Wetbolt upgrade advise

[garywilson]

As has already been mentioned (and I agree), raise the trailer enough to lighten the load on the tires/axles. I lowered the frame onto blocks of wood.
With the stress off of the axles, use the jack to lift the axles and align the holes.
The second one will be much easier than the first one because you will be experienced!

[Sbrinson]

Originally Posted by curver900

those old rusty bolts are a b**ch. I would suggest some penetrating oil the next few days on each one. The have the pinch in them so they are locking. Alignment requires at least 1 jack but I used 2 and a bit of man handling to get the holes to line up. Make sure to lube the bolt when putting it in then grease it before you let it down.

This answer came closest to what I was thinking about this situation. The shoulder of the bolts (near the head) is splined. This is designed to keep the bolts from spinning in the holes, and with the wet bolt system particularly maintains the position of the lubrication holes. Wrenching should be done on the nut end of the assembly. Twisting the bolt head can destroy the splines and wallow out the hole in the shackles or the spring mounting bracket. After using penetrating oil on each end, back off the nut to the end of the bolt but don't remove it. Place a large socket over the head of the bolt
to provide space for movement, and use a large C-clamp to push the bolt out of the hole far enough for the splined section to clear. Then remove the nut and remove the bolt. Reverse the process and the position of the socket when installing the new bolts.

[Peoples16127]

I shortened one of the old bolts to less than the length of the bushing, put the bolt inside of the bushing and drove them into the spring with a hammer. Quick and easy.