Axle Crooked

[Mike3387]

As my brother-in-law was pulling out of the campsite, his tires were making an awful racket. Had him stop and looked at the driver side wheels and they were touching. Inspecting further, we realized his rear wet bolt was gone. Judging by the hole in the bracket, it had been wearing down for a while. We did a temp fix to get him situated, but it made me think. If that would have happened to me, I don't have any spare wet bolts. Looking at eTrailer's K71-358-00 heavy duty suspension upgrade kit looks like a good kit for spare parts. Anyone else ever use this for their 7000# axle? As for as my BIL, I suggested annual maintenance checks might have caught this earlier.

[Texan]

Instead of buying an extra kit just go to your hardware store or parts house and buy a 5/8 grade 8 bolt with locking nut. Verify the diameter but i believe this is correct and i believe it is either 4 1/2'' or 5'' long. I found one of my wet bolts several years ago had broken while getting ready for a trip so i installed the grade 8 bolt with a little grease on it and went 1200 miles on a trip with no problem. This is good for an emergency until you can buy another wet bolt. I have 4 wet bolts now that i don't need as i now have I.S.

[beeje]

Yup, been there done that. Drove 200+ miles going through the western MD mountain's on 10% grades up and down, only to find this the next day

Finally fixed that from ever happening again by having the Mor Ryde IS installed.

[Montana Man]

Originally Posted by Mike3387

As my brother-in-law was pulling out of the campsite, his tires were making an awful racket. Had him stop and looked at the driver side wheels and they were touching. Inspecting further, we realized his rear wet bolt was gone. Judging by the hole in the bracket, it had been wearing down for a while. We did a temp fix to get him situated, but it made me think. If that would have happened to me, I don't have any spare wet bolts. Looking at eTrailer's K71-358-00 heavy duty suspension upgrade kit looks like a good kit for spare parts. Anyone else ever use this for their 7000# axle? As for as my BIL, I suggested annual maintenance checks might have caught this earlier.

Good thing you caught that. Those bolts don't wear out over night. There is no substitute for regular maintenance. Most suspension failures are due to neglect. It also helps to pay attention to how the trailer rides and not just gas and go. As far as the kit goes, as long as it has the correct sized parts it is good to go. Mine has the MorRyde kit and is a bit different sized parts than others.

[Mike3387]

Great idea, in a pinch, that would get me to my next stop where I could look for a new wet bolt. Thanks.

[Texan]

I doubt you could prevent this from happening so that is why you need to make a walkaround every time you stop so as to correct the problem as soon as its noticed. When looking under your rv the bolt could have a hairline crack in the bolt but you most likely wouldn't notice until the wheels shifted. I suspect these bolts break from having to much stress from making very sharp turns going forward and backwards. Just another good reason for having I.S. but at a great expense. At least this is something that can be repaired in a Wal-Mart parking lot or truckstop.

[Slow Hand]

I am just not a fan of bolts with holes in them. I prefer solid steel bolts

[beeje]

The bottom line is the RV industry needs to wake up and redesign suspensions for these heavy trailers.
Take your tow vehicle for example. Without looking they probably have three or four leaf 1/2 inch thick Springs 3 in wide I suppose with rubber at the spring eyes. Running empty each side probably carries less than 2,000 pounds. Loaded maybe three to four thousand.

The suspension on todays heavy trailers has three plus thousand pounds on each puny spring.

When's the last time you had a suspension issue on the rear of your truck ? I'm going to go with never.