wdk450
Well-known member
Gang:
I thought I would relate a near miss I discovered this week. I am on an extended trip which started with the Western Regional Rally in Temecula. Ca. I drove down from Sacramento, about 500 miles. After the rally, I moved 18 miles to the Thousand Trails Wilderness Lakes Preserve in Menifee, Ca. for a 3 week stay. I then had to be away from Wilderness Lakes for a week, so I decided to check out Thousand Trails Pio Pico Preserve, near Chula Vista (San Diego Area). That was about a 70 mile drive. When I backed into my space at Pio Pico, and went to install my wheel chocks, I found that one of the shackle nuts had come off, the pivot bolt had worked its way out of the inside shackle link, and was trying to work its way out of the outside shackle link. Before I left Sacramento on my trip, I had the suspension worked on and new springs (again) installed by a 30+ year trailer veteran who builds them from the ground up. I was able to get the bolt back in place (it took all my bottle jack could do, jacking the end of the Dexter equalizer up to relieve tension, and a lot of hammering on the bolt and the link), and had a new nut with me in the old parts from previous suspension rebuilds. I torqued the self-locking nut down on the bolt as tight as I could get it, with some Loctite on the threads.
Per some other users suggestions, I have started to do visual tire inspections as one of my last steps pre-departure, but now I will pay attention to the equalizer/shackle link systems every time, too. The other shackle link bolts/nuts all checked O.K.
I thought I would relate a near miss I discovered this week. I am on an extended trip which started with the Western Regional Rally in Temecula. Ca. I drove down from Sacramento, about 500 miles. After the rally, I moved 18 miles to the Thousand Trails Wilderness Lakes Preserve in Menifee, Ca. for a 3 week stay. I then had to be away from Wilderness Lakes for a week, so I decided to check out Thousand Trails Pio Pico Preserve, near Chula Vista (San Diego Area). That was about a 70 mile drive. When I backed into my space at Pio Pico, and went to install my wheel chocks, I found that one of the shackle nuts had come off, the pivot bolt had worked its way out of the inside shackle link, and was trying to work its way out of the outside shackle link. Before I left Sacramento on my trip, I had the suspension worked on and new springs (again) installed by a 30+ year trailer veteran who builds them from the ground up. I was able to get the bolt back in place (it took all my bottle jack could do, jacking the end of the Dexter equalizer up to relieve tension, and a lot of hammering on the bolt and the link), and had a new nut with me in the old parts from previous suspension rebuilds. I torqued the self-locking nut down on the bolt as tight as I could get it, with some Loctite on the threads.
Per some other users suggestions, I have started to do visual tire inspections as one of my last steps pre-departure, but now I will pay attention to the equalizer/shackle link systems every time, too. The other shackle link bolts/nuts all checked O.K.