Shock Absorber Mod - 06/27/14

Friday – June 27, 2014
Shock Absorber Mod
Chicago, Illinois

I just completed the installation of the shock absorber kit from the PerfectCasita.com website. I must say this company does a first class job in designing and manufacturing products for Casita Travel Trailers. I also have their hitch receiver and spare tire carrier that Little House Customs in Rice, Texas installed on our Casita last year. The spare tire no longer rubs up against the fiberglass and we now carry our bikes on a bike carrier mounted to the receiver hitch.

The installation of the shock absorber kit was very straightforward, thanks to the excellent instructions that came with the kit, and most importantly, the installation photos provided by a member on the Casita Travel Trailer forum. I chose to remove the wheels, as this provided more room to work at getting at those four nuts on the bolts extending out of the backing plate. I applied liquid wrench to the bolts and nuts on the backing plate and the bolts and nuts on the axle. All four nuts on the curbside backing plate took a considerable amount of time and effort to break loose. I used a steel pipe, 1-1/2 inch diameter by 12-inch long, over the 11/16" end wrench, as a breaker bar. I then tapped on the pipe with a sledgehammer to break the nuts loose. The nuts on the street-side backing plate came off quite easily, using only the steel pipe as a breaker bar. All of the axle nuts came off very easily using a 24" breaker bar with a 15/16" socket.

I installed the curbside Thursday afternoon in about 3 hours and installed the street-side Friday morning in about 2-1/2 hours. I am really pleased with this installation and looking forward to our first road trip with these shock absorbers.

Tomorrow another adventure begins.

The Perfect Casita Shock Absorber Kit

Shock Absorber Installed