Grease Drive Train at 5000 mi

[LewF]

Looking for experience folks have had with Monaco DP drive train greasing.

We have had two Monaco DPs, HR Endeavor and now Camelot. Both have the same drive train maintenance requirements - grease every 5000 mi. On the Camelot I cannot get under the coach to grease the drive train myself (large lattice structure under the drive train) and have been taking it to a local Speedco. That all seems to be working but sometimes that is difficult at the 5000 mile interval. What do others do if you can't get under the rig and grease yourself? What is your experience on this recommended grease interval? I am concerned about keeping that slip coupling properly lubricated but every 5000 miles seems like a very short interval.

Thanks for the help.

Lew

[Mike Canter]

Read this and see if it answers your questions. The actual interval for a all on the road driving is 10,000 miles according to Spicer that makes both the driveshaft and the U-Joints. So if you can't do it at 5000 miles I don't believe it will be a problem. You might want to pay close attantion to the part in the below manual that talks about purging out the U-joints of all old grease from all four bearings in each joint and what to do if it doesn't come out.

[LewF]

Thanks Mike, very helpful. We're going to FL next week and I am pushing 5000 mi since last lube - I'm going to wait until we are back to take care of it.

You have any suggestions about how to get this beast lifted up and jack stands under it so I can grease myself? After reading the purge info on the U joints I am not sure that is being done right at Speedco. Also lubing the coupling has to be done carefully as well. I would like to do it myself.

Thanks again Mike. You as wet there in GA as we are here in TN?

Lew

[Mr_D]

Spartan has changed the lube requirement to 5,000 miles for the slip joint on their chassis. I do my own.

[Mike Canter]

Yes, it is wet down here also. Been raining for sometime.

I can actually get under my MH with raising it up and get to both ends of the driveshaft. It is a lot easier to use the RAISE function on my HWH airbag leveling system and raise it up as high as it will go and then hit Emergency Stop on the panel and then put the jackstands under it. I bought an air grease gun from Lowes and I find it a lot easier to shot the grease in with it. I can just keep hitting the trigger until I see it come out the bearing cups then switch to the other fitting and pump again until I see all new grease. They are only about $30 and are Kobalt brand. I use Mobil 1 Synthetic grease. It also makes life easier in getting that slip joint. Make sure you wipe off the excess grease or it will sling it. When that slip joint gets full it wants to sling grease out of the end away from the u-joint and it gets everywhere. Somebody told me to wrap Saran wrap around it in the direction that will not blow off in rotation and drive a little like that until it is through slinging. If mine slings it gets onto the tag axle brakes.

Mr_D, Monaco's requirement is also 5000 miles but they are just being over cautious. Spicer knows more about U-joints and slipjoints than Monaco. What I am saying is it is not the end of the world if you are on travel when 5000 miles comes about.

[LewF]

Mike, what kind of jack stands do,you use? Feeling a little silly, never thought about raising it with the air level system. I don't want to get under it without jack stands however.

Lew

[Mike Canter]

I either got them at Northern or Pep Boys and they are bigger than normal for pu trucks. They are not designed to hold the weight of the MH if you didn't have a wheel on it and it slipped but they will hold if for some reason the air starts leaking out of the leveling system. That leveling system is not going to drop fast if something happens. It will come down slowly and those big jackstand will hold until I am out. The other way is to buy a 16 ft 2 X 12 and cut it into sections and make a step up ramp to drive the rear tires up onto.

[Land Barge]

I grease at every opportunity... now.. previous owner was meticulous at servicing at proper intervals at local Cummins dealer. At 17,xxx total miles I had catastrophic driveshaft failure. Extended warranty denied because of "lack of lube" even though I had serviced at same dealer less than 4,000 miles proir, dealer obviously claimed to have thoroughly serviced. I took to same dealer to hopefully insure extended warranty because the is a big ole clause that will deny if your behind on your service.

Driveshaft also cracked trans case due to driveshaft flailing about. Even after I got it back from installation it took a good bit more grease.

I also didn't pick up on the symptoms before it was too late. It had a increasing vibration in that no load area of acceleration and deceleration. 3 months in on a new to us coach, what did I know?

I'm not saying you should pull over and grease at 5k, but too often is cheaper than not enough.

Grease slowly and deliberately, pit boy is going to give three shots and move on. Even on new U-joint I had to loosen cap to purge more than one cap. By golly they are full of grease now.

[Mr_D]

Originally Posted by Mike Canter

Mr_D, Monaco's requirement is also 5000 miles but they are just being over cautious. Spicer knows more about U-joints and slipjoints than Monaco. What I am saying is it is not the end of the world if you are on travel when 5000 miles comes about.

I'm sure that Spartan has a lot of experience replacing u-joints and seals on their chassis under warranty and they say to do it sooner rather than later, besides it's easy to do so why not?
I took out a rear seal on an Allison on our 2000 DSDP as I didn't know enough to lube it often enough.

[texnet]

Originally Posted by Mike Canter

I either got them at Northern or Pep Boys and they are bigger than normal for pu trucks. They are not designed to hold the weight of the MH if you didn't have a wheel on it and it slipped but they will hold if for some reason the air starts leaking out of the leveling system. That leveling system is not going to drop fast if something happens. It will come down slowly and those big jackstand will hold until I am out.

Hey Mike,

Where are you placing the jack stands? Why not just use some 2"x6" blocks between the chassis and coach body to assure the coach does not go down with loss of air pressure?

[mahon1993]

Instead of jack stands that you might consider buying some 2 X 12 boards and stacking them up to make ramps that you can drive the MH up onto. No fears of failing jack stands or where to place them. I think it's a lot safer.
Greg

[Mike Canter]

Ronnie, you are correct in that is the safest way to do it by placing wood between the suspension and chassis. Greg, first let me say that I think the odds of the air suspension system suddenly malfunctioning and dropping is pretty slim especially at that moment in time when you are under it. It doesn't happen but better safe than sorry. So having said that you have as much chance of the air suspensin dropping when you drive the wheels up on wood ramps as you do if you just raise it up using the air suspension. I thought about this last night during the boring debate so the safest way is with jackstands or as Ronnie suggested placing wood in the suspension.

Mr_D I have to apologize because I just don't understand the point of your discussion. Lew asked if 5000 miles was a drop dead milage because he was going to be on travel when it occured. My answer was that it was not the end of the world because Dana Spicer, the maker of both the U-joints and driveshaft, had a 10,000 grease point for a vehicle that drives on a hard road. We are aware of the Monaco's 5000 mile lube requirement and we are not suggesting that we change that but that 5000 miles plus or minus a 1000 miles or so once in a while is not going to hurt anything. I would suggest that the reason MH companies say 5000 miles is because most owners that do it themsleves only shoot in a couple of squirts of grease and think that is all that is required vice purging all the old grease out of all four bearing cups. Again nobody is saying to change the 5000 mile requirement on a MH.

[moisheh]

A member of the Bluebird club died when the unit droped on him. Others have noted that they walked past their unit and a leveling valve started hissing and one side dropped. Osha does notasllow one to get under an air suspension vehicle without supports. Most bus shops either have: a pit, monster hoist or those fancy hydraulic wheel lifts. If you have a good wooden ramp and make it a practice to not lie under the low areas( like an axle) I think it would be safe. Err on the side of caution.

[LewF]

Since I started this thread I thought I would update it with my thinking. I am comfortable, based on reading the Spicer information Mike provided, to go over 5000 mi between drive train greasing if I have to, i.e. not convenient to grease at 5000 for some reason. I am also convinced that the preferred service is to grease the drive train, AND DO IT CORRECTLY, every 5000 mi if possible.

I want to grease it myself to ensure it is done correctly but one cannot get under our rig to do so without raising it in some manner. If I raise it on the air suspension, I will not get under it without some type support. Soooo ... my chore now is to figure out how to support the rig when I go under it. I like the idea of jack stands since they do not involve driving up on a support, to each his own. Now to figure out what kind; load capacity, height, cost, etc.

For Mike you have once again proven to be a wealth of knowledge on matters technical - would expect no less from a retired Airdale. (Retired Nuke Bubblehead here) More feedback from all regarding jack stands or rig support schemes is appreciated.

I learned quite a bit from this post. To all who grease your rig yourselves, you know how carefully you must grease the drive train - finger over the hole on the slip coupling until pressure pushes it off, continue to grease to fill coupling, purging U joints, etc. I don't have confidence someone at a service center will do this right. The last time I had mine greased, when I asked the mechanic how much grease the coupling took he said he couldn't get it to take any??? He then got a higher pressure gun and got it to take grease and properly filled it up. Makes me very uncomfortable with someone else greasing the drive train.

Thanks for all the help and suggestions.

Lew