The axle seemed to deflect and wore out a set of tires after about 6000 miles. We made a torsion bar truss to stiffen the axle and after 7600 miles, it seemed to work well, but maybe a little too well. I think the axle was too stiff and with the pit as overloaded as it gets going to a contest, we were doomed for failure. As I was driving to the Bel Air BBQ Bash in August of 2005, I hit a pothole and broke the spindle off the axle. I was able to limp to the contest with the pit in a U-haul trailer. Dean Ayres of the Pork and Dean’s team came to my rescue. Dean replaced the axle and bearings, but a more permanent fix was in order. On the new Langs, the leaf springs are moved wider, closer to the wheels. I ordered a rectangle made of 2X3 steel tubing to fit under the cooker to hold the leaf springs wider. After removing the axle and springs, Jeff Murray welded on new spring shackles to the new frame and we started re-building the suspension. After everything was welded together, we jacked the new parts under the pit frame and Jeff welded everything together. We think this is a permanent repair for the suspension problem we’ve been having.