Quote:
Originally Posted by workinonit
I got around to greasing the suspension today and had 3 grease fittings that wouldn't take. Ended up pulling the shackle strap off of the left rear and the center wet bolt. Cleaned the grease ports out and made sure they took grease. The bolts on the shackle strap are worn pretty good. Apparently they haven't been getting grease and no one bothered to clean them. Just curious if anyone has run into wear on theirs and if this is normal wear or caused by lack of grease. You can't buy individual shackle straps and the whole kits are on back order. We are making a 175 mile trip for a week so they will have to hold until we get back from that. Anyone else notice any unusual wear on their shackle straps?
|
I just replaced all of mine on a dual axle. I replaced the whole suspension both sides including the bronze bushings on all 8 spring eyelets. Mine is the CRE3000 MORryde however they are all similar as far as changing them out.
The new cre3000 came as a pair. You can get shackle and bolt kits complete with bushings for both sides. (gotta love amazon)
As long as I had it all broke down I figured may as well just do them all at the same time or I'll be tearing it apart again later.
One day tear down...one day replacing everything. (I'm slow and old and first one I have ever done so a lot of looking and thinking)
I used the level up system in manual mode to get the tires off the ground and blocked the rear of the trailer up with some cribbing blocks. Then took the pressure off the leveling system. An impact wrench will be your best friend for tearing it apart. I picked up a Bauer brand at HF for around 160 bucks. Definitely an arm saver. Besides if I ever have a flat on the road, and who hasn't, it will certainly come in handy!
You can get it done with 2 jack stands but 4 will work better. I was working on gravel so I used a bottle jack to raise and lower the axles.
I'm not gonna lie, it will be a bit of challenge getting the final bolt hole lined up but it's doable with some patience. I figured out that moving the opposite side up or down was key in getting this done. I also used a ratchet strap to help get in into position.
Fortunately I already had a hammer drill that was a life saver getting the bushing out of the spring eyelets. Just used an old socket I didn't care about that is just a bit smaller than the bushing and they "mostly" pushed right out. (don't get the socket stuck in the spring by using one too large) Had to fight with the ones that were worn oblong and just ended up busting them up with a small chisel bit on the hammer drill. Used a large C-clamp to press the new ones in.
Clean the spring holes good and put a little grease on the bushings before pressing them in.
I greased (red n tacky #2) everything good during reassembly and made sure I had grease coming out of both ends when filling the grease port.
As previously mentioned the grease holes on the bolts where applicable should be positioned at 3 or 9 o'clock for better greasing ability after assembled.
Everything I researched suggested tightening all the bolts at 40 ftlbs for my system. My torque wrench only goes down to 50 on the low end so I'll be checking them often after a few short trips. I have in the past used a punch and a hammer to lock down nuts and may go this route if needed in the future.
Definitely a learning experience for me.
The Alaskan and Canadian roads were quite challenging this past summer and it was mostly my fault for not greasing up as often as I probably should have. I now carry a couple tubes for every trip
Bent a hanger that needed to be straightened in Canada also that didn't help with suspension problems.
Good luck and have fun! I may have also invented a few new words you don't want any children to hear.
Next up......wheel bearings and brake check!
Linear Mode
