Probably some of you new to travel trailers are not aware of the need to replace the 14 suspension bushings on the dual axle trailers. I replaced these at 14,724 miles and should have replaced them by 10,000 miles at the latest. The original bushings were nylon and they wear out pretty quickly and cause metal to metal wear. I replaced them on our Winnebago 2101DS with Never Fail bushings (P/N LC279685) from etrailer.com They are also available on Amazon. etrailer has a pretty good installation video. Once you get setup with jack stands and jacks to support the brake assemblies the job is not too hard for the average mechanically inclined do-it-yourself-er. You can follow on this thread, how I did it starting on post #3069. There are a couple of pages of comments.

I installed a Dexter Wet Bolt Kit on our previous K-Z Spree when the stock nylon bushings had clearly disintegrated but this time around I've instead ordered a set of Lippert Never Fail bushings for our current Coachmen. Good mod. :)

I installed the Dexter Wet Bolt Kit a few years ago after I had one tire wear out.

SoundGuy wrote:I installed a Dexter Wet Bolt Kit on our previous K-Z Spree when the stock nylon bushings had clearly disintegrated but this time around I've instead ordered a set of Lippert Never Fail bushings for our current Coachmen. Good mod. :)Next Spring, I plan on replacing the original nylon bushings. I'm going back and forth between Dexter's wet bolts and Lippert's Never Fail bushings. :@

Dexter wet bolt kit here too (on my previous trailer). The plastic bushings were gone after about 4 years.

Not sure about the Never Fails but the wet bolt kit has shackles that are 2.5 times as thick.Not only did they last without any further wear but the thick shackles wont allow the bolts to come loose in them like the thin ones do.

Replacing leaf spring suspension bushings | Good Sam Community

Slowmover
Explorer
Dec 04, 2017
down home wrote:
When we had our Fifth wheel, with shocks discovered in conversation and looking at one that towables without shocks had considerable more shackle and bushing wear and springs sagged more from the extra movement and lots more tire wear on edgees.

Shock kit, better equalizers, wet boots, and crossmembers. Upgrades have been detailed around here.

My top of the heap Silver Streak came with all but the wet & equalizer upgrade. Shocks were optional in earlier model years.

But start by having alignment checked straight off dealer lot. That and proper grease plus bearing preset.
harley4275
Explorer
Dec 05, 2017
My 2014 Coachmen Freedom Express ...I didn't care for the Lippert tongue jack that came stock with the trailer but it never failed, the head was just too big and interfered with my truck tailgate.

As for the lippert front jack ...simply take out 2 rubber plugs from the sides and take out the 2 bolts..lift unit up and thread the extra 2 holes and reinstall jack 90 degrees to the side. .re bolt in new holes and jack is now facing side with lots of room for tailgate ..
SoundGuy
Explorer
Dec 05, 2017
harley4275 wrote:
As for the lippert front jack ...simply take out 2 rubber plugs from the sides and take out the 2 bolts..lift unit up and thread the extra 2 holes and reinstall jack 90 degrees to the side. .re bolt in new holes and jack is now facing side with lots of room for tailgate ..

Perhaps the case with your 2500 but not even close with my 1500.

With my UltraFab 3502 rotated 90 degrees I have perhaps a millimeter or two of clearance between the side of the head and the tailgate. :E Yes, it's that close but it does clear. :B The LCI plastic head is far larger than the all metal UltraFab head so there's no way the tailgate would clear it even with the head rotated.
Bigbird65
Explorer
Dec 06, 2017
Did the same thing with my jack to clear the tailgate.

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