Last May I posted my report of finding some broken springs on my HitchHiker II. Thanks to the recommendations I received, I upgraded the springs from 4-leaf to 6-leaf packs, thereby gaining an extra 500 pounds of spring capacity each. In doing this repair I discovered that three of the splined bolts attaching the shackles would twist in their holes. The holes did not appear out-of-round however. After evaluating the situation I determined that I just needed to keep the new wet bolts stationary in their holes. Having a bit of scrap 2" x 1/4" steel flat bar on hand, I proceeded to make some "holding forks" to keep the bolts from turning. I cut slots in the flat bar and filed them to a close sliding fit to the bolt heads, then secured them in place using existing holes in the shackle attachment hangers. My wife and I then departed on a couple of vacations. i am happy to report that, after 6000 miles of towing over all types of roads in the U.S. and Canada, the shackles, bolts, securing forks, and springs are all in great shape. Nothing came loose of shifted position. Perhaps my experience will be of benefit to someone else.
Here is a picture of my "holding fork"
There is a bit more to this story. After putting everything back together with the new wet bolts I went about greasing them all. There was one bolt that just would not take any grease no matter how hard I tried nor what colorful invectives I used. Turned out that the center hole in the bolt was not drilled all the way through to meet the weep hole. A quick call to the parts supplier got me an apology and 2 new bolts in the mail. Since my departure schedule wouldn't allow me to wait for the mail to deliver the replacements, I just finished drilled the hole. I used a cobalt bit since the bolt is a grade 5. After cleaning out the chips I squirted some grease in it (just to make sure) then reinstalled it. A couple more shots of grease and the job was done and we were able to leave on time.
Here is a picture of my "holding fork"
There is a bit more to this story. After putting everything back together with the new wet bolts I went about greasing them all. There was one bolt that just would not take any grease no matter how hard I tried nor what colorful invectives I used. Turned out that the center hole in the bolt was not drilled all the way through to meet the weep hole. A quick call to the parts supplier got me an apology and 2 new bolts in the mail. Since my departure schedule wouldn't allow me to wait for the mail to deliver the replacements, I just finished drilled the hole. I used a cobalt bit since the bolt is a grade 5. After cleaning out the chips I squirted some grease in it (just to make sure) then reinstalled it. A couple more shots of grease and the job was done and we were able to leave on time.
