I install New wet bolt kit, Have question - Montana Owners Club

mtheo · 09-18-2009, 07:18 PM

Well I did it, I installed a wet bolt kit on my 2007 3000RK, shocked at the wear in just 3 years.
I got the kit from Mor/ryde, cost $153.00 plus tax and shipping, also amazed at how much better the Z brackets were. Everthing is HD.
It took me about 4-5 hours to do the change out.
But I have one problem, I checked the zerks to be sure all work before installing them. When I tried to grease them after installing about half would not take grease.

Has this happen to anybody else and is there a easy fix? I did it today and it was too late to call Wheeler at Mor/ryde

bob · 09-19-2009, 12:29 AM

Make sure that the trailer is jacked up so the weight is off springs @ use a air powered grease gun. try that it might work

Exnavydiver · 09-19-2009, 02:30 AM

John Kohl and I both have had that same problem, and will have Mor-ryde address that issue during this rally. Before we did the install on both rigs we assembled all the bolt/bushing units and pre-greased each through the zerks. All passed grease without problems. After the installation was complete we both greased the bolts with weight on them and I only found one that refused to take grease. John had about half that wouldn't take grease. I have about 8000 miles on them now and that one bolt is still dry. Mor-ryde sent John some new bolts but he still has some that won't take grease. I we will check during the rally and let you know what we find out... Dave

illapah · 09-19-2009, 03:57 AM

I think there was another post on this - chamfer the grease exit hole.

Leaseit · 09-19-2009, 01:49 PM

As i understand from the Tech in Goshen that did my bolts, you must be careful to make sure the greese hole in the bolt is in the 6 O'Clock position when you install and tighten the bolt down. If the hole is in the 10 to 2 O'clock position the hole is blocked by spring or what ever and you won't able to get geese to flow in.
You might want to check this as a posable reason you can not get a standard greese gun to pummp greese it.
Randy

8e3k0 · 09-19-2009, 06:46 PM

First the little exit hole where grease comes out of, this hole must be chamfered and that is the sharp edges of that hole must be removed,
If you do not do this the sharp edges pick up the bronze from the bushing and literally plug the hole so that grease will not enter. Also the single bolt at extreme front spring and extreme rear spring most be installed with the hole at either 9 oclock or 3 oclock. The other double bolts are welded into postion so that the holes will be at 3 or 9 oclock.

blarkman · 09-20-2009, 05:01 AM

It would be nice if they had included that bit of info when they shipped the kits that the holes had to be a 3 0r 9 0clock. I don't suppose there is anyway one can check from the outside without pulling the bolt. I had greased the bolts and bushings before installing but ran into some problems getting grease in afterwards so drove to the coast and back and now seems to take grease better. I did wonder about that and in hindsight can say yes if the hole was in 6or 12 oclock the weight might prevent grease from getting in.
bob

JimF · 09-20-2009, 06:20 AM

Did not chamfer the holes in my wet bolts, just slipped the bushing over the bolt and pre greased the bolt and bronze bushing. Installed the bushing with a press, put the whole mess togeather and greased again. Then set the rig back on the tires with load and greased again, no problem at any step. Frankly, I don't know why you need to chamfer the holes if care is taken during install. Maybe I was just lucky, but normally I am not, if something can go wrong it normally does.

mtheo · 09-20-2009, 10:40 AM

Thank you for the responses.
I wish they had given a little bit of info. with the kit. I did not think of the 3or9 oclock. That makes sense. I guess I might have to go out and redo them.

dieselguy · 09-30-2009, 03:40 PM

Taking the weight off the axle will allow the problem bolts to take grease ... since you probably won't need to grease them maybe twice a year, I'd save the torment of having to press the bolts out of the shackles then back in with the correct clocking. Just jack her up a little ... you won't need to actually clear the tire from the ground to get them to take grease.

H. John Kohl · 09-30-2009, 04:10 PM

I had my wet bolts worked on at Mor/ryde. The mechanic use a 9/16 ream to open the bushings where needed. He also told me to use a heavy hammer on the bolts that don't take grease. Jarring them a little brakes them loose. Just repeating what he did and told me.

mtheo · 10-02-2009, 04:25 AM

First, My OC kicked in and I had to go out and mess with it some more.
Its not just the single bolts that wound not take grease, the a couple install by dexter on the shakle plate also wouldn't take grease, and they were installed @ 3&9 o-clock.
Well I did and pull a couple of the bolts I put in to be sure and they were in the 3-9 o-clock position, and they were correct.

The 9/16" reaming seem like the thing to due.

Guess I'll just let the loosen up by themselves, I grease them when I put them in. I'll check again in a coupleof thousand miles.

Thanks for all the help
Mark

Tom S. · 10-02-2009, 05:34 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by H. John Kohl

I had my wet bolts worked on at Mor/ryde. The mechanic use a 9/16 ream to open the bushings where needed. He also told me to use a heavy hammer on the bolts that don't take grease. Jarring them a little brakes them loose. Just repeating what he did and told me.

Did he ream them before installing or after? Just curious. Also, did he check each bolt to make sure grease would go through?

H. John Kohl · 10-02-2009, 07:58 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by Tom S.

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by H. John Kohl

I had my wet bolts worked on at Mor/ryde. The mechanic use a 9/16 ream to open the bushings where needed. He also told me to use a heavy hammer on the bolts that don't take grease. Jarring them a little brakes them loose. Just repeating what he did and told me.

Did he ream them before installing or after? Just curious. Also, did he check each bolt to make sure grease would go through? Yes

I had already installed the kit. Last January when Dave and I did it there were no "distructions". So we did not know about 3 or 9 o'clock position for grease hole on bolts and the requirement to ream out with 9/16 bit if needed. When the bushings were inserted they sometimes get compressed a little.
He opened all my "Zbrackets" with the ream and replaced three wet bolts that were hard for my hand pump grease gun. All the "zbrackets" did have some grease on them.

Tom S. · 10-02-2009, 12:17 PM

Thanks John!

tonycamacho · 10-19-2009, 05:53 PM

I just got my upgrade kit. I plan to install it at my work shop in Puerto Vallarta Mexico.
The kit came with no instructions so my question is, which way do you face the grease fittings, facing towards the center of the trailer or face towards the outside. It seems that it would be hard to grease the fittings from the outside because the tires are in the way of the shackles which would require an flex hose on grease gun. Faced to the inside would require that you crawl under the trailer but you would have access to all the fittings without a flex hose. Appreciate all inputs.

Tony

Exnavydiver · 10-19-2009, 06:09 PM

Tony, John Kohl and I put ours on facing inward. Before you head south make sure you get a ream, you may not find one down there. I believe John said a 9/16 inch reamer. Take a couple of the bronze bushings with you when you go to buy the ream. After you get them installed (the bushings) make sure the zerk bolts fit easily through the bushings, if not then oil and run the ream through. We found that the biggest problem area was on the spring ends, some springs have tighter curls on the ends than others and tend to squish the bushings a bit... Dave

NCFischers · 10-20-2009, 12:50 AM

I bought the wet bolt kit at the rally and haven't installed them yet. Now I'm starting to wonder how much of a problem it's going to be when I do it. I need to get a grease gun before I start and will pick up a reem.

Trailer Trash 2 · 10-20-2009, 06:03 AM

Interresting topic about the wet blots. I would like to ask a question about them.
If everybody seems to be having the same problem with the ability to inject greese into the zerch fittings, and statements refering to having the discharge hole at 6:0-clock, reaming the hole out, or tapering the hole. why dosent the manufacture fix the problem where they work properly, without all these modifcations that everybody has to make to them to make them work. I can see that a 6 o-clock placement would have less pressure on the bushing and allowing greese to enter the bracket, but I would think it should work properly instead of all the modifcations that have to be made.
A sugestion to the manufacture of maybe a riffled grove in the brass bushing and a center line grove where the greese can access without having to releave pressure on the springs.
thats my question and some input. I'll wait untill they produce a better, workable product befor I replace mine.

Tom S. · 10-20-2009, 06:28 AM

Take your time and you'll be fine. The most important thing is making sure the trailer is stable when jacked up. Having it connected to the truck will help a lot. I used two 12 ton jacks, one in front of the wheels and one behind, and lifted using the frame. You need a lot of blocks to do it this way, but it's very secure. A smaller jack under the axle will help position the axle up/down to get holes to line up, as will the pry bar.

Next, you need the proper tools, which consists of sockets, wrenches, a hammer, a drift (one of the old bolts will work for this) and a fair size pry bar. I apologize for not remembering the socket/wrench sizes but I think it was 9/16 and 3/4. Check each bolt before installing as I found two that were not drilled all the way! You can check them by putting the grease gun on them and try pumping grease. If nothing comes out, you have a problem! Because they are drilling a small hole an long way, it wanders off center. If you open up the hole in the middle of the bolt, you should hit the other hole. I would also recommend putting a slight chamfer on the hole. As said, install them in the 3 and 9 o'clock position. The bolts are designed to press in with serrations near the head and the act of tightening the nut will be sufficient to draw the bolt into the hole. Make sure you use a wrench to hold the bolts while tightening up the nut though because one of mine turned in the hole (so much for the press fit!).

I mounted mine with the grease fitting facing outwards and have no issues getting a grease gun on any of them. While you have the wheels off, check your brakes for wear, your bearings for grease, and your U-bolt torque. It's also a good time to adjust the brakes too. Having someone help is nice but not needed. I did ours by myself with no issues that needed an extra set of hands. Don't forget to recheck the torque on your wheels after driving a ways too!

You may also like: