how can 2 people not like this ? the dude is more than informative and articulate and steps you through the process. i don't see no safety issues. those two buggers must be your competition somewhere down the road ? lol...
Thank you you've told me what I wanted to know. The last time I used my brothers stockcar trailer was about 10 years ago to haul my 55 Chevy home and at that time I put new tires on it and while the tires were off I got a good look at the suspension. The shackles and spring pins were badly rusted. I just about didn't use the trailer but since I bought the new tires I figured it better have one more haul left in it, so I took a chance, and we made it home ok. But that was 10- years ago and the trailer has been sitting in the weeds so I know it needs rebuilt. Thanks for tutorial on rebuilding the suspension it helped immensely.
I am doing this repair but bought the kit which has grease fittings on each of the bolts/pivot points. Being able to pump grease into those suckers is important, and will prevent future axle failures. My equilizers were worn half way down the equilizer, and would have snapped at any moment. Grease fittings should be standard equipment.
You answered my question. I was curious about how tight the bolts needed to be. I went until the splines were fully engaged and then a little more. I figured everything was slightly in a bind. I’ll back them off some. They are lock nuts so they should be perfectly fine.
What a great video. Would you prefer metal bushings over the plastic I see being installed? Secondly, my old trailer had shackle bolts with zerk fittings to grease them. My new replacements are just bolts. Is there any benefits to greasing the fittings over just straight bolts? Appreciate your innput.
I would like to share something with everyone. Those equalizers are made to fail. They do not bend or distort, they snap when they are ready to go. Yes they are steel but they are a cast steel. Total crapp. Cast iron is stronger and would last a lot longer but also fail before they distort. Now if the were fabricated from a piece of mild steel with a continuous thickness throughout they would last forever. Better yet ,tool steel .Yes you may need to replace the bushings and bolts now and then but the equalizers themselves would keep on truckin'. Let's say the thickness between the hangar straps is 1.75" and you used a piece of road plate at that thickness, drilled and added some bronze bushings, it would be bulletproof as well as salt water proof. There are plenty of ways to fabricate these things so they would last for a long time. But the companies who cast these things must know they are screwing the public. Have you ever seen a person trailering their boat stuck on the side of the road with their trailer tires pushed up tight to the fenders? I see it all the time. Those equalizers are crap, made from Chinesium and the D.O.T. should banned them. Like everything that's manufactured nowadays made to fail. We live in a disposable economy surrounded by Chinese junk!
Toward the end you mentioned that you back off the bolts a bit to allow movement. All shackle bolts I have ever installed must be torqued to 40-100 ft/lbs, which certainly does not allow for any back-off. Either you need to make sure your bolts are the right length, or you have a different type of bolt. Are you welding the nuts after assembly?
@@BubblyGumm Proper installation requires torquing the shackle nuts/bolts the the value specified by the bolt manufacturer. They are shoulder bolts and won't bind against the moving parts of the suspension. You certainly should not weld the nuts as that would make removal very difficult. And I'm not sure whether lock tight would interfere with torquing the bolts correctly. I don't use anything on the threads of my shackle bolts.
I would use a torch if it was me. It's fast and less noise. You probably don't know what a scarfing tip is or you would use a torch lol. It's alright a lot of people don't know what it is. Look it up really is a great tip to have for your torch.
I have an RV with similar suspension and will be upgrading it in the next few months to a beefier system. Thank you for this video, very informative for sure bud. One question though. Would you recommend putting any grease on the bushings at all?
Thanks Brent! Yeah you can use grease if you want. They actually sell leaf spring bolts that have grease zerks built in. I live in the desert so I dont deal with rust very often. If you live in a humid, snowy or rainy part of the coutry than I would recommend greasing them. Good question, appreciate the nice comment!
Replace those crap bushings with bronze bushings and use greaseable wet bolts. Will last forever. I use a torque wrench for these bolts. Not too tight and not too loose.
Very informative. Really needed a vid like this. Thank you. Have one question. How do I know the axle GVWR? I purchased a used trailer like the one on the vid but don't know the GVWR. Any way to find it? What is the GVWR on the one in the vid? Thank you
Hey Mark. That can be a normal thing when a trailer is empty and you hit a good bump. The force will cause the pivot point of the equalizer to bump over, usually after a few miles of driving it will come back into place. If it is a constant proble, loaded trailer or empty trailer, than you might have a few problems. First I would check the shackles and make sure they arent bent or worn out. Second problem could be the wrong size leaf spring, its too short in length. Third would be that the leaf spring brackets welded to the trailer were done wrong. I would try checking the shackles first and make sure that when the trailer is on level ground that they are straight up and down from the equalizer to the lesf spring. If there are offset then I would change them out with the same size. Its hard to say how to get it fixed without seeing the trailer in person so I hope my suggestions help. Worse case take it to a good trailer repair shop in your area and have em diagnose it. Thanks for your comment!
it depends on the hub size. most common trailers, like in the video, has a rim size 15x4x5.5 Meaning 15" round. 4" wide and a lug pattern of 5 on 5. 5 lug nuts and the lug holes measure 5". I found the width is the most important. My chevy rims will fit but the tire will hit the frame when installed. Most Japanese rims are 5 on 4.5" but might work for a smaller trailer. Hope that helps some. Thanks for the comment and watching the video. Cheers!
Yes you can, but you would need to change the mounting on the non shackled side of the leaf spring. As long as the spring ends are parallel than you are good. I have seen kits available for lifting trailers. I would suggest finding a kit online and looking over the parts kit and making it yourself.
There're new lock nuts and the bolts don't turn they seat. He had to use a fuckin' grinder to get the old ones off. But you can use loctite, good idea!!! You had it all apart! You could have greased those parts so nicely prior to any grease from the zerks.
equalizer's are usually the last to go, check for play in the suspension. I'd suggest replacing all suspension bolts and bushings when you replace equalizer, the hangers could be bent but fairly unlikely
Hey Alex! Thanks for checking in with me. Yeah took a break from the yout ubes, life got busy. The sears 830 went great. I used it for 3 years and ended up selling it on craigslist. It was a little big for my small yard but it sure got my son into yard work being able to drive a mower, lol. To update you guys, I moved to the midwest recently and you tube vids are in the near future. I appreciate you watching the channel and I hope to have some more project videos up this summer. Cheers!
Hey Joe. I buy those parts in Phoenix Arizona at a place called "Auto Safety House". The have a website and you can have stuff shipped if you dont live in Phoenix.
Any real advantage by going with a metal bushing? I watched a video of a guy who swapped out the springs on his trailer and pulled out the plastic bushings beforehand to replace them with bushings he cut himself from copper or brass pipe. He didn't explain why. Obviously, metal doesn't wear as easily as plastic but my plastic ones have lasted for 15 years. Is it worth the time and effort? Thank you in advance for your time and thoughts. Nice video!
Hey Scott. Thanks for your comment! I would only recommend a brass or copper bushing if the trailer was being used daily, like a landscaper or small business. Ive never used metal bushings but have used greaseable shackle pins which help with longevity and smoother operation. If your trailer is not used daily than a plastic bushing will work great, thats all Ive ever used on my trailers.
@@RYEINDUSTRIAL Excellent. Thanks for the reply. I'll stick with the plastic that came inside the new springs then. It's just used on the weekends. I appreciate it and I subscribed.
Hey Mail Box. Im really not sure why. I do know that when a spring or shackle breaks you can put a block of wood between the spring and bottom.of the trailer to "jack up" the axle to get the trailer home. Quick temp fix to avoid a tow charge. It also need to be the trailing end of the spring for it to work. I dont recommend this but Ive seen it done.
RYEINDUSTRIAL Yes sir ! You said first off you intended to do both sides. Judging from the wear it would be foolish not to. From the condition of the parts we saw, it was needed for some time and you would be the expert here. Were they just as badly worn?
............Maybe I missed it , but you didn't inspect the leaf springs for cracks ! Esp. on the leaf with the eyelets . You did a really good job , but I'd have replaced the leaf springs as well as they are just as cheaply made(China) as the rest of the parts you replaced .
Hi Joe. Thank you for you comment. You are right about checking the springs! I didnt include that in the video but should be a step taken during repair. Thanks for the good note! Cheers!
![[TH] VCT Masters Shanghai Swiss Stage DAY 3 // FPX vs GEN | G2 vs TH](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/9lFnPhYhBIg/mqdefault.jpg)
Wow, 10 years now and 220k views. Thanks everyone for your time and watching this video. Appreciate ya!
how can 2 people not like this ? the dude is more than informative and articulate and steps you through the process. i don't see no safety issues. those two buggers must be your competition somewhere down the road ? lol...
No guard on the grinder is a safety issue TROY.... lol
They are people who are as dumb as a box of rocks who have never handled as much as a screw driver their entire life.
Thank you you've told me what I wanted to know. The last time I used my brothers stockcar trailer was about 10 years ago to haul my 55 Chevy home and at that time I put new tires on it and while the tires were off I got a good look at the suspension. The shackles and spring pins were badly rusted. I just about didn't use the trailer but since I bought the new tires I figured it better have one more haul left in it, so I took a chance, and we made it home ok. But that was 10- years ago and the trailer has been sitting in the weeds so I know it needs rebuilt. Thanks for tutorial on rebuilding the suspension it helped immensely.
Hey Mark, Thanks for the awesome comment, Glad that the video helped out. Appreciate ya, Cheers!
Excellent video, great camera work and narration!
Great video! Great job being one handed. Thank you.
I am needing to do this and check things on a trailer I just bought. Thanks for the video. John
This was a great help to me. Thank you.
Great easy explanatory video. Thank you.
Most shackles the bolt head is press fit to prevent rotation. ONLY turn nut during removal
I am doing this repair but bought the kit which has grease fittings on each of the bolts/pivot points. Being able to pump grease into those suckers is important, and will prevent future axle failures. My equilizers were worn half way down the equilizer, and would have snapped at any moment. Grease fittings should be standard equipment.
You answered my question. I was curious about how tight the bolts needed to be. I went until the splines were fully engaged and then a little more. I figured everything was slightly in a bind. I’ll back them off some. They are lock nuts so they should be perfectly fine.
Great video! Answered my questions I had about my trailer. Thanks!
Youre Welcome. Glad it helped. Cheers!
Thank you for this video had the same issue this video was very helpful👍🏽
Great video!
Very helpful video.
Great video sir
Best info . Thank you
Awesome video. Is all the weight of the trailer really on that one bolt on the equalizer?
Thanks buddy it was real helpful
Farid Jahed Gald to help, Farid. Cheers!
What a great video. Would you prefer metal bushings over the plastic I see being installed? Secondly, my old trailer had shackle bolts with zerk fittings to grease them. My new replacements are just bolts. Is there any benefits to greasing the fittings over just straight bolts? Appreciate your innput.
Thanks. this helps me out a ton!
Good info, thx
Thanks James, for the comment. Hope it helped to get your trailer up n going. Cheers!
I was wondering why u didn't replace the bushings on the other end of the leaf spring? I would think they would also be worn?
Thx very helpful
when i install new nuts and bushing i always apply some grease even that the bushing are in hard plastic.
gervais
I would like to share something with everyone. Those equalizers are made to fail. They do not bend or distort, they snap when they are ready to go. Yes they are steel but they are a cast steel. Total crapp. Cast iron is stronger and would last a lot longer but also fail before they distort. Now if the were fabricated from a piece of mild steel with a continuous thickness throughout they would last forever. Better yet ,tool steel .Yes you may need to replace the bushings and bolts now and then but the equalizers themselves would keep on truckin'.
Let's say the thickness between the hangar straps is 1.75" and you used a piece of road plate at that thickness, drilled and added some bronze bushings, it would be bulletproof as well as salt water proof. There are plenty of ways to fabricate these things so they would last for a long time. But the companies who cast these things must know they are screwing the public. Have you ever seen a person trailering their boat stuck on the side of the road with their trailer tires pushed up tight to the fenders? I see it all the time. Those equalizers are crap, made from Chinesium and the D.O.T. should banned them. Like everything that's manufactured nowadays made to fail. We live in a disposable economy surrounded by Chinese junk!
Toward the end you mentioned that you back off the bolts a bit to allow movement. All shackle bolts I have ever installed must be torqued to 40-100 ft/lbs, which certainly does not allow for any back-off. Either you need to make sure your bolts are the right length, or you have a different type of bolt. Are you welding the nuts after assembly?
do nuts have to be welded after? and can one just use lock tight?
@@BubblyGumm Proper installation requires torquing the shackle nuts/bolts the the value specified by the bolt manufacturer. They are shoulder bolts and won't bind against the moving parts of the suspension. You certainly should not weld the nuts as that would make removal very difficult. And I'm not sure whether lock tight would interfere with torquing the bolts correctly. I don't use anything on the threads of my shackle bolts.
I would use a torch if it was me. It's fast and less noise. You probably don't know what a scarfing tip is or you would use a torch lol. It's alright a lot of people don't know what it is. Look it up really is a great tip to have for your torch.
I have an RV with similar suspension and will be upgrading it in the next few months to a beefier system. Thank you for this video, very informative for sure bud. One question though. Would you recommend putting any grease on the bushings at all?
Thanks Brent! Yeah you can use grease if you want. They actually sell leaf spring bolts that have grease zerks built in. I live in the desert so I dont deal with rust very often. If you live in a humid, snowy or rainy part of the coutry than I would recommend greasing them. Good question, appreciate the nice comment!
Replace those crap bushings with bronze bushings and use greaseable wet bolts. Will last forever. I use a torque wrench for these bolts. Not too tight and not too loose.
Very informative. Really needed a vid like this. Thank you. Have one question. How do I know the axle GVWR? I purchased a used trailer like the one on the vid but don't know the GVWR. Any way to find it? What is the GVWR on the one in the vid? Thank you
If its a tandem axle its safe to assume each axle is rated for 3500 pounds
Good video.
Question what causes a axle to flip? I have a tandem axle that will pop up.
TIA
Hey Mark. That can be a normal thing when a trailer is empty and you hit a good bump. The force will cause the pivot point of the equalizer to bump over, usually after a few miles of driving it will come back into place.
If it is a constant proble, loaded trailer or empty trailer, than you might have a few problems. First I would check the shackles and make sure they arent bent or worn out. Second problem could be the wrong size leaf spring, its too short in length. Third would be that the leaf spring brackets welded to the trailer were done wrong.
I would try checking the shackles first and make sure that when the trailer is on level ground that they are straight up and down from the equalizer to the lesf spring. If there are offset then I would change them out with the same size.
Its hard to say how to get it fixed without seeing the trailer in person so I hope my suggestions help. Worse case take it to a good trailer repair shop in your area and have em diagnose it.
Thanks for your comment!
0:16 Wear is caused by the bolt rotating in the shackle. Weld the boltheads to the shackle. Use greaseable parts
good to know, TY
Most shackles the bolt head is press fit to prevent rotation. ONLY turn nut during removal
great video, learned a lot....which truck or car rims would fit a tandem axle?
it depends on the hub size. most common trailers, like in the video, has a rim size 15x4x5.5 Meaning 15" round. 4" wide and a lug pattern of 5 on 5. 5 lug nuts and the lug holes measure 5". I found the width is the most important. My chevy rims will fit but the tire will hit the frame when installed. Most Japanese rims are 5 on 4.5" but might work for a smaller trailer. Hope that helps some. Thanks for the comment and watching the video. Cheers!
Alright thanks...Im looking for truck rims with the right offset and center bore for 5 on 4.5, so far no luck.
@@JoeBakerOutsideTheBox try ford Ranger wheels. or jeep cherokee wheels
Can you flip the shackles to allow for more distance between the tire and frame?
Yes you can, but you would need to change the mounting on the non shackled side of the leaf spring. As long as the spring ends are parallel than you are good.
I have seen kits available for lifting trailers. I would suggest finding a kit online and looking over the parts kit and making it yourself.
Question: On those flex points where you back bolt back a 1/4 turn. Would you recommend locktite on those bolts ?
Hey Troy. Yes you can use locktite to help em from backing off. Thanks for your comment. Cheers!
There're new lock nuts and the bolts don't turn they seat. He had to use a fuckin' grinder to get the old ones off. But you can use loctite, good idea!!! You had it all apart! You could have greased those parts so nicely prior to any grease from the zerks.
I'm looking at purchasing a trailer that has a busted equalizer, everything else seems fine, should I trust it to be road worthy?
equalizer's are usually the last to go, check for play in the suspension. I'd suggest replacing all suspension bolts and bushings when you replace equalizer, the hangers could be bent but fairly unlikely
Hey Ryan, how’s it going. We don’t see you out many videos out anymore. How did the Sears 830 project turn out ?
Hey Alex! Thanks for checking in with me. Yeah took a break from the yout ubes, life got busy.
The sears 830 went great. I used it for 3 years and ended up selling it on craigslist. It was a little big for my small yard but it sure got my son into yard work being able to drive a mower, lol.
To update you guys, I moved to the midwest recently and you tube vids are in the near future. I appreciate you watching the channel and I hope to have some more project videos up this summer. Cheers!
Noticed he used a torque wrench as final step. What is the torque setting?
Where do you buy these repair parts? Thanks for Vid!
Hey Joe. I buy those parts in Phoenix Arizona at a place called "Auto Safety House". The have a website and you can have stuff shipped if you dont live in Phoenix.
Any real advantage by going with a metal bushing? I watched a video of a guy who swapped out the springs on his trailer and pulled out the plastic bushings beforehand to replace them with bushings he cut himself from copper or brass pipe. He didn't explain why. Obviously, metal doesn't wear as easily as plastic but my plastic ones have lasted for 15 years. Is it worth the time and effort? Thank you in advance for your time and thoughts. Nice video!
Hey Scott. Thanks for your comment! I would only recommend a brass or copper bushing if the trailer was being used daily, like a landscaper or small business. Ive never used metal bushings but have used greaseable shackle pins which help with longevity and smoother operation.
If your trailer is not used daily than a plastic bushing will work great, thats all Ive ever used on my trailers.
@@RYEINDUSTRIAL Excellent. Thanks for the reply. I'll stick with the plastic that came inside the new springs then. It's just used on the weekends. I appreciate it and I subscribed.
Bronze is used for bushing material in many applications, I would imagine brass and copper doesn’t hold up as well..
Hi nice vid. Some of my bushings were tight in leaf springs. .is it ok to drill it out to slide in?
I had a wooden block placed between my shackles. I just notice this after towing for about a year now...Any reason why this would be?
Hey Mail Box. Im really not sure why. I do know that when a spring or shackle breaks you can put a block of wood between the spring and bottom.of the trailer to "jack up" the axle to get the trailer home. Quick temp fix to avoid a tow charge. It also need to be the trailing end of the spring for it to work. I dont recommend this but Ive seen it done.
Any doubt the other side needs to be done too?
I did end up replacing both sides.
RYEINDUSTRIAL Yes sir ! You said first off you intended to do both sides. Judging from the wear it would be foolish not to. From the condition of the parts we saw, it was needed for some time and you would be the expert here. Were they just as badly worn?
If one side was that bad, I would think you you should check the other side right?
Right Steve. Even tho this side was obviously broken always check both sides during a repair or inspection. Thanks for your comment. Cheers!
WHY would you put in a plastic bushing instead of a metal one?
metal bushing on a metal bolt at a pivot point will wear out really fast from friction or rust will eventually seize the bolt in the metal bushing
............Maybe I missed it , but you didn't inspect the leaf springs for cracks ! Esp. on the leaf with the eyelets . You did a really good job , but I'd have replaced the leaf springs as well as they are just as cheaply made(China) as the rest of the parts you replaced .
Hi Joe. Thank you for you comment. You are right about checking the springs! I didnt include that in the video but should be a step taken during repair. Thanks for the good note! Cheers!
just slide the old bushings out he says! lol. doing mine right now and my old ones didn't just come right out.
How did you get them out?
@@jsolo7576 if it's the plastic bushings like i had,i just took a torch and melted it out on mine.
This is a very budget suspension and badly maintained .Obviously Murican engineering at its worst
With CHINESE parts...Yes, it's all the American's fault.