Equa Flex Starting to Fail

[Birchwood]

The rubber in my Equa Flex suspension is disintegrating to a point of replacement.Has anyone else
had this problem and if so can the rubber alone be replaced or does the entire units have to be replaced.
Looked at them at CW yesterday and the entire units are not that expensive($219) but is this going to be
an ongoing problem as the trailer is only 3 years old.Why would rubber fail this quickly but then again my
shock rubbers did the same thing.

 

[danemayer]

Hi Birchwood,

I know that Dexter had some materials problems with rubber biscuit in their EZ-Flex 2 years ago, but I don't think we've heard a lot about Lippert parts that your 2009 model would have. Your best bet would probably be to call Lippert and ask them about what you're seeing.

 

[wdk450]

The rubber in my Equa Flex suspension is disintegrating to a point of replacement.Has anyone else
had this problem and if so can the rubber alone be replaced or does the entire units have to be replaced.
Looked at them at CW yesterday and the entire units are not that expensive($219) but is this going to be
an ongoing problem as the trailer is only 3 years old.Why would rubber fail this quickly but then again my
shock rubbers did the same thing.

Could it have anything to do with the cold weather in NB? Do you winter camp much? My EquaFlexes on my 2008 Bighorn had welding failures on the side plates in their 1st year - You might look for this.

Maybe this is an "opportunity" (read: more $) to upgrade to a better suspension, like a TrailAir CenterPoint, or MorRyde Independent Suspension.

 

[Birchwood]

Could it have anything to do with the cold weather in NB? Do you winter camp much? My EquaFlexes on my 2008 Bighorn had welding failures on the side plates in their 1st year - You might look for this.

Maybe this is an "opportunity" (read: more $) to upgrade to a better suspension, like a TrailAir CenterPoint, or MorRyde Independent Suspension.

I have never heard of anyone winter camping in New Brunswick as there would be instant freeze up.We actually live in Florida during the cold Canadian season.
Equa Flex is a Trail Air CenterPoint system.

 

[wdk450]

Here is the Lippert Catalog (They now own TrailAir):
http://www.lci1.com/catalog/catalog.pdf
The EquaFlex system is on page 22, the CenterPoint system is on page 23. They are different items.

 

[dbbls59]

I had an Equaflex on sob and it failed after a trip to Alaska. My present rig has the Dexter equalizer. Don't remember what it is called but it has the rubber in it also.

 

[Birchwood]

Contacted THE MOBILE OUTFITTERS (manufacturer of the Equa Flex) regarding this matter and apparently
the rubber does wear out after a 3 or 4 year period and the units have to be replaced .I have 15000 miles
on our Landmark and I guess its now time for replacement.

 

[TravelTiger]

Contacted THE MOBILE OUTFITTERS (manufacturer of the Equa Flex) regarding this matter and apparently
the rubber does wear out after a 3 or 4 year period and the units have to be replaced .I have 15000 miles
on our Landmark and I guess its now time for replacement.

What is the cost for replacement?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Birchwood]

What is the cost for replacement?
The parts are $215 at CW but not sure of labour cost

 

[TravelTiger]

So they are replacing the entire equalizer, not just the rubber piece?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[wdk450]

Contacted THE MOBILE OUTFITTERS (manufacturer of the Equa Flex) regarding this matter and apparently
the rubber does wear out after a 3 or 4 year period and the units have to be replaced .I have 15000 miles
on our Landmark and I guess its now time for replacement.

I thought that the rubber block was BONDED TO THE metal equalizer sides, but the images show a bolt. I did a search on E-Bay on "Equa-Flex" and found 6 listings (all pairs of equalizers), the cheapest at $45 the most expensive $239. I didn't check them all, but both the cheapest and the most expensive were described as "New".

There was a recent posting on equalizers on this board, the posting owner saying he liked the beefier cast metal design of the Dexter EZ-Flex

than the stamped sheet metal of the Equa-Flex

or the narrow hanger of the MorRyde SRE4000

I found the SRE 4000 set for $479 online, and the Dexter EZ-Flex for $159 a pair (Dexter website sale price).

It looks like, by age, I am going to be in the equalizer market, too.

 

[jnbhobe]

After looking over our rig I can see the equalizers the shackles the wet bolts and bushings and shocks are either worn or broken so I opted to change over to Mor-Ryde IS independent suspension. It will be installed the week before the Goshen rally.