Can't get grease into shackle bolts

[N-Trouble]

I was going around doing my annual greasing of my shackle bolts on my 2004 Weekend Warrior and found that a couple of the bolts I was unable to pump grease into the zerks. I assumed the zerks were stuck shut and decided to replace them. After replacing the zerks there is no change and I am still unable to pump grease into the bolts.

On the bolts I am able to get grease int,o any excess grease as I am pumping comes out between the shackle and bushing on each side. On the bolts I am still having problems getting grease into I am going to now assume they are either plugged or the bolt is simply overtightened not allowing anything (grease or air) to escape as I am trying to pump grease into them.

Anyone ever run into this problem? DO I simply need to loosen the bolts?

[time2roll]

Had not seen greasable plastic bushings 😞

By all means get the Dexter bronze or Lippert Never Fail bushings.

[lincster]

smkettner wrote:

driveandfish wrote:
So how to remove it? Support the trailer and axle, remove the nut and pound it out? Is there a bushing in there that I would damage?

Yes, just give some support on the hanger opposite side of the pounding. There is a bushing but you will not damage it for pushing the bolt out. Bushing should have an interference fit to the spring eye and may need a drift punch to push it out. If you have a new bushing you can use a press to push the new in and the old out at the same time. I used a large C-clamp to push the new bushing in.

You obviously have not worked on Weekend Warrior stuff. My 2006 had destroyed bushings when I upgraded to the Dexter kit. Warrior uses plastic bushings from the factory.
I grease my stuff every year and the bushings were still shot.

[time2roll]

driveandfish wrote:
So how to remove it? Support the trailer and axle, remove the nut and pound it out? Is there a bushing in there that I would damage?

Yes, just give some support on the hanger opposite side of the pounding. There is a bushing but you will not damage it for pushing the bolt out. Bushing should have an interference fit to the spring eye and may need a drift punch to push it out. If you have a new bushing you can use a press to push the new in and the old out at the same time. I used a large C-clamp to push the new bushing in.

[lincster]

driveandfish wrote:
So how to remove it? Support the trailer and axle, remove the nut and pound it out? Is there a bushing in there that I would damage?

Yes, there is a bushing. If it is original, more than likely it is destroyed. Upgrade to the Dexter EZ Flex system and no more issues like this.

[driveandfish]

So how to remove it? Support the trailer and axle, remove the nut and pound it out? Is there a bushing in there that I would damage?

[RCMAN46]

driveandfish wrote:
Not to hijack this but I am still having the same problem. I have gotten grease in all the bolts except one. I have tried with it jacked up and on the ground and many positions in between. One bolt will not take grease. This is the first time I have greased these. I am not sure what the previous owner did. Can I pull the zirk and clean the bore somehow?

If the bolt has never accepted grease you may have one like I had. When the bolt was drilled it did not intersect the cross hole. Of the 14 bolts I had three were like this. I was lucky enough to find this problem before I had installed them.. I recommend anyone that does the conversion to wet bolts to remove the zerk and check for the drilling problem and clean the bolt as there may be some machining junk left in the bolt.
Remove the zerk on the one you can grease and compare how deep the hole is compared to the one that will not take grease.

[time2roll]

driveandfish wrote:
Not to hijack this but I am still having the same problem. I have gotten grease in all the bolts except one. I have tried with it jacked up and on the ground and many positions in between. One bolt will not take grease. This is the first time I have greased these. I am not sure what the previous owner did. Can I pull the zirk and clean the bore somehow?

Did you replace the zerk?

You will probably need to remove the bolt to inspect. Install the hole horizontal and I recommend adding a small chamfer to the hole with a round file before you reassemble.

[driveandfish]

Not to hijack this but I am still having the same problem. I have gotten grease in all the bolts except one. I have tried with it jacked up and on the ground and many positions in between. One bolt will not take grease. This is the first time I have greased these. I am not sure what the previous owner did. Can I pull the zirk and clean the bore somehow?

[N-Trouble]

Jacking up the trailer did the trick! Thanks for the tip guys...

[jackxclan]

I've had good luck backing off the nut, jacking it up lets grease get on the weight'd side of the bolt.

[shawnct450r]

Ditto on jacking the trailer up, behind the axles using the frame (not the axles). This should allow flow.

[lincster]

Jack the trailer up should fix it.

[Steve76eb]

Could it be that a couple of your bolts rotated? The wet bolts are supposed to be installed with the holes facing front to back aren't they? If they turned 90 degrees where the holes are now pointing up and down would it make it harder for the grease to escape through the holes?

[Randu]

Jacking up the trailer to remove weight from the leaf springs will allow grease to flow 90% of the time. Usually the weight of the trailer on the grease opening in the wet bolt will prevent flow. Randu