Changing the Suspension Bushings-2016 Solitude 300GK

[tvhorman]

So I was checking the wheel bearings, brakes, and lubing the suspension and when I was manipulating the tire back on the studs the axel shifted. Upon further examination, I found that it appeared the leaf spring bushings and shackles had a significant amount of play. When I purchased this coach in 2016, amongst the first things I did was lube the 5 grease fittings on each side of the suspension and have continued to do so each year. This last great adventure put 7,400 miles on the system so I guess having significant wear was to be expected being there is now a total of 30k on this rig.
I purchased the MorRyde kit UO12-016 Heavy Duty Shackle Upgrade kit on Amazon - $93 delivered. After disassembly of the curb side I found that the outer end of the leaf spring, where the Correct-Trac disks are, shackle bolts were not the same size (length) as the new ones in the kit. Also, the nylon bushings were far, far gone! IF I would have searched this forum first I would have realized the bolts for the leaf spring ends were not right in this kit (to short by .5”). Big DUH moment for me, I should have known to search this forum first. I cleaned and inspected the bolts and found that they were still to spec (round to within .001 of original) so I reinstalled them with new nuts and with the new bronze bushings, coated with grease because they are NOT wet bolts (yet).
The nylon bushings that came out of the shackle end of the leaf springs were shot of course. The holes on the original shackles were worn oblong in excess of .040 so the new HD shackles will help with that. The new bronze bushings slipped in fairly easily and the rest reassembly went without a hitch.
Other things I noticed (and were also confirmed by others in this forum), were the bushings in the Equa-Flex device were already bronze and likely because I had been greasing them all along, they were just fine, so I didn’t have to replace them.
Other things to note: IF you desire to have wet bolts on the outer ends of the leaf spring, you can find them using LIPPERT Shackle Bolt 3.35 in., Wet Bolt #126197 for as low as $7 plus shipping.
This project took 3 hours total. Here’s a picture of the nylon bushings I took out with 30k miles on them. The ones on the left were from the outer ends of the spring, the NO GREASE ZONE! The we bolt on the left is a grade 5 and even thought the oxide coat is gone the bolt was still straight, and round to within .001”.