It's time for the Never Fail bushing upgrade

[huntindog]

I bought them a while back, in prepreation fot this day.
Though the greasble bushings are an upgrade, they have too many problems for my likeing. There are no seals to keep the grease in them. Most of a greasing exits before I get to the highway.
And there is always a problem child that won't take grease. It is not a GD thing. I have had them on my first two TTs with the same issues. My third TT, I found the Neverfails. After I installed them, I towed that coach over 50,000 miles with no issues, AND no more greasing. they I then sold it, and the new owners have not reported any issues to me. The company states they have tested them on units for over 100,000 miles.
So far the install is going OK. The biggest pain is cleaning off the old grease from everything.
I am looking forward to never greasing again.

 

[traveldawg]

Looking forward to updates and photos.

 

[Chaps2018]

Yes, the never fail bushings are incompatible with grease. —Recommend good cleaning with brake cleaner.

I was only able to get 20k or so out of them before installing wet bolts. I hope u have better luck.

Planning to disassemble the wet bolts in the spring to determine how they/bushings have performed.

 

[huntindog]

I already bought a case of brake cleaner.
As I noted above, cleaning the old grease off is the worst part of the job. And I doubt you will be happy with wet bolts. For them to work, they need to be greased OFTEN! There is absolutly no mechanisim keeping the grease in place. Just taking the unit around the block after a greasing will displace most of the grease.

My previous unit had over 50K on Neverfails without issue. I expect the same result with this one.

 

[Chaps2018]

Yes, the never fail bushings are incompatible with grease. —Recommend good cleaning with brake cleaner.

I was only able to get 20k or so out of them before installing wet bolts. I hope u have better luck.

Planning to disassemble the wet bolts in the spring to determine how they/bushingshave performed.

 

[Chaps2018]

I already bought a case of brake cleaner.
As I noted above, cleaning the old grease off is the worst part of the job. And I doubt you will be happy with wet bolts. For them to work, they need to be greased OFTEN! There is absolutly no mechanisim keeping the grease in place. Just taking the unit around the block after a greasing will displace most of the grease.

My previous unit had over 50K on Neverfails without issue. I expect the same result with this one.

Agree. I lube every 3k mi (PITA for sure) which includes lots of clean up of expelled old & new grease. What a mess. That said, I do like the beefy shackles I get with the dexter kit I purchase. (Thin ones are OEM, thicker ones come in the kit(with longer/wet bolts).

I’ve installed wetbolts on previous trailers. What prompted me to try never-fail and then wet bolts was an inspection on my current suspension with Never-fail after 20k mi.

I do wonder if it is the tendency to do sharp turns when backing that causes the problems. (I have also had two spring hangers break).

Since there have been a rash of broken wet bolts, I am guessing the guys with heavier trailers (>14-16k, Solitudes?) are having the biggest problems. (My current is 14k GVWR, 12k on the scale)

 

[goducks14]

I put 19,000 miles on some Dexter wet bolts with the bronze bushings. I was only able to grease about 1/3 of them. Tried replacing the zerks and lifting the TT. Niether made a difference. I did a complete wet bolt replacement along with a new rear axle this spring. I was amazed at how well the wetbolts looked. I couldn't tell any difference between the ones that were taking grease vs those that wouldn't.
A few had worn ends but for the most part they all were still okay but it was time to replace.

 

[huntindog]

Agree. I lube every 3k mi (PITA for sure) which includes lots of clean up of expelled old & new grease. What a mess. That said, I do like the beefy shackles I get with the dexter kit I purchase. (Thin ones are OEM, thicker ones come in the kit(with longer/wet bolts).View attachment 181500

I’ve installed wetbolts on previous trailers. What prompted me to try never-fail and then wet bolts was an inspection on my current suspension with Never-fail after 20k mi. View attachment 181499

I do wonder if it is the tendency to do sharp turns when backing that causes the problems. (I have also had two spring hangers break).

Since there have been a rash of broken wet bolts, I am guessing the guys with heavier trailers (>14-16k, Solitudes?) are having the biggest problems. (My current is 14k GVWR, 12k on the scale)

Your used NF bushing does not look like normal wear. Perhaps it was damaged during disassembly. or was this a broken spring hanger one

 

[huntindog]

Your used NF bushing does not look like normal wear. Perhaps it was damaged during disassembly. or was this a broken spring hanger one

 

[Hoopy Frood]

I like the idea of no needed maintenance, but also have noticed that many, maybe even most, places show the NeverFail bushings as "Out Of Stock", or "No Longer Offered". Short of a conspiracy theory , I do wonder why the bushings seem to be no longer widely available.

The cheapest place I found was Overtons, and they were around $70 for 14.

 

[huntindog]

Fact: The owner makes money selling replacement parts when they fail.

 

[Hoopy Frood]

Fact: The owner makes money selling replacement parts when they fail.

Yeah, but why market them in the first place? And honestly, how many of the thousands of RV's on the road actually replace their bushings in the first place? If you charge twice as much for the NeverFail, then you're likely ahead of the game from the getgo.

 

[Chaps2018]

Agree, I would have expected wear along the length of the bushing not on one spot.

Good question--they were removed 10k miles before first spring hanger broke. Most (but not all) that I removed looked similar.

I used the old 9/16 bolt to drive the new bronze bushing in the spring which cleanly pushed the Never fail bushings out.

 

[Chaps2018]

I like the idea of no needed maintenance, but also have noticed that many, maybe even most, places show the NeverFail bushings as "Out Of Stock", or "No Longer Offered". Short of a conspiracy theory , I do wonder why the bushings seem to be no longer widely available.

The cheapest place I found was Overtons, and they were around $70 for 14.

That is a bargain, thanks for the tip.

 

[huntindog]

Yeah, but why market them in the first place? And honestly, how many of the thousands of RV's on the road actually replace their bushings in the first place? If you charge twice as much for the NeverFail, then you're likely ahead of the game from the getgo.

When the bushing goes, collaterral damage comences.
I am going thru that now.
All 6 of my springs have wobbled out eyes. I can drop a new bushing right thru them....
I wanted to do this last year but, rotator cuff surgery got in the way.

 

[Hoopy Frood]

When the bushing goes, collaterral damage comences.
I am going thru that now.
All 6 of my springs have wobbled out eyes. I can drop a new bushing right thru them....
I wanted to do this last year but, rotator cuff surgery got in the way.

Are you going to replace all the springs that have excessive spring eye diameters? How many miles are we talking about? Honestly, I would expect the bolts to wear out before the spring eyes. Springs are very tough steel.

 

[huntindog]

Are you going to replace all the springs that have excessive spring eye diameters? How many miles are we talking about? Honestly, I would expect the bolts to wear out before the spring eyes. Springs are very tough steel.

About 10,000 miles. Greased before every trip.The bolts are shot too.So all new springs, bolts and Never Fail bushings

 

[huntindog]

That is a bargain, I just bothanks for the tip.

I just bought 2x14,so I can install them on my next RV

 

[TimtheToolMan]

When the bushing goes, collaterral damage comences.
I am going thru that now.
All 6 of my springs have wobbled out eyes. I can drop a new bushing right thru them....
I wanted to do this last year but, rotator cuff surgery got in the way.

I hope that your new bushing in your shoulder is working well and pain free. My guess is you got the greaseless option.