Community Forums

qcable · 10-08-2014, 08:44 AM

We Have an appointment tomorrow, 10-09-14, with Source Engineering, Inc in Colburg, Oregon to do the trailing arms replacement and REK installation.

After the work is done I will provide my assessment (for all that's worth) to the changes in ride, handling, etc..

qcable · 10-10-2014, 07:26 PM

Source Engineering replaced the trailing arms and installed the Ride Enhancement Kit yesterday. I dropped off the MH at 8AM and all work was completed at 2 PM, as promised.

We immediately headed South to Reno and I will have to admit that the ride is certainly better than before. The bumps are really smoothed out and the total ride is much softer. My MH handled good before the installation and I could see very little improvement afterwards. Of course, with new shocks and air bags it should handle and ride better.

All-in-all, I would recommend the kit after driving with it for about 450 miles. The DW was very impressed with the softer ride.

Source Engineering has the best total price of any dealers that I contacted. I drove over 1100 miles to have the work done at their shop because of cost and experience in installing the kits.

One shop, Trans West, in Denver Colorado Provided me with the following quote:

(The replacement trailing arms are $2406.25. The manufacturer offers a "ride enhancement kit" that they advise to add at the same time as the replacement control arms. That kit adds another $2887.50 for a total parts cost of $5293.73

Labor for installing the trailing arms only is $2524.50. Total for replacing trailing arms and alignment (parts and labor) is $4930.75

Labor is around $3100.00 for installing both kits and alignment. Total for both kits (parts and labor) installed is $8412.25)

Source Engineering Quoted me as follows:

Trailing Arms kit- $1895
Ride enhancement Kit - $2395
Labor for trailing arms- $720
Labor for REK ( installed at the same time) - $240
total, parts and labor - $5230

Since Oregon has no sales tax, that was the actual total cost.
Some other dealers were a bit cheaper than Trans West. Both of my trailing arms were cracked so I highly recommend Monaco and HR owners have theirs inspected.

pwhittle · 10-11-2014, 01:10 PM

$3100 for 6 hours work is a good rate, if you are earning it.

The Source rate sounds more like it.

Paul

flynnwalter · 10-12-2014, 07:53 AM

Qcable
Glad its working out for you. The RR4R seems to often have a much heavier passenger rear weight than driver's rear. This can only be determined by a four corner weighing. Our 38 SBD is 2700 lbs more on passenger rear, which means all rear tires must be aired up to the passenger side requirements--or near max psi and max weight on the OEM 255/70R Goodyears. While the Source trailing arms and REK made our coach safe from breaking the arms and the terrible 'porpoising' as I call the front end bouncing up and down when going over a a bridge, etc, but we still felt every bump in our teeth. It took awhile for us to realize this as the ride was greatly improved over the pre-REK install. We needed new tires (by time only, not miles) and researched which tires would hold more weight with less psi, figuring that might improve the ride. The first tire that met our requirements turned out to be Bridgestones and two sizes larger at 295/75. We had no desire to get bigger tires, but we did and there are just a few workarounds necessary such as recalibrating the speedo, but as far as our goal of improving the ride, the tire change worked absolute wonders. I am not claiming the ride is like a tag axle MCC, but the bumps only aggravate me mostly by something I can't find in a cupboard rattling, and not my teeth banging together as it was with the OEM 255 Goodyears. I am available for further questions.

qcable · 12-17-2014, 07:05 PM

Shortly after having the Trailing Arms replaced and the R.E.K. installed we had the coach weighed at all corners. While we were not overloaded ( we have about 1000 pounds to spare) we did find that the passenger side was slightly over 1000 pounds heavier than the driver side. After re-packing the storage bay and moving some items to the driver side , the unbalance was reduced to about 700 pounds.

After the individual wheels being weighed we were able to reduce tire pressure to 105 pounds on all wheels. That reduction in pressure did not seem to change the ride or handling at all. We are certainly pleased with the ride/handling since having the R.E.K. installed.

CaymanPilot · 12-17-2014, 08:23 PM

qcable, You have the same coach as we do. Ours already had the Source trailing arms installed when we bought it. 2 years later we installed the REK. Last year I installed a Blue Ox Tru-Center. This spring we installed Michelin tires and this fall I replaced the Sheppard steering gear with a TRW unit that takes most (if not all) of the play out of the steering. And last but not least I increased the toe-in slightly. We now have a sweet handling and riding coach that my wife is not scared to drive.
I have yet to find a scale to do a 4 wheel weighing. That is on my priority list. I'm wondering what inflation chart you are using to arrive at 105 psi for your tires. I use the Michelin chart and came up with 85 for the drives and 90 for the steers but I add 5 psi for safety. So, I have been using 90 and 95 psi for all 5 years I have had the coach and have not had a problem.