Greasing the chassis !

[Pigman1]

Unbelievable. A high end chassis and that poor excuse of a diagram is the best they can do? How many times do you think the grease monkey gets a full purge on all caps in the drive line universals? I do all my own routine maintenance and a great deal of the heavy maintenance on my Tiffin and have for the last three coaches I have owned. It's the only way to get a good job, no matter what chassis you own. I found that out on my first coach when the Freightliner Oasis (their prime RV service centers) center lied repeatedly after I pointed out their mistakes just by observing their maintenance dance through the garage door window. Other centers were no better and sometimes worse. so rather than having them do it and then me do it all over again, I just did it once myself. The Tiffin Powerglide chassis has way better info than the Spartan, and a call to Tiffin can fill in any blanks (like when is the hydraulic filter inside the hydraulic reservoir changed). When I do the work, I also am able to inspect for chaffing lines, cracks, and a host of other things that just look funky and need attention. Yes it's a dirty job and I'm not getting any younger, (76) but this rig has over 75,000 miles on it now and I intend to run it another 200,000 miles.

For those who have trouble getting under the rig, I run mine all the way up on the leveling system jacks and then put chassis stands under it. Make sure you get stands that will support your weight. Auto stands WILL NOT DO. A 5k and 20k jack complete my lifting equipment for clearing the tires from the ground to get all the universals cups to clear and to get at the roll pins and other brake and axle parts.

If you don't do it yourself, or check it thoroughly each time, you are probably getting just a bit better than half the job you pay for. Make your own lube diagram and checklist and supplement with pictures when necessary. Update it often as you find problems and you'll have a chassis and RV that runs the way it should.

[gjw]

While I'm only down the post 52 so far this is starting to get a bit insane. After visiting the Spartan factory in Charottle, MI for their training class and visiting the production facility, all I can guess is they get these prebuilt packages from the various vendors like Reyco. You would have to go through each vendors unit for what they spec, then go through the Spartan specs, then find all the hidden zerks they forgot to tell you about... My guess is you would still miss a bunch... So much for documentation...

[MxChief66-1]

I've said it before, we don't have an option in what chassis we have under this coach therefore it should not be our requirement to chase this info down. This is a EC issue to resolve!

[hawgguy]

Since a simple, definitive, clear illustration of the lube points does not seem to exist, I will continue to do the best I can and hope I am not missing anything important. Worst case scenario is that I am still doing a better job than the "pros".

I suppose I could drive to Charlotte, MI for my lube jobs.

[Marcosdad]

I suppose I could drive to Charlotte, MI for my lube jobs.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, but how would you KNOW that THEY found all the mystery zerks any more than your local grease shop?

[stevedenesha]

Originally Posted by hawgguy

Since a simple, definitive, clear illustration of the lube points does not seem to exist, I will continue to do the best I can and hope I am not missing anything important. Worst case scenario is that I am still doing a better job than the "pros".

I suppose I could drive to Charlotte, MI for my lube jobs.

and when you get back you'll be due for another 5,000 mile lube job!

[Surmotor]

Originally Posted by hawgguy

Since a simple, definitive, clear illustration of the lube points does not seem to exist, I will continue to do the best I can and hope I am not missing anything important. Worst case scenario is that I am still doing a better job than the "pros".

I suppose I could drive to Charlotte, MI for my lube jobs.

I checked today can't get in till November

[Gasman 2]

This is the list I get


Steering shaft U joint just above 1
Steering gear

Arm From steering gear to Drag link 1

Drag link to crank arm 1

Crank arm to bell crank 2

Relay rod each end 2

Tie rod ends right and left 2

Control arms upper and lower
Left and right 4

King Pins, jerks on top and
Bottom, left and right 4

Total 17

This is the grease fittings that I get for the front. If anything needs corrected please do so.

The above is for the Reyco Granning IFS 1700S. In 2017 or maybe late 2016 Spartan begin using the IFS 1700S3 on the Anthem and perhaps the Aspire with IFS which has the steering gear down in the cradle, so this setup will not have that long drag link from the steering gear. Previously the IFS 1700S the steering gear was mounted to the outside front frame rail with the long drag link.

The K3 Spartan on the Cornerstone has had the steering gears down in the cradle for some time maybe always, don’t know about that. Notice I wrote gears, it has dual steering gears on the 20K front.

Hope this helps.

[Gasman 2]

Maybe this Link will help identified the different parts.
Look at page 12.

Please note the long drag link from the steering gear to the crank arm is not illustrated here as this is added by Spartan.


https://www.entegracoachforum.com/in...sa=media;in=95

Richard

[hogdriver]

Originally Posted by Gasman 2

This is the list ........
Total 17

This is the grease fittings that I get for the front. If anything needs corrected please do so.

I'm not sure if that count is correct. I seem to remember counting them up during the Spartan course with Big Mike and it was either 25 or 27. That includes the driveshaft and rear.

How hard would it be to take some pictures of one of those "naked" frames and put them in a .pdf document.

[brobox]

I am currently at Palm Truck Center having the ball joint recall and will have the hard to get to zerks changed. When I asked about the lube points they showed me their lube point check list the mechanics must follow. Pretty impressive. ...can they find them all...not much different than the large trucks they work on. I am satisfied

[Gasman 2]

With a lot of help from my able assistant here is a chart I came up with.

The grease fitting on the long drag link at the steering gear is not shown here or the fitting at the U joint above the steering gear.

[Gasman 2]

From engine forward


Drive shaft
1-U joint at engine
1-Slip joint on drive shaft
1-U joint at trans

Tag axle
2 each side on brake cam shafts total 4
1 each side slack adjuster total 2

Drive Axle
1 each side brake cam shafts total 2
1 each side slack adjuster total 2

Total 13 rear
Front 17 front

[757driver]

Richard,

Thanks for those 2 lists. Can't wait to get under there and see if I can find all 30 of those zerks.