Wet bolts dry

[steelpony5555]

One other thing...check your wet bolts before you head out....I was replacing tires and when I looked at the center bolt in the spring hanger I saw daylight??? Here the bolt had rounded out the hole and had a half inch gap. The others were fine. But to get a new spring hanger you have to go thru Lippert. While checking on line for spring hangers I saw these bushings that said would eliminate the need to grease the bolts??? Has anyone else seen these or used them?? I will be greasing my bolts a little more often........

[dieselguy]

A good welding shop can fill in the elongated hole and drill it out to size or make a replacement hanger and weld it on, but if Lippert will send you one ... go with it. The never lube bushings are what I think you are talking about. Never is a pretty final word. I put a set on a trailer a few years back because I couldn't get replacement brass bushings till after the guy want to be back on the road. We took a look at them late last year. Of the ones we took apart to look at, one was worn thru and the other 3 although intact, had kinda deformed and worked into the gap in the spring eye itself. I have no idea of the miles that were on them. Shackle bolts all have serrated heads that are pulled into the shackle hole. The inference fit is supposed to keep them from spinning. Some installers don't realize that and try to turn the bolt head instead of the nut. Was your bolt free spinning or still held by the serrations?

[steelpony5555]

Since it was the head that was rounded out I would say it spun. Wonder if the neverluubes were installed and still lubed them if that would give it a little extra protection???

[dieselguy]

steelpony5555 ... if you go ahead with the bushings, here's a Note in ETrailer's description section of them.
"Note: Never Fail bushings should be used with standard suspension bolts only. Do not use wet bolts with these bushings as the grease can cause the bushings to degrade."