Can you name that sound (squeaking)?
I have a 2013 Coachman 210qb Leprechaun Class C. It has a Ford v10 e350 Super Duty engine. It has 111k miles on it and it hasn't been giving me any issues until now. It has recently started making a s...
Forum Discussion
Update and some pics...
There was a little break in the rain so I was motivated to inspect my squeaky RV to try some of the suggestions from all you above. No solution discovered yet, but I wanted to share an update and some pics as they might be meaningful towards your continued help/suggestions.
First thing I did was I started up the RV and with my foot on the brake I shifted to reverse then drive and back and forth a couple of times. I was listening/feeling to see if there were any unusual noises or sounds. That all seemed normal and nothing out of the ordinary.
Next, I turned off the engine and I put the RV in neutral. I put blocks under each wheel front and back so I could safely crawl underneath to investigate, for some pics, and to try out klutchdust's suggestion of trying to move the driveshaft.
Here are some pictures...
These first two are the carrier bearing/housing: (how does it look to you?)
There are 3 u-joints on my RV driveshaft. Here is a picture of the first one (front, closest to the engine):
(Side issue/question: What does this oil/grease suggest?)
Here is the middle u-joint:
Here is the rear u-Joint:
How do all the above pictures look to you?
Next I tried to see if I could lift or move the drive shaft with my hand at the u-joints. They appeared rock solid and the drive shaft could not be moved up or down or side to side. Then I tried to rotate the drive shaft with my hand. It would move about 1/8th to 1/4th of an inch and stop. Is that normal? I didn't see any grease at the u-joint locations themselves. After taking the above pictures I crawled out from underneath.
Hmmm....am I making any progress? Do the u-joints and carrier bearing look and seem okay to you based on the pictures and me trying to move the driveshaft? If so, perhaps those are not the culprit??
Next, I decided to take it for another test ride to try out a couple more of your suggestions. While driving, when it started to squeak I put the RV in neutral and coasted. Shifting to neutral and coasting had no impact on the squeaking noise (it continued squeaking). (Question: when in neutral, is the drive shaft spinning?). I also tried applying the emergency brake a little bit while driving (and squeaking) and it didn't seem like it had an impact on the squeaking noise.
Another test I did while driving... When it started squeaking I continued driving with my foot on the accelerator but I also applied a little pressure on the brake with my other foot. While doing this, I didn't really hear much difference in the squeaking noise. It sort of seems like if the issue is the brakes then a test like this would have produced some different result (like maybe the squeak would go away, or get louder??).
Thoughts?
Some have suggested perhaps the idler pulley. Here is a picture of my serpentine belt. Anyone see anything of interest?
Is this the tension pulley here? Is the idler pulley above it? How easy/hard is it to replace? Is it easy/hard/worthwhile to replace the serpentine belt at the same time?
Thanks all!
Chris
There was a little break in the rain so I was motivated to inspect my squeaky RV to try some of the suggestions from all you above. No solution discovered yet, but I wanted to share an update and some pics as they might be meaningful towards your continued help/suggestions.
First thing I did was I started up the RV and with my foot on the brake I shifted to reverse then drive and back and forth a couple of times. I was listening/feeling to see if there were any unusual noises or sounds. That all seemed normal and nothing out of the ordinary.
Next, I turned off the engine and I put the RV in neutral. I put blocks under each wheel front and back so I could safely crawl underneath to investigate, for some pics, and to try out klutchdust's suggestion of trying to move the driveshaft.
Here are some pictures...
These first two are the carrier bearing/housing: (how does it look to you?)
There are 3 u-joints on my RV driveshaft. Here is a picture of the first one (front, closest to the engine):
(Side issue/question: What does this oil/grease suggest?)
Here is the middle u-joint:
Here is the rear u-Joint:
How do all the above pictures look to you?
Next I tried to see if I could lift or move the drive shaft with my hand at the u-joints. They appeared rock solid and the drive shaft could not be moved up or down or side to side. Then I tried to rotate the drive shaft with my hand. It would move about 1/8th to 1/4th of an inch and stop. Is that normal? I didn't see any grease at the u-joint locations themselves. After taking the above pictures I crawled out from underneath.
Hmmm....am I making any progress? Do the u-joints and carrier bearing look and seem okay to you based on the pictures and me trying to move the driveshaft? If so, perhaps those are not the culprit??
Next, I decided to take it for another test ride to try out a couple more of your suggestions. While driving, when it started to squeak I put the RV in neutral and coasted. Shifting to neutral and coasting had no impact on the squeaking noise (it continued squeaking). (Question: when in neutral, is the drive shaft spinning?). I also tried applying the emergency brake a little bit while driving (and squeaking) and it didn't seem like it had an impact on the squeaking noise.
Another test I did while driving... When it started squeaking I continued driving with my foot on the accelerator but I also applied a little pressure on the brake with my other foot. While doing this, I didn't really hear much difference in the squeaking noise. It sort of seems like if the issue is the brakes then a test like this would have produced some different result (like maybe the squeak would go away, or get louder??).
Thoughts?
Some have suggested perhaps the idler pulley. Here is a picture of my serpentine belt. Anyone see anything of interest?
Is this the tension pulley here? Is the idler pulley above it? How easy/hard is it to replace? Is it easy/hard/worthwhile to replace the serpentine belt at the same time?
Thanks all!
Chris
