loose hydraulic jack reservoir

[bigdog]

I have had a bit of a rattle coming from the rear of my rig when it is idling since I got it.I thought it was the grill for the side radiator and tightened the bolts a couple of times.Today I was looking at the connections for it and the air cleaner as it was rattling again. I pushed on the hydraulic res and durned if it didn't feel loose and the rattle stopped. I shut down the engine and started messing around with the reservoir and found that it was just hanging over the edge of the bracket and NOT BOLTED TO ANYTHING....Is this the way it should be or is this another goof up by the person that replaced it before I got it.
I would love to find out who worked on before the PO traded it in as they were really pretty poor.I have the records of all the work,when it was done,BUT not who did it. It has cost me almost $5K to have things redone that they did to it and now I find this little problem.It looks as if one major bump and the thing could jump up and drop off of the bracket and drag on the ground and there's another $2-3K bill.

[sgtjoe]

This was a common problem with the Tradewinds since National chose to mount the reservoir off of a welded bracket that receives a lot of vibration. I lost mine twice off my 2001. But it sounds like yours may not be mounted the same as mine since you say you have a side mounted radiator. On the ones with the rear radiator National came up with a modification that worked pretty good. Ours usually vibrated the 1/4" screws loose that hold the tank until only one of the four were left causing the weight of the tank with fluild to break the collar causing the tank to fall. I strapped mine to the bracket using a large hose clamp with a piece of rubber between the tank and bracket. I also bought longer set screws so I could add a lock and flat washer to each. Been tight for two years now. Go on the National forum and see what the other 01 LTC owners have done. The last tank was vibrated loose on CA freeway on the way to Yuma.

[bigdog]

Thanks,I was thinking along the same lines. I'm looking at putting a thin piece of hard rubber in and then doing the metal strap arrangement like you did.The durn thing just hangs there up against the full length bracket..

[sgtjoe]

What I did on mine was to drill through the clamp and the bracket so that the clamp was centered around the tank, fastened with a metal screw through the clamp into the mount bracket, cut a piece of old water hose and placed it between the screw head and tank. I also used lok tight on the four set screws. I check mine each time I travel to be sure they are tight. Allen wrench with the ball end is great for the area you have to work with.