mosseater
Dillsburg, PA
Senior Member
Joined: 10/19/2007
View Profile
 Offline
|
Sure, somebody finally gets a trailer that don't eat the tires off and right away everybody gets jealous.
"It`s not important that you know all the answers, it`s only important to know where to get all the answers" Arone Kleamyck
"...An unarmed man can only flee from evil, and evil is not overcome by fleeing from it." Col. Jeff Cooper
Sunset Creek 298 BH
|
JBarca
Dublin, Ohio, USA
Senior Member
Joined: 12/16/2004
View Profile
Good Sam RV Club
Offline
|
Hey Moss
Never know, it mike look like this about now...
Think of it this way, now one is going to hook up and drive off with it...
They are doing fine. It is going to take some time to sort that thing out. There shall be no fine alignment before it's time.
Good luck, it will come out OK
John
John & Cindy
2005 Ford F350 Super Duty, 4x4; 6.8L V10 with 4.10
CC, SB, Lariat & FX4 package
21,000 GCWR, 11,000 GVWR
Ford Tow Command
1,700# Reese HP hitch & HP Dual Cam
2 1/2" Towbeast Receiver
2004 Sunline Solaris T310SR
(I wish we where camping!)
|
mosseater
Dillsburg, PA
Senior Member
Joined: 10/19/2007
View Profile
Offline
|
I'm not worried. I am jealous of your work "pad", though.
I'm not a "bugger". I like to let'em work. My wife is one of those folks who always has to call and "see if it's done yet" 'cause she don't understand. I've been on the receiving end of that too many times so I don't call until it's past time to call. How ever long you think it will take, double it and add 10% and you'll be close. Then, if you come in under time, everyone's happy. I'll bet the phone rings tomorrow.
The bad news is, when I leave there, I'm probably going straight to the Ford dealer before work, to schedule one last visit before my warranty runs out. That'll be a nice test drive.
edit: I just contacted GS Action Line via email and we'll see what comes of it. Thanks for the idea.
* This post was
edited 10/29/09 11:25pm by mosseater *
|
mosseater
Dillsburg, PA
Senior Member
Joined: 10/19/2007
View Profile
Offline
|
Got it back today around 2pm and had to go straight to work, so I've only had a chance to give it a quick cursory look-see. It looks like I have two new beefed-up hangers on the curb side, but all three have apparently been moved. The center one looks to be original, not sure, but they definately welded it. I asked the guy who did the work, on a scale of 1 to 10, ten being the worst, where did mine fall? He said about a five, then changed his mind to ten because most of the ones he's done were between 1/4" and 3/8" off perp. Even though he's sure there are worse ones out there, mine is just as bad as others he's done. The work looks pretty good with the exception that the center hanger is still crooked. No worse than when I took it in, but crooked none the less. It definately tracks better. I can see the other side of the trailer in the mirror going straight down the road now. The only real complaint I have so far is they melted my underbelly a little and will have to patch it so the mice stay out.
I'll post pics and the alignment sheet tomorrow when I get time.
|
BurbMan
Long Island, NY
Senior Member
Joined: 09/20/2001
View Profile
Good Sam RV Club
|
Stop in at Rt 16 Beverage on your way home and grab a cold one!
|
|
|
mosseater
Dillsburg, PA
Senior Member
Joined: 10/19/2007
View Profile
Offline
|
I'm not done yet. I wanted an inspection while I was there, but I couldn't find my registration card! So, I have to get my renual taken care of and take it back next week to get the sticker put on. And to top it off, when I was there looking for my card in the trailer (the only place left it could be) I put the slide out and apparently one of my cabinet doors was open and caught the molding and ripped it off. Bent the cabinet knob too. Sheesh! Does it ever end???
Next week, when I'm all done.....then I'll have the beer.
|
mosseater
Dillsburg, PA
Senior Member
Joined: 10/19/2007
View Profile
Offline
|
Hey, y'all! Sorry it took so long to post the results. I've had fevers (not mine.....yet!) rain, trick or treat and just plain old busy.
At any rate, here's the photos and alignment report. alignment results
After looking it over and thinking about it, I'm not sure what I ended up with. The mechanic who did it spent about 10 minutes explaining it the day I picked it up, as I already posted about, but I now have questions. (Ever feel like laying down on a busy highway?)
The only hangers they moved were curbside, so reference your brain now.
The rear hanger is definitely a new hanger. It has a nice beefy pipe section welded inside to aid rigidity and a die cut hole in the top against the frame, presumably for spotting in the center. Welds look OK (not great), and are probably stronger than they look. I think they did a root pass and covered with a lap pass to fill the gap.
The middle hanger I'm not sure is new. It has no hole in the top like the rear, and looks identical to the OEM hangers. In fact, I'm not sure it was cut or re-welded, but it was painted and the underbelly is slightly warped above it. As mentioned previously, it is still crooked and may be stock with paint added for my benefit. Unfortunately, I don't have a pre-alignment picture to compare it to. One detail that sneaked by me, darn it.
The front hanger, well, I'm not sure what to think about it. I call it the 'Frankenstein hanger'. It looks for all the world like the OEM hanger with extra plates scabbed to it and it now has a larger diameter bolt than all the others. So, if they burned the OEM hanger off and were able to re-use it (something I thought I was clear I DIDN'T want to happen!) then why the scabs and larger bolt diameter??? If the hole was egged-out, they could have drilled it out and used a larger bolt without scabbing onto it. And what of the spring bushing? Since it's a larger diameter bolt, I'm assuming they had to drill out the bushing to accomodate it. I'm sure making the walls of a plasic bushing even thinner didn't do it any favors. And, of course the other problem I have is, the receipt shows two new hangers @ $13 ea., and it appears I didn't get two, only one. Just not really sure what to think.
I take it back to finish up the inspection on Thurs this week and it may get ugly when I start asking the hard questions. Don't get me wrong, I learned a long time ago not to get wrapped up in how stuff looks. Paint don't make'em run, and don't confuse noise and vibration for speed. But, doing a "professional job" means it looks good AND performs good. Am I expecting too much......AGAIN!? If it's right, I can live with it. I won't know that until late next year, if at all. I'll have to watch the wear closely. I'm not even sure if it IS right, that I'm entitled to expect good remaing wear, given the advanced, uneven wear to this point. I feel like I got a long ride on the merry-go-'round and only ended up dizzy as a result. No brass ring. I can feel it wearing me down. Acceptance is the enemy....and it creeps nearer by the minute. Opinions please.
|
Huntindog
phoenix arizona USA
Senior Member
Joined: 04/08/2002
View Profile
|
I just looked at your pics.
That just reafirms my decision many years ago to do my own work whenever possible. Because of this, I have made some mistakes which I had to fix, bought a whole bunch of neat tools, and acquired the ability to fix most anything. Overall I have saved a ton of money and had the satisfaction of knowing the job was done right.
That said, I think your "fix" is ugly but effective from a tire wear perspective.
The larger bolt is just a longer bolt with the same diameter threats as the rest of the bolt. The stock bolts have a reduced diameter in the thread section. A longer bolt was required due to the scabbing of material on this hanger. I'm not sure if longer bolts are available with the reduced thread diameter.
It is interesting that they used two approaches to stiffen up the hangers. One was similar to my approach of thicker hangers, athough they are still weak near the frame, which is where mine broke. That's where most of the stress is.
The other one is a takeoff on Jbarca's fix. And it's not nearly as complete and strong as his either.
The thing that really jumps out at me is that there really is not much point in stiffening the hangers on the curbside and not the streetside!
The stiffening is only for durability not alignment. I couldn't read all of the spec sheets, but from what I could, it looks OK if they are accurate
Huntindog
2010 Palomino Sabre 30BHDS
2001 Silverado 3500 CC D/A
EQUALIZER Hitch
Juiced, K&N air filter
Banks 4" exhaust
100% BOONDOCKING
Check out Rusty and her pups at www.bluecollarbrittanys.com
|
mosseater
Dillsburg, PA
Senior Member
Joined: 10/19/2007
View Profile
Offline
|
So, the spring bolts are shouldered? I didn't know that. However, the scabs are on both sides and they wouldn't have needed to scab the inside, unless they wanted to take up the distance of the longer bolt, in which case they could have used washers. They probably were trying to stiffen it AND take up the distance, but as you say, they should have run it right up to the frame and welded it. And, why were they trying to stiffen it up? Why not use the same type of hanger they used in the rear? Even if it's a new hanger identical to the OEM, it should be strong enough to do the job if properly welded. Or did they have to change out the bolt and didn't have any in stock? Just have a lot of questions. I'm with you on the "ugly" part for sure. Mostly, at this point I would just like them to point out which are the new hangers. Unless they ran out of one kind and only had the other type left in stock, that re-inforced hanger is my old stock one and they charged me for a new hanger I never got. We shall see.
Quote: I couldn't read all of the spec sheets
Did you use the magnifying tool at the bottom of the picture? I know it's not very dark, but if you enlarge it you can read it. I'm not clear on which axle the numbers are for. They obviously moved both axles, but not the middle. How can that be? I some how get the feeling I'll be doing it again some day. Maybe not there, though.
* This post was
edited 11/03/09 07:55am by mosseater *
|
BurbMan
Long Island, NY
Senior Member
Joined: 09/20/2001
View Profile
Good Sam RV Club
|
I wouldn't worry too much about it. You said it tracks much better from when you towed it home, and if the tire wear issue is corrected, then you are ahead of the game. Next time it needs an alignment you can dig in and do a 110% job.
Look at it this way: it may not be optimal and perfect, but it's at least $400 better than it was when you took it in.
|
|
|
|
