Shoreland’r suspension maintenance

[FSH 210 Sport]

K So… the other day I swing under the back of the boat trailer to lubricate the caliper slider pins and I look up and see that the drivers side rear most slider spring bushing bolt has elongated the hole in the hanger-dammit. I inspected the passenger side rear most spring slider bushing and it is flat spotted-great. These bushings roll on a bolt, dry, no way to lubricate what a great plan for a boat trailer.

I go on to the Shoreland’r web site annnnnnnnnd you can no longer put in the trailers VIN and get the parts fische-awesome.

I did a search and found the steel bushings at trailer parts superstore. These are for the slipper end of the springs which is the aft side of the four spring packs.

SHORELAND'R Spring Bracket Bushing #6861010

Stock# 5422282SHORELAND'R Spring Bracket Bushing for ShoreLand'r spring hangers and tandem spring brackets.

www.easternmarine.com

The closed eye ends of the springs use nylon bushings that are 9/16” ID x 11/16”

9/16" I.D. x 11/16" (.690) O.D. Leaf Spring Bushing

Stock# 5186105 Nylon Leaf Spring Bushings are designed to absorb the abuse from the constant movement and pressure caused by flexing springs. The leaf spring bushings are meant to wear so the spring does not. Inside Diameter = 9/16" Outside Diameter = 11/16" Length = 1-3/4"

www.easternmarine.com

I went to the local trailer parts supply store and picked up some bronze bushings to use in place of the nylon bushings, and picked up 8, 9/16” x 3” wet bolts so I can lubricate all of these bushings.



First thing was to get the boat trailer up on jack stands.



Get the wheels off…



Okay let’s start with the worst one… put the jack under the axle to take the strain off of the pivot and remove the bolt, whoa! It’s worn through!



Reach up there with my nitrile gloved hand on and, SHIT! That’s freaking sharp!



Some field expedient sutures.. aka 3M 33 electrical tape.



You can see that the bushing was so badly worn through and it had started on the bolt.





This the area of the spring where that flattened bushing was riding on … the bushing is supposed to roll as the spring gets long and shorter



This is how the spring looks in a wider view




This is the from the front set of springs, this one was round and still functioning as designed.


From top to bottom
Passenger side rear rear-steel half gone
Passenger side rear front-nylon wasted
Passenger side front rear-steel still round
Passenger side front front-nylon worn through

Drivers side rear rear- steel flat spotted
Drivers side rear front-nylon wasted
Drivers side front rear-steel still round
Drivers side front front-nylon various flat spots



I drove the bronze bushings into the closed eye ends.



I didn’t get any pics of the new steel bushings installed and greased.. took some pics from the outside. Be careful when you tighten these bolts down, there is no stand off, if you crank these bolts down you will lock up the pivot point, they need to be snug on the plates and make sure the roller bushings can roll and slide side to side.



Pic of the inside.. I put the zerks on the inside so I could get to them easier



Apparently the electrical tape didn’t stop the bleeding inside the nitrile glove.



While most people do not use their trailer like I do, I’m pretty sure I’ve got about 40-45,000 miles on my boat trailer, I’m still not impressed with A-the lack of information in the owners manual about how to care for this trailer and B-there is no way to lubricate these steel on roller bushings. My best guess would be that I should have take this stuff apart two years ago.

So, if you’ve got a boat trailer that uses this slipper spring set up you should probably take the wheels off and inspect these bushings, while you’re at it, just swap out the dry bolts for wet bolts and replace all the bushings with bronze / steel.

 

[zipper]

Apparently the electrical tape didn’t stop the bleeding inside the nitrile glove.

View attachment 243441



Great post…Dab some super glue on that, won’t hurt a bit.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Apparently the electrical tape didn’t stop the bleeding inside the nitrile glove.

View attachment 243441



Great post…Dab some super glue on that, won’t hurt a bit.

I had some super glue around but no one to help put it on…. Doing that by myself could have led to a “from the pan into the fire” moment… right on the edge of needing stitches I think, still have to keep a band aid on it to keep it from getting ripped open and start bleeding again.

By the way… that goochie silicone based ceramic infused brake pin lubricant held up very well…. There was still plenty in place, a little dirty but there was still plenty in there. Cleaned out other rubber bushings and re applied the lubricant and good to go for another year.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Follow up.

Just completed a trip to Lake Mohave and back, about 2500 miles of towing. First thing I noticed was there was no more popping and banging noises when make sharp turns, and no more squeaking. I was also getting this weird high frequency vibration between 25-45 mph before the suspension work that is now gone as well. At highway speeds the trailer was velvet smooth and the only noise I could hear was the bow occasionally squeaking on the stolz roller.

Now that I am back home I will give all those wet bolts, and the center pivot a few shots of grease.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Update: I did a quick visual of all the pivot points and everything looked pretty good. I got busy with blue paper shop towels and cleaned off all of the grease and grime that had collected at the pivot points so I could inspect everything thoroughly, It does appear that the roller bushings are rolling at all four points, I could also see where the leaf springs that are on the roller bearings had rubbed on the hanger brackets as before, but, there was grease there now so no squeaking.

I put enough grease into each pivot point to get clean grease out so that was a bit messy to clean up the excess. One thing I did find was that several of the zerk fittings / grease nipples were loose in the wet bolts, 6 out of 8 bolts, and the two that were not loose were really tight. If I was doing it over I’d pull all of the grease zerks out of the bolts and clean them all with contact cleaner and blow them out and put a dab of red loctite on the threads of each grease zerk before assembly. There is hardly any threads on these zerks so just snug is the right amount, any tighter and you’ll shear them off.

 

[Exciter 220]

Thanks for the warning! I don't think most boat trailers see nearly that much use and they probably rust out before the springs let go.

Just a tip, get some of that red grease. Next time you cut yourself, smear the grease on it. Even if it doesn't stop the bleeding, it won't look so bad.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

Thanks for the warning! I don't think most boat trailers see nearly that much use and they probably rust out before the springs let go.

Just a tip, get some of that red grease. Next time you cut yourself, smear the grease on it. Even if it doesn't stop the bleeding, it won't look so bad.

I bought a endoscope off of amazon a while back, I’ll be sending that up the frame rails at some point to check the rust. @drewkaree and I had been looking at these anti corrosion things that mid westerners do to keep their cars from disintegrating. The two that stand out if my memory is correct, one was a disposable spray can with a multidirectional spray tip on it that would be put through a hole and another that had a pot you put the oil in, then some long tubes with multidirectional spray heads that could be run up inside the frame rails.

 

[Exciter 220]

I absolutely hate boat trailers that are made of tubing! I built my own double JetSki trailer out of 4" channel some years ago and had planned to build more. Maybe someday... Anyway, on my trailers that are made of tubing, I always flush those out and use SaltAway on them.

I've considered trying to spray the inside with a corrosion preventative, but once rust has started, I doubt it's effectiveness. Phosphoric acid can be used to treat existing rust, but I suspect even brand new trailers have rust inside. They use boiled linseed oil to protect the inside of aircraft tubing, but that's sealed up. I'd be afraid that dipping it into water would wash it away.

Here are some pictures of a trailer I used to own:

 

[qwikkotatx]

Interesting. My trailer is not that old and sounds like a Sherman tank leaving the driveway.

 

[Neutron]

I started the process of replacing my leafs and hardware. As per @FSH 210 Sport recommended. I replaced the plastic closed eye bushings with bronze and got wet bolts.
10 years old and so far the side i started on today all the leaf bolts were frozen the the sleeves and i had to cut them out.
All the non galvanized hardware got a hefty coating of galvanized spray coating. And the leafs got a few coats of epoxy paint.
I put the wetbolts in backwards that way i dont have to remove the tires to squirt them just lay under it and get to them

 

[Exciter 220]

I put the wetbolts in backwards that way i dont have to remove the tires to squirt them just lay under it and get to them

Excellent idea!