Maintenance Walk A Round When Unhooking - Montana Owners Club

H. John Kohl · 10-21-2009, 01:06 PM

My purpose of this post is to encourage MOC'ers to do the simple safety inspection each time they unhook their Montana.

After the discussion of the spring brackets I added to my routine to inspect each spring bracket when I put the scissor chocks between the tires when preparing to disconnect.
This is what I expect to see.

This is what I found on one spring bracket!

Another angle

So please learn from my experience to check these each time you park and set up. The quick look does not take much time when the slides are in.

Yes I had a spare nut. 7/16 x 20 Flang Lock Nut. Dexter part number 006-092-01. It was easy to replace. The hard part was hooking back up to the truck to jack up the driver side. I was going to do it by short cut be decided to do it right. Did everything correctly and hooked up then jacked up the rear driver side enough to take the pressure off the bolt and spread the tires a little with the scissors jack to align it. Just a little tap and it was back home. Put the replacement nut on and disconnected.

All is well.

Chip · 10-21-2009, 01:35 PM

I had some loose recently.
What are they to be torqued to?

Drew

8e3k0 · 10-21-2009, 01:45 PM

Torque as per Dexter's spec is 30 to 35 foot pounds.

bigmurf · 10-21-2009, 03:29 PM

Got grease??

noneck · 10-21-2009, 04:08 PM

Hi John, Your pic's are great but wondering if 1st is "before" Wet bolt upgrade? The 2nd & 3rd are looking more like your upgraded to Wet bolt as I see you put the zerk towards inboard of trailer? I put mine so they are facing outboard.

NCFischers · 10-21-2009, 04:18 PM

I would guess that if the zerts are on the inside, the nuts would be easier to check. It's a bit more difficult to grease them but this seems like a good trade off.

HamRad · 10-21-2009, 04:21 PM

John,
Sure glad you caught that one! The more I read about this stuff the more scared I become. It is almost enough to stop one from RVing. NOT!

Thanks for posting this info. And thanks to everyone who helps by posting about all these types of things.

Dennis

H. John Kohl · 10-21-2009, 04:52 PM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by noneck

Hi John, Your pic's are great but wondering if 1st is "before" Wet bolt upgrade? The 2nd & 3rd are looking more like your upgraded to Wet bolt as I see you put the zerk towards inboard of trailer? I put mine so they are facing outboard.

Nope, all photos taken today. First is WET bolt front driver side. I know not much grease showing but there.
Second and third are wet bolt rear driver side.
Yes I put them inside as recommended.
My intent is to encourage members to do the inspection any time the park and set up. I was lucky because I did that.

NCFischers · 10-22-2009, 12:36 AM

I'm glad you found it when you did and no damage occured. I'll remember to carry a spare nut or two. The parts box is starting to fill up.

Tom S. · 10-22-2009, 12:57 AM

That's crazy - glad you caught it in time!!!

Out of curiosity, did the splines on the bolt keep it tight in the hole when tightening the nut, or was the hole worn so the bolt would turn? I'm wondering if it was loose, if that could have caused the nut to back off. If so, you might be looking for a more permanent fix like spot welding the bolt.

H. John Kohl · 10-22-2009, 01:17 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by Tom S.

That's crazy - glad you caught it in time!!!

Out of curiosity, did the splines on the bolt keep it tight in the hole when tightening the nut, or was the hole worn so the bolt would turn? I'm wondering if it was loose, if that could have caused the nut to back off. If so, you might be looking for a more permanent fix like spot welding the bolt.

All four bolts turn in the spring brackets. I used two wrenches to tighten down. I have asked MOR/RYDE about some kind of locking device. I will post when I get an answer.

8e3k0 · 10-22-2009, 03:37 AM

I took no chance for my shackle bolts to turn as that is the easiest and lease resistance rather than on the bushing. We tack welded the bolt head approxinmtely 30% to ensure that bolt cannot turn or move out if the nut came lose. We also used loc tite on he new wet bolt threads. There is a lot of pressure and twist on those shackle bolts and that is why with standard shackles they only last about 5000 to 6000 miles and the shackle holes start to oblong.

mcgiver2 · 10-22-2009, 03:50 AM

Glad you caught it and i check mine yesterday but like u said its good idea for all of us to check evertime we stop at a camp site ......

Tom S. · 10-22-2009, 03:56 AM

Looks like I need to drag my blue bottle of Locktite out again.

**Rondo** · 10-22-2009, 05:25 AM

John-- What size nut goes on those? I know I had the wetbolts put on at the fall rally and will check mine when I head out to the farm next time but would like to carry a couple extra nuts also in the tool box.

Tom S. · 10-22-2009, 01:51 PM

IIRC, they are 7/16 Fine thread.

H. John Kohl · 10-22-2009, 03:15 PM

As Tom said 7/16 x 20 Flang Lock Nut. Dexter part number 006-092-01.

Now here is some of the interesting things I have learned since last year.
As we know Dexter makes the axles and MOR/RYDE does the suspension. So the "WET BOLT KIT" comes from Dexter and the "Z" Bracket that connects to the MOR/RYDE suspension is manufactured by MOR/RYDE. Then of course, we have the "Spring Hangers" which are by Lippert since it is part of the frame and all of it is under Keystone MONTANA guidance.
What a tangled WEB we have.

mail2us · 10-22-2009, 03:32 PM

I'm comin' to you John as you know how to "untangle" those webs. Thanks for the good info.

NCFischers · 10-23-2009, 12:44 AM

I'm planning to install my wet bolt kit tomorrow. The trailer has about 5000 miles on it. I'm interested to see how much wear there will be on the old parts.

Mudchief · 10-23-2009, 03:38 AM

Jim, I had mine installed at Mor/Ryde this summer and I had about 15K on mine and there was hardly any wear. Then others have had lots of wear.

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