Review on 🔧 Dexter K71-652-00 Tandem Kit - The Ultimate Complete Solution for Enhanced Performance by William Hunter

This kit was installed on my 2006 Fleetwood Gearbox 220FB. This is a toy dump truck with a gross vehicle weight rating of 11,000 pounds. Axes and Dexter components. The OEM plastic bushings have started to wear out at the three leaf spring lugs. The stock EQ's plastic sleeve is completely gone by about 20% of the circumference. Since the OEM equalizer was thrown in the trash, it didn't cause any of the installation issues I had. Some of my installation issues may be from the leaf spring era, but I've been in contact with someone who installed the same kit and had similar issues. Throwing in the towel, he switched to the Morryde kit and had no such difficulties. As another reviewer noted, the packaging is terrible. All parts of the kit, even the instructions, were folded in a box, and nothing prevented them from colliding with each other. One of the pieces fell out of Dexter's box, but luckily stayed in Revane's box. The first page of the manual was so battered that I had to put it online. The instructions are good. Be sure to follow them, especially the orientation of the wet bolt outlet. This instruction is very important as it is to keep you from aligning the grease outlet with the top of the bushing which the weight of the trailer is pressing on. Please read the entire guide before you begin. You need some consumables to make the installation smoother. In particular, the 9/16" screw makes it easier to install new bushings. A tube that fits over the head of the wet bolt and around the transom mount makes threading the wet bolt into the bushing easier. I used the handle of my bottle jack. This worked very well, but the jack handle is now deformed. The new shackles are stronger than the OEM shackles. The chances of the shackle breaking are so slim that I won't worry about it. Wet bolts should prevent the suspension from squeaking and ensure long bushing life. My disappointment with this kit is the ability to apply grease to wet bolts. I had to replace most of the mirror hardware as I couldn't force the grease through many of the stock hardware - grease spurted out between the grease gun sleeve and the mirror hardware. I have used three different grease guns, one of which was brand new. After installing new grease nipples, grease got into the screw. However, I did have a couple of wet bolts that needed a lot of encouragement to get the grease to flow out of the bolt and into the bushing. I had my biggest problems with bolts that were tightened when wet. My advice for the above problems: 1. Check each wet screw before installing it. If you cannot force grease through the transom mount, replace the transom mount. Don't waste your time. Apparently Dexter uses very poor quality Zerk.2 fittings. If grease flows through the Zerk fitting but does not come out of the uninstalled wet bolt, then you have a bad wet bolt. In this case, the outlet hole will not line up with the hole drilled in the center of the bolt. If you're resourceful and have the right tools, you might be able to fix this. Otherwise, call Dexter for a replacement. See below for replacement attempts I've gone through.3. Look at the built-in sockets. Are they round or oval? The oval will be a problem. A wet screw is reluctant to insert into this socket. I'm not saying it's not possible, but it will be a lot of work. Having the outlet of the wet bolt on the compressed part of the bushing can prevent grease from leaking out of the bolt. If the wet bolt outlet is on a non-flattened part of the bushing, grease can escape but not disperse inside the bushing.4. If your wet bolt was tested _before_ you installed it, but no grease comes out after installation, try the following suggestions: 4a. Make sure the hanger is not loaded. 4b. Use a jack to rock the suspension up and down, trying to find the most comfortable spot in the bushing for the grease to flow out. Hit the leaf spring with a hammer. I can't explain it but it worked on one of my .4ds. Next, try loosening the screw and then pulling it back out - turn the screw a few degrees if you can. 4e. If none of that helps, try trailers. This _can_ loosen the screw/sleeve just enough to let the grease in (I didn't have to resort to this, but it was on my list). Still having problems? Consider the PSI rating of your grease gun. I used a 4000 psi gun and it wasn't enough. I went to a 10,000 psi grease gun and it filled with grease. A more powerful grease gun isn't going to solve all your problems, so don't buy one and think it's a panacea.4g. If you've tried all of these, contact Dexter for a replacement. See below for replacement attempts I've gone through.5. Clean the inside of the leaf spring tabs. If you need to sand the inside of the tab (they can be quite rusty) with 220 grit sandpaper, be sure to clean the grommet of dirt.6. Prelubricate bushings and pins. This makes them glide better. If the tips above seem overkill, you're right. It shouldn't have been that hard. I contacted Dexter to ask a technical question. Tech support called me back after a while and was very helpful. He agreed that the mirror fittings should be replaced and provided other helpful information. He gave me the part number for the Zerk fittings and told me to call the service/warranty department. Here it went downhill. When I tried to contact Dexter's service/warranty department, I was stuck in phone system hell. I could not reach a living person from this department, although I was always number 1 in line. Dexter's phone system never allowed me to leave a message with the people listed in the service/warranty department. I kept getting routed back to the beginning of the phone system or my call was cut off. A live operator (a useless person) would just refer me back to the phone system service/warranty department area. Dexter's "Contact Us" webpage has been corrupted. None of my submissions through this site have worked. I kept getting the error. I tried two different browsers and both didn't work. I sent an email to Dexter's general address and the email was never acknowledged or returned. When I posted this review, I hadn't put the trailer with the improved chassis on the road yet. I will update the review if I feel the trailer ride quality has been affected by the update. Given the difficulties I encountered during installation, my expectations are low. If the suspension doesn't creak or break, I'm happy. If I ever have to do that again, I'll try Morryde next time.