Spring replacement?

[bruceb58]

What’s your issue?
Have torsion on a boat and two horse trailers.
Oldest will be 25 yro in August

The issues is that it's easy to get bent spindles. Hasn't happened to me yet fortunately but it's a common issue.

 

[Lou C]

And when the spindle arms get all corroded or the rubber goes bad inside you’re not fixing it, you’re replacing it at 2x the cost of a spring axle

 

[airshot]

Yea, never a fan of torsion axles, owned one and that was a pita....won't make that mistake again.

 

[nola mike]

This thing is kicking my ass. Finally figured out that the original springs were open eye on one side. Found only a couple of places that had them, but got them and they fit. Then realized that my inner wheel bearing was gone...
Other side was OK and the grease looked pretty good. Replaced bearings on one side and repacked the other.

So I got my 9/16" bolts to go in the 9/16 bushings...and then found out that the holes in the trailer are 1/2".

Question then am I better off drilling out the holes in the trailer to 9/16 so that they are snug in the spring bushings, or use 1/2" bolts?

 

[Scott Danforth]

They make plastic spring bushings. 1/2" id, 9/16 and 5/8 od

 

[nola mike]

They make plastic spring bushings. 1/2" id, 9/16 and 5/8 od

I wonder if these would work. Then I could just get some off the shelf ½" bolts. I can find only galvanized with unknown hardness or zinc dichromate in grade 8.

 

[nola mike]

So finally managed to get the boat in. Shout out to trailerparts dot com, that got me the correct springs the next day (!, only paid for standard shipping). They got pretty bad reviews but mostly around covid. I called and was able to reach an actual person no problem. The bushings that I got didn't fit, so just used the 9/16" for now. I'll get the correct ones at some point...
Also replaced bearings on the affected side, and repacked on the other side (they looked fine). Also ended up using SS 1/2" bolts with lock washers as the hardware, found online.

 

[Chris1956]

You might check the original spring bolt grade. I expect they will be grade 5 or higher. SS bolts are grade 2 and significantly weaker than grade 5. You do not want those to break at the wrong time.

Also, the bushings are rubber and are packed 2 per side of the spring. They help cushion what would otherwise be metal to metal contact.

 

[nola mike]

You might check the original spring bolt grade. I expect they will be grade 5 or higher. SS bolts are grade 2 and significantly weaker than grade 5. You do not want those to break at the wrong time.

Also, the bushings are rubber and are packed 2 per side of the spring. They help cushion what would otherwise be metal to metal contact.

Yeah I was a little hesitant with the SS not knowing the hardness, having second thoughts with those. No way to check the old ones. The bushings are nylon, still there just a bit of play. Planning on getting the correct size but have some time now. Hopefully don't need to use the trailer again until the end of the season

 

[dingbat]

Yeah I was a little hesitant with the SS not knowing the hardness, having second thoughts with those. No way to check the old ones. The bushings are nylon, still there just a bit of play.

Grade 5 with nyloc nuts on my last Loadrite