Community Forums

garykk · 10-01-2012, 03:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by C-Leigh Racing

Safe travels to you & yours Bruce on your trip.
Always remember before you pull out of the drive way, in Gods word, the man walking & was only one set of foot prints in the sand & he wondered where God was. God was carrying him & he will carry us every which way we go in our travels.

If your going I-40, take her slow west of Little Rock cause it is ruff.
Neil

We did I40 on the way home from the coast of NC a few weeks ago....been through Houston once and that was enough

The worst of I-40 is Oklahoma, especially the last few miles before Texas.

bdickson · 10-01-2012, 06:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by C-Leigh Racing

Safe travels to you & yours Bruce on your trip.
Always remember before you pull out of the drive way, in Gods word, the man walking & was only one set of foot prints in the sand & he wondered where God was. God was carrying him & he will carry us every which way we go in our travels.

If your going I-40, take her slow west of Little Rock cause it is ruff.
Neil

Neil, Thank you for your good wishes. I respect your right to choose to follow a diety, and I would hope that you would respect my right to choose not to subscribe to such beliefs.

bdickson · 10-03-2012, 06:55 PM

750 miles on the CHF in the last two days. Definite difference in overall stability. As we pulled in to the campground in Mobile tonight, DW commented that the ride seemed better. Now that's serious praise! Noticing some popping noises from front end while maneuvering on uneven surfaces in the campground. Had a quick look underneath and don't see anything loose. Anyone else experience this?

Dunner · 10-03-2012, 07:00 PM

The end links need to be tightened to 66 ft.lb. If you think you have it tight, put a torque wrench on it and see how much more it will tighten. It will be surprising. Others have reported the same thing and the fix was a torque wrench.

My GF wouldn't even comment unless I asked her. Stubborn.

bdickson · 10-07-2012, 10:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dunner

The end links need to be tightened to 66 ft.lb. If you think you have it tight, put a torque wrench on it and see how much more it will tighten. It will be surprising. Others have reported the same thing and the fix was a torque wrench.

My GF wouldn't even comment unless I asked her. Stubborn.

Checked the link bolts and sure enough, one of them was not as tight as the others. I didn't have a torque wrench available, so used the old method of "tighten until it squeaks then half a turn more". I'll borrow or rent a torque wrench when we get to New Mexico next week and do it properly. Thanks for the tip Dunner!

Dunner · 10-07-2012, 11:18 AM

It's not critical. Just tighten the 10.9 grade stock Ford bolts as tight as you can. As I posted, you're not the only one who has fixed the "clunk" this way. Glad you found it.

Hipshot · 10-07-2012, 02:00 PM

I thought I had tightened the bolts enough using wrenches. I had tighened them as tight as I could with box end wrenches. On our first trip I had the clunk. At our first night stop I checked them using a torque wrench. I could not believe how much more I tightened them using a torque wrench. No more clunk in 5,000 miles.

Dunner · 10-07-2012, 02:27 PM

I learned that years ago when I bought a used truck. It wandered all over the road because the steering box was loose. I tightened it to what I thought was tight. A week later it was wandering again. This time, I tightened it to specs and it never came loose again.

KSCRUDE · 10-07-2012, 03:27 PM

I have over 22 hundred miles on my coach. Only made one short 500 mile trip before the CHF. It is stiffer on sway but you have to take it real easy on off canter dips. I didn't torque nothing but I used a 2131 ingersol rand half inch impact gun. I just checked everything and all is tight as a fiddle. My bolts are over 66 foot pounds, as I know my gun. I tried to tighten with a half inch ratchet and I could get nothing. They are tight. Mine look like the thickness of the first pictures. I think both pics are the same thickness, just an allusion of sorts I would guess. Would a rear trac bar do much good? May help in the wind, I don't know, may have to get one. It has a factory one on the front, and probably should have had on the rear I would guess. But ford is cheap, I know!

C-Leigh Racing · 10-08-2012, 08:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KSCRUDE

I have over 22 hundred miles on my coach. Only made one short 500 mile trip before the CHF. It is stiffer on sway but you have to take it real easy on off canter dips. I didn't torque nothing but I used a 2131 ingersol rand half inch impact gun. I just checked everything and all is tight as a fiddle. My bolts are over 66 foot pounds, as I know my gun. I tried to tighten with a half inch ratchet and I could get nothing. They are tight. Mine look like the thickness of the first pictures. I think both pics are the same thickness, just an allusion of sorts I would guess. Would a rear trac bar do much good? May help in the wind, I don't know, may have to get one. It has a factory one on the front, and probably should have had on the rear I would guess. But ford is cheap, I know!

Yes it would.
We all would probably be surprised, if there was a camera under the RV, so we could see what was going on under there while traveling down the highway.
Wheres the fresh water tank located in your coach.
Neil

KSCRUDE · 10-08-2012, 11:24 AM

Fresh water is in front of the drive axle running side to side in the basement. 80 gallons. 80 gallon gas is behind the drive axle running front to back between frame rails. Always leave home with both full. I think I will order the rear trac bar and maybe some new Koni shocks. Got a set of centramatics coming for steer and drive axle. But my bilstein shocks are brand new, so would I gain a little with konies on ride?

jmckinley · 10-11-2012, 01:06 PM

It's been close to 20,000 miles and two years since I invented the Cheap Handling Fix at a campground in Alaska. Finally, in the last month or so, I started to experience the dreaded Clunk-Clunk. Thanks to all of you, I knew what to do.

Crawled under and sure enough, not enough torque on the link bolts. As Dunner and others have reported, 66 ft-lbs is a tough to apply when lying on your back with your arms above your head. No way was my original fix torqued anyways near that since I only had a 3/8 ratchet and a wrench with me. After torquing to 66 ft-lbs Clunk-Clunk is now gone and probably won't reappear for a long time.

John McKinley
Genius Inventor of the Cheap Handling Fix

Dunner · 10-11-2012, 01:13 PM

If I don't have a breaker bar or torque wrench with me, I put the box end on the nut or bolt, and take a second box end and put it in the open end of the wrench on the nut and have an extension.

zippo · 10-16-2012, 02:14 PM

I did the mod several months ago and have not heard any clunking. But I checked the torque on mine today front & rear, they were all about 55 so cranked them to 66. When I did the mod I didn't know the torque at that time and only tightened with a 1/2" ratchet. I suspect the 55 was a result of using the short handle ratchet. With the longer torque wrench handle 66 was a fairly easy pull.