Squeaker Entering the Campground

[Andy+Mo]

I was sitting in my 2017 Reflection 5th wheel last night (Letchworth State Park, NY) , anticipating a friend and wife pulling in around dark in their 2021 Reflection (303RLS) and I hear someone go past with a squeaking wheel. Said to wife Maureen, "couldn't be Jack as I know he stays up on maintenance." Well, when i poked my head outside I saw the 2021. I later told Jack what I heard and he said they heard it as well...long drive day, they were leveling, eating and going to bed. It is the next morning. Jack and I are not very mechanically inclined. I wonder if it is a bearing? He had his bearings repacked and brakes adjusted back in January with just two or three trips since...maybe a couple 1000 miles at most. He will be in the park until next Tuesday, me Sunday...then back to Cleveland. I am wondering if we should try to find a mobile tech to come look at it if we can find one around here? I know we could probably lift a wheel at a time with my jack and rotate it just to find which one...but not sure we would know what to do if we found it, thus the mobile tech. Any recommendations for a couple of knuckleheads with a squeaker?

[Jlawles2]

Squeak or squeal? There is a difference.

Was he rolling by at constant speed and was the noise constant? This leads to the next question.

If not consistent noise, is it possible that it was the springs mounts making noise as it bounced? Might need to drop the stabilizer to just above the ground on the rear and have Jack and wife jump up and down in the camper to repeat the noise. Leave chocks loose so tires can move a touch.

[Andy+Mo]

Good question Joseph...I will check with him this morning but pretty certain it was a consistent "squeal" as he rode by.

[ncitro]

Andy+Mo My first guess would be the wet bolts in the suspension. They have grease fittings on them and I find I need to grease mine every few thousand miles. I would not expect that noise to be constant with steady speed, as Joseph says that would more change with bouncing or turning, more of a groan. Most noisy rigs I hear coming in and out of campgrounds and parking lots I attribute to suspension maintenance. I carry a grease gun in the rig and try to stay on top of it as we travel.

[TedS]

Could be a loose magnet rubbing on the drum.

[Andy+Mo]

All of this makes sense...especially the wet bolt!

[Country Campers]

It might just be a piece of stone stuck around the brake drum/backing plate area. I had this on a truck one time and it made a terrible noise.

I would jake up each wheel to find the offending one and give it a good looking over.

Brian

[Andy+Mo]

Sorry for never responding to the posted solutions here. My buddy left the campground after me so i did not find out for a few weeks after he returned home. I got under his trailer and greased his fittings on site at the campground. One of his wet bolts did not even have a zerk on it? Very strange. I pulled one off the other bolts and pumped it with grease. He told me he did not have any squeaking after that so we solved the squeak I guess. And, he bought and installed one on the missing zerk bolt when he got home. I did notice that one of the bolts just wouldn't seem to take grease...could not compress the grease gun. Weird. I guess these tiny holes/channels can get blocked from decomposing bushings or whatever. If it doesn't take grease...should you replace the bolt? Reading all the stuff on the bolt shear post has me a little nervous. Wondering if I should pick up a spare or two. Those dogs are not cheap though...

[Jlawles2]

Andy+Mo Andy, you might get that one fitting to take grease by lifting the unit and relieving pressure on the wet bolt. There are several post on people having success by doing this.

I don't think you need to get the tires off the ground, just need to get enough pressure off the bolt where the grease gun can push the grease out. If the exit hole for the grease is down and forward (even backwards seems to be an issue) the spring bushing pushes against the hole and prevents grease from getting in.

[d2reid]

I guess these tiny holes/channels can get blocked from decomposing bushings or whatever. If it doesn't take grease...should you replace the bolt? ..

I am going through this process once again. I feel pretty good that the heavy duty shackle and wet bolt kit that I had put on in 2019 is just now showing it's age I am getting all the wet bolts replaced this week.

During the initial installation I had a discussion with the techs on proper installation. They told me that sometimes the wet bolts get rotated and the hole becomes blocked. On my new kit I am going to take a file and put a notch on the edge of the bolt to show me where the hole is. Not enough to affect the bolt integrity, just a little notch.

This last run I had one of my wet bolts disappear. Don't know if it came loose or sheared off. No wet bolts to be had locally, in the middle of a 700 mile run. I went to Ace hardware and got a 1/2" x 3 1/2" grade 8 bolt and metal locking nut. It should have been a 9/16" bolt but they were out of them. $16 for the bolt. I blocked the level up system and used the phone remote to control the height manually to get the spring to align on the hanger.

Broken bushings and dried grease will also block up the wet bolts.

[TedS]

I would suspect the bolt has rotated placing the grease exit hole down where it is in the bolt-bushing load contact area blocking the free flow of grease. If lifting the trailer load off the suspension makes the greasing easier, that would be an indication of this condition.

Using a bend tab washer under the bolt head would be a good external method to keep the bolt from rotating and not be dependent on the knurl.

[Andy+Mo]

This is excellent input...I am just not on the forum enough to learn what I need to know about many of these suspension issues. I had the same issue with one of my bolts not taking grease so I will give it a slight lift and try again. Thanks so much! And, I may bite the bullet and pick up a hanger bolt and shackle bolt (and nuts) for roadside emergencies (given d2reid's experience). I thought of buying a spare hanger because I had to replace one a few years ago...began to show a crack. (I have since added the clips and all is well) But...I really inspect everything a week or so before I head out on a trip for fear of a fail on the road.

[Country Campers]

It is also possible that the grease hole is not connected to the cross hole that sends grease to the bushing, I believe that TucsonJim found this out one time. To check this you will have to remove the wet bolt. As far as cleaning the grease hole you can remove the grease fitting and run a drill into the hole to see if any of the grease has hardened. I also have to lift my trailer to get a couple of wet bolts to take grease.

Brian