What did you do to your Class C MH today???
This is always a fun thread to watch in other forums, so I thought I'd start one here.
Forum Discussion
I finished the front end suspension rebuild! And now I remember why I no longer "wrench" for a living! I ache all over, even my ache's have ache's!
We got a 31ft 2004 Jayco Granite Ridge - on a Ford E450 chassis - a short while ago with 25,000 miles on the speed-o. When we bought it I suspected the front end was going to need some "love" as both tires inside edges were worn.
Road test confirmed that the steering wheel had a bit too much play and as I used to race sports cars I could almost feel the ball joint moving.
So ordered all 4 ball joints and set of front and rear Bilstein shocks.
Bought a 100 foot air line to deliver air to my tools out to the MH... ya see I have a shop with all the kool guy tools ( you know the rule the guy with the most tools at the end wins! :) ) but the door will not allow for the MH to even PEEK in the shop hence the long hose!
LOVE the leveling jacks!!! Drop the leveling jacks in the front, throw some jack stand under - would not want OSHA to come after me! And started on one side. After the wheel was off you could move the wheel hub assembly about 1/8" with a single finger... and watch the upper ball joint move!
ok flat rate job.. pull off the brake caliper, disconnect the ABS wire at the frame, remove tie rod end, upper ball joint pinch bolt removed, jack under assembly, after removing the lower ball joint nut almost all the way - a smack with a hammer to the top of the upper ball joint dropped the entire assembly free. Note: said ALMOST all the way on lower ball joint nut... ya see by not removing the disk brake rotor - we flat rate the job, BUT the entire iron assembly is in the range of 60-70# and .... drop it on your toe is going to result in pain instantly all the way up to your eye balls!! Jack then lowered the assembly out from the MH where it was loaded up on a shop cart to be taken into garage for pressing ball joints out on my bench press.
Before reinstalling the wheel hub assembly I did the shocks - and this is where I would like to find the Ford Engineer that designed the front end sheet metal as it takes small hands and very specialized tools to get the upper nut off the shock!! Scraping the back of the Ford Engineers hand with a wire brush would be too good for him! I suspect he was an RPI grad as no Cornell Engineer would have done that! ;)
I have portable steel turn tables which I dragged out of the garage and with the Longacre Digital camber and caster gauge - told ya I have the tools - from the old days of racing! :D I did the alinement.
After a full day of work, 4 Aleve's later I have a MH that cruises through the corners! The ball joints - Moog grease-able ones - made the front end solid and tighter, the shocks reduced the body sway!
We're ready to head out to Daytona in a few weeks!
And that what I did to my MH yesterday!
We got a 31ft 2004 Jayco Granite Ridge - on a Ford E450 chassis - a short while ago with 25,000 miles on the speed-o. When we bought it I suspected the front end was going to need some "love" as both tires inside edges were worn.
Road test confirmed that the steering wheel had a bit too much play and as I used to race sports cars I could almost feel the ball joint moving.
So ordered all 4 ball joints and set of front and rear Bilstein shocks.
Bought a 100 foot air line to deliver air to my tools out to the MH... ya see I have a shop with all the kool guy tools ( you know the rule the guy with the most tools at the end wins! :) ) but the door will not allow for the MH to even PEEK in the shop hence the long hose!
LOVE the leveling jacks!!! Drop the leveling jacks in the front, throw some jack stand under - would not want OSHA to come after me! And started on one side. After the wheel was off you could move the wheel hub assembly about 1/8" with a single finger... and watch the upper ball joint move!
ok flat rate job.. pull off the brake caliper, disconnect the ABS wire at the frame, remove tie rod end, upper ball joint pinch bolt removed, jack under assembly, after removing the lower ball joint nut almost all the way - a smack with a hammer to the top of the upper ball joint dropped the entire assembly free. Note: said ALMOST all the way on lower ball joint nut... ya see by not removing the disk brake rotor - we flat rate the job, BUT the entire iron assembly is in the range of 60-70# and .... drop it on your toe is going to result in pain instantly all the way up to your eye balls!! Jack then lowered the assembly out from the MH where it was loaded up on a shop cart to be taken into garage for pressing ball joints out on my bench press.
Before reinstalling the wheel hub assembly I did the shocks - and this is where I would like to find the Ford Engineer that designed the front end sheet metal as it takes small hands and very specialized tools to get the upper nut off the shock!! Scraping the back of the Ford Engineers hand with a wire brush would be too good for him! I suspect he was an RPI grad as no Cornell Engineer would have done that! ;)
I have portable steel turn tables which I dragged out of the garage and with the Longacre Digital camber and caster gauge - told ya I have the tools - from the old days of racing! :D I did the alinement.
After a full day of work, 4 Aleve's later I have a MH that cruises through the corners! The ball joints - Moog grease-able ones - made the front end solid and tighter, the shocks reduced the body sway!
We're ready to head out to Daytona in a few weeks!
And that what I did to my MH yesterday!
