Fantastic fan lube and CS

[Kayteg1]

I remember FantasticFan from the past as company having FANTASTIC CS but heard lately that changed.
So my newly purchased Lance has one of their mid-series fan that did not work.
I troubleshoot it and beside some dirt on lid switch, the bearings were stuck with old grease and dirt.
I push-started the motor and it works now, but I know it needs lubrication.
Went via Fantastic site and nothing about their motor lubrication.
I emailed their support several days ago and nothing.
So when I will have to find way to lube the motor the hard way, I hope the company will not go under like others?

[SidecarFlip]

Whatever floats your boat.

[Kayteg1]

lakeside013104 wrote:


Mr Sidecar, Would moving the plate 4" be enough adjustment to keep the TC from sliding to the rear?

Lakeside

My idea is to just flip the ends of tie-downs. The picture shows passenger side, with end plate having 2 anchor holes pointing to the rear. Will you flip it on driver side, the outer hole will go about 2" to the front.
I think I solved camper movements by increasing spring squeeze from 1/4 to 1/2"
But doing more will put strength of camper brackets to test.
It was not a big problem before as I noticed about 1/2" camper slide over 2000 miles of driving, some of it on rough roads.
I have rubber under the camper, but seems with all the vibration the camper just "walks" over it.
I am still a bit skeptic about 1 1/4" tubing extended quite a bit holding my 6500lb camper on 25% grades. So far I "tested" it on 18% and it holds.
One more time, my question to Fantastic was answered by DometicUSA tech support.

[SidecarFlip]

wa8yxm wrote:
Fantastic Fan sold out to Atwood,
Atwood does not do customer support. Only dealer support

YOu can ask your friendly neighborhood Mobile RV service person and they can advise you or a SMALL dealer.. (Large dealers like to charge 100 dollars an hour to do it).

I believe they sold out to Lippert Components Inc., not Atwood. LCI has been 'sucking up' a lot of independent suppliers lately. Lippert is notorious for poor customer service.

[SidecarFlip]

lakeside013104 wrote:

SidecarFlip wrote:
Again, my comments are in no way meant to demean TorkLift. They make quality products and I've always been impressed with them, but in this case, this particular product needs some re-engineering and retrofitting of units already in the field.

Mr Sidecar, Would moving the plate 4" be enough adjustment to keep the TC from sliding to the rear?

Lakeside

The farther forward the tie down rod attachment point is, the steeper the angle of attachment is. The steeper the angle of attachment is the more secure the attachment becomes in relationship to the unit moving rearward. I added 4" to Mark's Talons. That was enough to change the angle of attachment and clear his fuel door, both issues with your unit.....

[wa8yxm]

Fantastic Fan sold out to Atwood,
Atwood does not do customer support. Only dealer support

YOu can ask your friendly neighborhood Mobile RV service person and they can advise you or a SMALL dealer.. (Large dealers like to charge 100 dollars an hour to do it).

[lakeside013104]

SidecarFlip wrote:
Again, my comments are in no way meant to demean TorkLift. They make quality products and I've always been impressed with them, but in this case, this particular product needs some re-engineering and retrofitting of units already in the field.

Mr Sidecar, Would moving the plate 4" be enough adjustment to keep the TC from sliding to the rear?

Lakeside

[SidecarFlip]

Again, my comments are in no way meant to demean TorkLift. They make quality products and I've always been impressed with them, but in this case, this particular product needs some re-engineering and retrofitting of units already in the field.

[SidecarFlip]

Kayteg1 wrote:
I ask Torklift simple question if their tie-down ends can be reversed with longer plate toward the front as their manual wants them to the rear.
They never answer.
I am removing fastgun at each fill up.
That is on 2017 Ford, so it is their latest engineering.

I know you are and you aren't the only one. My friend from Maine who posts on here has the same exact issue with is TC. His fuel door is getting a bit chewed up from banging the tie down rod. he can just get the nozzle in but it jams the fuel door against the tie down rod. Like I said, I feel your pain and his and the guy who bought my Lance though I cured his issue. I extended both outboard mounts forward so 2 things happen.

One, the tie down rod (he has Fast Guns too but it don't matter) clears the fuel filler door and more importantly Two, the tie down anchor point moved 6" forward and that applied a more of an angle of attachment so my old (and his new) Lance won't slide back. It cannot. It's securely anchored.

Easy fix if you have the tools and some welding skills. Should TL make an engineering change, cannot answer that. I did what I was able to do and that was make them aware of the issue.

Now, if it was me, I'd be really upset in as much as I use the old style screw down HJ's to secure my unit and I sure as heck don't want to be unwinding them every time I needed to fuel but I don't have a late model truck. My Ford has 2 fuel doors and a front and rear fuel tank.... the ones with the skinny tubes that take forever to fill up.

[Kayteg1]

I ask Torklift simple question if their tie-down ends can be reversed with longer plate toward the front as their manual wants them to the rear.
They never answer.
I am removing fastgun at each fill up.
That is on 2017 Ford, so it is their latest engineering.

[SidecarFlip]

Actually, I already did. One glaring fault of the TL tie down system, besides the angle of attachment is the fact that on a 6.5 foot bed, the tie down (from the camper anchor point to the tie down plate), crosses directly in front of the fuel filler door, making fueling the truck difficult without removing that tie down every time. TL uses existing frame holes to locate the tie down receiver, so it locates the tie down receiver too far back and subsequently the tie down (from the camper anchor to the tie down extension is way too vertical.

I've already e-mailed them about the situation and followed up with a phone call to their head of marketing in Kent, Washington. I've done some new product R&D for them this summer so I'm in contact with them regularly.

If you have the standard steel ends, it's really a matter of welding on a length of 1/4" x 4" x the appropriate length of mild steel plate (HR) and drilling a hole in the far end to accept the lower end of the Fast Gun or Qwik Load or whatever tie down you use and / or making it asthetically pleasing with an angle grinder.

If you have the aluminum end, the the addition of the steel plate will require isolation from the aluminum with hard nylon washers and stainless bolts or you can TIG on an aluminum plate of appropriate thickness. With the guy who bought my Lance, I went with the composite approach (steel / aluminum) because I wasn't in the mood to stack dimes.

Way off thread, but I feel your pain of a sliding TC because the tie down angle is not sufficient to secure the camper and it don't matter if you have a rubber mat or not, she's gonna slide back until the tie down angle snubs the rearward movement.

Should probably start a new thread about it actually.

None of what I state is to demean TL in any way. I think they manufacture some outstanding products. In this case it just needs some fine tuning.....

Unlike the Fantastic Fan motor fiasco which needs more than fine tuning. That needs a new supplier of motors that are quality built and now the lowest price available. The Fantastic fan unit isn't cheap to purchase so there is no reason to skimp on quality parts and assemblies other than outright greed.

[Kayteg1]

SidecarFlip wrote:


The reason why it's sliding back (and I've said this previously) is, you don't have enough angle (forward) on the front tie downs. plain and simple. .

Would you mind to explain that to Torklift engineers?
Evidently they don't have a clue.

[SidecarFlip]

Kayteg1 wrote:
FOLLOW UP
I never got answer from Fantastic site about motor lubrication, but I run the fan for about 1 hr few days ago, disregarding some noise and the motor is dead today.
I emailed Fantastic via their site again and got response from DometicUSA that when motors can't be lubricated, I would have to pay $30 for new one.
Since I don't plan to go home for another month, I have to wait for the repair.
BTW I emailed torklift if their tie-downs can be used reversed as their system is letting my camper to slide back. No response.

The reason why it's sliding back (and I've said this previously) is, you don't have enough angle (forward) on the front tie downs. plain and simple. I modified the set that the guy who bought my Lance had with an extension plate bolted to each side (he had the aluminum ones). With the steel ones, weld on an extension plate. Issue solved. I don't have your issue, I have HJ's front and TL rear. The HJ's have the necessary attachment angle. It's simple geometry. The steeper that attachment angle is, the less movement aft.

Far as your fan motor, I bet the brushes are hung in the brush holders. Try whacking the motor from the top with a spoon to dislodge them.

[Kayteg1]

FOLLOW UP
I never got answer from Fantastic site about motor lubrication, but I run the fan for about 1 hr few days ago, disregarding some noise and the motor is dead today.
I emailed Fantastic via their site again and got response from DometicUSA that when motors can't be lubricated, I would have to pay $30 for new one.
Since I don't plan to go home for another month, I have to wait for the repair.
BTW I emailed torklift if their tie-downs can be used reversed as their system is letting my camper to slide back. No response.

[SidecarFlip]

Like 'Ollie the appliance retailer said'... Buy 'em cheap, stack 'em deep and sell 'em high'.

Good philosophy and Ollie made millions on the backs of uneducated consumers.