Community Forums

Tegu · 01-16-2018, 12:01 PM

closer pic. It does look to me to be some kind of defect or a previous crack.

harleyjt · 01-16-2018, 02:09 PM

It appears to be a fresh break. Nothing I see indicates there was a past issue.
jt

edge68474 · 01-16-2018, 05:37 PM

TeJay.
" This is not a criticism at all but in reading your last post I detect that maybe English is not your first language. "

Umm, my friend, that one went WAAAY over my head, lol.
English is my first language, but I really had a hard time with it in school. Diagramming a sentence, paaaleeese. WINK. I guess that's why I've been pretty much a labor type guy. But hey, I fueled aircraft in the Navy.
Also, as a kid we was stationed at Eielson for 2 1/2 years. Kind of cold there. I'm sure you know where that is. TTYL
Thank you.

P.S. Don't you have a heater in your garage? I've got one of those I call turbo heater. Runs on kerosene or diesel. Instant heat. We can take up a collection for you for one if you like. Oh yeah. I've been to Portland Maine in February. Could not stay out of the car for more than 10 minutes. Man was it cold.

Dav L · 01-16-2018, 08:37 PM

Tegu,
Do you have a picture of the bottom front of the differential?
I noticed on mine that when the suspension was topped out that the sway bar could hit the differential and get "jammed up"...I am wondering if something like that happened which may have snapped the sway bar bracket.

When I put longer links on, that fixed the issue.

I see a Spicer tag, but not sure which to know if yours has the same issue mine had.

TeJay · 01-16-2018, 10:09 PM

Larry,

I do have a heater in the garage. Actually we had a heat pump installed up stairs and for an extra $70 they installed a 14" square vent. I have heat and AC.

At this point it's so darn cold outside at least for the next day or so we have been running the wood stove and the down stairs unit does not run at all and the upstairs unit runs very little because the heat rises. So the garage does not get as warm as I'd like.

It's not the lack of heat so much but the lack of ventilation to do much painting. I usually open the garage door and paint in the car port. At 10 degrees that's not going to happen.

It's supposed to be in the 40's by Thursday and 60's by the weekend.

edge68474 · 01-17-2018, 06:37 AM

Ok TeJay. Stay warm. I'm not in that big of a hurry, and it won't take me long to do the fix up front. I've pretty much got this down now. We want to leave for AZ on or about the 25th, 26th of this month.
Oh. How is my noun, pronouns, verbs, adjectives etc., looking today? Wink.

TeJay · 01-17-2018, 07:34 AM

Larry,

All is well!!!!! Can't wait until the temps get back in the double digits and we are staying warm. It's a given when you can't find room for your feet at night because you are surrounded by two dogs and a cat.

Maybe you've heard this before. Remember the band, "Three Dog Night?" What does the name mean?? It's so cold it takes three dogs to stay warm!!!!! We are a Two Dog and a Cat family but it works!!!

Tegu · 01-17-2018, 01:17 PM

For Dav L;

edge68474 · 01-17-2018, 05:25 PM

Gotta love the furry ones. It's a warming fest.
" Joy to the world "

Dav L · 01-17-2018, 11:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tegu

For Dav L;

That's a different differential than mine. On quick look, I don't see any interference points, but certainly you should be cycling the suspension through it's range to ensure there are non that may have caused the bracket to fail.

PSOUZA · 01-18-2018, 03:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TeJay

Tegu,

I can't come up with one reasonable idea as to why a SB clamp would just crack like it did. I do not recall anyone having a broken clamp without loose bolts.

It's entirely possible that a slight crack was already on the clamp and it got worse based on the fact that you had a new (perhaps larger and stiffer) SB installed. I'm not accusing anybody just trying to give an idea as to why.

I have followed this series of threads from the start and had hoped to find a documented incident that duplicated my own experiences.

First comment regards the weakness of the clamp. The clamp was most likely stamped in one operation while at ambient (room) temperature. This would have work hardened the sharp radius, both inner and outer. Note the clean break visible at the inner radius. This area of metal was compressed during forming of the bend and would almost immediately begin to fracture along this line of crystallized steel when tension from the SB tried to "unbend" the bracket. Additionally, a pressure ridge may have been embossed into the bracket during the stamping operation that added another stress riser. Flexing will eventually compromise any stress riser such as those that were built into this bracket.

Second comment is I am surprised that no one has mentioned the billet machined bracket that is displayed on Skuterdudes website alongside his bushing illustration. Obviously some one has traversed this route before us and found what may be a fix to this particular problem. Perhaps Skuterdude could provide some factual history behind his display, such as what MH builder is responsible for intelligent actions.

For my self, I intend to machine a set of solid steel brackets based on what is shown on Skuterdudes website.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Ford-F53-Cl...pTXrv7&vxp=mtr

Phil

edge68474 · 01-18-2018, 04:47 PM

I was wondering what you was looking at, then I looked at the other pics. Yep, that bracket looks to be much, much stronger huh.
On mine, after I bought the MH and first went under, I saw actually my buddy saw it first, the bushing looked to be coming out of the bracket, from a distance. We was working on the front. But it was the bolt coming loose, then the bracket snapped in two like most everyone else. I stopped at Ford and they just happened to have another one there. Then I was suggested to get a hold of skuderdude for the bushings. Looks like he has the link bushings also, in case needed later.
Yeah, I like the looks of those other brackets for sure.
Have a good day.

TeJay · 01-18-2018, 07:24 PM

Phil,

What Skuterdude is showing are the original heavy duty Ford SB brackets that were used in the beginning. We had a long discussion on the phone about the apparent differences in the old versus the new designs.

He does monitor these forums and may weigh in on this discussion. If he doesn't then I or someone can shoot him a PM.

Tomorrow I'll take some pictures and post what I did to strengthen both the front and rear bushing clamps because i thought they looked kind of weak or lacking.

All I did was weld some gussets to strengthen the brackets.

PSOUZA, What you are describing regarding the metal forming process and what it can do to weaken parts manufactured in that manner one would think that manufacturers have to be aware of those issues and do what ever it takes to avoid the possible failure.

Skuterdude did mention that twisted, cracked & broken SB brackets and loose or missing attaching bolts & nuts were primarily on the rear.

That information was from over a year ago. He also told me that he had received so many requests for rear brackets that he located a source from Ford.

I looked on his sight and didn't find the brackets listed so I may be mistaken. Maybe he lost his source of may have a limited supply and only offers them if folks ask.

That's another point to clarify.

PSOUZA · 01-19-2018, 12:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TeJay

Your differential (DF) has the name, "Spicer" on the tag. As far as I'm aware Ford uses DANA (DF) on all their chassis now. What is your RV's age??

Dana is the parent company name, selling Spicer brand products.....usually.

The separation is not always consistent as the names (in practice) seem interchangeable.

History | Dana Incorporated

Phil