Community Forums

RVRenter · 07-05-2018, 12:25 AM

Hello all!

We rented a 2016 Holiday Rambler and 1,200 miles into our trip, the left front wheel bearing failed in Yellowstone. Thankfully, we had made it through all of the switchbacks before the failure. Since it's a rental, I don't know what the maintenance history is.

We've been in the parking lot of the repair shop since Tuesday morning hoping the parts arrive on schedule Friday morning.

Today, I started researching front wheel bearing failures on this chassis and found this community. There were a few threads discussing early failure and one in particular generated a bit of back and forth on this type of failure.

We treated the RV as though it was our own
I realize this has nothing to do with a bearing failure, but we carefully monitored tire pressure and did a walk around and under chassis and under hood inspection at each stop Prior to the failure, there was no warning of an impending problem. As the title indicated, there is just over 10,000 miles on the RV. It's Ford manufacture date appears to be 1/2016. Others have suggested having the front wheel bearings inspected for proper lubrication and torque.

A picture of the spindle and bearing damage is attached.

I hope this information is useful for other members.

Be safe and enjoy the road!

keymastr · 07-05-2018, 01:18 AM

Ouch!

triplewide · 07-05-2018, 02:19 AM

Do you know who is paying for the repair, Ford or rental company? Curious as to what Ford had to say about the failure.

CountryB · 07-05-2018, 07:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by triplewide

Do you know who is paying for the repair, Ford or rental company? Curious as to what Ford had to say about the failure.

Ford wont pay for it.
I'll bet their service manual has a requirement for inspecting the wheel bearings every 12 months (and at some mileage) so it's been over 1 year and the rental company should have inspected by now (and either they didn't - so their at fault; or they did and screwed up the adjustment - so their at fault).

MSHappyCampers · 07-05-2018, 10:10 AM

Hi !

Welcome to IRV2! We're sure glad you joined the gang!

Hope you get the problem solved soon!

Good luck, happy trails, and God bless!

JIMBO34PA · 07-05-2018, 03:32 PM

Sorry for your breakdown . Can't see why Ford shouldn't pay . 3/36 warranty there have been many front wheel bearing failure reports. It appears both inner and outer bearings failed indicating over preload . Scheduled maint says repack at 60k.

MoMule · 07-05-2018, 07:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RVRenter

Hello all!

We rented a 2016 Holiday Rambler and 1,200 miles into our trip, the left front wheel bearing failed in Yellowstone. Thankfully, we had made it through all of the switchbacks before the failure. Since it's a rental, I don't know what the maintenance history is.

We've been in the parking lot of the repair shop since Tuesday morning hoping the parts arrive on schedule Friday morning.

Today, I started researching front wheel bearing failures on this chassis and found this community. There were a few threads discussing early failure and one in particular generated a bit of back and forth on this type of failure.

We treated the RV as though it was our own
I realize this has nothing to do with a bearing failure, but we carefully monitored tire pressure and did a walk around and under chassis and under hood inspection at each stop Prior to the failure, there was no warning of an impending problem. As the title indicated, there is just over 10,000 miles on the RV. It's Ford manufacture date appears to be 1/2016. Others have suggested having the front wheel bearings inspected for proper lubrication and torque.

A picture of the spindle and bearing damage is attached.

I hope this information is useful for other members.

Be safe and enjoy the road!

I hope they inspected the right front wheel bearings also. If not, they are due to fail shortly. Ford F53 motor home chassis are built in Mexico and shipped by rail. They are secured to the rail car but vibrations induced in rail travel causes very small movement of the wheel bearings. This movement is confined to just two or three rollers at the bottom of the bearing and the bearing cup. After hundreds if not thousands of miles of travel on the rail car these bearings get severely pitted and will prematurely fail.

Sweetbriar · 07-05-2018, 07:59 PM

That is one ugly spindle that isn't much good for anything other than maybe a boat anchor.

Regarding Ford recommended maintenance for model year 2016 the requirement is at every 7500 miles to - "Inspect wheels and related components for abnormal noise, wear, looseness or drag" and at 60,000 miles - "Replace front wheel bearing grease and grease seal if nonsealed bearings are used". Reads like a potential warranty claim.

Wheel bearing failures do occur but seem to be fairly rare given the total yearly production numbers.

CJ7365 · 07-05-2018, 08:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MoMule

I hope they inspected the right front wheel bearings also. If not, they are due to fail shortly. Ford F53 motor home chassis are built in Mexico and shipped by rail. They are secured to the rail car but vibrations induced in rail travel causes very small movement of the wheel bearings. This movement is confined to just two or three rollers at the bottom of the bearing and the bearing cup. After hundreds if not thousands of miles of travel on the rail car these bearings get severely pitted and will prematurely fail.

This is a pretty good one here if not topping the record for the most non believable theory.

I would like to hear where you got this info from.

If it was the least bit true, there would be more far bearing failures than have been reported here on this forum.

Not sure how many ford chassis are railed over to the US but its not just a couple.

tderonne · 07-05-2018, 08:55 PM

F53s haven't been built in Mexico for almost 20 years.

As noted, there were a few owners here who reported problems with wheel bearings a few years ago, 2014 models I believe. They were either over tightened or lacked grease, I forget exactly what it was in each case.

Not sure what happens to the factory warranty when it's a rental unit, may void certain things. That's one of the great things about a rental. It's not the user's problem.

FIRE UP · 07-05-2018, 09:01 PM

Well,
First off, this is a RENTAL!!! Any and all repairs, maintenance, warranty etc is between the rental company and Ford, not the renter. About 99.9999% of the time, an insurance policy is offered or, possibly demanded by the rental company that will handle any and all breakage, damage, towing and more during the time the renter has it. So, a simple call to the rental office where the coach was rented from will TAKE CARE OF ALL OF IT.

After that, it's up to the rental company to deal with Ford IF, there's any warranty available. Sometimes in commercial applications, warranty is diminished quite a bit. So, while this situation surely puts the renter and family in a depleted and somewhat desperate position, the repairs are at the mercy of the rental company. And just how they handle it, remains to be seen. If they make arrangements for immediate repair, great. If not, well, they won't be in business long once that word gets out.
Scott

IggyTech · 07-05-2018, 09:18 PM

I have a 2012 F-53 and now have over 60,000 miles and I have not had any issues with my front wheel bearings.

I recently had my F-53 chassis inspected at my local Commercial Ford Shop. I asked if the front wheel bearings needed inspection or degreasing and was told that they are good for 100,000 miles and that they were sealed front bearing.
Now not all F53 are the same. Mine is 38ft long on a 242" wheel base chassis 26,000 lbs max weight

What length if this motorhome you rented?

I just found this here on IRV2 website.
http://www.irv2.com/forums/f258/2014...es-296048.html

Here is another thread I found here.
http://www.irv2.com/forums/f23/2014-...gs-230065.html

ThePowells · 07-05-2018, 10:13 PM

Welcome to the forum.

Let us know how it works out.

MoMule · 07-06-2018, 10:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CJ7365

This is a pretty good one here if not topping the record for the most non believable theory.

I would like to hear where you got this info from.

If it was the least bit true, there would be more far bearing failures than have been reported here on this forum.

Not sure how many ford chassis are railed over to the US but its not just a couple.

You don't have to just take my word for this. Talk to any mechanic with many years of experience. This happened to me. Bought a new Dolphin 434 on a Ford F 53 chassis in 1994. At 25,000 miles I pulled the front wheels to repack the bearings. Both inner and outer bearings on both wheels had two pitted rollers and each bearing cup had two pits matching the roller spacing. I just was lucky in finding this before total failure.