2004 Winnebago Journey Air Conditioner

[Boeing Guy]

I have a 2004 Winnebago Journey Air Conditioner with "basement" air conditioning. One of the fans is making a rattling sound when it is trurned on. If I open and slam shut the storage compartment door next to it, it quits. I opened to outer door/access panel but could not get to the A/C fans. I laid underneath the MH and looked up through a screen and saw either a washer or a rubber washer that might be a vibration isolator.
I need to figure out how to get access to the back side of the A/C to see if a fan is either has lost some hardware, or if maybe the fan bearing is going bad.
Does anyone know how I access the back side of the A/C. I can't figure it out.

[tomsm]

Here's a link to a great post by Duner. It's a complete removal and repair PDF. Many on the forum have used it, Luckily, I haven't needed to YET...

Good luck!

[FIRE UP]

Originally Posted by Boeing Guy

I have a 2004 Winnebago Journey Air Conditioner with "basement" air conditioning. One of the fans is making a rattling sound when it is trurned on. If I open and slam shut the storage compartment door next to it, it quits. I opened to outer door/access panel but could not get to the A/C fans. I laid underneath the MH and looked up through a screen and saw either a washer or a rubber washer that might be a vibration isolator.
I need to figure out how to get access to the back side of the A/C to see if a fan is either has lost some hardware, or if maybe the fan bearing is going bad.
Does anyone know how I access the back side of the A/C. I can't figure it out.

Boeing Guy,
Well, this "could" be a simple or, complicated answer. The basement A/C sits on a cradle, paralleling the motor home frame. The cradle itself it held in place but four, 1/2 x 3" x 13 bolts. The nuts are welded to the cradle frame. Basically to remove that A/C unit for service, it's this procedure:

1. Remove all screws that secure the leuvered panel and tilt that panel up, almost 180 degrees so it sits almost against the coach body, above the opening.

2. Find all the screws, about 6 or 8, that secure the ducting to that A/C, on the rear. They are kind of a pain in the b.. to get to but, it's doable with a small, right angle phillips head driver. Remove all of them which, will let that duct, swing away, towards the rear of the coach, by only a couple of inches which, is plenty for removal of the A/C unit itself.

3. Find all four 1/2" bolts on the cradle and start turning them, a little at a time, on each one. That will start lowing the cradle and the A/C unit. Don't worry about the electrical connections. They (Winnebago/Itasca) actually thought ahead on this one. They give you plenty of coiled electrical cables so that you can actually lower and move that A/C unit to a set of saw horses (or whatever you chose that's appropriate height.

4. Keep turning the 1/2" bolts, a little at a time, which will keep that A/C unit level while lower it. At a point, you will have lowered it enough to see the top of the A/C unit, just below the hinge of the leuvered panel that you have taped up to the body. Once that A/C unit shows clearance on that hinge, you can now slide that entire A/C unit, off it's cradle, and onto whatever you have that's setup at the same height as the cradle.

5. You are now ready to remove at least the top panel that will reveal the guts of the whole system. You will see two fans. One of which is really out in the open. Here's the part that's actually simple. The fan rotates on "lubable" bushings. Remember the old days when you had those little tilt caps on motor bushings/armatures/etc. that you needed to tilt the cap and drop a few drops of oil in, periodically?

Well, guess what, in it's infinite wisdom, Coleman cheapened out and put cheap, bronze bushings in that fan shaft. They are a source of noise, vibration, squeeling, and a whole bunch of racket from time to time. Many of us have replaced those lousy cheap lubeabe bushings with permanently lubed ball bearings. Most of us got them through Grainger. They're actually quite cheap. I did it for about $20.00 or so, if I recall.

But, if you choose to take this little project on, either answer here or PM me and I'll dig up the part number of that bearing.

As for re-installation of that A/C, just reverse all of the procedure. I did change the Phillips screws for hex head ones for attaching the duct to the box.

Oh, by the way, due to the fact that the A/C unit is still connected to the coach while it's out, if you change that bearing to a permanently lubed one, you can do a "bench" test, right there on your saw horses and let that A/C unit run. Good luck.
Scott
P.S. I have plenty of pictures of that A/C unit partially out and out all the way , with the top off, the bearing, and more.
Scott

P.S. #2, Yep, Duner and I talked extensively on this operation and his writeup was a tremendous help. I give him all the credit for my help to you.

[throbbin367]

Boeing guy, I just had my ac out to replace a compressor. Once you undo the air return on the side there are 3 brackets to remove. One on side, just loosen and two on the front. There's two bolts on the sides that lift the cradle and that's it. There's enough wire on the side to slide the whole thing out away from the motorhome

[Duner]

The link above is to the original thread from 2008. Here's the link to the revised procedure where I added the diesel pusher variant.

The rattling sound you hear is most likely the outdoor blower squirrel cage. It's all metal and the hub can work loose where it's crimped on to the sheet metal. In my case it vibrated for so long that it cracked the sheet metal part of the hub.

Scott is right, the brass bearings wear out and it's a good idea to use the sealed ball bearings.

The new squirrel cages are made of composite plastic. They are much quieter and pull about one amp less power to run. It's all a fairly easy DIY project and you only need a helper for a few minutes to slide the unit out (and then back in).

I repaired mine 8 yrs ago and the unit has been running fine. But I have had to reseal the duct work that goes up inside the rear cap, maybe three times now. Check for any seam that may be leaking... an infrared temp gun works great for finding the cold air in the rear cap . Any cold air leaks back there really reduce the overall efficiency. My unit has been cranking non-stop every day for the last 3 weeks of heat wave here in SoCal where it's been 100+.

Good luck,
Bill

[1ciderdog]

I pulled mine a couple of years ago and it was pretty much as Scott describes. I didn't have a heaper, just slide the unit out onto a shelf I had set up for that purpose. Not a real intensive labor job.