Community Forums

Pesky1 · 05-13-2022, 02:16 PM

Good afternoon folks, I am finding a few things incorrectly stated in the 2020 F53 chassis manual that came with my 2021 Thor Challenger built on the 2020 chassis. It shows the oil dipstick and filler on the wrong side of the engine and has an incorrect procedure to reset the oil life monitor. Easy to figure out and I understand things change. I was greasing the fittings today and can only find 6. The manual says there are 9 and shows where they are supposed to be, but I am questioning its accuracy. Can anyone with the newer F53 verify the number? Also, I have seen some on this site talk about driveshaft or ujoints getting greased but don’t see it anywhere in the manual. Are there more fittings I should be greasing? My first motorhome and want to maintain the best I can.

Russ Silber · 05-13-2022, 04:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pesky1

Good afternoon folks, I am finding a few things incorrectly stated in the 2020 F53 chassis manual that came with my 2021 Thor Challenger built on the 2020 chassis. It shows the oil dipstick and filler on the wrong side of the engine and has an incorrect procedure to reset the oil life monitor. Easy to figure out and I understand things change. I was greasing the fittings today and can only find 6. The manual says there are 9 and shows where they are supposed to be, but I am questioning its accuracy. Can anyone with the newer F53 verify the number? Also, I have seen some on this site talk about driveshaft or ujoints getting greased but don’t see it anywhere in the manual. Are there more fittings I should be greasing? My first motorhome and want to maintain the best I can.

Can't help you with that. My 1999 has 9 fittings. 3 on drive shaft u-joints.

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RDG · 05-13-2022, 06:46 PM

High Road Travelers · 05-13-2022, 09:51 PM

My 2018 F53 is the same as the diagram posted by RDG. I have no grease fittings on the drive shaft u-joints.
Ford makes a F53 commercial version and a F53 motorhome version, or at least they did in 2018. I don't know what the differences are, but I have seen some reference in my manual to the commercial version. My manual has the "under hood view" for the commercial chassis on page 90, and the "under hood view" for the motorhome chassis on page 91. Possibly you could be looking at the commercial chassis page. There aren't many references to the commercial chassis, but some is mentioned in the specifications section - gas tank capacity for one example.
Thanks,

mack73 · 05-13-2022, 11:24 PM

If you have access to air, this pnumatic gun works really well for the price. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PW88YXQ

Pesky1 · 05-14-2022, 08:24 AM

The 2020 manual displays both commercial and motorhome under hood engine views and it is the MH view that is wrong. I found a 2021 F53 manual online that does show the correct engine view that matches what is under my hood. I guess they are just behind a little on updating their documents. The newer manual also says there are 9 grease points so I will go look for them again. I couldn’t find the kingpin uppers or the steering gear. Thank you all for your replies.

High Road Travelers · 05-14-2022, 09:25 AM

The steering gear has a small rubber cap on it, on top of the steering gear. It's difficult to see, but you can feel it. The cap has to come off to get to the fitting. I'm going to grease mine today or Monday and maybe I can be a little more specific. That is assuming my 2018 is the same as yours (I have 9 fittings also).
Thanks,

High Road Travelers · 05-14-2022, 12:48 PM

Attached two pics may help. One shows the steering gear from the side; you can not see the grease fitting from this angle, you would need to feel for it. It is a 90* angle and points to the front, but probably has a plastic or rubber cap on it. It is on top of this gear and a little to the front. You can see the hole in the firewall that allows access from the front.
The other pic shows the grease fitting from underneath the hood (grill). On my Tiffin MH I can get to it from the front, behind some wires and hoses that go thru a hole in the firewall. The shiny spot is the fitting, without the cover. (If you have had it greased before at a service shop, it may not have the cover).

I also checked the fittings on the top of the king pins. They are also 90* fittings and are on top of the king pins. You do have to feel for them. I used leftover pandemic surgical gloves to feel for them because it is greasy and dirty around the fittings.
Hope this helps,

Pesky1 · 05-14-2022, 03:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wog099

Attached two pics may help. One shows the steering gear from the side; you can not see the grease fitting from this angle, you would need to feel for it. It is a 90* angle and points to the front, but probably has a plastic or rubber cap on it. It is on top of this gear and a little to the front. You can see the hole in the firewall that allows access from the front.
The other pic shows the grease fitting from underneath the hood (grill). On my Tiffin MH I can get to it from the front, behind some wires and hoses that go thru a hole in the firewall. The shiny spot is the fitting, without the cover. (If you have had it greased before at a service shop, it may not have the cover).

I also checked the fittings on the top of the king pins. They are also 90* fittings and are on top of the king pins. You do have to feel for them. I used leftover pandemic surgical gloves to feel for them because it is greasy and dirty around the fittings.
Hope this helps,

Thanks for the info and pictures. I wouldn’t think to look or feel under a cover for the steering gear fitting. I am confident the three I missed are on there so I will search until I find them. It will be a few days before I can get out there. Thanks again for the help.

High Road Travelers · 05-18-2022, 11:31 AM

I greased mine yesterday, and it was not easy to say the least. I almost gave up before I got the top king pins greased. The fittings are not a 90* like I thought they were from feeling them. They may be a 45*. I had to buy an elbow swivel fitting to go on the end of my grease gun hose to get them; then I had to half way sit up, leaning my head against part of the frame to hold myself up in the worst contorted position imaginable, think some cuss words I haven't said in 50 years; and finally got them greased.
Maybe next time it will be easier, at least I know it is possible.
Pesky1, hope you don't have as rough as a time as I did.

keef033 · 05-18-2022, 06:28 PM

I used one of these - worked really nicely
https://www.harborfreight.com/air-gr...ose-68293.html

mack73 · 05-18-2022, 11:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by keef033

I used one of these - worked really nicely
https://www.harborfreight.com/air-gr...ose-68293.html

Agree. The right gun makes all the difference. I just did mine last weekend. Probably took 10 minutes (and 2 of that was turning the wheel to get access to the tie rod one that was covered by the crossmember). The tip went straight on all fittings - a couple presses of the button and that was it.

RRR · 05-18-2022, 11:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mack73

Agree. The right gun makes all the difference. I just did mine last weekend. Probably took 10 minutes (and 2 of that was turning the wheel to get access to the tie rod one that was covered by the crossmember). The tip went straight on all fittings - a couple presses of the button and that was it.

Yep. I bought the same one as it was a real trick laying on the ground holding the tip on the zerk with one hand and trying to pump the lever on the gun with the other and never being in the right position to prop the gun against something.