Took Her for a Ride Yesterday....

[Capt Joe]

Well, last week my spare time was pretty well taken up with getting my Winnie our of the Workhorse Service Center where I had to pay out of pocket for new rear calipers, ABS sensors, etc because WH refused any coverage after my most recent (THIRD) failure of my brakes and then getting the Magnum Plus removed from my front tires and having them dynamic spin balanced. (Whew, I got tired writing all that in one sentence) I had also put new KONI FSD's on the front the day before our last trip when I had the THIRD brake failure so I hadn't really gotten a chance to experience them very much.

It was Sunday, so after Church, Sunday School and some lunch with fellow RV'ers and church members, it was a beautiful day...mid 70's, fairly low humidity.....so my wife and I decided to take a ride in the MH to check out how everything was working at highway speeds. When I came home from the tire shop last week I was only able to run her (the motorhome for those less clean of mind ) up to about 50 mph for about 1/4 mile or so and wanted to give a better checkout. We took off up Hwy 77 and had to stop by the brand new WallyWorld Super Center in Lynn Haven for a few things then on up through Southport and across the Deer Point Lake Dam to cut over to US231 and on back into Panama City and Home.

Well, I'm here to tell you, she drove and rode like a new motorhome.virtually no vibration or shake, tracked extremly well and shifted better than it has in ages. There was a VERY light vibration felt at about 65 mph but I picked it up just as we passed a road where there is an extreme amount of morning and evening traffic from the workforce so I would attribute the little vibes to the road surface instead of the MH. (I don't really expect my W20 chassis to ride like a magic carpet anyway, tho....it is, in fact, a pretty heavy duty truck chassis after all!) A couple of other things really impressed me and also caused my wife to comment. One was the way the MH handled on curves. The 'dam' road has a couple of sweeping curves on it and when I took one of them holding at a steady 60 mph and the other at 65mph very comfortably and safe, we were very impressed. In the past, I would slow to around 45 or 50 and pucker up a bit on those curves. Those KONI's DO work. I guess I need to get the rears when I get over some relief from all of the extra expenses we have had lately. Then I should be able to run those curves at 80 or so......Well maybe not, there is a Highway Partol station just past the curves.

The other thing I found to impress me was the Allison speed shifting. My MH has, over the past few months, been a little stubborn about going into overdrive. Many times I would need to get to about 62 or 63 before it would drop into OD...Yesterday, I was consistantly shifting into OD at around 54...and since changing to TranSynd earlier in the year, all shifts have been smoother, they seemed to be even more 'buttery' yesterday. In thinking about it last night, I was wondering if the rear calipers might have been dragging a bit earlier (and then finally failing to release altogether causing my last 'failure') causing enough resistance to make me hold a bit more throttle, especially when trying to get into OD and causing the tranny to hold onto 4th a bit longer. I haven't had any real abnormal temps off the rears but then I do not really remember taking the temps except immediately after stopping. On my last failure, my THIRD, the caliper bodies were at 290 degrees (both sides) immediately after pulling off the road and then when I rechecked them about 15 minutes later they were both right at 400 degrees, through heat soak I would imagine and without having the moving air to keep them a little cooler. So I might have been getting a little higher temps then I knew about if I had taken temps after letting them 'cook' for a few minutes.

Anyway, with new calipers all around (even tho they are the old design they haven't had the time to absorb moisture and swell) within the past 15 or so months, I hope I am able to limp through until the recall is completed. Of the 4 I have had to replace, I had to pay for 3 of them. Hoping for a reimbursement for one of the fronts I paid for, sent claim back in July, and trying to find a way to get some reconsideration on the two rear calipers they refused to accept any responsibility for....But, I guess the mantra I have always tried to live by..... "If You're Gonna Play, You Gotta Pay" is holding true to form with my MH...although I always hoped to apply it to buying new stuff and improving things and making normal repairs, not fixind manufactures defects.
Oh well, I'm just glad my MH is running a lot better than it has in a long time.

[DriVer]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Capt Joe Anyway, with new calipers all around (even tho they are the old design they haven't had the time to absorb moisture and swell) within the past 15 or so months, I hope I am able to limp through until the recall is completed.

Captain Joe, I just wrote about this yesterday I think. My calipers (4) are now about 17 months old and I fully expect that will continue to work flawlessly for another few months until the campaign launches. I'm looking forward to it for sure.

At 83,000+ miles my rig runs better today than it ever has!

[George Z]

Capt Joe, At what mileage did you install your Koni's and were your old shocks worn out or are the Koni's that much better?

Thanks
George

[Capt Joe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by George Z Capt Joe, At what mileage did you install your Koni's and were your old shocks worn out or are the Koni's that much better? Thanks George

George Z,
I had just under 12K miles on it when I changed and I felt the original Monroe's were about shot. When we got them off, they sure didn't have much resistance to being manually moved in or out.....That said, I also believe very strongly that the KONI's would perform much better than even brand new Monroe's, therefore the willingness on my part to spend the extra $$$ that the KONI's bring. I ordered mine through shox.com on a Friday and got them with free ground UPS shipping and no sales tax the next Thursday. Installed them the next Friday morning and left on Sat about noon for a little get-a-way .... then about 35 miles or so down the road, I had my THIRD brake failure.

I don't THINK there is any relationship between the new shocks and the brake failure because the new shocks are on the front and both REAR calipers failed me....

I was going to do the R&R on the shocks myself but after crawling up under there, and pulling just a bit with a 1/2" drive pull bar and then adding about a 3' section of pipe and they still wouldn't budge, I figured that since I have recently turned 65, I deserved to have a young buck under there pulling on them. I have a good friend in the heavy truck repair business...fairly large operation.... who has all the right stuff to do it, including a drive over pit where you can stand up and work under a truck. It ended up taking more than I wanted to undertake as at least one of the mounting bolts was cross threaded or something from the factory and they had to ruin it to get it out. Anyway, it was one of the best $53 (including the replacement bolts) I have spent in a while and I didn't have to even wash my hands.

I would highly recommend the KONI's!!!!!!!

[George Z]

Thanks for the shock info Captain. Guess I'll have to start wrapping my change to invest in Konis

[CoastieSCPO]

Great report Capt. Joe and its much appreciated. My W-20's ride is in need for some improvement and I've been planning on getting some Koni's as soon as the funds are available. But I may get the Ultra CAI first. When we went to Alaska it rained a lot and my stock filter got both wet in places and very dirty. First rain, then mud, then dust, then more rain. The stock tuba is not very good and the filter is a pain to get at.
Anyway Capt Joe, great report and thanks.

Bob