Suspension

Dano · 04-26-2019, 01:18 AM

Been hearing about axle and suspension failures on other travel trailers. Our 2014 Denali 2048RE seems to be doing fine. Wondering how others are doing.

Dano

Occupant5143 · 04-28-2019, 02:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dano

Been hearing about axle and suspension failures on other travel trailers. Our 2014 Denali 2048RE seems to be doing fine. Wondering how others are doing.

Dano

The shackles that attach the spring ends to the equalizer wore out on my 2012 Denali. Luckily they failed just as I was putting the trailer into storage. Had to have the local RV repair shop come out to replace them.

chily3 · 04-28-2019, 03:38 PM

These and bolts need to be changed on any new trailer soon after you buy it. go to etrailer.com and take a look at your options, be sure to get the whole set with "wet" bolts and zerts so you can grease them.

Rkster · 05-01-2019, 10:01 PM

What Occupant and chily3 said. 99% sure the factory plastic bushings are dead. Next the shackles will start to elongate. My 2013 242resl suspension needed an upgrade after 2 years. I'm sure if the factory used something other than plastic $$ things would be different. A quick way to check is to get both wheels, on one side, off the ground. Then shake one of the wheels and if the springs and/or shackles are flopping around you know what needs to be done. Best of luck.

dsol · 05-02-2019, 04:06 AM

Same problem on my Voltage plus the leaf springs were garbage and had to replace all four of those. Lippert sources the cheapest crap they can find. Better shackles would be nominally more and leafs might be a good bit more but still should be mandatory. These are true safety issues and need to be addressed.

wildwest450 · 05-02-2019, 02:14 PM

Can anyone confirm that the kit they sell for tandem axle 33" axle spacing is an inside to inside axle measurement? My axles are 36" center to center, but 33" inside to inside. Kind of strange not to use a center to center measurement

ArmyVeteran · 05-02-2019, 03:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Occupant5143

The shackles that attach the spring ends to the equalizer wore out on my 2012 Denali. Luckily they failed just as I was putting the trailer into storage. Had to have the local RV repair shop come out to replace them.

Whoah! All 4 of those shackles looked like that on your trailer? Was there one good side still left? I imagine. Dammm.

Occupant5143 · 05-03-2019, 06:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArmyVeteran

Whoah! All 4 of those shackles looked like that on your trailer? Was there one good side still left? I imagine. Dammm.

The four broken through shackles were on the same axle. The shackles on the other axle weren't broken through yet but were on their last legs. I keep a close eye on those shackles and springs now.

Pricejh · 05-10-2019, 05:22 PM

When I replaced the elect brakes on my 289RK, I also replaced both axles and the shackles with heavy duty equipment. Upgraded the axles to 5500# from 4800# and replaced the shackles with heavy duty.

BTW, disc brakes are the cats meow.

Occupant5143 · 05-10-2019, 05:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pricejh

When I replaced the elect brakes on my 289RK, I also replaced both axles and the shackles with heavy duty equipment. Upgraded the axles to 5500# from 4800# and replaced the shackles with heavy duty.

BTW, disc brakes are the cats meow.

Nice. May I ask how much the axle replacement cost? I'm guessing somewhere North of $3000. Are they LCI axles?

Pricejh · 05-13-2019, 08:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Occupant5143

Nice. May I ask how much the axle replacement cost? I'm guessing somewhere North of $3000. Are they LCI axles?

Yes, they were LCIs. I think that they were an additional $1000, including labor. The whole package ran us close to $4k. But, well worth the investment. Love my disc brakes. The 289RK axles could not be used in the conversion so we had to do the upgrade to get the breaks.

Occupant5143 · 05-13-2019, 10:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pricejh

Yes, they were LCIs. I think that they were an additional $1000, including labor. The whole package ran us close to $4k. But, well worth the investment. Love my disc brakes. The 289RK axles could not be used in the conversion so we had to do the upgrade to get the breaks.

Where did you have the hydraulic pump installed on the trailer?

Pricejh · 05-13-2019, 11:45 PM

The pump was just aft of the propane tanks.

flygal6 · 08-30-2020, 03:42 AM

Rkster I too now have a 2013 resl. Do you know the name /model of the Shakles and bushings you got to replace yours? Is this something that can only be done at the dealerships or could this be done at a good auto/truck repair shop?

Occupant5143 · 08-30-2020, 04:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flygal6

Rkster I too now have a 2013 resl. Do you know the name /model of the Shakles and bushings you got to replace yours? Is this something that can only be done at the dealerships or could this be done at a good auto/truck repair shop?

This thread is over a year old but your questions are still valid. I'm not familiar with the resl but I suggest you look at etrailer.com to see what they suggest. Check out their videos to see what is involved in replacing the hardware.
It doesn't require an RV shop. Just about any decent truck/trailer repair shop can replace the shackles and bushings for you. It's not rocket science.

chily3 · 08-30-2020, 02:56 PM

Yes on trailer.com we got ours from them and their videos and support is excellent.

Rkster · 08-30-2020, 07:11 PM

Not a problem. Here is the kit I ordered from etrailer. I did all the work my self and it maybe took me 4-5 hours. Its really not that difficult.

https://www.etrailer.com/Trailer-Lea.../LC281285.html

Rkster · 08-30-2020, 07:16 PM

You bet. I got mine from etrailer. I did the work myself and it took about 4-5 hours to do it. It really wasn't that difficult. But in answer to your question any auto/truck shop should be able to do it.

https://www.etrailer.com/Trailer-Lea.../LC281285.html

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