Wet bolt failure

Just wanted to post our experience, I'm not make my a judgement here because I don't really know. Hoping to get feedback from other's experiences.

Last summer (June 2017) we had MorRyde put on the SRE4000 suspension, heavy duty shackles and wet bolts, along with Bilstein shocks. We traveled from Elkhart to Nashville and found one shock had failed, and others may be leaking. Replaced the one, got home to Texas and replaced all shocks with Generic trailer shocks. Since then we've only traveled a few short one hour trips, until heading again from Texas to Elkhart for an appointment with Heartland last week (June 2018).

All that to say, on the return trip from Elkhart, Tony noticed the trailer tracking strangely and pulled over to find the wet bolt for the rear spring was gone, along with the yellow CorrecTrack Cams. He was able to put in a bolt to continue the journey, but 200 miles later the other failed as well, luckily as he arrived at a campground. In both cases, lots of grease remained at the scene, so we believe they both failed similarly, at the grease port, and split in the middle. See pic.

To answer questions,
-Trailer is 2016 Big Country 4010RD, very unloaded for its trip to Elkhart
-Yes we checked the torque before travel
-No we had not added grease yet
-Failure at about 4000 miles since install
-No other evidence of a problem, spring stayed in line with hanger when it failed.






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E, I have had two wet bolt fail in exactly the same spot.
I did submit one to MoRryde but never heard back.
The first one that I discovered had disappeared completely and the second was broken but remained in the spring eye and hanger.
I can only assume that the first missing bolt had broken in the same as the second one.
Always a good idea to inspect everything on a regular basis although sometimes we have failures between inspections.

Peace
Dave

Could an over torque condition have caused the failure. I know when I did mine, I thought 50 ft/lbs was a little light. Just barely past tight. But, that is what I torqued them to.

In my mind, once is an anomaly and twice is a trend. I'd be giving Gary Wheeler a call and asking what needs to be done to prevent a recurrence.

Following this as I was going to do this mod to our Bighorn, wet bolt that is. Maybe using what I have and lubing them every couple years might be a better choice. We do not have correct track, just SRE 3000 Moreryde.

Possibly frames are a little out line? Just trying to make sense

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I would go along with the idea that they were over torqued at install. Probably with an air impact wrench.

How is a bolt going to "shear" in the middle when there is no load there other than the tension from the torque on the nut. Something else is going on. Is the spring causing the bolt to flex? I think the wet bolts are "shoulder" bolts to limit nut travel. I still would "guess" installation issues.

Gary, the bolts were first installed by MorRyde in Indiana. Would they really be installing bolts incorrectly?




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I did my own install and followed the included instructions. Shoulder bolts yes but there are torque requirements of 50 ft lb.
So since the actual installation was not observed or torque verified, it’s all conjecture as to cause of failure.
I have 10K miles on the rig since installing the kit and have no reservations about doing so.

http://www.morryde.com/uploads/downloads/1447944742-Wet Bolt Kit Instructions for LRE.pdf


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The picture indicates (to me) a clear shear failure at the break site, as opposed to an elongation associated with a tension failure. Puzzling. Is there anything on these rigs that doesn’t need rigorous inspections?

Maybe consider adding cross members to reduce stress.

TravelTiger said:

Gary, the bolts were first installed by MorRyde in Indiana. Would they really be installing bolts incorrectly?


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Click to expand...

Maybe. There s a video on YOUTUBE that shows Morryde installing one of their suspension systems with wet bolts. They are using air guns for the install. I think Dan's suggestion for the cross member is a good idea. MorRyde sells these

danemayer said:

Maybe consider adding cross members to reduce stress.

Click to expand...

Dan, the suspension was upgraded to the SRE 4000 at the same time the wet bolts were installed. The cross-member you reference is installed at the center where the new suspension is mounted.

If additional cross members are recommended to prevent wet bolts from breaking, then MorRyde should sell them as part of this suspension kit?!?




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I spoke to MoreRyde directly before purchasing the X factor cross member and wet bolt kit and they only suggested the center cross member, never even mentioning installing the other two. had they suggested it, I probably would have purchased 3 of them.

TravelTiger said:

Dan, the suspension was upgraded to the SRE 4000 at the same time the wet bolts were installed. The cross-member you reference is installed at the center where the new suspension is mounted.

If additional cross members are recommended to prevent wet bolts from breaking, then MorRyde should sell them as part of this suspension kit?!?




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Erica,

My thought on cross bracing wasn't just about the wet bolts/SRE 4000. Given that you have symptoms of stress both front and rear, I'm wondering whether there is a single underlying problem that needs to be addressed.

Dan, I would like to hear your theory of what that underlying problem is. I know I'm confused because looking today, I discovered our shocks are damaged as well.

And this is after traveling 2400 miles with a fairly empty trailer.


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After all the problems y'all have had with your suspension, I think I would try to get a Heartland engineer and/or a MorRyde expert to give you some assistance.

Been following this thread for sometime
I have built trailers in the past but all of them were single axle units.

Looking at these trailers with double and triple axle units on them, the stress on the mounting system when turning fairly sharp is huge. Welding a plate on the back of the mounts to limit the amount of spreading would help, but in all honesty the design really needs a re-think.

Adding this thought. By adding the rubber bushings to the center link, Mor-Ryde has increased the stress on all of the other mounting points when turning. The rubber will allow the center link to twist a little and more twisting will happen on the outer mounts increasing the stress on those bolts.

My guess is that the leaf springs twist in their mounts and try to spread the mounting plates like a lever. The wet bolts have less material in them and crack or break in the center since this is the weakest point. As to the cross members; If you think about it they may help distribute the load across all of the mounts but they won't lesson the stress. I think a better design is needed that allows the wheel to turn or move to allow the tire to not be dragged sideways on the ground and stress all of the suspension mounts.

Actually thinking about it, if they used rubber mounts like on automobiles with a bushing that was clamped this would remove some of the stress, as it would allow the leaf spring to twist from some of the side stress. They could also make a H section of metal with two bolt holes that goes around the spring mounts, the hole in the middle is used with a longer wet bolt and the second hole is for a bolt that keeps the factory mounts from spreading from the load. A bolt on accessory for a poor design.

How many of the wetbolt assemblies do you imagine are installed out there? Any failure like the OP experienced is extremely unfortunate, but—like a blown Salian tire—these types of failures occur and it doesn’t mean a complete suspension redesign is practical or even necessary. I’m also wondering if purchasing cross bracing is functional or simply buying some piece of mind that we’ve done all we could to solve the issue? Design changes could be implemented by Lippert, but don’t hold your breath.