Safety Precautions - freightliner COLUMBIA CL112 Maintenance Manual

Suspension
32–00 Safety Precautions
Safety Precautions in this section apply to all
procedures within this group.
DANGER
When working on the vehicle, shut down the en-
gine, set the parking brake, and chock the tires.
Before working under the vehicle, always place
jack stands under the frame rails to ensure the
vehicle cannot drop. Failure to follow these steps
could result in serious personal injury or death.
32–01 Suspension Inspection
Front Suspension Check
WARNING
Do not replace individual leaves of a damaged leaf
spring assembly; replace the complete spring as-
sembly. Visible damage (cracks or breaks) to one
leaf causes hidden damage to other leaves. Re-
placement of only the visibly damaged part(s) is
no assurance that the spring is safe. On front
spring assemblies, if cracks or breaks exist in the
two top leaves, a loss of vehicle control could
occur. Failure to replace a damaged spring assem-
bly could cause an accident resulting in property
damage, serious personal injury, or death.
Inspect the front spring assemblies for cracked, bro-
ken, or abnormally bent leaves. If any of these condi-
tions exist, replace the spring assembly. See Group
32 of the Columbia® Workshop Manual for instruc-
tions.
Composite Springs
The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) de-
fines a crack that causes out-of-service conditions for
composite spring assemblies, as a separation in any
axis, which passes completely through the composite
spring material.
For additional information, refer to the CVSA, Out of
Service (OOS) Criteria, for composite spring assem-
blies, Section 9, Suspension, Pages 44 to 45.
Inspect the Liteflex spring for cracks that result in an
out-of-service condition as follows (see
Columbia Maintenance Manual, September 2015
• a side to side crack extending beyond 3/4 of the
• a top to bottom crack extending beyond 3/4 of
• intersecting cracks of any length.
The Liteflex composite spring should also be re-
moved from service if splintering has occured to the
point where noticeable vehicle ride height loss has
occurred.
08/14/2008
A. Side to side crack extending beyond 3/4 of the
B. Top to bottom crack extending beyond 3/4 of the
C. Intersecting cracks of any length
Fig. 1, Out-of-Service Conditions, Composite Spring
Shock Absorber Check, Front
and Rear Suspensions
Make sure the shock absorber brackets are tight,
and the shock absorber is not striking or rubbing the
frame or some other part of the chassis. Striking or
rubbing the frame is characterized by chafe marks on
the shock absorber body and the frame rail. See
2. Check the rubber mounting bushings for cracks,
cuts, swelling, and dry rot. Also, check the bushings
for missing pieces. Replace the bushings as needed.
Fig. 1):
length of the spring;
the length of the spring;
A
B
C
length of the spring
length of the spring
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Fig.
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