Finally had decent weather that I could go out and check out my new to me dump truck. The shop that serviced it said it had broken leaf spring on the right rear (Hendricksen walking beam) but I looked all over and crawled underneath and didn't see any cracks or anything else that looked like a broken spring. The only thing I noticed is that on the right side, the bolt that goes under the springs at the back was missing a bushing like the left side had. I don't think this is serious at all and looks like it just stops the springs from falling if you jack the truck up to change a tire or something. Ever heard of a shop saying something is broken when it isn't or is there anywhere hidden to check for a broken spring?
Spring leaves typically break in one of two places, near the end like the attachment point on main leaves or where the shorter leaf ends on the others, or right dead center because of the center bolt hole. Sometimes those center breaks are hard to spot, sometimes there's a splash of grease that looks like a crack. Rust streaks are telltale.
Thanks, I'll have to take a closer look. I didn't see any cracks on the edges of the springs.
I've also seen them break to one side or the other of one of the U bolts that wasn't torqued properly.