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Old 12-10-2018, 10:05 AM   #1
geobet
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High Country wet bolts

This post is primarily intended for HC owners. I have a 2017 HC and finally got around to doing wet bolts. Jacked it up by its jacks, blocked it up with 6 ton jacks front and rear then got to work.

Surprise. Pulled the first spring eye out and was dreading forcing out a cheap plastic bushing. Low and behold, Keystone put brass bushings in with just a plain bolt. Pounded that bushing out as well as a couple more then compared them with the bushings in the shackle kit from MorRyde. They miked out the same and all were in excellent condition. Left the others ones as they were, just cleaned them up and inserted the wet bolts.

Easy peasy! Whole job only took 3 hours including set up and tare down. Impact wrench made short work of a few over-torqued bolts. Point being that if you have a HC, (mine is a 2017) you might already have HALF the wet bolt kit. If so, and you're dreading the upgrade to wet bolts, its not the PIA that some have encountered. And, at 72, if I can do it so can you.
 
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Old 12-10-2018, 10:26 AM   #2
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Good information!!!
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Old 12-10-2018, 04:02 PM   #3
WaltBennett
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Got to tell you though, those sleeves don't last forever. They are FAR better than the nylon crap Keystone uses for new rigs, but be sure and grease them at least yearly. I found I had two bronze bushings almost worn out after about 40k miles - couldn't get grease into one and pulled everything apart to see what was going on. Then I started checking all the others and found another one.
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Old 12-10-2018, 05:03 PM   #4
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What are wet bolts
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Old 12-10-2018, 05:25 PM   #5
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What are wet bolts

They are greasable bolts that hold your suspension to the frame. You will find them in the "rubber bushing" parts that are where the "U" bracket is welded to the frame. They will have a grease zerk fitting on them, to lubricate said bolt/bushing.
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Old 12-10-2018, 06:23 PM   #6
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Originally Posted by WaltBennett View Post
Got to tell you though, those sleeves don't last forever. They are FAR better than the nylon crap Keystone uses for new rigs, but be sure and grease them at least yearly. I found I had two bronze bushings almost worn out after about 40k miles - couldn't get grease into one and pulled everything apart to see what was going on. Then I started checking all the others and found another one.
Walt,

What year did you get nylon bushings? I believe all the recent Montana models (less HC) have wet bolts with grease zerks.
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Old 12-10-2018, 08:54 PM   #7
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What are wet bolts



It's not just the bolts but also the heavier shackles that link the springs to the frame and other suspension components. http://www.morryde.com/products/70-h...le-upgrade-kit


And once you have the wet bolts, regardless of whether MorRyde or Dexter, the Dexter manual shows they should be greased every 3 months or 3,000 miles. http://www.dexteraxle.com/docs/defau...4.pdf?sfvrsn=0
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Old 12-11-2018, 04:56 AM   #8
Ram Montana High Country
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my '17 had the bronze - added the wet bolts and heavier shackles … piece of mind
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Old 12-11-2018, 07:55 AM   #9
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I had to replace my entire suspension on my 2011 unit. It had wet bolts from the factory. The bronze bushing were TOTALY worn out and came out in pieces. The spring eyes were worn oblong. Since I am the 2nd owner I really don't know for sure how many miles it had been towed. I do know it has been from coast to coast at least once and from the north east to Florida several times. So I replaced it all. New springs/mor ryde wet bolt kit/ubolts etc. I did not replace the shear springs though, they looked good. If I have any more issues, Its getting the mor ryde IS installed.
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Old 12-11-2018, 10:34 AM   #10
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Adding wet bolts is definitely a good upgrade for any trailer. Keeping them properly greased is the other best thing to do. Also, while you're at it, double check the "U" bolt nuts. Some of them are not properly torqued to begin with.
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Old 12-18-2018, 03:31 PM   #11
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Originally Posted by Slufoot733 View Post
Adding wet bolts is definitely a good upgrade for any trailer. Keeping them properly greased is the other best thing to do. Also, while you're at it, double check the "U" bolt nuts. Some of them are not properly torqued to begin with.

They are probably torqued at assembly but any U-bolted spring needs to be retorqed after a couple thousand miles. On ours, the original U-bolts were barely over finger tight. When I added wet bolts, I also replaced the 1/2" U-bolts with 9/16" parts. These were then torqued to 75 lb ft - which immediately bent the spring plate. I redrilled the old Dexter OEM spring plates then used them, torqued to 75 lb ft (90 is the spec for 9/16 Gr5U-bolt torque) on our 6000# suspension. They needed retorquing after 2500 miles as they were again very loose but not as bad as the OEMs.


Don't ever believe that wet bolt bushings don't wear out. Our first set were shot at 16,000 miles and greased about every 3-4000 miles. I'm currently giving the Lippert Never Fail bushings a try but do have a spre set of new bronze pieces JIC
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Old 03-26-2022, 07:56 PM   #12
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They are probably torqued at assembly but any U-bolted spring needs to be retorqed after a couple thousand miles. On ours, the original U-bolts were barely over finger tight. When I added wet bolts, I also replaced the 1/2" U-bolts with 9/16" parts. These were then torqued to 75 lb ft - which immediately bent the spring plate. I redrilled the old Dexter OEM spring plates then used them, torqued to 75 lb ft (90 is the spec for 9/16 Gr5U-bolt torque) on our 6000# suspension. They needed retorquing after 2500 miles as they were again very loose but not as bad as the OEMs.


Don't ever believe that wet bolt bushings don't wear out. Our first set were shot at 16,000 miles and greased about every 3-4000 miles. I'm currently giving the Lippert Never Fail bushings a try but do have a spre set of new bronze pieces JIC


What part number are you using for replacement parts. K71-696-00 Dexter Axle
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Old 03-26-2022, 09:06 PM   #13
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Our 22 model HC has a full wet bolt compliment. Not sure if this is model specific not or not.
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Old 03-27-2022, 04:39 AM   #14
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What part number are you using for replacement parts. K71-696-00 Dexter Axle

MORryde UO12-016 ( This one from Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/MORryde-UO12-...8377232&sr=8-3 )

The equalizer should already have wet bolts if it's a CRE 3000
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Old 03-27-2022, 07:48 AM   #15
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Sounds like the HC line is always changing in what it offers as standard on their rigs. Ours came with the CRE3000 but no wet bolts. It did come, though, with the brass bushings. Like others, I was a little pleasantly surprised to find those when I installed the wet bolts.
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Old 03-27-2022, 08:46 AM   #16
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Yes, Montana continues to improve their product. This post was started four years ago and hadn’t had any activity since 12/2018 until a couple of days ago.
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