Had a wet bolt failure on the drivers side rear leaf spring. Don't know how it happened but returned home from a trip to NC and I got a brake warning from my dodge. Trailer brake error. Leaf spring had crushed brake wiring between frame and leaf spring. I could not find a bushing so I picked up a bronze bushing and new wet bolt. I replaced the parts on continued to us my camper. One year later my tires are wearing badly on the inside and outside ribs. Today I pulled all wet bolts to check bushings. I also discover the springs had twisted so that the springs looked like a fan on 3 out of 4 positions. I loosened up the axle bolts and realigned the springs. The bushings were plastic but are now bronze. I need to replace 3 out of 4 of the plates on the shackles that connect to the rubber damper between the axles. The leaf springs had wore about half of the metal away. Heavy duty my butt. For saving 20 cents per bushing I got this mess and 4 trashed tires. Because of the bushing play there was almost 3/4 inch of play on the axles moving forward and backward with acceleration and deceleration. At least they used bronze bushings on the center carrier 4 out of 12.
Wet Bolt Failures, Leaf Spring twisting
- Thread starter BillGott
- Start date
Jesstruckn/Jesstalkn
Well-known member
How often did you grease the wet bolts ??
Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
danemayer
Well-known member
I've never heard of Heartland installing wet bolts or heavy duty shackle links, but you say "they used bronze bushings on the center carrier". Who is "they"? Were the wet bolts installed by your dealer? A previous owner?
I've heard of Lippert Never Fail bushings that look like some kind of plastic. I've seen at least one post in the past that they can in fact fail. Do you think that's what you had?
Also, could you explain what you mean by "Because of the bushing play there was almost 3/4 inch of play on the axles moving forward and backward". I would have thought worn out bushings would lead to bolt failures and possibly to elongated shackle link mounting holes. Your description is a new one and I'm sure people here would like more information.
danmeyer my 2015 came with wet bolts and from my research they are Dexter. There are 2 types that fit my shackles, the first kind is where the threaded end is the same thickness as the bolt and the other the threaded end is one size smaller than the circumference of the bolt. I believe the 2nd is a Dexter bolt axit matches up to the ommly 8,000 axle wet bolt tggey offer and the first is aftermarket. It also appears that if the nut is not tightened correctly the bolts move so that the threaded part is riding on the inside shackle as mine were. The plastic bushings take a beating and because of that small angle the springs twist over time. I have 21,000 miles on my camper. To correct this I have installed bronze bushings on the 8 spring ends. I examined the Dexter center piece, it has a connection for front and back leaf springs and is a cam type contraption with a rubber piece that compresses as the springs move, it already had brass bushings in it. No one added them or changed them as I bought this camper new. As for the backward movement because of the bolt install we measured 3/4 of an inch forward and backward movement of the inside of the front and rearmost bolts as the camper moved forward and backward. I believe this is why the leaf spring packs were twisted. As a result of this twisting the first spring under the eye spring had created deep gauges in the inner perch bracket on 3 out of 4 brackets. They DO sell the plastic and bronze bushings. Dexter says they use the bronze bushings in their "heavy duty" application's.
NYSUPstater
Well-known member
Our '18 BC didn't come w/ wet bolts either. That was 1st thing I did within a month of getting it home. I grease them every spring and that's it. No problems.
Gary521
Well-known member
The picture shows the shackle you had. These are not heavy duty shackles. Replace the entire thing with the heavy duty variety.
