--- title: "2018 Road Warrior spring hangers break off the frame" kind: "owner-report" recall: false brand: "heartland" model: "road-warrior" year: 2018 slug: "heartland-road-warrior-spring-hanger" url: "https://www.rigfixhq.com/issues/heartland/road-warrior/2018/heartland-road-warrior-spring-hanger" markdownUrl: "https://www.rigfixhq.com/issues/heartland/road-warrior/2018/heartland-road-warrior-spring-hanger.md" --- # 2018 Road Warrior spring hangers break off the frame Owner reports are not official NHTSA recalls. Each report cites a public complaint, bulletin, forum thread, or manufacturer page. It is not a failure rate, a diagnosis, or a repair procedure. **Owner report** · Frame · 2018 Heartland Road Warrior ## Symptoms NHTSA complaint ODI 11616356, filed September 25, 2024, on a 2018 Heartland Road Warrior, says the rear spring shackles that hold the leaf springs and the axle broke off the frame while the trailer was going down the road. The owner felt a small jerk on a straight road, saw smoke from the rear, and wrote that the trailer was moving at a low speed. The owner took it to Clyde's Frame shop in Pontiac, Michigan. The owner wrote that the shop said Lippert frames do not brace the shackles. The owner filed an insurance claim. The complaint does not say the insurer had inspected the RV. Where the shackle broke off, it also broke a PVC tube that carries gasoline lines from the rear fuel tank to the generator in the front. The owner's account of what could have happened at highway speed is the owner's, not a measurement. Complaint ODI 11439177, filed November 3, 2021, also on a 2018 Road Warrior, says that at 55 mph the trailer hit a bump, felt like it was dragging, and pulled to the right. The rear passenger spring hanger had fractured, and the rear axle was pulling the trailer sideways. An independent mechanic welded the hanger back so the owner could drive home. The complaint says the trailer was not fully repaired, the manufacturer was not told, and the mileage was unknown. On the Heartland Owners Forum, david-steph2018 wrote on June 3, 2025, that a spring hanger broke on a 2018 Road Warrior in 2020, at the fairgrounds in Goshen, and that it was the right-rear hanger. On iRV2, in a thread started April 29, 2021, a post says a tri-axle 2018 Road Warrior, weighed in that post at about 20,500 pounds and towed by a 2017 Ram 3500, broke a rear spring hanger at the Elkhart County Fairgrounds while backing into a site. The post says the owner heard it snap. These two forum posts both name a 2018 Road Warrior and a fairgrounds. This page does not treat them as the same coach. ## Likely causes The September 2024 complaint says the shackles broke off the frame and that a shop blamed unbraced Lippert shackles. That shop comment is the owner's account. The November 2021 complaint says a rear passenger hanger fractured after a bump at 55 mph. The forum posts say a hanger broke at a fairgrounds, one of them while backing into a site. The posts do not include a lab report. They do not show one broken hanger on every Road Warrior. ## Common fixes Look at the spring hangers before a trip, especially the rear ones. A hanger or shackle that has broken off the frame is what these reports describe. If one has already broken, or the trailer is pulling sideways or dragging, do not keep towing it. The November 2021 complaint says a mechanic welded the hanger back so the owner could get home, and that the repair was not finished. The iRV2 post says that coach later had a MorRyde independent suspension and disc brakes. That is that owner's later change, not a factory repair. Other replies on the Heartland thread suggest welding a new hanger or a brace. Those replies are general advice, not a repair of the 2018 Road Warrior in that post. Ask Heartland or a frame shop to look at the hangers and the rail before the next trip. ## DIY difficulty Looking at the hangers is something an owner can do. Welding a hanger, in the November 2021 complaint, was an independent mechanic. There is no published procedure here. ## Parts needed No Heartland part number is named. The complaints describe spring shackles, a spring hanger, and a PVC tube that carries gasoline lines. The iRV2 post names a MorRyde independent suspension and disc brakes on that coach after the break. ## Warranty notes This is not a recall. The September 2024 owner filed an insurance claim and does not say the insurer or Heartland paid. The November 2021 complaint says the manufacturer was not told. The forum posts do not say Heartland paid. A complaint is not a coverage decision for another Road Warrior. The year on this page is 2018, which is the year these reports name. ## Sources - [NHTSA complaints for 2018 Heartland Road Warrior (ODI 11616356 and 11439177)](https://api.nhtsa.gov/complaints/complaintsByVehicle?make=HEARTLAND&model=ROAD+WARRIOR&modelYear=2018) - [Heartland Owners Forum post on a 2018 Road Warrior spring hanger](https://heartlandowners.org/threads/suspension.85042/) - [iRV2 thread with a 2018 Road Warrior spring hanger that broke at a fairgrounds](https://www.irv2.com/threads/towing-3-axle-unit-over-2-axle-differences.1958459/) Year page: [2018 Heartland Road Warrior](https://www.rigfixhq.com/issues/heartland/road-warrior/2018) HTML page: https://www.rigfixhq.com/issues/heartland/road-warrior/2018/heartland-road-warrior-spring-hanger