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Nylon bushing is designed for use with trailer suspension systems. Insert it into the eye of a leaf spring to ensure proper sizing for suspension bolts.
Features:
Videos are provided as a guide only. Refer to manufacturer installation instructions and specs for complete information.
Hello neighbors, it's Brad here at Etrailer and today we're taking a look and installing the true ride trailer suspension bushings. When doing any suspension work on your camper or RV, your suspension sees a lot of wear and tear just going down the road. And part of that is gonna be some wear parts like our bushings here that go in between all of our connection points that do tend to get a little bit worn out. The nylon over time will crack and just break down. So while you're doing any of that suspension work, it might be worth picking up some new nylon bushings and get these in place. That way you have a freshened suspension.
It's really gonna make sure that there's no major gap between the bolt as it goes through your leaf spring. And that's just gonna cut down on any extra movement that doesn't need to be there. This is gonna fill that space, making it a little bit more smooth and it's just gonna lessen the wear that's happening on your suspension. Now these are pretty standard for most trailers and RVs and that standard size is gonna be a 9/16 inner diameter. 11/16 outer diameter and it's gonna be one and three quarter inch long.
Now nylon is a great option if you don't have wet bolts. And the way you can determine that is the bolts that you have here, there's no grease circs on there. That you're gonna want to use these nylon and that's because there's no maintenance. These just once they wear out, they're a wear item. You can replace 'em with new ones like we did today.
If you do have wet bolts, you're gonna wanna look at the brass ones and those are meant to actually be lubricated. So there is maintenance involved with those. Basically just lubricating those on a regular interval as you use them. Sometimes these are super easy to get out and also easy to replace and get a new one in, but not always the case as they do get chewed up over time, sometimes you'll have to fight with them a little bit and I do have some pointers to help you along, no matter what condition they're in. So I'll walk you through that and that way you can get new bushings put on your camper.
Now the first step to get our bushings installed is gonna be to jack up your camper or your trailer and that way we can get the wheels and tires off. We're gonna just work on one side at a time. (drill whirring) Now we're gonna be attacking one side or one axle at a time. And I think the best way to really help to make sure we can get everything out nice and easy and also lift it back in place because it will be under tension, is to put a floor jack under the axle and that's gonna support it. And also that's gonna allow us to slowly drop it or slowly raise it back into place. And once we have that supported with an 18 millimeter socket, we're gonna go ahead and we're gonna take off our bolt here. It's just a shoulder bolt and these are spline. Normally these aren't gonna spin, so as long as we get this nut off, we'll be able to hammer this bolt out. Now to get the bolts out, unless you're replacing it with new bolts, what I recommend doing is take that nut and you're gonna wanna just put this on the end, just a few threads here and that's to make sure that we don't hammer or mushroom out the end of the bolt. And so just kind of make this to where it's gonna be nice and flat on here. And once we start knocking it loose, it's gonna allow it to kind of loosen up and we can get those splines out. Now it might be helpful to put just a little bit of pressure on the jack to raise that up to kind of unspring that tension that's on that bolt. Now you're probably gonna be doing the other bushings as well, so if you're getting too much tension on that bolt and you really can't get it to be loose, you can go ahead and take off your shackle bolt and sometimes that's gonna allow us to kind of move this to get that tension off. So I'm just gonna get this one taken off there. (drill whirring) And then same thing, we're gonna try to knock this one loose. (hammer thudding) And once you kind of feel the gap, sometimes you can pry on that backside there, but you can see here we got our bolt taken out. I'll go ahead and I'll get this one taken out now. (hammer thuds) I can see I got that gap there. I can back this nut out a little bit, see if we can't get the rest of it or just take that flat head and kind of pry on this as you're hitting it. Now at this point, I got it pushed back a little bit so as I've raised this up I can start to kind of find where that tension is and you can see I'm able to kind of get this pulled out by hand. And that's gonna get us to where we can attack this bushing. Now, so these bushings actually don't look horrible compared to what I've seen. Some of these can really get misshapen, start to crack and become brittle and that's where getting these out can be tricky. You may think that just a pair of ply outs to get that out, but there's a decent amount of surface area and there's been a lot of tension that's kind of pressed this really into there. So there's two ways that I recommend to get these out nice and easy. The first one is kind of the general way to do it is a 7/16 socket is small enough to go through the hole on our leaf spring, but large enough to kind of press this out. So just a few quick taps here. Do be careful though you want to go in as straight as possible and they may start to kind of deform as you do this, but pretty easy. We can get this one popped out and you can see it is pretty misshapen here. So to get our new one in, we'll just take this here and a lot of times you can get this pressed in by hand, just kinda make sure it's evened up on both sides. If you need to hammer it in, a block of wood against that nice and squared up to the leaf spring is gonna be a good way to do that. But if you're really struggling with this bushing and you can't get it up, I do have another tip for you. You can take an 11/16 socket and that's gonna be the same diameter as the outside of our bushing. So as long as we go in nice and square with the eyelet on our leaf spring, this is gonna just kind of bore this out for us. So I'll run this in, back it out, run it in, and eventually it's gonna break it down into pieces that we can easily get this taken out. And then you can see this kind of, the bit will definitely tear up your old bushing, but that's okay, it's gonna extract it out. So really in those tough cases where that socket's just not really pushing it out, this is a great way to do it. And if you can't quite get it by hand, you can use a dead blow hammer to lightly knock this in. Again, a block of wood also works really well, but just kind of persuade this along, make sure it's nice and even. So at this point we can go ahead and get our new bolts in unless you're doing any other suspension work, sometimes it is easier to leave your leafs like this and then do your equalizer. So if you want to tackle one or the other, but having that floor jack underneath our axle right now, makes it to where to get our shackles back in place is gonna be easy. I can just slowly raise that up until we get this all aligned on both sides. And then also again, having that jack to just fine tune this into place is gonna be key. So we'll go ahead and we're gonna get this put back in place And a lot of times, I'll just hit on the head of the bolt, just to kind of get those splines to drive back in. (hammer thuds) And then we can tighten this down and that's gonna further draw that in. And that was a look and installation of the True Ride trailer leaf springs suspension bushings.
Average Customer Rating: 4.8 out of 5 stars (471 Customer Reviews)
Nylon bushing is designed for use with trailer suspension systems. Insert it into the eye of a leaf spring to ensure proper sizing for suspension bolts.Excellent service and quick delivery and great price, all looks good, thanks for helping me out with these items that I can't find around my area anymore,AES
Bushings quiet the trailer for a short period of time. Bushings wear out and squeaks return quicker than I expected.
John
3/18/2024
Most bushings worn out in a short period of time. Shackle bolts developed significant wear after a year and now require replacement.
Mike L.
3/19/2024
I Waited Too Long to Replace Trailer Bushings
-The past few years I would hear “clunking” sound (different than “squeaking”) from my boat trailer, but I got concerned this year as it seemed louder.
-With the boat off the trailer I could see wear around the shackle bolts
-I called eTrailer to order the parts and was helped by Kayla to order the bushings/shackles/bolts/nuts for my tandem axle trailer
-After trying to press the bushings in I realized I measured poorly and had two different bushings, the equalizer had 1 size and springs had a different size.
-Amanda helped me get the second set of bushings (delaying the project for 5 days…but my fault)
Right or wrong:
-I applied anti-seize compound to the shackle bolt threads
-I pre-loaded the “wet” bolts with marine grease to fill them up before inserting them into the suspension, adding grease when everything is installed
-I tightened the bolts very securely and they backed off the nut ½ turn to allow for suspension movement
Lessons learned:
-Look for different size bushings in equalizer/springs and measure correctly ID & OD precisely
-It takes some time to do this job (about 4 working hours per side) so try to do it when you are not under pressure
-If you want the re-paint some parts, allow for primer and top coat drying time, i.e. overnight which adds time to the project, but it comes out better
-Have a big breaker bar & extension/enforcer to help get the nuts on & off. My ½” impact gun could not tighten them all the way
-A large “C” clamp will press the bushing in smooth & straight instead of using a hammer & block of wood “caveman style”
-Annually inspect your trailer suspension for signs of wear and listen for increased noise
Thanks again to Kayla, Amanda and eTrailer for help with this project.
My Oder arrived very quickly. Exactly what I need and ordered. Will use etrailer again
Lloyd
3/25/2024
1 year and the bushings are doing the job. Trailer is very quiet now. When needed will buy this product again.
I had one broken leave Spring Shackle so i Replaced All of the Shackle Brackets & Bolts & Bushings everything worked Great finished project in no Time Thanks for Everything
Wish bushings were brass
Fantastic! Shipping was fast, it fit and the replacement is finished. Only flub was me ordering four instead of 6.
The attached pic shows how bad the old bushings were and why I was getting tread wear down on the inside of the tire.
We ordered the supply and got it quickly via the US mail. My only suggestion would be that the small bushings could have been placed in a small plastic bag instead of just thrown in the middle of a larger envelope. If that larger envelope had gotten a hole in it, we would’ve lost some of the bushings. Otherwise, wonderful company to work with!
Perfect fit and replacement for my worn out bushings
Parts r good quality fit good would order from trailer again
Bushings fit perfect and stopped all ra ttling
I ordered 8 of these, and 2 came with cracks longitudinally. I called customer service (on a sunday, which is nice), and they are getting 2 new ones out to me. Otherwise the 6 good ones were fine and installed with no issues. Once I receive the other 2, i will bump this review up from a "2" to a "3" or "4".
Good product but I ordered 4 and only received 2 when can I expect the other 2
Jenny N.
2/24/2024
Looks like there was a mistake on our part. I will have our Customer Service team reach out to you.
Product as described and holding up well
Couldn't be more satisfied! I change from 5 on 5 to 5 on 4.5. I've been rolling on these hubs about 2500 miles. Every time I jack up the trailer I spin the tire, smooth as ever. Thankx LSD
Leaf springs were great. One was missing a bushing, so they express mailed one to me right away. They are by far the best customer service of companies I deal with!
Exactly what I needed
I am rebuilding an old trailer and was lucky enough to get Justin on the phone. Hel listened to my needs and searched until he found the hanger bolts and bushing the fit my equalizer perfectly. He is a real pro! The trailer is coming along great thanks to your great staff
Can't use them with the wrong bolt
Great fast service
I replaced leaf springs on my trailer , springs , unbolts and leaf eye bolts were perfect fit and the job when easy the hard part was getting the old springs off. I know now to keep them siliconed up from now on for future problems.
David E.
6/24/2022
Great no issues
Two of the 6 bushings arrived broken because they were shipped in the sa.e box as the heavy spring. The were o ly packed in a lightly padded envelope!
Fit perfect.
Came with the bushings all individually in the box vs an all in one bag/package. Ordered 8 but in the box was only 6 clearly lost from transport which is very frustrating and now unable to finish the project in time before our travels. Do not buy from etrailer buy the same ones from Michigan Truck for a 1/3 of the price.
Katrina B.
8/29/2022
I am sorry to hear that your order arrived in this condition. I have sent your information over to our customer service department for them to better assist you.
Got for stock, not used yet
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Archie
10/28/2023
Still holding up well and I always keep them wet with grease and after that if looking dry apply 50 weight oil just before you leave to work it into the sleeves, looking like new ones still, and I still couldnt beat your price that I got the full set for tandem axles hope you helped others out like me, good product