What is service life of a new 5th wheel suspension?

I replaced our '01 mdl Jayco at 11 years and about 55K miles. They were would have gone further but we had a slightly bent spring that was wearing a tire so did a complete overhaul on the under carriage. Upgraded from 2500# springs to 2900# at that time but put the same type of bushings back in.

I also had to replace 1 of the break magnets at the same time, the shoes and rest of the magnets were still in good shape.

jpforsyth wrote:
How long and how many miles should the bushings on the equalizer last on a new 5th wheel? Is 4 months 6000 miles acceptable?

Yes you can go that far.

If they are worn out in that time you need to replace with better bushings.
Either Lippert Never-Fail or Dexter greasable bronze bushings should serve you better.

The nylon "bushings" on our Fuzion were basically worn out by the time we got it home from the dealer, about 2,000 miles. I replaced everything with the EZ Flex, and wet bolts kit.

The most common problem and quickest to be evident is the shackle holes elongating or wearing enough to break through. Change to bronze bushings and wet (greasable) bolts.

I replaced my plastic suspension bushings with wet bolts when they had about 10,000 miles on them. They looked like new. I guess it depends on the weight of the trailer and maybe the type of roads it's pulled on??

B.O.

That is what I did. It just suprises me that the RV industry has reduced the cost of the suspensions to have a life this short. I have been told that the warranties do not cover wear. But they will not tell be the expected design service life.

6 months and they have a good chance of wearing out the spring eyes. Mfgs use plastic bushing that fail early. Wet bolt kits are relatively cheap and worth the change out.