TiogaKelly
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Re: Best place in Wichita Kansas Area for E450 alignment
Well, instead of believing my first phone call to Wichita Spring and Axle, I stopped by there this morning. They do work on E450 Motorhomes! Their front-end guy was very knowledgeable about the E450, as he does all the Wichita City E450's and the County's E450 ambulances and EMS vehicles. Price was $74 to $130, depending on how bad out of alignment it is. And he will install all 4 of my Bilstein Shocks that I ordered online for $30 each. When I asked about the shocks, he said those Bilstein's are 50 times better than the Monroe GasMagnum that the front office carries there. I'm replacing the front tires just prior to taking the RV to them....Hopefully when I'm thru it'll drive like when I first bought the RV four years ago, which is GREAT...I'm pretty sure ALL the shocks and steering damper shock are factory originals, and 16 years old.....previous owner put new tires all around in January 2016...I'm replacing the front tires now, will go on our winter snowbird trip to Florida this Jan 1,2022....then back home in March...then in the spring I will replace the 4 rear tires, before our 3 month summer travels...all treads are pretty good considering I've put on 33,000 miles on the RV since we've owned it. but it's TIME for new ones due to age (6 years old now) but my RV is stored inside, so no sun exposure while stored! I will report back with driving results after the new tires, shocks, damper, and front end alignment!334Views0likes0CommentsRe: Best place in Wichita Kansas Area for E450 alignment
one more thing....after much reading on the forum, I've taken notes on the preferred setting of the front end alignment for the E-450 chassis. Below is what I think I've gleaned from all the information: Caster is key to good tracking, set to high positive end, no 0 or negative. +5 Left, +5.5 Right Camber should be "0" but never Negative Toe In should be "0" to a 1/8" Toe In Any thing I missed or I'm incoreect, please feel free to educate me more! Thanks Kelly335Views0likes0CommentsBest place in Wichita Kansas Area for E450 alignment
I am truly amazed how hard it is to find a place to take my 2005 Tioga 23E Class C with a Ford E450 chassis to have its front end aligned. And I have lost confidence in our local Ford dealership (unfortunately). I started with a local Discount Tire center that I use, they sent me to Wichita Spring and Axle, saying they do everything....well, except for motorhomes apparently....I call the local RV dealership and they say our local Ford dealership....I call several front end alignment places and due to the height (10' 9"), they all resign from doing the job. If anyone knows a GREAT place to get my little RV's front end aligned, Anywhere within 300 miles radius of Wichita Kansas, I would appreciate the info. Preferably somewhere you've used and received great service. Thanks in advance Kelly1.9KViews0likes6CommentsRe: Access to overhead bunk
To address the OP's question, this is how we fixed the same issue. I removed the LH ladder anchor metal loop and relocated it on the right side of the RH ladder anchor metal loop. only had to drill 2 new holes, for the two bolts that holds each ladder anchor metal loop. This means the ladder is relocated exactly one ladder width to the right. I could have relocated the ladder about 6" to clear the opened jack-knife couch, but that would have resulted in 4 open holes in the overhead bunk faceplate. By removing only one ladder anchor metal loop, I only had 2 open holes. I put a small aluminum plate with 2 matching bolts in the LH open holes. Easy fix....about a 10 minute project. If you need to return the anchor to the factory position, simply do so and move the plate and two bolts over the newly drilled holes. The plate and bolts keep a 'finished' look to the modification. I'm nearing 60 years old, wife is 2 years younger, and we both crawl up in the bunk to sleep all the time...and I'm 6'7" tall, 195 lbs so I go in first, the wife second, 5'6" 130 lbs. She gets up every night to go to the restroom, and I don't have that issue....yet....but we are very active and just refuse to grow old...LOL 2005 Fleetwood Tioga 23E Ford E-450 V-10 Chassis572Views0likes0Comments
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