“The Bow Fell Off”…

So there is this awesome video clip of a fake interview between two (presumably) British actors. It’s all about the front “bow” falling off of a ship at sea. At one point the interview gets serious and the guy says “of course it’s not typical…for the bow to fall off”.

Well coming from boats we always thought it was a super funny video, because really, how likely is it that the bow is really going to fall off? Not very. Well that’s how we felt about the suspension on our camper until two days ago!

So imagine you’re driving along, blissfully unaware that back behind you the 42 foot, 16000 pound house you are dragging behind you starts to wear away at some amazing (not) plastic bushings that were installed on your “heavy duty” suspension. The scenery is amazing, the wildlife is abundant and you are so excited to get to the next site which boasts a lake, swimming area, playground and all the privacy of a forest campground in a well maintained park.

Upon arrival the sites are a little bit tight so a few tight turns and tries at backing later you are finally settled. After deciding that the back jacks need a few blocks under them, you decide to relieve the camper one last time before getting to go run off and enjoy the new digs. Then, wham while picking the camper back up, the aft leaf spring let’s go and the two tires on the dual axel suspension go slamming together! Well, shoot, that’s not right. So you yell to your hubby who is running the jacks, “um, the tires are sucked in together”… “oh and the leaf spring is not attached”!

So, said husband comes out from around the camper, and you repeat yourself just to make sure he heard ya, and of course he did. “Well that’s not right”. It’s kind of like the bow falling off!!

Now, we stare at this situation and decide that the camper is level enough after finding the bolt on the ground, the amazing (wrong) bushing is torn to pieces and the bracket is bent in ways it shouldn’t be.

We start our usual task of figuring out how the heck we are going to deal with this. Did I mention it’s a Sunday and we are about 100 miles from the nearest town? After some lucky googling we found a shop that specializes in big rig and trailer suspensions. Call their after hours number and find that 8am on Monday we can get new bolts! Yay!

Let’s just say we enjoyed the rest of the evening, after explaining to the park operator that “although we saw the note that this site would ONLY be available for one night, we may need it for two because we couldn’t move this thing if we wanted to”. She was very understanding, and luckily they had just run out of signs saying the site was available for longer.

The next morning John and Alex got up bright and early and headed back to Fort Saint John, two hours behind us to get new bolts. We had already decided to get a set “just in case” but upon arrival they were basically told that those bushings should have never been used on our suspension. So, with new bolts, bronze bushings, and new nuts they headed back to camp.

He got the first one fixed then did the same one on the opposite side to see how it was wearing and immediately decided they all were being inspected.

We also realized that the bolt broke somewhere on the road because the tire on the opposite side now only has three tread lines, instead of the four that these tires come standard with.

We are thanking our lucky stars that the bolt held long enough for us to get to the campground and safely parked. If it hadn’t, we would probably be somewhere off a cliff and/or possibly would have taken out some cars around us in the process of the suspension ripping off. Kind of like this guy who I ran across on my way to Fort Saint John, who I hope made it out ok!

Of course, like our boating days, we know nothing goes exactly as you plan and you have to be ready for just about anything to go wrong.

So, after getting the first two replacements installed, we realized the connecting pieces (where the two leaf spring sets come together) take bolts that are a bit longer than the ones we got. So, in the truck I go this time to exchange a few of the bolts for the bigger ones that will fit.

The kids actually chipped in while I was gone and helped John finish up the ones he could. After I got back he installed the last one we needed (yes we ended up with spares as some were in good shape since they were installed with the correct bronze bushings).

Looking at the carnage, we ended up with 5 total bolts with nuts changed and 8 total bushings replaced.

Let’s just say the manufacturer is being put on notice that whoever supplies/installs their chassis/suspension sets really screwed up.

But heck, we got an extra night in a beautiful campground with the kids learning a little about resilience and handy work. Oh and if you ever need a good laugh, you should google that video about the bow falling off!