Cut bigger hole for engine access??

[Florida Rang]

I would just about bet a Steak dinner that the repair shops that said they replaced the filter Did Not replace it because the previous owner was not going to inspect thier work. Plus the shops may not have seen or known about this filter. Just my 2 cents worth.

[swduns]

I have a 40’ Phaeton but the top access still seems meager. I wonder if the whole step platform could be made removable vs just the top. Mechanics don’t want to work on these rear radiator diesels because there so difficult to access.

I also don’t like the self threading self drilling 1/4” screws that screw into the fiberglass. After a couple of uses the threads in the fiberglass are stripped. I’ve bought SS t-nuts and SS Flat head bolts to replace them.

[SAMPL]

I had the same issue with 2011 Breeze with International Maxx7. I removed all the bedding and unscrewed most of the plywood sheet surrounding the access hole. When you have to prime the fuel system by hand 60-70 strokes, you cannot do that through the tiny access. Once again, the people who design the vehicles do not actually work on them. On another note, the air filter which should have been a 20 minute job took 2 hours. Don't even get me started with Tiffin electrical issues.

[djbmsu]

Seeing the pictures was immaterial to me. If you are as mechanically inclined as you seem to be just go for it as you seem to have done. Good Job !! I would insulate the new cover and carpet it for sound.
P S> You are really due for new tennies !

[SteveD]

Originally Posted by djbmsu

Seeing the pictures was immaterial to me. If you are as mechanically inclined as you seem to be just go for it as you seem to have done. Good Job !! I would insulate the new cover and carpet it for sound.
P S> You are really due for new tennies !

I DO plan to insulate the cover on the engine side - as the original cover was. Not sure yet about the top side. Seems to be just fine right now.. but can always be improved later if need be.

About the shoes.. I do have decent looking tennis shoes for WHEN I PLAY TENNIS. I go through them pretty fast, so have taken to using the 'cast offs' for my shop work. Yeah.. they're pretty ragged .. but not many have the opportunity to 'see them at work' .
Steve
PS. The job is pretty much DONE now .. except for some 'snubbing' of the fuel lines where the filter USED TO BE.. and zip tying the new LONG fuel lines (to the CAC area) so they don't bang around. Cranked it today and all seems well (after I got a fuel leak subdued... the comments about 'DON'T USE TEFLON TAPE' on the fittings led me to use some yellow plumbers paste that I had on hand.. DIDN'T WORK.. LEAKED LIKE A SIEVE. Took 2 fittings back apart and carefully TAPED them and now all is good.) Will post some 'final' pix when I get things dressed up and take the pix.
.. and pretty sure I didn't get ANY DIRT into ANY of the fittings

[momcat]

I think you are exactly right. I think your Steak Dinner bet would be very safe. MOMCAT

[dougw2007]

I own a 99 country coach intrigue but for some reason I get emails every month for the Tiffin group, which I enjoy reading through.

I am doing work on my coach right now and I realize why truck shops don't want to work on motorhomes. There is not much access to things and there are hoses and wires everywhere.

I also wanted to see if I could post a picture and have it show up inline.

So here is my 36 foot rear engine access. If the picture post works.

And I would call Tiffin and ask them how you are suppose to do this. Big mistake on what they did. Doubt filter was every changed.

[jeskibuff]

Originally Posted by SteveD

None of the forums that I use allow infinite saving of uploaded pix. Just takes too much space. I'll upload my next set of pix, but that will likely USE UP my entire allocation of space, so all future posts will have to rely on 'external links' for any pix.

The inline pictures are quite desirable in a post like yours because you can intersperse text with the pictures. When they're grouped all together as they appear with the upload process it can be a bit more difficult to associate the picture with the procedural step. Until we figure out if browser settings can fix the non-display issue, I'll just switch to display using Firefox if no pictures are shown in a post that refers to the invisible photos.

[momcat]

I had s Holiday Rambler that had a really nice access hole, and latching cover, kinda like yours. It was great. As said before.....The Tiffin I have now, that part of it sucks. MOMCAT

[SteveD]

Follow up to my pictures of increasing the size of the OPENING.. so NOW, I try to 'DO SOMETHING' through the new opening. I have to say, the effort to make the hole bigger was well worth the effort.

First good view of filter with air intake pipe pulled loose. I can actually SEE IT! Although it IS possible now to change the filter in place, I still don't have enough room above the filter to install a hand pump, so I opted to go ahead with the move where it will still be a MUCH easier job and not nearly as tough to keep from contaminating the fuel.

Here, I've loosened the attaching bolts for the filter base mount and loosened the in and out fittings for the fuel lines. Also scraped a good bit of the yellow paint away so as to not have loose paint particles around the fuel lines when they are open.



I slid the air hose back in place to keep stuff out of it except for when I really NEEDED it to be out of the way. Here I can actually see the fuel pump lines where they attach to the back of the huei. Ultimately, I decided to NOT attach my new lines down there - just seemed to difficult to access and work on without contaminating the fuel lines. So I just connected to the ends of the lines where they used to attach to the filter base. Also, FYI, the length of the hoses turned out to be 67". I used a heavy duty electric extension cord to 'snake the path' to determine the length I needed. When I moved the air intake line out of the way, I had a very nice view of the path for the hoses .. at least the first 4 feet or so. The same length worked for both lines. I suspect (but don't know for sure) that the distance from the filter location on the engine to the primary filter location back of the radiator would be the same on a '40 as it is on my '35.




I fabbed a small plate to attach to the original base mounting bolts to provide some support to the steel lines and the new hose connections. I was afraid that the additional weight of the new hoses would eventually crack the steel lines without a solid mount for them. The simplest way to attach the lines was ZIP TIES .




The completed mount in the original location of the primary filter for easy access to the hand pump (took about 50 strokes to fill the empty filter). I suspect that, if all is 'right' and you change only 1 filter at a time, you could skip the hand priming, but... I wanted to make sure that the pump was working. You can see the primary filter over to the right in its new location - still accessible, but not quite as easy as it was.



And.. as mentioned in a previous post, I did crack open the filter that was in there for inspection and it wasn't 'bad' at all. No indication of any problems inside the filter housing, but there was a bit of 'stuff' in the filter element. Several of what appeared to be HAIR .. or some strands of something, as well as what seems to be a rather large chunk of glass or perhaps plastic. I'd be interested to know just how THAT got in there...



Also, in response to an earlier post about how much better it is to see the pictures 'in-line' to keep context reference, I found that you can select 'insert image' and use the link to already uploaded pictures (right-click and select 'copy link') to provide that in-line display. The pix will also show at the bottom - don't see a way to keep that from happening.

Would like to add that, if you want to do this yourself and buy 'stock' hose to make them to length yourself, be sure to CLEAN the hoses thoroughly after cutting and installing the fittings (-6 AN BTW and -6 braided hose .. and I also added the 'corregated' plastic outer covering that's on most of the other hoses and wires in the rig - 5/8" ID housing fits just about perfectly). I bought this kit [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1 ] on amazon. It has most of the fittings you need and enough hose to do the job. Of course it also includes several fittings that you'll probably NEVER use, but, as a racer, I can never have TOO MANY AN fittings .


A nice project finally done!
Steve
PS.. I decided to at least TRY one of the ~$20 primers from eBay instead of paying $160 for an 'official CAT' version.. seems to work just fine. Time will tell, but considering how often (seldom) it gets used, think it'll be OK. Feels and looks well built.