Right thats got your attention Ive started to strip a trailer down today that has leaf spring suspension The bolts that connect the leaf spring to the bodywork brackets are shouldered bolts with brass grease nipples in the heads Is this something thats available off the shelf or has someone drilled and tapped them possibly on a lathe? Im going to need to replace them all by the looks of it as they obviously havent been greased in years and have siezed solid and ive snapped the head off two of them due to them being weak from being hollow
Ive just cleaned one of them up for a closer look and it appears they are a homebrewed affair The drilling for the nipple isnt central so they havent been done on a lathe thats for sure Ive also got the remnent of one of the bolts siezed in a brass bush at the rear of the trailer and i cant shift it for love nor money Its looking like i cant drill it out either because of the off centre grease hole I hate jobs like this
I'll take some pictures tmw and post them up The ends of the leaf springs curl round and pivot on the bolt Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 4
If you drill the seized bolt, it should generate enough heat to free it off... just don't go over mad on the drill bit size... you can also do the blunt drill bit down it to generate friction heat!! GT85 is your friend too
Obvious question - have to taken a look at trailer parts suppliers? They might have something. Thinking about it, I can't see why the ends of a leaf spring needs to be lubricated. Bushed, mebbe, but not greased...
Heres the pics If i had access to a pillar drill i would be able to make them up myself but i dont so it looks like its a trip to the engineers to have some made The trailer needs two new wheels aswell as a few other bits tidying up so it might work out cheaper to scrap it and look for another
Surely you could just clamp the spring ends, or use rubber bushes in them? I can't see why they'd move.
Looking round the net it seems they should have rubber bushes in the end of the leaf springs Maybe they dissapeared overtime and the grease nipple bolts were some shed engineers idea of a fix The trailers quite old and seems to have been through a few peoples hands over the years
Makes sense, if you think of the rear leaf springs on older motors. Can you not get some from a trailer kit supplier?
Ill pop to my local trailer supplier with the leaf springs and see what he says He did have a laugh when i took the bodged up wheels in to ask about replacements
