Made in USA leaf springs

[jd1923]

13 hours ago, 2008RN said:

I decided to use Dexter wet bolts instead of the Alcans .  After I did that I was able to get grease in all wet bots. A couple I had to still jack up the trailer to remove some weight to get the 2 wet bolts to take grease, I am OK with that.  The ez-flex moves freely now.

We were asked in another thread or maybe pages back on this one, "What would we do differently?" (re Alcan)

My answer is what Bob ended up doing. Instead of buying new EZ Flex separately I would have bought the full installation set including the Dexter shackles and wet bolts, and purchase only  leaf springs and U-bolts from Alcan.

15 hours ago, DanielBoondock said:

Step down bolts (why why why size your nut under your bolt?

(Bob answered this in another way.) The 1/2" nut on the 9/16" bolt creates the shoulder. Bob mentioned 40 ft-lbs that held and allowed for greasing. The 40 ft-lbs is torqued against the shoulder, creating a standard spacing for the leaf springs. There is no real force on the 1/2" nuts, they just hold the spacing constant.

Oh yes the, 1/4" steel plate hangers on the frame do get pulled in, actually bend some from the torque of the 9/16" bolt. Try 80 ft-lbs on these bolts without the leaf installed between and you will clearly see them bend (but not a good idea to try).

The shoulder bolts are the better design and perhaps after another 20K miles on the Oliver, I may purchase a new set. For now, instead of 80 ft-lbs on the end bolts, I went with 64. And instead of 65 on the inner wet bolts on the EZ Flex, I went with 52 ft-lbs. If you divide my numbers by Alcan's, you'll see I'm torquing to 80% of the Alcan recommendation (NOT the U-bolts, keep them at 90). I found the EZ Flex will still appear to hang when lifted but will not when weight loaded.

Watch each axle both sides going slowly over some speed bumps in you neighborhood. If all is good, you should see the tires travel smoothly up and down. When I grease there's always one bolt on each side that must be loosened to accept grease, just one bolt but not all. Perhaps my 80% take is helping.

I am reporting what I have done on our Oliver based on my feelings. Proceed with caution, make your own decisions in doing your work. I am NOT making recommendations for anybody else. With this warning, I accept no legal liabilities.

I also use the stabilizer jacks to lift our hull. The manufacturer OTT does not recommend this practice.