Did this upgrade today on my 2015 Wildwood 28DBUD. First off, a big thanks to everyone who has contributed to this thread so far. I read thru every page and found the instructions with photos here much more informative/useful than the instructions that came with the kit. Thanks in part to knowing ahead of time exactly what to do, the project went very smoothly.
I basically did the whole thing in one afternoon. Figure maybe half an hour to get all set up and jack the trailer. Then about 2 1/2 hrs for the first side and 1 1/2 for the second side. I won't detail the project because it is already thoroughly covered, but here are some of my observations:
1 Definitely absolutely positively get the ball joint press. It was invaluable and made removing and installing the pressed bolts a snap. Some have reported that a big C clamp works too, but in my opinion, the ball joint press is a much better option. You can of course buy the HF version for a reasonable price but I just borrowed one from Auto Zone. For those who don't know, many auto parts stores will let you borrow tools. You pay the retail price as a deposit and get a full refund when you bring it back. How cool is that?
2 Maybe because my camper is only a little over a year old, there was zero issue removing the old hardware. With an impact wrench I had all 7 nuts removed on one side in about 1 minute. Then maybe 10-15 minutes to use the ball joint press to remove all the pressed bolts.
3 Removing the the plastic bushings was no issue. I used needle nose pliers and just grabbed at the bushing and twisted. They easily collapsed into themselves and pulled right out. Speaking of bushings, my camper has just under 7000 miles and they were already in poor shape. The worst ones were where the idler pivots. They were completely shot, metal on metal.
4 I was a little concerned with installing the new bushings. Some reported putting them in the freezer and heating the springs, others said they used a Dremmel tool to smooth and hone the opening. I don't know why, but in my case they just slipped right in by hand. They were certainly snug, but they went in with no tools.
5 Then it's just a matter of getting things lined up, pressing the bolts in with the ball joint tool and torquing the nuts down! I would say overall it was easier and quicker than I expected.
Tomorrow I'll go for a test drive and see how it drives. I'm expecting a significant improvement based on what I've read so far.
