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My shackles look ok, the trailer is just over 1 yr old. I think the main thing here is keeping them lubed. I like the shackle bolts with the zerk nipple on them to keep them well lubricated. I am going to replace my shackle bolts with them. Its too bad that Keystone and Dexter uses cheaper products during production. Steve the Dexter replacments look really durable as they are 1/4in. thick. Even if you use the Dexter replacement and you don`t maintain it these will also fail as the oem parts that were on there before did. If they are not maintained then the bushings will fail and cause the shackle bolt holes to become elongated and out of whack, and before you know it, yes you will have to replace them. Maybe thicker isn`t better as there are many grades of steel. Its like thinking bigger is better but thats another subject!! China doesn`t even make much of their own steel yet, they have bought it all from North America to produce the parts they make using cheaper labour. China has discovered Capitalism and will start producing items that we have always done here in North America at a fraction of the cost. I lubricated mine last weekend while camping and will do so again before I put her away for the winter. After coming back from Key West in March and checking the shackles they were in great shape because I maintained them in October of last year.
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