Could well be. Mate's went like that and intermittently lost drive - opened it up in the Lakes last weekend and all four springs were broken.
20 miles from home
LOL i wish
Get it apart in a warm garage with the technical drawings off hope's website. Its an easy job to do and there is even a video or two on there to show you how to do things?
A third hand is useful though.
warm garage
Even better is the kitchen table . Will wait until replacements/spares arrive first though.