Wet Bolt vs. Never Fail Bushings

[jolley3315]

Has anyone had experience with the Never Fail bushings from Lippert? Do they last longer than the bronze bushings that were original from the factory? Have just had to remove the bronze from our 2017 3731FL after roughly 15,000 miles. Is this normal?

[rohrmann]

How often did you lube the wet bolts? That will affect the life of the bushings. Dexter recommends every 3,000 miles for the wet bolts to be greased. The never fail bushings are plastic, not sure about the never fail claim. I do know you can not grease the never fail bushings. Not sure what the grease would do to them but I wouldn’t grease them if they were installed.

[Montana Man]

I learned that just because you grease the zerks it doesn't mean that the whole bushing is lubed. You have to ensure that grease is flowing out both ends of the spring eye. Often grease will only come out one side leaving the other side without grease.

[dieselguy]

I'll add a bit to my reply on the other thread you replied to about this same topic. I read up a bit on the "never lube" and it does state not to use grease with them, so perhaps that's why my experience with them ended with failures. However, here's another guys experience with the "never lube" even if it's on another RV website. The bushing photo is very similar to what I found on 3-4 of mine about 7,000 miles after install.
https://www.jaycoowners.com/forums/f...-so-54948.html

No matter which direction you go ... always tap or pull (with the nut) the new shackle bolts into the spring hanger. The serrations are on the heads for a reason and forcing the head to turn in the shackle mount can allow the entire bolt to spin while traveling down the road.

[jsb5717]

Interesting name. Do Never Fail bushings really never fail? Is there anything man made or manufactured that never fails? I like the notion of being able to add grease to the bushings. Will the wet bolts "never fail"? Likely they will one day but they should last longer with the effort.

[Ram Montana High Country]

I feel better with metal bushing. Had wet bolts installed on my '17 305RL and three of the 8 plastics were failing with a 1000 miles on them ... just saying - i would say grease is cheap - grease often and do general inspection while underneath there. I found three bolt heads had pulled thru metal that wraps under and bolts to frame.

[beeje]

IMHO none are any good. Plastic/never fail/bronze. THEY WILL ALL FAIL. When Mor ryde installed the IS this june, the bronze bushings that were removed with the axles were totally worn in half having only traveled less than 8k miles. They were greased before every trip also.