Those who work on your own coaches - question

[Oldrtrcr]

35 lbs.

[Arch Hoagland]

Oldrtrcr...Now THAT'S a set of ramps!!!

I raise the front of my coach with my levelers and place jack stands under the frame.

Dropped the coach front end on the jack stands one time to ensure they would hold in case of a loss of levelers.

The rear end is too heavy for me to trust anything to hold so I don't do any rear end work.

At least once a year I read where somebody was crushed working under their car.

Let's hope I don't read about you.

[ScottRussell]

Originally Posted by JohnRR

I'm sorry but after reading both your posts I think I have to question your skill level to do this reasonable simple job with complete safety.

While I understand what and why you are trying to accomplish this please consider spending a few dollars to have it adjusted by a pro.

Please center my whole post around your safety.

John, I understand, and I appreciate your concern for my well being. While I am quite new to motorhomes, I was an automotive technician, a service writer, and I still make my living as a process improvement project manager in the auto industry. I'm also a lifetime drag racer who (along with my best friend, who is a retired mechanical engineer), builds our own cars from the ground up, doing our own fabrication, and welding, as well as our freshening our own engines, setting up our own ring and pinions, and I do all the tuning of our turbocharged stand alone EFI engines, as well as doing the freshening of these engines after the initial builds are done professionally.

I'm certainly NOT a pro, but please know I would never put anyone's life in danger (including my own). If I feel the least bit unsure of my work, or that it could in any way make the coach unsafe, rest assured that I will indeed pay a Pro to do the job. However, not unlike many of those I've met here on iRV2, a big part of the enjoyment of RVing is learning and doing as much of the work myself is as feasible. That said, I'm not going to attempt anything where I'm quite simply "out of my depth".

Don't take my post as lashing out in any way, but simply helping you understand a bit more about me. Again, I appreciate your concern for my safety.

[ScottRussell]

Originally Posted by Oldrtrcr

This is what I use.

WOW! those are impressive!

[ScottRussell]

Originally Posted by Muncie_6spd

I built the ramps exactly like you're talking about out of treated 2"X8"X8' boards cut into 3 pieces of 4', 2.5' and 1.5'. I used 3" long deck screws to attach them. I also cut the ends of each piece at a 45 degree angle to make it easier to drive up on them. I built four of them in order for all the rear wheels to be supported while working on the engine.
My 34' Gulf Stream is on a Spartan chassis with leaf springs instead of air bags and the tires are not as wide as the larger rigs so the 8" is just the right width for them.

If I do go this route, I'll have 6 of them. I want to be sure to have all six tires equally supported. The weight of the coach is really frightening to me, so I want to be sure that I'm not trying to support the weight of it with only 4 of the 6 tires. I will also have at least 4 sets of chocks in place once I drive it up onto them, as well as putting the leveling jacks down as a precaution (though I don't think they will reach the ground if the ramps are 8" tall, but I honestly don't know that yet).

Thanks for chiming in. It's comforting to know others have done the same thing and it served the purpose safely.

[KIX]

Originally Posted by ScottRussell

I was definitely planning to raise all 4 corners equally and do it on a perfectly level concrete surface. You are probably right about not needing 6-8" but better safe than sorry.

Scott, I bought 3" x 12" boards. I have two stacked and lag bolted together. The bottom one is about 4feet long and the top one is about two feet long. Angles on each board. I have four of these units. One behind each rear tire adn back up onto them to raise the whole rear of the coach 6 inches. For the front tires I use a single 3" x 12" x 2feet. It works well for me.
Also, loiok at a Fumoto valve (Google it). Makes changing oil very easy and clean.

ON edit. I just read your post #19.......If you are only working under the rear why do you think the front needs to be raised up too? All four wheel positions will be on the ground with the boards at the rear wheels between the ground and the tires. The fact that it's not level is not an issue. Also, do you know how the park brake works on your air brake coach? I assume you have air brakes.

[ScottRussell]

Originally Posted by KIX

Scott, I bought 3" x 12" boards. I have two stacked and lag bolted together. The bottom one is about 4feet long and the top one is about two feet long. Angles on each board. I have four of these units. One behind each rear tire adn back up onto them to raise the whole rear of the coach 6 inches. For the front tires I use a single 3" x 12" x 2feet. It works well for me.
Also, loiok at a Fumoto valve (Google it). Makes changing oil very easy and clean.

ON edit. I just read your post #19.......If you are only working under the rear why do you think the front needs to be raised up too? All four wheel positions will be on the ground with the boards at the rear wheels between the ground and the tires. The fact that it's not level is not an issue. Also, do you know how the park brake works on your air brake coach? I assume you have air brakes.

Yes, it does have air brakes, and though I do know how to apply the parking brake, I don't know mechanically how it works (yet ).

I hadn't considered it not needing to be level with the ground. Now that you mention it, I read last night that the measurement is from the main frame to the H-Frame, so I suppose you are right about the front not needing to be level with the back in relation to the ground.

BTW, the Fumoto valve is a neat innovation. Lots of racers use it because we change oil so often. Saves lots of worn out threads

[Walter5555]

I do the same thing that Thread 5 does only I don't service the transmission.
Just a thought.

[JohnRR]

So now that I get to reassess the situation you seem to be more than capable of getting the job done safely.

I think there are many of us here that would enjoy seeing pictures of some of your projects if you can get a chance to do so.

Originally Posted by ScottRussell

John, I understand, and I appreciate your concern for my well being. While I am quite new to motorhomes, I was an automotive technician, a service writer, and I still make my living as a process improvement project manager in the auto industry. I'm also a lifetime drag racer who (along with my best friend, who is a retired mechanical engineer), builds our own cars from the ground up, doing our own fabrication, and welding, as well as our freshening our own engines, setting up our own ring and pinions, and I do all the tuning of our turbocharged stand alone EFI engines, as well as doing the freshening of these engines after the initial builds are done professionally.

I'm certainly NOT a pro, but please know I would never put anyone's life in danger (including my own). If I feel the least bit unsure of my work, or that it could in any way make the coach unsafe, rest assured that I will indeed pay a Pro to do the job. However, not unlike many of those I've met here on iRV2, a big part of the enjoyment of RVing is learning and doing as much of the work myself is as feasible. That said, I'm not going to attempt anything where I'm quite simply "out of my depth".

Don't take my post as lashing out in any way, but simply helping you understand a bit more about me. Again, I appreciate your concern for my safety.

[ScottRussell]

Originally Posted by JohnRR

So now that I get to reassess the situation you seem to be more than capable of getting the job done safely.

I think there are many of us here that would enjoy seeing pictures of some of your projects if you can get a chance to do so.

John, here's a link to where I post a lot of pictures of my projects related to racing and even the recent complete disassembly and piece by piece cleaning and reassembly of every component of the interior of my 97 Chevy dually truck. There are nearly 1500 pics of my personal race car alone. There are also many years of pictures of my friend Dean Fisher and his son Mark's Mustang and all the phases it's been through over the years. There are too many pictures and projects in the photo albums to get into here, but feel free to look them over and share them with whomever you like.

StreetFire - Car Video, Car Crashes, Race Car Videos, and More

[JohnRR]

Thank you.

[ScottRussell]

Originally Posted by JohnRR

Thank you.

Anytime, and again, I appreciate you looking out for my safety.

[JohnRR]

Is there a secret to viewing the pictures? The index page comes up for a second or two showing the albums then the page goes blank.

[Walter5555]

I don't think we could give you any information that you and your frinds don't already know about.
Just my thought.