I have about 15,000 miles on my Bighorn. I noticed that the Trailair equalizers had some bad looking scrapes on their sides where they pivot on the hanger. Got the kit from Trailair for about $50 including tax. My helper and I jacked up one side and took off the wheels. All of the plastic bushings were in a state of destruction. Most came out in pieces. Some of the bolts were well worn (steel against steel). The equalizer had 3 bushings, the lower 2 were made of bronze and not ruined but they did look very rough, so we replaced the bushings. The hanger bushing was made of steel! (At least it was attracted to a magnet) and it was destroyed. Unfortunately, the bolt had already eaten into the main body of the Trailair equalizer. Now I am worried about the wear on the equalizer. Just 2 weeks ago I took the trailer to a spring shop and they aligned the wheels by bending the axles. They were way out of spec. Now I am afraid that since I have put the new bushings in that I have ruined my $250 alignement.
So we replaced all bushings, plastic, bronze and steel with bronze ones with the wet bolts. The kit contained 14 greasable bolts, 14 nuts but only 8 bronze bearings. It requires 6 just to replace the shakle bushings on each side and another 3 for the Trailair equalizer. So, off to the big truck spring shop (Brighton Springs) in Cincinnati and got 8 more bushings and the correct shakles for another $50. Did I mention that the new shakles in the kit are 1/2" longer than the originals?
The other side was just as the first one. It was plenty of work for the 38 year old helper and the 68 year old (me). It probably took the two of us 6 hours to do the job. Air tools made the job a lot easier. We have a lot of tools on hand.
I have photos but don't seem to be able to send them. If you have several thousands of miles on your trailer, I would suggest that you look into the wet bolts. I hear that if you get the Mor Ryde kit, the shakles will be much thicker than the originals. Some of my old shakles were pretty noticeably bent.
I don't intend for this to sound too mean, but today I am absolutely beat. I am afraid that I am reaching the age where I can no longer do it myself.
Dave
So we replaced all bushings, plastic, bronze and steel with bronze ones with the wet bolts. The kit contained 14 greasable bolts, 14 nuts but only 8 bronze bearings. It requires 6 just to replace the shakle bushings on each side and another 3 for the Trailair equalizer. So, off to the big truck spring shop (Brighton Springs) in Cincinnati and got 8 more bushings and the correct shakles for another $50. Did I mention that the new shakles in the kit are 1/2" longer than the originals?
The other side was just as the first one. It was plenty of work for the 38 year old helper and the 68 year old (me). It probably took the two of us 6 hours to do the job. Air tools made the job a lot easier. We have a lot of tools on hand.
I have photos but don't seem to be able to send them. If you have several thousands of miles on your trailer, I would suggest that you look into the wet bolts. I hear that if you get the Mor Ryde kit, the shakles will be much thicker than the originals. Some of my old shakles were pretty noticeably bent.
I don't intend for this to sound too mean, but today I am absolutely beat. I am afraid that I am reaching the age where I can no longer do it myself.
Dave
