Dexter wet bolt kit

[Jerzy54]

This weekend finally I decided to change shackles to the Dexter wet bolt kit. It took me about four hours each day to do this swap.
Everything went pretty smooth except three grease zerks. It seems like I can't pump any grease in to it. I check all the holes in the bolts and they were connected. I changed zerks, but that didn't help.
Maybe I need to put some miles on the new shackles to loosen everything out a little bit.
Did any of you have the same problem after changing shackles?

Another thing I noticed that the rear axle has to be somehow off, because the inner edge on both tires were worn out. The front axle tires were perfect. I did rotate the tires between the axles for now.

[dieselguy]

Do a search on wet bolt posts and you'll see that clocking the hole in the wet bolt makes a difference. Others have simply found out that the hole in the bolt wasn't drill all the way thru to start with. Sometimes jacking up the fiver one side at a time unloads the bolts and allows grease to flow. Putting miles on your new suspension components won't make a hill of beans difference. As for your rear axle ... sounds like you have lost positive camber. Get it to a business that can check your alignment ... some of us have had the axle tweeked with lasting results ... some have laid out money for new axles. It's your call.

[Rondo]

Dieselguy has hit it on the head on both questions! Sometimes the bolts have not been drilled all the way through. Jacking the side you are working on may also help because the pressure is off those bolts to let the grease flow. It definitely sounds like you have an axle out of camber. I had the same problem with my 2004 unit but my front axle was the one out of camber. Take it to a reputable axle shop that works on large trucks and they can put the camber back into that axle. IF you do that, also have them align your wheels on both axles and you will be happy as pie! It cost me about $146 to have the axle put back into correct camber and have the wheels aligned, a whole lot cheaper than replacing one set of tires at a time over and over again!

[steelpony5555]

I think sometimes it's just a pain to grease into some of the zerks. I did all that to mine before the install and still had a problem with 3 of mine. Went and bought a air grease gun...lots more pressure ...still had a problem with 1 so I jacked it up and took the weight off and wa la grease went in....I just bought a $18 Harbor Frght air gun works great....

[Overlord]

Sometimes the sharp edge of the side hole in the bolt will shear off slivers of the bronze bushing as it is being pressed in. These shavings of bronze can accumulate in the hole and plug it enough to block the flow of grease into the bushing.

When I install wet bolts, the first thing that I do is de-burr/chamfer the side hole of the bolt slightly so that this will not occur, and the second thing is pump some grease through the bolts before installation to verify that the holes are intersecting and allow the grease to flow as it should.

[farmboy]

The rear tires on my '05 Montana were wearing also. Since I can't do the work myself anymore(bad neck)I took it to a shop. Whole suspension was shot. Needed new springs,equalizers and hardware kit. I let it go to long. New tires next couple weeks and we be ready for our long trip in Oct.

[Jerzy54]

Thanks to all of you for the great advises and ideas. I will need to look for an axle shop to correct my misalignment. As for zerks I did check all the holes in bolts and I paid attention to the alignment of the holes. I need to try air grease gun, I love Harbor Freight.