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Old 07-25-2022, 05:13 AM   #101
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Pictures of the camper blocked up. I only have one jack, so I lifted it an inch or two at a time and worked around clockwise fashion, hopefully not twisting the frame to badly. My manual says place jack within 18” of tires when lifting. That doesn’t give much options as to where the blocking goes.


I lifted it up until the tires were freely hanging above the ground 6”. Hopefully this will be enough to get the new dropped down axle back under the springs.

F86605D6-4684-4420-B230-627DA2A68A0C.jpg


This is the right front side where the step is. The tightest area to fit blocking under. The black water tank hangs down next to the frame, and the steps on the other side of the frame makes for a narrow support

DD8528A8-7441-4DBF-9237-AA89F53B14D0.jpg



The back end was pretty easy and straight forward.

71F59B6D-ABBF-4A3E-BBA8-70D5B44224E0.jpg

The area by by tank drains is impossible to be within the 18” of tire. Not sure if a longer camper would be more spaced out with its elements, but on this 17’ one there is zero area to get even a jack next to the tire.

0F50EE34-B51C-4F55-8D94-CC90B7A282FC.jpg


This is how I lowered the axle (after the first one, I realized that the axle wasn’t as heavy as I thought). I don’t have one of those rolling floor jacks. I have a smaller cart on wheels, and I placed a piece of plywood on the ground to roll that on. This is all placed under the axle I’m working on. To drop the axles, I’m taking out the bolts on the front and rear most points of the spring eyes ( not the equalizer areas). This picture is the left front spring. I used a long punch to drive the old bolt out and left the punch in as the bolt dropped out. I put a little bit of blocking under the axle, maybe a few inches from it, doesn’t have to be that close. I then grabbed the grease cap area of the axle in one hand and with the other hand pulled out the punch, spring drops down and you lower the axle onto the blocking.

2128103F-8D2B-406C-8950-A53A9BEE26D6.jpg
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Old 07-25-2022, 06:18 AM   #102
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A better picture of how I got the axle out. Overall not the best way. Wish I had a smaller cart, and a solid floor. The cart would only come out so far because of the spacing of the dropped leaf spring and blocking. Yet I didn’t dare to have the blocking further away from the wheels. So after I got the axle out part way on the cart, I lowered the brake drum onto the plywood and slid it out with a bit of grunt work.

DA4FD7B8-0DA0-4920-904F-F4E72980D11C.jpg

What would have I done differently at this point? Examine the bearing/sleeve(s) in the leaf spring(s) once you remove the bolts. If it is not perfect in every way, you’ll want to check the center one where the equalizer hangs from. That means both springs assemblies will come down and can be removed from the area. I would do that before pulling out the axles. Get them out of your way.

And if you turn over the leaf spring center pins ( as per John’s recommendations), you’ll make it easier on yourself by having all this out to work on it.

PS to JohnB: if you are compiling a list of notes to make a thread on axle flips, you might consider a safety note on the weight of the axle being top heavy. Once the u bolts are cut, flip the axle over before it does it on its own, possibly hurting someone. I was all good here, just wouldn’t want others to get hurt.
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Old 07-25-2022, 08:19 AM   #103
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Techie question:
I have two choices. First is the shouldered shackle bolts that was originally installed. They are not greasable. - OR - shackle bolts that are greasable but nut shouldered.

These are my available options on short notice. What would be your choice?
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Old 07-25-2022, 02:24 PM   #104
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I went with the greasable ones. When I compared the two together, I could see that the threads end at a length that is a little longer than the shouldered ones. My main concern was overtightening the non shouldered ones to much against the hangers. But that don’t seem to be the case with these. Possibly it don’t close the hanger gap enough?

67AF892E-F2CE-49B5-B1AE-44A783E7CC28.jpg


Just showing the reason why I’m doing this whole deal. The white is where I painted the wheel wells before the last trip. The bigger white patch is the waterproof tape. This amount of rubbing occurred in 500 miles. I can’t imagine how bad it would be after the next trip of 4,000 miles.

Left side. The bottom outside layer of tape is worn thru. Working it’s way into the upper/inside layer of tape.

8A04B8E1-C673-4A82-AAF4-538363B29D69.jpg



Right side:

3E4B03BA-95B5-459C-9930-62B5A4B197CE.jpg
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Old 07-25-2022, 09:38 PM   #105
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Hi Jim,

Great job on your jack and block up of the camper.

On the spring pins, your pics seem to show the threads on the greasable bolt stops close to the shoulder on the stepped pin. It appears the nut may bind up on the thread runout close to same place the step bolt would lock up.

Just make sure there is still clearance inside the hanger so the springs are not pinched tight when the bolt is tight. It looks like this may not be a problem.

By your rub mark’s, I agree you need more clearance.

Keep up the good work. You are gaining.

John
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Old 07-26-2022, 10:15 AM   #106
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Originally Posted by JohnB View Post

On the spring pins, your pics seem to show the threads on the greasable bolt stops close to the shoulder on the stepped pin. It appears the nut may bind up on the thread runout close to same place the step bolt would lock up.

Just make sure there is still clearance inside the hanger so the springs are not pinched tight when the bolt is tight. It looks like this may not be a problem.

John

The knurled shank by the bolt head goes a little past/thru the shackle plate. I don’t like that because it might rub into the sleeve.

I could only find a cheap knock off equalizer. Not a Dexter part. But I figure it would be better than putting new shackles on the old equalizer. The shackles are only 1/4”. I upgraded the sleeves in the equalizer, but that made it pretty hard to get the shackle bolts thru the equalizer. Hopefully a better scenario than when I started, but I still feel I’d upgrade more in the future.
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Old 07-26-2022, 10:38 AM   #107
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I hadn’t seen mentioned anywhere how others fitted the new spring pad on the axle. The kit instructions said get them within a 1/32”. It didn’t say within its own length, per foot, or what?. So I just tried to get it as accurate as I could. This is how I did it. The picture is my preliminary setup before I brought it to my neighbor to weld. I set it up the same way at his place before welding.

I have a homemade 2x4 that is machined dead flat. I semi-leveled that, but doesn’t have to be that level because I sat the old spring pad on the flat/straight piece of wood. The other end of the axle is supported at/on the tube. This lets the spring pad I’m working on to be in unison with the flat 2x4.

I then set another straight edge(my level) on the new spring pad to be welded. I take the gap measurements at each end of the level, and keep adjusting the threaded nuts til I get the same measurement at both ends, within a 1/32”. Of course you have to at all times make sure the new spring pad is resting on the axle, per instructions of kit.

Rechecking the alignment of spring pads later, they had about .003 accuracy within that length of spring pad (5”?).


4F6FD6F3-A703-431F-A8AD-F1925F9F997D.jpg
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Old 07-26-2022, 10:53 AM   #108
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I found this a bit interesting and possibly worrisome. When I got all the new parts assembled, I noticed that the eyes of the leaf springs were not at equal distances from the frame. Thus, I feel they are not level with each other. All parts matched to what was there prior. You spend the time getting the spring pads to be parallel/level, yet the whole leaf spring pack doesn’t set level. Hmmmmm….

My shackle plates are 2.25” from hole center to center. You can also buy 2.5” shackles. If I would have 2.5” ones, I feel it would raise that leaf spring eye. But it would also change the angle of the shackle plates to be more vertical.

Good? Bad? Opinions?

Either way, I have it all together for now. It will be this way for awhile.


875DA20D-D962-422B-9B71-D70D0A4000C7.jpg

DF9CD808-C681-4625-BB2E-E6B02530B7D0.jpg
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Old 07-27-2022, 07:11 AM   #109
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Getting axle back under:

Plywood setup for cart.

0AF3B492-B4E1-4B67-A8EC-A946F061C03C.jpg




Shimming axle up on the cart so the drum has just enough clearance to clear ground. I suppose if I did it again I might take measurements of the drums and then jack up the whole camper so there is that distance (plus working room of Aprox 4”) below the spring pack. I was ok, but another inch or two would have been easier.

D1113B41-AE6D-4913-95C8-B2A83F6DBB8C.jpg




Concrete block in place to set the spring pad on. This is the right side. Notice I have the axle to one side so I have room to roll axle over.

AC89295B-AFE8-4FDA-98F2-A4D21D2AD32B.jpg




The left side set up. Since I have limited room in height, I’ll roll the axle over in the open space between the pad and the brake drum. Then after that, slide it a bit to be under where it will go up into place.
0E6765F4-73A5-4B7F-9350-892E32085ED8.jpg




Cart out of the way and ready to roll:

DA2BB5EC-FF42-4685-A7F9-0C9B5EBAE4E4.jpg




Rolled over. Then I grabbed the bearing cap in one hand, lifted, and kept fitting flat blocks underneath till it was close enough for the axle u-bolts and new plate to be added.

90D65E82-875F-4174-9A06-95896EAB34CF.jpg
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Old 07-27-2022, 08:42 AM   #110
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Assembled with the old 15” tires. Nose down and more weight forward, now that I don’t have to worry about precise equal spacing of wheels and wheel well. Trial run last night. It was better than my last trip for sure. No swaying, unless I was trying to get to sway with erratic moves, and it straightened itself right up. It is a bit sideways tippy from new higher center of gravity, but not bad.

Block on wheel suggests it has raised up about 4.5”


3E972E9B-40E0-422C-9808-A7B9D020DE34.jpg

51C06D95-492E-479E-A337-2992FB17CB65.jpg

F0F66DFF-3F29-4659-80D7-ADDADDD0FF01.jpg
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Old 07-27-2022, 11:30 AM   #111
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The 2" ball, just mentioning this, some of the older campers were set up on 2" ball couplers, as time went on they all converted to 2 5/16". I do no know what model year this all changed. Just check your camper ball coupler to make sure it is a 2" coupler, or upgrade the tow ball to the 2 5/16". A 2" ball will fit inside a 2 5/16" coupler but not lock in right. I have had a few friends make this mistake on cargo trailers. Thankfully none of them ever had a decoupling, but it could of happened.
Yes, you had me doubting but it is definitely a 2”. So the Sunline change would have happened after. Don’t know if mine was an early month ‘93 or later month.
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Old 07-27-2022, 11:42 AM   #112
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8. Not sure if you have a 1/2"-20 fine thread tap, but consider doing this. The lug nuts over time, and many on and off cycles, the cone part of the nut gets swedged tighter on the threads in the cone area. This makes the nut spin on the lug studs very hard, and in some cases gall up the lug stud then needing to pull the brake drum and replace the stud. And the swedged cone area, affects getting the right torque on the lug nuts once up against the wheel. I run a tap through each nut, some nuts it does nothing on other then clean up some dirt. Others, it cuts out a sliver if metal that was swedged. All nuts then spin on very easy and then you torque them up. I put the tap in a cordless drill with a low clutch setting, start the nut on the tap, then put the nut in the vise and use the drill on slow. It goes faster, just make sure you start the nut by hand on the tap or you may cross thread the nut using the drill to start it.,

John

This is awesome. If I had only known years ago! Early on, I learned the expensive way by having to get a stud replaced. From that time on, whenever I felt a nut coming off with any resistance, I would throw it out and put a new one on. I might have thought about re tapping, but thought that it might be a bad practice.

I just did mine by hand(no drill). Works great.

Thank you,
Jim
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Old 07-27-2022, 11:54 AM   #113
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wow, you found the clip on the 4th of july, you scored! Curious, did they have a brand/part number? I never bought one of those clips, it might be good to have a few on hand.

John
Worth having on hand I suppose, $2.00 for ten. Nothing like shutting down a job for a .20 cent piece.

45CDEE81-C179-4DF3-B6DE-62AD4090F6A9.jpg
74DECF42-F4BA-413E-8CC6-2EC035AB1846.jpg
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Old 07-27-2022, 09:45 PM   #114
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Hi Jim,

You did a great job!! Outstanding.

ThankYou for taking the time to post your progress and outcome. This will help many in the future. We all have different things to work with, and seeing how you hold the camper etc. helps spur ideas for others on how to something similar with what they have.

A few comments,

Your method on creating the new axle seat parallel to the old one was a good one. I’m my view it is important to have those two surfaces parallel. And as you said, be tight to the axle tube at the same time. If the axle seats seats are not parallel you can put new stress into the axle tube that was not there before. It is not that hard to get it very close and taking a little time to get it real close will pay off in the long run.

I am on my phone and I can’t figure out how to link my pictures of how I get the axle seats adjusted with the phone. Sorry, I have to figure out how to do that. The end results of what you came up with matched mine using a different method. Again, there is generally always more then one way to do something and you do it with what you have to work with. Thanks for sharing.

As to the spring eyes not being even / in line when attached to the axle seat, I can see that happening. Your springs are old/ might be slightly bent and they may have never been perfect from day one. Once they under load, they will flex to fit.

It looks like are rebuilt enough now to last about 6,000 to 8,000 miles if needed. You can have this year to evaluate the entire camper setup and then decide if you take the running gear to a heavy duty upgrade and see if you can deal with the larger wearing tire.

Just curious, are you going to run the 15” tires or the new 14’s Any idea of the age of the 15”? There are 4 digit date codes on the one side of the tires. If you need help decoding them, just ask.

Again, good job! And safe travels.

John
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Old 07-28-2022, 06:31 AM   #115
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Just curious, are you going to run the 15” tires or the new 14’s any idea of the age of the 15”? There are 4 digit date codes on the one side of the tires. If you need help decoding them, just ask.

Again, good job! And safe travels.

John

I’m running the old 15” tires. I figured to use up the remaining life of the tire on this trip, then swap to the new ones this fall. I thought they were only 2 years old, but doing research after your mention of code, looks like they are 4 years old.

C6ED9104-730E-44F1-8543-D28CBF06EA27.jpg
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Old 07-28-2022, 08:25 PM   #116
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Good idea to use up the 15” and seeing they are 4 years old. The standard recommendation on ST trailer tires is 5 years and replace them. Trailer tires most time age out before they wear out. They are not like auto tires.

You know there is one wheel position that wears more then the others and you said you didn’t know the location. Use the 15” to find that location. The one that is wearing bad now will keep wearing that way even if it is in a good location. But if one of the others start wearing, then you know that new location has issues. Best is to sort out which location has issues before you put the new 14” on.

I mapped my tire wear as I was learning how good or not my alignment setup was working. I also mapped the worn ones to understand the wear. See the 2 posts I linked in a prior reply on figuring out my first set of axles issues on my T310SR on how I measured them. You can use your calipers to map yours if you want to look into yours.

Safe travels on your new setup

John
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Old 08-29-2022, 01:14 PM   #117
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Hello ,

Well, I’m at it again!
I’m home after a 5,000 mile trip, but 90 miles from home a leaf spring broke….dang gone it, I knew I should have put all new ones on. I made it home and now dealing with it before I leave again in a week.

Looking for thoughts and opinions on these:

1) can I re-use the u bolts for hanging the axle? Keep in mind I just put new ones on a month ago, but have traveled 5,000 miles.
2)can I re-use the Shackle bolts and nuts, that go thru the spring eyes??? Again, all these were new a month ago.

Also, I probably will upgrade the equalizer to a greasable one over this winter. I figure I have to pull the camper about another 3,000 miles before this winter when I would do this. Old (but newer) parts good enough to use till then???

Thanks, Jim
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Old 08-29-2022, 03:15 PM   #118
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Your fine on all of them. Yeah wait till you get the springs then take every thing apart at the same time.
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Old 08-29-2022, 07:16 PM   #119
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You broke a spring, h'mm, did the main leaf break? Got a pic?

My first thought comes to, a loose spring pack. Trying to rule it in as a possibility or rule it out. When you tightened the U bolts up, did you:

1. Use and X pattern to jump back and forth between all 4 nuts when torqueing?

2. Did you bring the 4 nuts up all at once to full torque, or take them up in stages? Like take all 4 to say, 20 ft lb, Then take all 4 up to 60 ft lb or half way of the final torque, then take them all the way to the top?

Before you take the spring pack apart, check the torque on the 4 nuts to what you set it too. If they are taking an amount of torque, they may have loosened some from use until they get fully seated in. Ideally there was no dirt or rust on the leafs when assembling the stack. And going forward, check them every 500, then 1500 then 2000 miles and see if they are taking any more torque. They should stop taking torque as some point. If they keep taking torque, then something is seating itself in or bending

And, it may just be, these are the original springs and metal fatigue set in and it was their time to go.

While it is a rule to change U bolts every time you use them, this often comes from lots and lots of miles of use. You are on the boarder line of, how many miles does it take to have to start over with new U bolts?

I would at least do the torque check on the spring pack before taking them apart, and check the other 3 sets too. It they are coming up some level of loose, then there is an issue of the hardware getting loose and the need is to sort out why. Did they just need to be rechecked until fully seated?

If you find all 4 packs where a "good level of loose," then I would be more concerned on reusing the U bolt hardware. A loose bolt will start a fatigue cycle that can be a concern. When they are tight and not overloaded, the bolt fatigue is very low to almost none. That is sort of fastener 101 guidelines. This all comes back to, is 5,000 miles enough fatigue on the U bolts if they were loose to be a problem? I can't say for sure. I just know for sure, I would not reuse the original set from the 90's for sure.

I will say this, if you do reuse the U bolts, I would not see them failing instantly if you cannot get new ones to line up with new springs. They should last you until winter without issue, they just may not last lots of years later if they were a lot of loose, again bolt fatigue concern. You can always change them over the winter and you can gain some info on doing torque checks between now and then.

The shackle bolts and nuts, those I have no problem reusing. That is a very different application then the U bolts.

Let us know how you make out.

John

PS, by any chance did you go over large bumps to work the suspension close to max travel? and if so was it many times? I'll reserve my why I'm asking this after I know what the trip as like.
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Old 08-29-2022, 07:16 PM   #120
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Agreed. At 5k miles, those newer parts are barely broken in.
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