Chassis Maintenance Items

[chasfm11]

I'm the type who is always looking for better ways to do maintenance and find problems before they happen. In my computer repair days, we used to look at the specifics of repair actions on the various types of machines and think about checks that could be reasonably done to prevent reoccurances. Since I don't have that kind of data available to me on my RV, I'm stuck with carefully reading the forum information and using the standard suggested maintenance routines for guidance. I have a trip to Gaffney scheduled soon for some heavy duty changes to our suspension and am preparing to try to take advantage of the information that is availble there regarding maintence. Unfortunately, I don't have enough time to do a Camp Freighliner this trip so I'll just have to make do with some questions.

I've grown somewhat more comfortable about the recommended maintenace routines except for the following inspections:
1. Air compressor
2. Fuel pump
3. System Valves (air brakes)
4. Air Dryer
5. Alternator, Battery, Starter
6. Differential breather
7. Cooling system
9. Fuel tank and fuel lines.

Before anyone jumps in to help me, please allow me to put this into context. I've been maintaning my own passenger cars for over 30 years. In that time, I've figured out how to look the radiator hoses, for example, to see drips, cracks and loose clamps. For the battery and starter, I typically take the cables completely off, clean the contact surfaces and put everything back using a dielectric grease. I don't consider myself to be a novice but to be lacking the specific history about the RV environment that will help me be more complete in my inspections.

Let's take a specific example: Inspect the air compressor. Today, I look at it, check its mounting bolts for tighness, check the hose connections for tightness and generally look around the area for something that seems different than the last time I lookded. Our daughter's Honda air conditioning system recently failed and the cause turned out to be a break in a metal pipe that had vibrated because the receiver mounting screw had come loose and the reciever was hanging on that pipe, vibrating the pipe as our daughter drove down the road. Had I been sticking my head under the hood of our daughter's car as I do with my own, I'm certain I would have found and fixed the receiver mount problem before the pipe cracked. My expectation is that the air compressor inspection is intended to catch those same kinds of problems but I'm not certain that what I'm doing is enough.

I'm planning to take the above list with me to Gaffney. I'd like to solict feedback in advance to help me frame questions for them about my items better. Are there specific points on any item on my list that would be helpful for me to find out about?

Thanks,

Charlie

P.S. I'm convinced that I took the above list to the average Freighliner service shop, they would be as much at a loss as I am to do a good job in the inspections.

[chasfm11]

I'm the type who is always looking for better ways to do maintenance and find problems before they happen. In my computer repair days, we used to look at the specifics of repair actions on the various types of machines and think about checks that could be reasonably done to prevent reoccurances. Since I don't have that kind of data available to me on my RV, I'm stuck with carefully reading the forum information and using the standard suggested maintenance routines for guidance. I have a trip to Gaffney scheduled soon for some heavy duty changes to our suspension and am preparing to try to take advantage of the information that is availble there regarding maintence. Unfortunately, I don't have enough time to do a Camp Freighliner this trip so I'll just have to make do with some questions.

I've grown somewhat more comfortable about the recommended maintenace routines except for the following inspections:
1. Air compressor
2. Fuel pump
3. System Valves (air brakes)
4. Air Dryer
5. Alternator, Battery, Starter
6. Differential breather
7. Cooling system
9. Fuel tank and fuel lines.

Before anyone jumps in to help me, please allow me to put this into context. I've been maintaning my own passenger cars for over 30 years. In that time, I've figured out how to look the radiator hoses, for example, to see drips, cracks and loose clamps. For the battery and starter, I typically take the cables completely off, clean the contact surfaces and put everything back using a dielectric grease. I don't consider myself to be a novice but to be lacking the specific history about the RV environment that will help me be more complete in my inspections.

Let's take a specific example: Inspect the air compressor. Today, I look at it, check its mounting bolts for tighness, check the hose connections for tightness and generally look around the area for something that seems different than the last time I lookded. Our daughter's Honda air conditioning system recently failed and the cause turned out to be a break in a metal pipe that had vibrated because the receiver mounting screw had come loose and the reciever was hanging on that pipe, vibrating the pipe as our daughter drove down the road. Had I been sticking my head under the hood of our daughter's car as I do with my own, I'm certain I would have found and fixed the receiver mount problem before the pipe cracked. My expectation is that the air compressor inspection is intended to catch those same kinds of problems but I'm not certain that what I'm doing is enough.

I'm planning to take the above list with me to Gaffney. I'd like to solict feedback in advance to help me frame questions for them about my items better. Are there specific points on any item on my list that would be helpful for me to find out about?

Thanks,

Charlie

P.S. I'm convinced that I took the above list to the average Freighliner service shop, they would be as much at a loss as I am to do a good job in the inspections.

[Joe-K]

Charlie,

I'm convinced that the general observation of the condition of underhood and underchassis components has a lot to do with keeping our rigs operating safely. Just as you've described, keeping a keen eye on things often times identifies potential issues before they become serious issues that result in a breakdown on the side of the road.

While I can't suggest specifics things to look at on your list, I agree 100% with you that just being under the rig periodically and becoming accustomed to the way things are supposed to look provides the knowledge to spot something amiss when indeed something breaks.

Hopefully in your trip to Gaffney, you'll come up with a list of items to check and observe with the various systems and can share that with us.

[chasfm11]

An update on our Gaffney trip:
1. The drive between Dallas and Gaffney was great. The trees in MS and GA seemed to be at peak color and it was fun to see them.
2. We drove to Jackson, MS in 1992 and portions of I-20 haven't improved any since then, especially around Shreveport.
3. The anti-sway bar additions made a big difference in the ride and handling of our RV. They were worth the effort and expense to have added, even on a 6 year old coach.
4. The Service Bulletin (32-4) called for 8 hours to change the shocks and add the anti-sway bars; at least that was what Freightliner was willing to pay dealers to do it. I had already put the 4 shocks on myself and would estimate that it wouldn't take a normal tech more than 1.5 hours to do all 4. My original estimate from Gaffney for only the bars was for 10 hours. The actual labor was two men, 16 hours each. I'm really glad that I didn't tackle the change myself because the drilling template with the Service Bulletin didn't match with the parts and my chassis on the front axle.
5. The new service facility in Gaffney is really nice. They have a lot more spaces for rigs and the building itself is great. I was puzzled by the placement of their dump station (they offer electric only in the parking spots), the approaches to it and the fact that the station is higher than all of the surrounding ground. I guess they plan to pave it eventually and the paving will fix the "dump uphill" problem.
6. Because of the delayed work, I wasn't able to contact anyone about my chassis maintenance questions. I plan to seek alternatives to get the guidance that I'm looking for.