MORryde UO12-016 Heavy Duty Shackle Upgrade Kit, CRE3000 / Stock/Equaflex 2.25" Shackles - Tandem Axle

In short, I bought this. Installed it myself. Survived the experience. Glad I did it. Want a ridiculous amount of detail? Keep reading.PLEASE NOTE: Below I refer to parts that are included with MORryde’s CRE3000 and NOT with this shackle upgrade alone. Don’t think you’ll be able to do everything I describe below with only the shackle upgrade. I posted essentially this same review for the CRE3000 since they go together.On impulse I decided to upgrade the suspension on my 2006 26' travel trailer. Myself. In my driveway. I've never done anything like this before, but how hard could it be?So without revealing to my wife my grand plan to turn our driveway into an RV maintenance yard, I ordered the CRE3000 and (since I'd be removing the wheels and rusty bolts anyway), I decided to upgrade the shackles as well with the MORryde heavy duty shackle kit. I think it's called "wet" because you can lubricate it. ( MORryde UO12-016 Heavy Duty Shackle Upgrade Kit, CRE3000 / Stock / Equaflex 2.25" Shackles - Tandem Axle.Additional stuff purchased, using this project as an excuse, included: A 2 ton floor jack with a 23+ inch lift (enough range to lift my trailer at the frame). A grease gun (for the zerk fittings on all the new bolts GreaseTek Premium Pistol Grip Grease Gun with 18" Hose and Extension Pipe). A 24" breaker bar (rusty bolts are fun!). A can of B'laster (B'laster 16-PB Penetrating Catalyst - 11-Ounces. A set of impact sockets for my air powered impact gun. Two tall jack stands (tall enough to support the frame jacked up). Some work gloves.Additional stuff I used that I already had on hand: An air compressor. Air powered impact gun (pretty excited about my 2nd opportunity to use it in 10 years). A second, much smaller floor jack (I didn't expect to use this, but it was VERY handy to have - details below). A creeper/crawler borrowed from a neighbor. Two small jackstands for supporting the disconnected axles. A couple wrenches of appropriate size for my bolts. A rubber mallet. A hammer. A punch.I planned to tackle the project with my 13 year old able assistant on a Saturday afternoon. So starting Thursday, I began soaking the eleven year old bolts/nuts (7 on each side of the trailer) with B'laster hoping to make them easier to remove after a couple days of soaking.Saturday afternoon I hauled the trailer out to the driveway, jacked it up, placed the two tall jackstands to support the trailer, and removed the two wheels (on one side), revealing the entire suspension. Then, thinking it might take a some pressure off the leaf spring and bolts, I lifted each axle just a little bit and supported them with small jackstands. Now it's time to remove those rusty old bolts.So the bolts faced away from me. That is, they were inserted with the head toward the outside and the nuts on the inside (under the trailer). No problem. I put a wrench on the backside to hold the nut in place, and then used my air-wrench to turn the head. Or tried to. Didn't budge the tiniest bit. Then I hung my 13 yr old off the end of the breaker bar. Then I hung myself off the end of the breaker bar. Didn't budge the tiniest bit. More P'blaster, a little banging with a hammer to try and free the frozen bolts. No joy with any of the 7 bolts. I was extremely frustrated and had to really bite my tongue to avoid language my assistant shouldn't hear. Until one bolt finally gave just a little bit.At this point, some of you more knowledgeable folks already know my mistake. It turns out the bolts themselves (on my trailer) aren't intended to turn. Near the head of the bolt is a small area of grooves that locks the bolt in place. The nut has to be removed from the stationary bolt. At least until the nut backs off far enough that the bolt can be tapped out past the grooves and then turns as you might expect. So learn from my mistake - apply pressure to the nuts, not the bolts. I wish I had learned this lesson an easier way, say by looking at the brand new replacement bolts, seeing the grooves and realizing their obvious purpose. But that's not my style. Plus it was a lesson in perseverance for my assistant. If at first you don't succeed, cuss, hit it with a hammer, nearly give up, and then get lucky.Anyway, after the bolt design revelation things started moving much faster. Between the air-gun and breaker bar all the nuts came free without too much difficulty. The creeper and small size of my assistant (compared to me) was invaluable in removing the nuts under the trailer. Thank goodness for sturdy jackstands and his mom staying in the house.Then we used a punch to knock the bolts out, freeing the leaf springs and removing the triangular center hanger. More use of the punch to push the worn OEM plastic bushings out of all the bolt holes. Now disassembly is complete.Reassembly was mostly straightforward. Insert the shiny brass bushings (from the shackle kit) into all the bolt holes and gently tap in with rubber mallet. Hang the new CRE3000 in the center and drive in the center bolt, put the nut on the back, but not tight yet. Reattach the leaf springs to the left & right of the CRE3000 using the new shackles and bolts from the kit. One tip - on the center bolt (that hangs the CRE) the zerk fitting in the head of the new bolt faces outward toward you. On ALL other bolts, the zerk fittings face inward, under the trailer. That's supposed to make it easier to reach and lube when the tires are on. So unlike the original bolts, all the nuts except the center bolt will now be on the outside rather than inside. That'll be handy in the future when I forget the lesson learned above.The left & right ends of the leaf springs that attach to the front & rear frame hangers can be a little tricky to get aligned so the bolts will go through. The holes will be too high, too low, or crooked. This is where I used my small floor jack to push up on the end of a spring raise it, or push down on the spring to lower it. To push down on the spring, I set the jack on TOP of the spring and pumped it up until the jack foot hit the frame above. Than as I continued to pump, the jack pushed the spring down aligning the holes. It took a bit of fiddling, including with the axle jack stand, to get the leaf spring ends reconnected, but in the end it wasn't really hard.The last step was to tighten all the nuts and lubricate the 7 bolts with the new grease gun. Then we we replaced the tires and we were done. With one side. It had taken us about 4 1/2 -5 hours and daylight was running out. We finished the job the next day and, with the lessons learned, it took only about 2 1/2 hours to finish the second side. So roughly seven hours total including the time penalty for stupidity.We went for a test drive and I immediately noticed two things. First, the tires/axles didn't immediately fall off. That was a relief. My mind had been full of "what ifs" and "what did I forget?" and "where did that extra bolt come from?" (just kidding). The second thing was how QUIET the trailer was. I had gotten used to lots of squeaks and squeals over speed bumps and maneuvering at low speed, but now the trailer is whisper quiet in all circumstances and seems to float along behind the truck rather than bounce. I'm very pleased with the end result and glad I chose to do it as a DIY. It was actually a very satisfying project to complete with my son.

What an upgrade from the original nylon bushings in my Grand Design Imagine. After only 4 years, the old bushings were well worn. The quality of the new wet bolts, shackles and bushings is evident. Very happy with the speed of delivery and the overall product.

Destroyed 2 leaf spring straps this past fall on our TT on the way home from a camping trip and had to drop the trailer at a parking lot, drive to Tractor Supply and pick up a strap repair kit to get the TT home. Your $30 -$40k trailer or 5-er is riding on super cheap, thin, inadequate suspension components and when mine broke (both on the drivers side rear axle at the same time) almost cost me my trailer... Upon inspection, all the suspension straps were showing signs of wear and needed to be replaced. The Mor-Ryde wet bolts kits are much stronger than the factory stuff, greasable, and much quieter. I liked the kit I installed on my TT so much that I ordered another set and installed them on my 16' Utility trailer, which had the same weak factory junk on it... Remember that trailer manufacturers use the same "contract to the lowest bidder" mentality as the Govt. The install takes a bit of work, but not bad if you are good with rusty old stuck bolt removal, and have basic hand tools, multiple good jacks/jack stands, a torque wrench, and about 3 hours time...

this product is well made. Every RV should be upgraded to this kit

Great upgrade. Took about 4 hours start to finish. Just started on one end on one side and worked my way to the front. Hardest part was getting the nylon bushings out of the spring eyes. Greased the new bushings before installing them. Got mine for about half the price they are asking now.

This kit is great but it really should include a set of spring equalizers. If you are buying this because your existing shackles are worn out or broken then you should also expect that the existing bushings are all but gone and the original equalizers are also worn out. Aside from that, the MORryde kit is great, everything fits perfectly and I am completely satisfied with the improvement. Installation was as quick and easy as you would expect for the job at hand.Amazon on the other hand, SUCKS. I am not a prime member and refuse to join. Amazon used to ship everything out within a day or two regardless but in the last year or so, they intentionally delay shipments to non-prime members in order to sell the service. These were in stock at an Amazon warehouse and yet they did not ship for over a week. They were so close that once they did ship them, I had them in one day but they knew that and didn't want to offer that kind of service to anyone who is not a prime member. In the last year or so, I have gone out of my way to avoid buying anything from Amazon but once in a while I find that they have what I need at the best price and I give them another shot. They continually go out of their way to prove to me that customer service is non-existent unless you pay for prime.