How to Fix Jayco Suspension Issues? (3+ Common Problems)

In this brief article we are going to discuss the different Jayco Suspension problems, what the causes are, and Troubleshooting Tips.

What are the most common  Jayco suspension issues? 

The most common Jayco suspension issues are:

• Coil Spring Breakage
• Control Arm Bushing Failure
• Tyre Scrubbing
• Shock Absorber Failure

Jayco Suspension Set-up

Jayco is a manufacturer of premium caravan and camper trailers in Australia. The Jayco offers a variety of Caravans and suspension set-ups to suit different Caravan Manufacturer requirements. 

Jayco offers 2 kinds of Suspension Set-ups:

• JTech Leaf Spring Beam-Axle Suspension system
• JTech Independent arm Coil Spring suspension system

JTech Leaf Spring Beam-Axle Suspension system

Jtech Independent arm Coil Spring suspension system

Coil Spring Breakage

• Steel suspension springs come with a finite life and hence break at some point, depending on how hard they are used
• In a suspension that is Off-road oriented, it is expected to see coil spring breakages more often than not

Leaf Spring Hanger Breakage

• Leaf Spring hangers broken at low mileage
• The probable cause could be overload or severe off-road impact

Control Arm Bushing failure

• In all of the Jayco models, the Control arms are attached to the chassis via rubber bushings
• Among all suspension elements, the Rubber bushings are the most prone to failure
• The bushings provide isolation from vibrations, but the trade-off is that in the process of dissipating all this energy, the bushes crack and start to disintegrate
• Rubber elements are also affected by weather, mud, water, salt etc. 

Tyre Scrubbing

• Uneven Tyre wear on the wheels is the common symptom of tyre scrubbing
• The reason this happens is due to the tires being out of their alignment 
• The best way to deal with it is to get the alignment done at a place that does alignment for Trucks. Car and Van alignment shops might not be able to do a good job.
• If an alignment did not solve the issue, then it might be the case that the axles have bent. 
• In order to check axle bend, you can use a straight edge plank or a sheet-metal channel of roughly 1-2 mtr and place it over the edges of both the tyres on the sidewall.
• Ideally, there must be no gap between the tires and the plank. If there is a gap, then it means that there is an issue with either of the axles
• Also check the center distance between the axles on both sides. Use the in-built adjustment to align the axles back to the manufacturer recommendations.

Shock Absorber Failure

• In off-road situations, the shock absorbers have to work more in order to dissipate the energy coming from road undulations. In this process, the shock absorbers convert this energy to heat energy. 
• The energy dissipation process slowly induces wear in the shock absorber internal parts like the piston and the rod seal and they tend to gradually wear.
• Shocks absorbers in Off-road situations tend to wear faster than those used in On-road conditions. The CRS2, however, is an exception, since it has 4 shock absorbers that do the job of 2.
• After the control arm bushings, the next suspension element that is prone to failure would be the shock absorber

Conclusion

In this brief article we have discussed the different Jayco Suspension problems, what the causes are, and Troubleshooting Tips.