Lippert - You can do better than this.
I was hearing some creaking and groaning coming out of the suspension of my two year old fifth wheel. So I dropped one of the springs and examined the bushing. I was really disappointed that Lippert...
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And while I'm on a Lipper "rant", I may as well mention this too. I purchased the Never Fail kit from them through E-trailer. The kit included the shackles, bushings, bolts and nuts. The original nuts had a nylon locking feature, while the new nuts get their locking from a knurled surface on the bolt head. Here's a pic:
The nut on the left is the new version with a knurled surface instead of nylon locking.
The problem is that the knurled surface will not make firm contact with the shackles due to the required play that is needed for the parts to freely move. Therefore, there is no secondary locking feature like what you'd have with a nylon locking nut. Based on my 30 years as a manufacturing engineer, this is not good. It appears to me that there is no secondary lock and that over time, these new nuts could back off and result in suspension failure. The next two pictures show that the knurled surface does not make contact with the shackle or the shoulder of the nut.
The knurled surface on the flange of the nut does not make contact with the shackle.
The knurled surface on the flange of the nut does not make contact with the shoulder of the bolt.
I elected to replace the nuts provided with the kit. I purchased nylon locking nuts to give me a secondary locking function (Thread torque is the primary locking function).
I did notify Lippert of the issue and their written response was "This kits (sic) is provided with the necessary components for it to operate".
My suggestion to anyone purchasing this kit is to understand how the fasteners function and to make an informed decision about whether you wish to replace the nuts or not.
Jim
The nut on the left is the new version with a knurled surface instead of nylon locking.
The problem is that the knurled surface will not make firm contact with the shackles due to the required play that is needed for the parts to freely move. Therefore, there is no secondary locking feature like what you'd have with a nylon locking nut. Based on my 30 years as a manufacturing engineer, this is not good. It appears to me that there is no secondary lock and that over time, these new nuts could back off and result in suspension failure. The next two pictures show that the knurled surface does not make contact with the shackle or the shoulder of the nut.
The knurled surface on the flange of the nut does not make contact with the shackle.
The knurled surface on the flange of the nut does not make contact with the shoulder of the bolt.
I elected to replace the nuts provided with the kit. I purchased nylon locking nuts to give me a secondary locking function (Thread torque is the primary locking function).
I did notify Lippert of the issue and their written response was "This kits (sic) is provided with the necessary components for it to operate".
My suggestion to anyone purchasing this kit is to understand how the fasteners function and to make an informed decision about whether you wish to replace the nuts or not.
Jim
