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FYI: Wet bolt grease (what I learned from John Alinger during my suspension upgrade)

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  • FYI: Wet bolt grease (what I learned from John Alinger during my suspension upgrade)

    At the Elkhart rally I had the suspension upgraded on my 344GK. After seeing the OEM wet bolts (which I upgraded to MORryde heavy duty) I noticed the brass bushings were worn and dry (six months old, less then 10K miles, greased once by me). I asked John Alinger (tech that installed updated suspension & disk brakes) about this he suggested they should be greased every 2-3K miles. I was surprised after being told every 6 months by dealer (I think).
    Jeff & JoAnn Sibley
    Solitude 344GK (2019)
    F350 DRW (2018)

  • #2
    Originally posted by Jeff Sibley View Post
    At the Elkhart rally I had the suspension upgraded on my 344GK. After seeing the OEM wet bolts (which I upgraded to MORryde heavy duty) I noticed the brass bushings were worn and dry (six months old, less then 10K miles, greased once by me). I asked John Alinger (tech that installed updated suspension & disk brakes) about this he suggested they should be greased every 2-3K miles. I was surprised after being told every 6 months by dealer (I think).
    I shudder to think what the nylon bushings look like on older rigs that had Lippert axles/suspensions.
    Forum moderators are not GD employees--we are volunteers and owners presumably just like yourself. Unless specifically mentioned otherwise, we have nothing to gain should you choose to purchase a product or engage a service we discuss on this forum.

    2017 Ford F-350 DRW, '19 315RLTSPlus

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    • #3
      Greasing wet bolts more often never hurts. Last year I asked Morryde how often to grease the wet bolts. Their answer is every 6,000 miles or twice a year.
      Colan Arnold
      2016 Momentum 397TH
      Full time since 2016

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      • #4
        I asked MORryde about when I should disassemble my suspension to inspect the bushings and wet bolts. The tech said at about 15k miles!

        I guess I have another project this fall.

        Jim
        Jim and Ginnie
        2024 Solitude 310GK
        GDRV Technical Forum Moderator
        GDRV Rally Support Coordinator

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        • #5
          Originally posted by TucsonJim View Post
          I asked MORryde about when I should disassemble my suspension to inspect the bushings and wet bolts. The tech said at about 15k miles!

          I guess I have another project this fall.

          Jim
          Jim,

          It would be helpful if MORryde would sell packs of lock nuts since this is currently not available.

          Jim

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          • #6
            Looks l like we have received two different answers from two different MORryde techs on greasing intervals. Might be best to go with the lower number at 2-3K miles. Since these are open systems which push out the grease under operation, it would not hurt to grease more often.
            Last edited by Guest; 09-12-2019, 05:45 AM.

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            • #7
              I have wet bolts and will continue to grease them at fairly frequent intervals. The wet bolts get greased when we leave Iowa in the fall for Quartzsite, in the spring when we head to cooler climates in the the west and again before the swing back to Iowa in later summer. This pattern works out to about every 1,500 to 2,000 miles.

              Now the however. I find myself wondering if wet bolts aren’t more of a marketing trick than reality. I’m not doubting the effectiveness of grease to reduce friction, my concern is there may be little or no grease in the contact area. About a year after replacing the shackles and nylon bushing with a heavy duty shackle kit we had a spring failure. I replaced all six springs. About a 1/3 of the year-old bronze bushings were almost worn through on the bottom. And no we aren’t overloaded. With the triple axle we are loaded at about 5,200 pounds per 7,000 pound axle.

              This less than spectacular life of the bronze bushings got me to thinking. I know a dangerous thing. Ever try to inject grease into a wet bolt with the hole oriented downward? You can’t, pressure of the bushing against the bolt hole prevent grease from flowing into the bushing. Re-orient the wet bolt to allow it to accept grease, and pump away with the grease gun until the grease taking the path of least resistance exits the side of the bushing. So... I’m guessing when grease is injected the area at the bottom of the bushing receives little or no grease, the top of the bolt under no pressure receives a lot of grease. Just guessing, the bushing/bolt sees no grease from 5 to 7 o’clock, a little from 7 to 8 o’clock and 4 to 5 o’clock, and a fair amount from 8 to 4 o’clock.

              I realize as the suspension moves some amount of grease will get smeared from greasier areas to less greasy areas. On the flip side the suspension is constantly trying to force the grease film away from the contact area.

              A very long way of saying grease early and grease often.

              Colan Arnold
              2016 Momentum 397TH
              Full time since 2016

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              • #8
                I emailed Brian Hosinski about the wet bolt topic. Brian is the rep I dealt with at MORryde when I had their IS installed on my camper. Here's our (edited) email conversation:

                Q (from me to Brian): Can you send me maintenance documentation on MORryde's kits that contain wet bolts? There's a discussion on Grand Design's technical forum about this topic and two people have chimed in with two different lubrication intervals based on "what MORryde told them". I'd like to see the interval in writing.

                Brian's response: I don’t have a formal document with that information; however, I do know that you want to grease the wet bolts every 6,000-10,000 miles, or twice a year.

                BL: Colan's advice in post #7 is sage--grease early and grease often.
                Forum moderators are not GD employees--we are volunteers and owners presumably just like yourself. Unless specifically mentioned otherwise, we have nothing to gain should you choose to purchase a product or engage a service we discuss on this forum.

                2017 Ford F-350 DRW, '19 315RLTSPlus

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                • #9
                  I jack up the rig for greasing and will also check the bearings for excessive play and brakes for light contact. Considering my annual travel, my suspension is being greased at around 2K miles. For bushing splitting, the spring eyes are also not so round so this could easily result in a split bushing. If the spring eyes were increased in diameter, this would allow for a thicker bushing which could be grooved. This may help to retain the grease a bit longer. Otherwise if folks are seeing early wear with the current design, its best to grease often.

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                  • #10
                    What type of grease should I use?

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Grampy View Post
                      What type of grease should I use?
                      If you have Dexter axles, check this site for the manual with everything you need to know: https://www.dexteraxle.com/resources/manuals

                      You'll probably will want this one: https://www.dexteraxle.com/docs/default-source/dexteraxle/product-documentation/manuals/600-8k_complete_service_manual.pdf?sfvrsn=42 Page 53 has a list of approved grease sources.

                      For Lippert, try here: https://support.lci1.com/spring-axles
                      Forum moderators are not GD employees--we are volunteers and owners presumably just like yourself. Unless specifically mentioned otherwise, we have nothing to gain should you choose to purchase a product or engage a service we discuss on this forum.

                      2017 Ford F-350 DRW, '19 315RLTSPlus

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                      • #12
                        Mobile 1 synthetic grease will satisfy all specs for wheel bearings and suspension for both LCI and Dexter axles. It can also be found in every auto parts store across the nation.
                        Last edited by Guest; 10-10-2019, 05:58 PM.

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                        • #13
                          When I did the wet bolts on our last trailer, I installed the bolts with the hole at the 3 oclock or 9 oclock position. This makes it easier to get the grease in. Also, taking some weight off the axle helps.
                          2018 Reflection 315RLTS
                          2023 F350 Lariat 6.7L/CC/LB/FX4

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                          • #14
                            For what it’s worth, I just upgraded springs and shackles on my 2018 27 RL equipped with wet bolts and found little wear on either shackles or on the nylon bushings. 18000 miles on the trailer. Greased all the wet bolts routinely before each trip one of which was 13000 miles. There was almost no grease in the bolts as delivered from the factory. Definitely grease often. Note upgrade was to get stronger springs and weld in reinforcements for the hangers.
                            Dave and Jill
                            2018 27RL disc brakes, upgraded springs.
                            2017 GMC 2500 6.0 standard bed

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