Lippert - You can do better than this.

myredracer wrote:
How bad are those thin plastic bushings?? Pretty p*ss poor if you ask me.

For reasons I can't discuss, we had a previous brand new TT into a frame & axle shop within days of us picking it up at the dealer and it had a detailed inspection. One thing they said was every single plastic bushing was shot. The bushings only had just over 2K miles from Indiana to the west coast. How much more could it cost for Lippert's Never-fail bushings to be standard? There's no excuse for using the thin cheapo junk. You've got to know that there's a lot of TT and FWs out there with failed bushings.

As soon as we got our current TT, we installed the Dexter EZ-Flex equalizers, shackles and wet bolts. It came with Lippert's Trailair equalizers and regular thin shackles and plastic bushings.

With the wet bolts, there is a correct method for greasing them. One forum member here recommends cutting a figure-eight groove in the bolts with a dremel tool so that grease can get better distributed.

Not only can you grease them, they are designed to work much differently from standard suspension components. The shackles and bolts are tightened so they operate as a unit and force the bolt to pivot in the bronze/brass bushing. Standard suspensions allow the shackles to move on the bolts and if the bolt rusts in place after the bushing disintegrates, the shackles will rotate on the bolt and wear out since they aren't really manufactured to do that without self-destruction. Unbelievable that they can put this type of "suspension" on a 10,000 or 15,000 lb. trailer.