Close Call

[Pahaska]

Yesterday, I brought my A/S home to get ready to leave this morning. While washing the A/S, when I worked my way to the tongue, I found that the sway bar was missing. I was sure I had put it on at the storage place, a dozen miles away.

Several hours hgad passed since I had brought the A/S home and I had little hope the sway bar could be found. I jumped into the Buick and started backtracking. About 3 miles from home, at an intersection where I had to make a tight turn, I found the sway bar laying in the grass along the road. The rear pin was still in place and not bent. The front pin was gone completely.

Now, I wonder what went wrong. I know that I inserted both pins and I had driven about 8 miles and made several tight turns before the bar came loose. I guess it will remain a mystery.

[Inland RV Center, In]

John.
The keeper pins have a habit of not being a tight fit. When traveling, they will bounce around, and in time, become brittle.
Once they become brittle, they can snap at any time, and then disappear. The same thing happened on the old Airstream disc brake system.
Those pins should probably be replaced every few years. Cheap insurance.
However, if they were not very old, then the mystery will remain. Of course there is always the possibility of a "senior moment."
Ahh, such is life, in the Airstream lane.

Andy
inlandrv.com
airstreamparts.com
airstreamcandy.com

[uwe]

Hi John,

You're scaring me now......
What sort of sway bar do you use? Is it attached to two ball studs?
Do the clips go through the bell on the sway bar and then out the other end?
Did the pin disappear from the truck or trailer end?
I use a weight distributing hitch and a single sway control. Is this what you use also? I'd hate to loose mine - even though it is not very old.
Thanks for posting this i plan on travelling a bunch next year, and want to make sure and have plenty spares of things that go kapputt.