When we returned from our 7,000 mile trip last fall, the TT was creaking. With close to 15,000 miles total on the TT in 1 1/2 seasons, I decided to install a wet bolt kit from MorRyde.
When inspecting the suspension, I notice some nylon material sticking out at one of the spring hangers.
That confirmed my suspicion that our travels had worn out the bushings. Although Dexter had wet bolt kits, none seemed to have all the components I required in one kit, where as MorRyde did have what I needed.
The components in the tandem axle U012-016 kit:
Based on review of other wet bolt kit installation posts, it was highly recommended by others to use a ball joint or u joint press from Harbor Frieght. I purchased a U joint press from Princess Auto on sale since I am in Canada. Another option would have been to use the free tool rental at Canadian Tire. Note that the ball joint press has accessories, none of which are required for the wet bolt kit install. So the cheaper u joint press is the best option.
One challenge I had was the 5 degree slope of my driveway. I therefore decided that I would do one side of the TT at a time with the TT on the ball of the TV. Although I had rubber chocks that I use with the TT, I purchased larger rubber chocks to use with the TV, just to be safer.
The devices I used to support the TT included a couple of unijacks that have the jack stand integrated into the bottle jack, wood blocking and 2 additional bottle jacks. I also made a couple of blocks with a 1 1/2 radius cutout so they would fit up against the axle between the u bolts. Regular jack stands instead of the unijacks would also work, but may require shimming to fine tune the heights.
I used the tongue jack to lift the TT (slightly) so the suspension's equalizer was close to being parallel to the TT frame. Then I set up the blocking and unijacks so that they just contacted the bottom of the frame rails (no lifting) while the TT was still resting on the tires/wheels. This way I would not be lifting the TT but rather keeping it at the same height as when all 4 tires are down. To remove the wheels, I jacked each bottle jack placed under each axle one at a time just enough to remove the wheel. After lowering the bottle jacks under the axles, the frame was supported by the unijacks.
This is what the suspension looked like before I started dismantling it.
I decided to tackle the front and rear spring end bolts/bushings first. (That turned out to be the right approach when it was time to dismantle the equalizer bolts/bushings.)
The first step was to remove the flanged nut from the suspension bolt while using a wrench on the head of the bolt to prevent the bolt from turning and damaging the hanger by the bolt's serrations. With the nut off, but the bolt still in place, I raised / lowered the bottle jack under the axle the spring was attached to until the spring felt loose at the bolt I was removing. I then used the u joint press to press out the bolt.
With the bolt removed, I lowered the bottle jack so the spring eye was visible.
The first bolt that I removed turned out to have the nylon bushing with some of the most wear. That made it easy to remove the bushing from the spring eye.
To remove the bushings that were not as worn, I found that my 12 mm deep 3/8 drive socket was the perfect diameter to drive out the nylon bushings with a hammer.
I cleaned out the bore of the spring eyes with a small wire brush (battery terminal clamp brush). I pre-greased the bore of the bushing and then inserted a brass bushing in the spring eye and raised the axle with the bottle jack to align the center of the bushing with the hanger hole.
MorRyde and Dexter recommend that the cross hole in the wet bolts be orientated on the horizontal axis (9 and 3 o'clock positions) when installed. I decided to install mine with the cross holes as shown by the red dots. The one exception I made was with the center top equalizer bolt.
I had previously prepped all bolts by deburring the cross hole and outside surfaces since they had nicks in them. I also removed the grease fittings and cleaned out the bored centers with brake cleaner and compressed air to be sure there was no debris. I then pre-greased the wet bots to ensure they would take grease. In other posts, some installers have filed a longitudinal groove in the wet bolt. I decided not to since there is ample clearance between the bushing and bolt for grease to flow.
Prior to inserting the wet bolt, I applied grease to the outside diameter and I adjusted the bottle jack under the axle so the hanger and bushing aligned vertically. In a couple of cases, they were not aligned horizontally, but it was easy to just push the axle to get alignment.
Next I inserted the wet bolt being careful to have the grease cross hole orientated in the desired direction. Note that I decided to orientate the bolt so the grease fitting was pointed toward the center of the trailer and the nut would be outside. That will make it "easier" to grease without having to remove the wheels, but will mean crawling under the TT.
Using a socket that fit the grease fitting, I used the u joint press to seat the head of the bolt tightly up against the hanger.
(Note: I shimmed the unijack so it was not loading the propane gas line.)
The nut was then torqued to 50 ft-lbs while holding the head of the bolt to prevent it from turning and damaging the hangers by the serrations.
TIP: The bottle jack should remain in the position you just used to align the spring eye and hanger holes. It will make the wet bolt replacement at the equalizer much easier later.
Before moving on and repeating the above procedure on the other spring eye to hanger bolts, I shot grease into the wet bolts I had just installed while under no load.
After completing both the front and rear most hanger to spring eye wet bolts, the equalizer was next.
With the bottle jacks still supporting the axles at the previous heights that made the insertion of the wet bolts easy, the top center equalizer to hanger bolt is easily removed without having to support the equalizer.
Next I removed the shackle assemblies from the equalizer and springs. That allowed me to work on the equalizer on a table since the removal of the nylon bushings and installation of the brass bushings were more challenging. More on that in the next post.
I was surprised with the amount of wear of the factory installed nylon bushings. Turned out that 10 of 14 bushings were so worn that IMO they were not acceptable for continued use.
Driver side:
Passenger side:
In general terms, the bushings with the most wear were at the front and rear most hangers (due to spring eye shape) and the top equalizer hanger (due to load) locations. Next most significant was the bushings in the spring eyes at the shackles (due to spring eye shape). The four least worn bushings were at the shackle to equalizer connection probably because of the lower load they carry and a better hole in the equalizer than in a spring eye.
With the equalizer off the TT, I used the 12 mm deep socket to drive out the nylon bushings. These were the most stubborn to remove and the socket made it much easier.
With the nylon bushings removed from the equalizer, I used 220 grit sandpaper wrapped around a 1/2 diameter rod to clean out the holes in the equalizer.
The brass bushings were a tight fit into the equalizer. I used an old shackle bolt that I ground off the serrations on to drive the brass bushings into the equalizer. By doing so, I minimised deformation of the ends of the brass bushing.
The inside diameter of a couple of the equalizer brass bushings needed to be reamed out after installation to ensure the wet bolt did not fit too tight in the bushing. In hind sight, I should have reamed out the holes in the equalizer prior to installing the brass bushings. That way I would have had a chance to have had a more consistent fit without the loss in thickness of the thin walled brass bushing.
Well organized post. Great photos and description. Thanks for sharing.
Your info should be very helpful to anyone performing this mod on their trailer.
Well organized post. Great photos and description. Thanks for sharing.
Your info should be very helpful to anyone performing this mod on their trailer.
Thanks Jack.
My objective was to share what I learned from posts I have studied on this and other forums, as well as my own experience. Some of the best installation posts IMO, are now relatively old. More recent posts on the topic suggest doing searches and those oldies are buried and getting harder to find using Google.
Also, there seems to be some debate as to whether the wet bolt kit is required for lighter trailers. My experience with a relatively new lightweight TT with about 7,500 miles per season suggests suspension bushings definitely require our attention.
You have went to a great deal of trouble to pass on information that many of us will use. Thank you very much for taking the time to share! Its people like you that make this Forum great!
Somehow I lol'd at the "I purchased a U joint press from Princess Auto on sale since I am in Canada. Another option would have been to use the free tool rental at Canadian Tire."
You sound like me
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2010 Cougar 30RKS
2015 GMC Sierra Max Trailer
Thanks for sharing your method and photos.
I was going to use Never Fails but after reading posts about wet bolts decide on them instead.Due to shipping cost to Australia (A$100) at the time I decided to try Wet Bolts with thicker nylon bushings that are normally used here. The Aussie supplier said there was never any problem with this combination. I had new springs made as well (US ones were stamped 'China') that accommodate the larger bushings. Also have a full length second leaf included to 'catch' the spring pack should the main on snap.
I found the centre Lippert 'Trail Air' rockers had non lubed bronze bushings so also replaced with wet bolts. I also used thicker slightly longer shackle plates similar to the MoreRyde but they needed relieving for max travel at the rocker.
All bolts were removed with a large G-clamp & socket for spacer. Wet bolts were forced in with a hammer & socket or a G-clamp & socket.
I've given the Never Fail's I was intending to use to my friend so it will be interesting to compare the performance of the two.
Cheers
Jon
Good upgrade. Did mine last weekend. Aside from trying to remove a bronze bushing in the cre3000 (mistake) it went smoothly. Impact tools made it go quickly as did the 6 point level up
Thanks for all of the tips. I went to Advance Auto and loaned a ball joint removal tool. That tool and a pneumatic impact wrench helped expedite things. It took me about 3 hours on the passenger side and 2 on the driver's side. The nylon bushings didn't look that bad. The trailer should have over 10,000 miles now with shipping from the factory (Truck Brake Controller indicates around 9,500). I feel that the bushing could have gone another 5-10,000 miles, but it's piece of mind for me. The squeaky suspension is gone now.
So I will that to make the bronze bushings easier to inst all into the springs and equalizer I bought 1# of dry ice, placed the bronze bushings in t paper bag with the dry ice and put in the freezer over night, this will shrink the bushings and will be easier to install.
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Russ & Paula and Belle the Beagle.
2016 Ram Laramie 3500 DRW 14,000# GVWR (New TV)
2005 Copper Canyon 293 FWSLS 32’ GVWR 12,360 Visit and enjoy Oregon State Parks
We haven't ever had to "shrink" the bushings to put them in.
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2012 Copper Canyon 273FWRET being towed by a 1994 Ford F350 CC,LB,Dually diesel.
Airlift 5000 bags, Prodigy brake control, 5 gauges on the pillar.Used to tow a '97 Jayco 323RKS.
Now an RVIA registered tech. Retired from Law enforcement in 2008 after 25+ yrs.
We haven't ever had to "shrink" the bushings to put them in.
Well didn't say required, just makes the job easier.
I used a deep socket to recieve the old nylon bushing, and used a vice to use the new bronze to push out the old nylon. I like working smarter not harder, never liked beating into place.
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Russ & Paula and Belle the Beagle.
2016 Ram Laramie 3500 DRW 14,000# GVWR (New TV)
2005 Copper Canyon 293 FWSLS 32’ GVWR 12,360 Visit and enjoy Oregon State Parks
I used a standard screw driver to get the nylon bushings out. Then I used a combination of a rubber mallet and bench vice to get the bronze bushings in.
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