Changing out Spring Shackles

[Sherwolfe]

Well going to change out my factory spring shackles for the heavy duty Morryde wet bolt shackles. Very interested to see what I find tomorrow when I pull the old ones out, how much wear or damage.

Our Cougar travel trailer only has about 3,000 miles on it so hopefully not too bad yet. Will let everyone know what I find and how difficult this little task really is.

Been reading about how the factory shackles and plastic bushings are just not good. Be hearing a lot of creaking from the leaf springs so hopefully this will correct the noise issues. More to come after I complete the job.

[slow]

Good decision to install the wet bolt kit.

This may provide you with a few insights: http://www.keystoneforums.com/forums...ad.php?t=24991

[bobbecky]

While you are under there, be sure to check the torque on the u-bolt nuts. Even with the wet bolts, there will still be creaking from spring movement, brakes being applied, etc.

[Sherwolfe]

Originally Posted by slow

Good decision to install the wet bolt kit.

This may provide you with a few insights: http://www.keystoneforums.com/forums...ad.php?t=24991

Thanks, I have seen this and using this method for my work. However, weather delayed my work, going to do this now on Wednesday.

[Sherwolfe]

Originally Posted by bobbecky

While you are under there, be sure to check the torque on the u-bolt nuts. Even with the wet bolts, there will still be creaking from spring movement, brakes being applied, etc.

Funny you should mention the u-bolts. I checked them last year after we bought this unit and found several of them not very tight at all. I will recheck them again since I will be right there anyway.

Hope to finish this now on Wednesday, weather delay......

[Tbos]

Originally Posted by Sherwolfe

Funny you should mention the u-bolts. I checked them last year after we bought this unit and found several of them not very tight at all. I will recheck them again since I will be right there anyway.



Hope to finish this now on Wednesday, weather delay......

What's the torque supposed to be on the U bolts?


2016 Passport GT 2810BHS, 2016 F350 CC DRW

[slow]

Originally Posted by Tbos

What's the torque supposed to be on the U bolts?


2016 Passport GT 2810BHS, 2016 F350 CC DRW

I have not found a spec. I took mine up to 65 ft-lbs and checked a year and 5,000 miles later, they are still at 65 ft-lbs.

[bobbecky]

According to the Dexter manual, if your u-bolts are 1/2", the hex nuts get torqued from 45 ft lbs to 70 ft lbs, and it has been discovered that, if your axle tube is below the spring pack, you need to tighten while the trailer is resting on the ground, instead of being on jacks. If the nuts are tightened without the trailer weight loading the springs, when the trailer is lowered, the springs straighten somewhat, and this causes the nuts to come loose.

[Sherwolfe]

Well got the job done today. Overall, it wasn't too bad. The plastic bushings were not in too bad of shape but a couple did have some wearing. Everything came apart and went back together without any problems, likely due to doing this before the trailer got to many more miles on it.

I did immediately notice when taking the trailer off the jacks there is not longer any popping noise when raising or lowering the tongue jack. Apparently now that everything is greased and no longer dry, this fixed that problem.

Not sure I would want to do this again anytime soon, but as I previously mentioned, generally everything was in good shape and therefore no real necessity to pound hard and cuss a lot.

Kept all the old parts, with the exception of the plastic bushings. Not sure why as I don't plan on putting them back. I guess I will show them to some of my fellow Cougar trailer buddies then toss them. Might keep one shackle set and bolts for a emergency repair, funny, if those heavy duty ones break not sure the old light ones would fix it, better look for the bigger problem if that happens.

Glad it is done, leaving in a week for a trip down to Lake of the Woods, then up to LaPine State park with some friends. Curious to see what, if any difference there will be. Time to have a cold one and reflect on my accomplishment today.

[Sherwolfe]

Originally Posted by bobbecky

According to the Dexter manual, if your u-bolts are 1/2", the hex nuts get torqued from 45 ft lbs to 70 ft lbs, and it has been discovered that, if your axle tube is below the spring pack, you need to tighten while the trailer is resting on the ground, instead of being on jacks. If the nuts are tightened without the trailer weight loading the springs, when the trailer is lowered, the springs straighten somewhat, and this causes the nuts to come loose.

I did find several of mine not very tight at all. So torqued them to 70 lbs, didn't know this was the right amount, but based on the size of the bolt and nut, seemed reasonable.

Since my u-bolts go around the axle under the springs, I did torque while weight was on the axle, again just seemed like the right thing instead of pulling the axle up.

I must say a couple of them were a little tricky to get too with the gas line and plumbing in the way. Glad I did check them, likely will check them once a year before the first outing in the spring.

Thanks for the info.

[440justin]

Originally Posted by Sherwolfe

Well got the job done today. Overall, it wasn't too bad. The plastic bushings were not in too bad of shape but a couple did have some wearing. Everything came apart and went back together without any problems, likely due to doing this before the trailer got to many more miles on it.

I did immediately notice when taking the trailer off the jacks there is not longer any popping noise when raising or lowering the tongue jack. Apparently now that everything is greased and no longer dry, this fixed that problem.

Not sure I would want to do this again anytime soon, but as I previously mentioned, generally everything was in good shape and therefore no real necessity to pound hard and cuss a lot.

Kept all the old parts, with the exception of the plastic bushings. Not sure why as I don't plan on putting them back. I guess I will show them to some of my fellow Cougar trailer buddies then toss them. Might keep one shackle set and bolts for a emergency repair, funny, if those heavy duty ones break not sure the old light ones would fix it, better look for the bigger problem if that happens.

Glad it is done, leaving in a week for a trip down to Lake of the Woods, then up to LaPine State park with some friends. Curious to see what, if any difference there will be. Time to have a cold one and reflect on my accomplishment today.

Funny I have been dragging around two complete sets of my OEM shackels since replacing mine and keep having the same thought when looking through my spare parts bin in the camper. But then I think well even if I don't need them maybe it will come in handy someday to help out someone else.

I do feel much better about the upgraded shackels compared to the OEM sheet metal that they call a shackel.

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