Another F-53 V8 rear sway bar bushing problem

[77Travco]

rmcunningham joined this forum Jan 2015 and made their first post 10/18/2021 ... if only I had that kind of keyboard restraint.

[NXR]

Originally Posted by 77Travco

rmcunningham joined this forum Jan 2015 and made their first post 10/18/2021 ... if only I had that kind of keyboard restraint.

And it was well-worded and detailed.

BTW, another person with just under 1,500 miles on their V8 posted a pic today on a different forum of their sway bar bushing sitting in the middle of the sway bar. It looks identical to the one I posted. His bolts and bracket are intact on both sides.

T'is weird for sure.

Ray

[RRR]

At Ford "Quality is job one" said no one ever.

[77Travco]

I checked my 2017 coach (2016 chassis) with 28K miles. The sway bar is in place and all hardware is tight. I'll keep checking it every oil change though.

[TexasProud]

Thanks to rmcunningham posting on both this forum and one of the Tiffin Facebook forums, I went underneath our 2022 Open Road 34PA (with Liquid Springs) yesterday to take a look.
We picked the m/h up in Mississippi about 3 weeks ago and after 2,000 mile trip taking the long way home parked it in the storage unit. Found the driver's side sway bar bushing on the middle of the sway bar and the left bracket and bolts/nuts missing. The passenger side bracket/bushing were in place but the bottom bolt/nut had left town for parts unknown.
Using rmcunningham's part list, went to the local Ford dealer and ordered the needed hardware and asked for expedited shipping. Some of the stuff will come out of Houston and other stuff from Memphis and should be here on Friday so I can get the sway bar back in place for an upcoming trip next week. I'm wondering if the place that is doing the Liquid Springs install for Tiffin is removing the sway bar for ease of installation and then reusing the nuts which, to my understanding, should not be reused but replaced, causing these failures.

[TeJay]

TX-P,

I can say for certain your thinking about LS taking the SB off and not installing it back correctly may be an issue but!!! Many, many folks who never did the LS install had their rear SB bushings come loose as well as the brackets and bolts. This is a FORD issue and that's all there is to it!!!!!

As far as LS replacing those used bolts all they'd have to do is torque but add some blue lock tight and all would be well. Ask me how I know!!!! I installed some shocks back about 42,000 miles ago and torqued them as tight as the I could given the space I had. I also used some blue lock tight and those nuts stayed until I removed them to do some other work. The lock tight does work.

I sure hope you added some lock tight when you did your repair work with all the new DEALER attaching parts???? If you didn't what's going to keep the thing together if you don't do anything different????

Some designed locking nuts can be reused and some shouldn't. I've reused most of mine and added the locktight and never ad any nut come loose.

[mr.tommy]

Originally Posted by NXR

We're at a rally and a fellow who's had his new 22K GVWR chassis for less than a year said he and his wife are very discouraged about how it handled. He said even a passing car would cause the body to sway. Trucks and winds made it difficult to control.

That front sway issue when fixed will help some but in order to really settle his coach down on the highway and make it easy to handle and not be affected by the things you mentioned, there are other things he needs to do. I found an excellent video on YT that explains how all this works and what to do. This guy is really knowledgable and these things make a huge diference.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PceY3hcsJSk

[TexasProud]

TeJay,
Hopefully will pick up the replacement parts this morning and get them installed. Plan to stop at the auto parts stores and get some more blue Loctite - don't want to have to go through this again. Again, my thanks to everyone that has posted about this issue which prompted me to get underneath the rig and take a look.

[NXR]

Originally Posted by TexasProud

I'm wondering if the place that is doing the Liquid Springs install for Tiffin is removing the sway bar for ease of installation and then reusing the nuts which, to my understanding, should not be reused but replaced, causing these failures.

That is not correct, at least for the F-53. The sway bar nuts are supposed to be welded in place so it's kind of tough to not re-use them, if they're still there.

In fact, Ford has issued a TSB for the 2020 and 2021 F-53 model years about those nuts coming off:

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/20...89585-0001.pdf

Ray

[NXR]

Originally Posted by mr.tommy

That front sway issue when fixed will help some but in order to really settle his coach down on the highway and make it easy to handle and not be affected by the things you mentioned, there are other things he needs to do. I found an excellent video on YT that explains how all this works and what to do. This guy is really knowledgable and these things make a huge diference.

Unfortunately that video may not be accurate for the V8 chassis. That fellow has a 2012 F-53 as I recall (I've watched many of his videos).

In addition to the larger front and rear sway bars the V8 chassis received new "jounce" stops which are supposed to be more like Sumo Springs, redesigned leaf springs, new shocks (which apparently are still junk), and maybe other suspension changes.

It makes me cringe when someone with a V8 chassis specifically asks for any suspension improvements from other V8 owners and people with V10's jump in with a bunch of changes they made that may or may not be relevant to the new chassis.

Ray

[mr.tommy]

Originally Posted by NXR

It makes me cringe when someone with a V8 chassis specifically asks for any suspension improvements from other V8 owners and people with V10's jump in with a bunch of changes they made that may or may not be relevant to the new chassis.

Well no need to cringe, because the wisdom and history of many can establish knowledge and solve real world problems in many of these situations.

Even with these new F53 chassis's with all the reports I'm reading, first hand reports from new RV owners and depending on the chassis size, wheel base and tire size, tail wag and handling issues is and still will be an issue which—at a minimum—can be solved with a rear trac bar....just to mention one mod. This is one of the things the wife mentioned she was discouraged about the way it handled in the original post and the video addressed that solution among others.

Originally Posted by NXR

We're at a rally and a fellow who's had his new 22K GVWR chassis for less than a year said he and his wife are very discouraged about how it handled. He said even a passing car would cause the body to sway. Trucks and winds made it difficult to control.

Some lessons learned over many years from previous V10, F53 owners can be applied to new F53 chassis owners as well.

It's similar to car or drag racing. Lessons, mods and tweaking certain items learned from previous cars and crews are not thrown away or discarded just because a new car is brought into the lineup. They will look at the data and symptoms and many times implement solutions that were learned previously.

[Shadow5501]

Originally Posted by TeJay

TX-P,

I can say for certain your thinking about LS taking the SB off and not installing it back correctly may be an issue but!!! Many, many folks who never did the LS install had their rear SB bushings come loose as well as the brackets and bolts. This is a FORD issue and that's all there is to it!!!!!

As far as LS replacing those used bolts all they'd have to do is torque but add some blue lock tight and all would be well. Ask me how I know!!!! I installed some shocks back about 42,000 miles ago and torqued them as tight as the I could given the space I had. I also used some blue lock tight and those nuts stayed until I removed them to do some other work. The lock tight does work.

I sure hope you added some lock tight when you did your repair work with all the new DEALER attaching parts???? If you didn't what's going to keep the thing together if you don't do anything different????

Some designed locking nuts can be reused and some shouldn't. I've reused most of mine and added the locktight and never ad any nut come loose.

If you factory order LS, they are installed at the Detroit Chassis plant that manufactures the F-53. I don’t know their manufacturing procedure, but I wouldn’t think the sway bar and associated hardware are installed, removed, and then installed again.

I had LS installed at their facility in Indiana. I’ll check the sway bar, as it was surely removed and reinstalled. That said, they seem to be more conscientious and thorough than Detroit Chassis.

[77Travco]

Originally Posted by TexasProud

TeJay,
Hopefully will pick up the replacement parts this morning and get them installed. Plan to stop at the auto parts stores and get some more blue Loctite - don't want to have to go through this again. Again, my thanks to everyone that has posted about this issue which prompted me to get underneath the rig and take a look.

Hello neighbor! I just noticed that you are in Kerrville also.

[House Husband]

Skuterdude on EBay now has bushings for the new V8 Ford F53 chassis. He doesn't have a listing on eBay yet, so you'll need to contact him directly.

Richard