Alternative for Wet Bolts

[Lambchop]

There has been much talk about changing our suspension bolts to the wet type.
I agree that it is not a good choice to letting the bolts hammer out the cheap bushings & spring hangers. I have been in the auto & truck repair business for over 35 years. In all that time, ‘the squeaky wheel gets the oil’.
What I mean here is, what IF you were to apply oil to these wear surfaces, let’s say every 500 to 1,000 miles? A simple oil can with 30W oil will suffice.
I am presently doing that now on my 08 Montana. It can’t hurt for now…maybe someday, I will change out the bolts to wet ones.
There some of us that maybe put on only 1000 miles a year or there are ones that simply park their Montana on a site & leave it there all year. Putting wet bolts on these wouldn’t pay.

For instance, we are traveling next month to TX from WI. That’s about 1600 miles one-way. I oil the bushings before I leave & then one time halfway going to TX.
I’ll keep an eye this through out our travels & keep you all updated.

I’m sure some of you are thinking negative about this, but I will accept all comments on this topic. Should prove interesting!

See you all down the road………………..


Roy

[Illini Trekker]

Roy feel like you a watchful eye can go a long way. Some will say the oil will a track dirt, sand to the bushing area, but back again to the watchful eye. Before I changed my trailer to wet-bolts I added the welded support the to the shackles which brothered me more than the known wear to the bolts and bushings, knowing the heat from the weld would ruin the Teflon bushings it was then time to change to wet bolts. The OME shackles with your experience may agree are a weak point to the suspension. So now I travel with a little more peace of mind.

[Fire5er]

I don't think oil would have helped ours. The wear on the shackle plates was unbelievable for > 5000 miles. The cheep lightweight materials used for the shackle plates was one of the reasons I changed ours out to the wet bolt kit. These shackle plates are much thicker and a much better material.

[PapaBeav]

I replace ours with the wet bolt kit earlier this year. I found the plastic or nylon bushings were almost gone and the bolt holes on the hangers were ob longed. If they are anything like mine oiling won't help, it will only attract dirt. If they are like new then oiling can only help.

[helmick]

We had the same problem as Fire5er on our 2007 3400. I think that is the main problem and oil will not take care of that. You can`t see the egg shaped holes without taking the nuts off.

[Exnavydiver]

The shackle plates that come on the rig are 1/4 inch steel plate. The ones that come with the wet bolt system are 1/2 inch forgings or castings. much heavier and so far they seem to be a lot stronger. The OEM bushings appear to be nothing more than nylon tubing cut to fit over the bolts... Dave

[stiles watson]

A large part of the shackle issue is that the nylon bushings will malform under the weight of the coach. Compressed Nylon will "ooze" or flow out from under the weight. I have done 4 of these shackle jobs on different units. Every one of them showed what I am describing. The nylon bushing will certainly flatten on one side with age and weight whether you travel extensively or not.

You can certainly try to do as you are thinking, but I am pessimistic about the outcome. Some folks report having no trouble, but many of us have. Whatever you do, I would inspect them at regular intervals. Perhaps a pre and post excursion inspection would be in order.

Another place of significant wear on my 2008 Big Sky 340RLQ, was the brackets connecting the springs to the Mor/ryde RE suspension. There is not even a bushing in there unless they have redesigned it. The wear is easier to see on these brackets.

To remove the old nylon bushing, you don't have too drive them out. You can use a pair of needle nosed pliers and twist them out. It is much, much easier.

[Tom S.]

Some lube is always better than none at all, but in this case, you really need to replace the stock bolts and bushings. The nylon bushing never should have been used in the first place. If you bought the trailer with the idea that you were going to take it someplace and park it permanently or only took a few trips a year that were very short, you might get away with it, but these things are wearing out in as little as 10,000 miles.

[pbahlin]

Could someone describe what comes with the wet bolt kit? I'm confused where folks are talking about stronger forging than the 1/4 inch steel plate. Does that mean you need to weld on new hangers for the shackles.

Maybe some pics.

[dieselguy]

pbahlin: New bolts, nuts, bronze bushings, and shackles come in the wet bolt kits. When I say shackles, I mean the steel link with a hole in each end that connects your spring eye to the spring hangars on the frame or equalizer between the axles. The thicker links are what was refered to above.

[Leaseit]

I will offer this point of view on Wet bolts.

Long time ago, and i won't say how long , we lubricated the Cat loaders and graders though the grease fittings on all the pins weekly until the grease came sqweezing out and wiped the excess off. I ask why sqwirt so much in. The head mechanic for the company made it simple. You sqweeze any out the grease that might have become contaminated with dirt and replace it with fresh and make sure no dry pockets have developed since the last greasing.

My view is, if i pump fresh into the wet bolts and wipe off the excess, the same concept holds true along with the fact that it gets grease inside. I'm not sure how else you would get a lubricant inside.

Just a view point.

Randy

[Exnavydiver]

Paul, look up myself or John or Jim Fischer at the rally, we all have the wet bolt conversions and we can show you the difference in to stock system and the wet bolt system. The shackle plates should not be welded to anything, the are part of the suspension and need to move with the rest of the suspension... Dave