EZ Flex or Trail-Aire suspension

[HBarlow]

Both of our Hitchhiker IIs had greasable spring shackles. When a zerk wouldn't take grease, I raised the frame with a jack to relieve the weight and it would take grease again.

Bill

Bill,

I know that is the preferred way but . . .

I have been thinking about it off and on for several weeks since I tried to grease all the zerks before one of our recent weekend trips with the trailer and discovered the two top center zerks, one on each side, wouldn't accept grease.

I haven't figured out how to do the job. In order to take the weight off the axles I would have to lift each side of the frame weighing about 6,000 lbs. , one side at a time.

I have a very capable 20 ton bottle jack which will easily lift any of the four axle ends, a decent hydraulic floor jack, capable of lifting probably 4 or 5k, and a bunch of jack stands but have no idea how to lift the HH fiver at the frame, using lift points in front of and behind the axles.

The frame rails are approximately 24" to 28" off the floor of my barn hidden behind skirting with tanks between the rails in close proximity. Any suggestions?

 

[NIsaacs]

Without looking at your suspension, I am going to say you should be able to lift/jack on the front of the front axle spring mount and the rear of the rear axle spring mount. However, looking at the EZ-Flex mounting, it appears the weight is pushing down on the center pin or away from the grease zerk. If that is the case, then taking the weight off probably wont help, unless the grease path is somehow routed to exit on the bottom or weight area of the bushing.



Normally the zerk itself will not be the plugged up culprit so changing it wont help. Most hand held grease guns will develop twice the psi if you only use 1/2 stroke of the handle. Only lift the handle about half way up then push back down. It might be enough psi to unplug the sucker.



PS: If that does not work, put pressure on the zerk and whack the pin real hard with a hammer, it might take two of you.



Nick

 

[AClayton]

Bill,



I know that is the preferred way but . . .



I have been thinking about it off and on for several weeks since I tried to grease all the zerks before one of our recent weekend trips with the trailer and discovered the two top center zerks, one on each side, wouldn't accept grease.



I haven't figured out how to do the job. In order to take the weight off the axles I would have to lift each side of the frame weighing about 6,000 lbs. , one side at a time.



I have a very capable 20 ton bottle jack which will easily lift any of the four axle ends, a decent hydraulic floor jack, capable of lifting probably 4 or 5k, and a bunch of jack stands but have no idea how to lift the HH fiver at the frame, using lift points in front of and behind the axles.



The frame rails are approximately 24" to 28" off the floor of my barn hidden behind skirting with tanks between the rails in close proximity. Any suggestions?

Harvey,



I did not use any jacks... ... . bottle or floor jack! I simply lowered the trailer as low as it would go with the landing gear and then placed a heavy duty jackstand under each framerail behind the rearmost spring hanger. At this point, just raise the landing gear and your trailer will relieve its weight off the axles and tires. I have the traditional 3 ton floor jack and it tried to raise my trailer but it did not like it at all. That is why I did it this way... ..... seemed a little safer too!!



I greased my hardware yesterday and will take the trailer for test drive to check it out. It has got to be better than the JUNK I took out!! One of the equalizers didn't even match the others..... measured a 1/2 longer. They all said made in China... ..... junk!!



I will post my test drive results later!!!





Alan

 

[HBarlow]

Thanks for your thoughts. I'll try one more time with the grease gun as Nick suggested.

If that doesn't work I'll try placing jack stands behind the rear axle and letting the trailer lift itself with the landing gear. I have several pairs of them and two are very strong, stout pieces if they are tall enough to do the job. I hope the landing gear is strong enough to lift the entire trailer. Sounds like it will be very stressful of the landing gear hardware.

 

[ACerf]

I put zerk fiting and bronze bushing on the leaf springs of my HR. The kit came from Dexter. If it makes any difference in the ride I don't know it, but it will make a difference in on how long the suspenison will last! I also installed the Trail-Air pin box, Now that mades a big differnce in how the trailer reacts in relation to the truck. I think this is a worth while addition to any fiver. Some Montana Trailers have a bad habit of developing cracks right where the lower front meets the upper half of the fiver. But I am sure they are not the only ones. The Trail-Air or similar products will help with that problem. I also installed a Datatrac made by Stemco, similar to the ones on the big rigs, expect that this one is an LCD display. It has total mileage counter and trip counter. Comes in handy to keep track of when the spring shackles need greasing.

 

[BIGNASTY]

what I do is grease them often if for no other reason then to keep the zeks open, I also wipe excess grease off. any dirt is just stuck on the surface and never gets in the joints fresh grease is added weekly or before any trip 1 pump just to keep grease flowing. my. 02

I will agree with you for another . 02 have a small grease gun I carry in tool box and new grease seems to push accumulated dirt out of joint and a quick wipe makes is less of a dirt magnet.

 

[ACerf]

Harvey,



I did not use any jacks... ... . bottle or floor jack! I simply lowered the trailer as low as it would go with the landing gear and then placed a heavy duty jackstand under each framerail behind the rearmost spring hanger. At this point, just raise the landing gear and your trailer will relieve its weight off the axles and tires. I have the traditional 3 ton floor jack and it tried to raise my trailer but it did not like it at all. That is why I did it this way... ..... seemed a little safer too!!



I greased my hardware yesterday and will take the trailer for test drive to check it out. It has got to be better than the JUNK I took out!! One of the equalizers didn't even match the others..... measured a 1/2 longer. They all said made in China... ..... junk!!



I will post my test drive results later!!!





Alan

I have problems normally getting the Leaf Spring ends at the Shackles. I did notice that when I have been on level concrete surface, I have less problems. If not just putting a bottle jack under them and take just a little tension off and they grease goes in okay. I have been trying to grease them about every 3,000 miles. That appears to be just the right number of miles. In less I get into alot of rain, which I don't normally travel when it is raining anyway.

 

[AClayton]

Well I'm slowly getting my toyhauler up to snuff. I just added the Trailair Air Pin last night and coupled with my EZ Flex equalizer's, my RV tows much better now. It rides a lot more cushy now and seems to handle rough roads much better than before. I'm very satisfied with my upgrades thus far. For me it seems that 55lbs in the bag is sufficient... ... wondering what you guys are running. Just out of curiosity!!



Alan

 

[RMarkey]

why Trailair?

Well I'm slowly getting my toyhauler up to snuff. I just added the Trailair Air Pin last night and coupled with my EZ Flex equalizer's, my RV tows much better now. It rides a lot more cushy now and seems to handle rough roads much better than before. I'm very satisfied with my upgrades thus far. For me it seems that 55lbs in the bag is sufficient... ... wondering what you guys are running. Just out of curiosity!!



Alan

I've been debating an air pin box myself. What made you choose the Trailair over a 5th Airborne, Demco glide rite, or Mor/ryde pin box?



I just picked up a 34' toyhauler and I'm in the process of getting a slider hitch mounted, lifting the trailer (axle flip), and the last major issue, an extended pin box, because I like my rear window how it is!

 

[ACerf]

Well I'm slowly getting my toyhauler up to snuff. I just added the Trailair Air Pin last night and coupled with my EZ Flex equalizer's, my RV tows much better now. It rides a lot more cushy now and seems to handle rough roads much better than before. I'm very satisfied with my upgrades thus far. For me it seems that 55lbs in the bag is sufficient... ... wondering what you guys are running. Just out of curiosity!!



Alan

The Trailair as you know has Arrows on the shock. I was told that the bag should be aired up to where you can see the "Arrow Tip". I a running between 80-85 Psi. in order to maintain this level. I suppose I could lower the psi, but it seems to work well at this pressure. One good thing that this product does for folks with Fiberglass trailers (I have a HR Alumimum Sided rig). It will help them to not get cracks in stress points of trailer, that is normally in area where the over hang meets the lower front. Montana fifth wheels seem to have the biggest problem with this, but other products by Thor are also having this problem (I am not surprised to hear that). I also remember talking to an owner of a Sunnybrook with this problem as well.



I have to say that I prefer the Trail-Air over the other products out there, because I don't understad how anything that is sliding back-and-forth is doing any good! We buy these things because of the jerking and back-and-forth movement, so why would I want something that moves in those directions! I know that Trail-Air was trying to develop a product that worked in both directions (up/down and back/forth). But the last I checked that was not working out like they planned, but that was quite a while ago.

 

[AClayton]

ACerf,



I have experimented with mine and have found 55psi rides the best. 80psi puts the arrow where it is supposed to be but 55psi is only slightly lower and I have seen no ill effects keeping this way. I love the Trailair and it was a good investment and upgrade to my RV.



Alan

 

[ACerf]

Clayton... I think that it might depend on the weight being put on the bed of the truck. Right now I have very little stuff in my trailer, and my gross trailer weight is going to be much less. When we lived in the trailer we had more crap then we needed... but you never know what you will need! :-laf

 

[JWGreen]

Don't overlook the TrailAir suspension and air suspension system. Originally designed by Dale Fenton of Columbia, MO who then sold the manufacturing rights to Lippert Components. Dale is still very much involved with the designs. As a matter of fact, Dale tows his 38 ft. Doubletree Mobile Suites 5th wheel with a 2006 Dodge 3500 dually. In my opinion, the Dexter suspension is good but TrailAir is better.

 

[DennyDay]

Don't overlook the TrailAir suspension and air suspension system. Originally designed by Dale Fenton of Columbia, MO who then sold the manufacturing rights to Lippert Components. Dale is still very much involved with the designs. As a matter of fact, Dale tows his 38 ft. Doubletree Mobile Suites 5th wheel with a 2006 Dodge 3500 dually. In my opinion, the Dexter suspension is good but TrailAir is better.

I would be suspect of anything that came out of a Lippert Factory - - TrailAir suspension might be the best design on the market, but by the time Lippert builds it they would have cut so much out of it and then put together with inexperienced welders who learn quickly that quality is not the answer to productivity, cutting corners is the answer, using tack welds rather than continous welds like they do on their frames, anything would be better - - Owning a trailer with a Lippert frame I do know what I'm talking about. :-{}

 

[AClayton]

I would be suspect of anything that came out of a Lippert Factory - - TrailAir suspension might be the best design on the market, but by the time Lippert builds it they would have cut so much out of it and then put together with inexperienced welders who learn quickly that quality is not the answer to productivity, cutting corners is the answer, using tack welds rather than continous welds like they do on their frames, anything would be better - - Owning a trailer with a Lippert frame I do know what I'm talking about. :-{}

Denny,



I totally agree! The factory Lippert equalizers that I replaced on my RV looked like they wouldn't support 4k lbs, let alone 18k. I did look at the Trailair replacements and to be honest... ... I purchased the Dexters because they 'looked' more stout, they were cheaper and 'Dexter' is a leader in trailer supplied parts and such. I do NOT regret in any way of doing so. The EZ Flex system is well designed and physically has much more 'material' incorporated into the frame of the equalizer and with fewer moving parts. I installed them very late in the season and only towed the RV twice with the EZ's and air-pin. I have my 1st scheduled ATV trip this year in 2 weeks to South Carolina... ... which is about an 8 or 9hr trip for me. I can post my comments when I return but I think they will all be positive... ..... the trailer tows much smoother.



Alan