As some of you know, I am here in Boulder City at Scott & Kim's beautiful home (DSD), getting some much needed TLC done on our coach! Scott found some cost saving dollars yesterday and we attacked them. The bracket holding the retarder on the tranny had some minute cracks, so it was removed and brackets added to beef it up and reinstalled. Just a few minutes later, Scott found the high pressure line coming from the hydraulic pump with a rub down to the wires inside the hose. Went to Carquest here in Boulder and got a new hose made and installed on the rig. If one of these had gone down on the road, we most likely were looking at a tow and big bucks! Thank you Scott for your eagle eyes and perception on what to look for. In writing all of this, I would suggest all owners raise up your coach, block it and crawl underneath and check for any and all issues. Much easier to repair in a driveway than on the side of the road. Hope this helps someone out there! Spend a little now or a lot later!
Scott is a great guy and a wealth of knowledge. Enjoy your stay!
I second this advice. You will fine many instances of hoses and wire loom rubbing against something hard. Probably the best preventive measure is to ID them and protect the hose or wire loom with a larger section of hose held in place with zip ties.
jor
Yup, I save/dumpster dive for old hoses for just that purpose.
Yup, been there, done that. Had a hose rubbing against the air intake ducting and added a hose covering and cable tied the entire thing away from the corner of the sheet metal housing. (five years ago)
Just called Scott's Foretravel help hotline yesterday myself. Great service, will leave five star review ^.^d
Who is Scott??
Where us this service?inquiring minds .....?????
Read the first post.
+ 1. When I change oil or grease things, I routinely just lay under coach staring at things and looking for potential issues. Gives me a little piece of mind.
One of the main reasons for doing it yourself.
Me too. I get accused of hording but it has bailed me out many times.
"As some of you know, I am here in Boulder City at Scott & Kim's beautiful home (DSD), getting some much needed TLC done"
Not to sound "Stupid" but "Who are Scott and Kim". Maybe there Foreforum I.D. ????
Goes by dsd here on the forums.
Joanne Whitaker's retarder bracket broke during a road trip dropping the retarder on the road causing her a tow and repair. Due to her post and letting others know to check theirs, I checked mine (photos below). The stress crack appears to be because the bracket is not gusseted. Looks to me mine was just about to fail. I thought pictures are worth a thousand words. Joanne's thought was why doesn't MOT or FOT let us owners know of potential problems like this. I thought it was a great question. I would suggest you check yours. If you don't who will? Thanks to everyone sharing what they do in terms of preventive maintenance and to keep their coach running. Awesome group.
I think there was a recall on them back in the day
Keith
Keith, I too heard there was a retarder bracket recall back in the day but try finding it now.
1999 FORETRAVEL U320 Recalls (4) (http://recalltsb.com/1999/FORETRAVEL/U320)
I mentioned this issue over 5 years ago after having a pin hole in the high pressure line while driving down the highway N Carolina. Lost all the oil in a nice straight line and covered the towed. Replaced it and once home over the pit I checked as many hoses as possible by wrapping with straps of rubber.
When Don and Tys visited us he too while over the pit spent time doing the same.
Johnh
These are low cost repairs with hi cost and pain if ignored. There is no reason for a typical bracket like this to fail but it was not engineered for the long haul, but many have worked for years before failure. Regardless they all need to be inspected regularly till modified. IMO. The hydraulic hose was installed wrong by the tech and it too has lived 100k+. Would of lasted as long as the rest if was positioned and clamped correctly. I certainly cringe thinking of my friends being stranded and at the mercy of a tow company on the side of the road. Also there was almost no visual indication of the cracks till it was sandblasted which actually surprised me.
Scott and Kim
If I remember right mine was only welded on one side and the wrong side
for proper support. It won't break now.
Tackled a long needed repair on the generator front bearing. Bearing was a little rough. Not a fun job, but doable. Will tackle the re install today! Ordered the bearing from Amazon, thanks to Scott's part number and link! You come away with the fact that you have great satisfaction in finding and repairing issues that keep these wonderful coaches running down the road.
TIMKEN 6206-2RSC3 2 Pcs Double Rubber Seal Bearings 30x62x16mm, C3 Clearance,... (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B083GZ8QF8?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details)
How much did it cost at Powertech if you don't mind sharing?
Wow Joe, that's a job. I envisioned having to pull the generator and getting in over my head. I drove mine to Jeff at Powertech to have the armature bearing replaced and to go through the generator. Were your diode mounting posts loose? Mine were and I am so glad he noticed them loose and tightened them while he was in there. Also had the new style voltage regulator installed. Nothing was wrong with the original one but Jeff mentioned they had a reliability issue when I pressed him about the overall condition and if there were any other parts that might cause an issue while things were torn apart. Below are photos of the Stator (smaller outside piece that needs to be pulled to get to the bearing), the diode leads (yellow ring wires), armature bearing. If there is a next time, I believe I will try and tackle it after I saw how things came apart and that the generator did not have to be pulled.
How much did it cost at Powertech if you don't mind sharing?
Bearing $20, labor $680. Cost me money for the preventative work but Powertech no longer has any more replacement armatures should the bearing seize and tear up the armature. I heard from someone at Nac that two customers recently came in with need of armatures and none could be found. Paul Yasbeck bought the last one for one of his customers several months ago. I tend to be risk adverse thus spending the money...
That's why we have Magnaflux and dye penetrant inspection processes.
Help
I keep looking for a magnaflux machine but they never come up here. Yes dye penetrant is my substitute. These cracks were visible once sandblasted.
Scott
How many hours on your gen set Joe? I keep hearing about the bearing, but I'm hesitant to spend the money and take on the job with only 800hrs on mine.
The worn out bearing has nothing to do with hours. What wears out the bearing
is the coach driving down the road. To find out if your bearing needs doing is to
take a screwdriver hold it against the end of the genset where the bearing is and
hold your ear against the handle. If you here a rumbling sound, the bearing needs
to be changed.
If you have a stethoscope that works better.
I have a Labrador who will: crawl under the coach with me, steal my tools, and throw his ball at me. He is a GOOD helper!
Your story makes me smile. I had a Yellow Lab, named Jake. He was like our Polar Bear, weighed about 140#. He ALWAYS had a toy around him and in his mouth.
When I would crawl under the coach he would lay at my feet sticking out, toy in mouth, waiting for me to crawl out. When I would start to crawl out from under the coach he would mount my legs and try to hump me, every time!
It was always a battle, trying to drag a heavy part or tools out from under the coach, wiggle to get out, all while getting mounted and humped by the "Polar Bear". Cheryl used to find it hilarious to witness, me, I just laugh about it now, can't remember laughing too much when it actually happened.
Now I would probably welcome the attention ;)
I have one too :)
Keith, just over 4k hours! I use mine! Scott seems to believe that the bearing has been changed out already, but still needed it.
Got her wish
Got pretty dirty yesterday! Sage was a big help! lol
Keith I would be more concerned with grease getting hard and not lubing properly then you would have a bad bearing shortly
Just my thought
Chris
The pictures of your generator brings back memories of not that long ago. That was a heck of a job for me. Would not want to repeat it anytime soon.
I'm going to have to check out that bracket when I get down to mexico. I do have some lines coming out from the radiator when it was replaced at our tight against the metal that the radiator is attached to so that is something that should be taken care of but there doesn't seem to be much slack in that line to beef it up. I've got a magnaflux machine on order but it's coming from China and I don't think I can fit it on my coach. I bought too much stuff. Maybe if I take the zip d chairs I just bought on eBay out I can fit it in there?