could've been much, much worse, especially out there in the middle of nowhere!

 

[SLOmofo]

I like the last pic of the Wheel. Looks like it could be dangerious along side if one of those broke off!

 

[Texan]

I had that happen on Highway 412 headed east out of Springdale, headed up to Lake Norfork. It was my old wollered out log of a stick steering boat. On a two lane, and in a dead zone for cell phone coverage. Same thing as Neal. Twisted the axle, burned a tire on the fender, and basically not movable. I hiked back up to a store and called a wrecker service. Once I taught the numbnutz driver how to tilt the bed back and down to the ground, we pulled it up, tied it down and headed back to Springdale. Through friends in the area, I found a trailer repair shop and took it all over there. It was late on a Friday afternoon, so I parked it there for the weekend telling them I'd pick it up on Tuesday. I had both sides replaced. At the lake with by buddy, we had to rent a boat just to fish. Easily it was one of the most expensive fishing trips I've ever taken.

 

[Wicky]

We were definitely lucky the way things worked out. Nothing spectacular on the trailer, spring broke and tire came up in the wheel well, that was it. The 4x4 got us back on the road pretty quick and the shop had the stuff we needed and got us in and out right away. Could've been much, much worse, especially out there in the middle of nowhere!

When I bought my GSE from Rick in Illinois, I ran into a gnarly storm in Wyoming and they closed the damn road on me. I'll have to look for the pics on an old puter. Since then, the ally has seen a lot of snow and ice living in Idaho.