Hendersons Line Up

[Pete Masterson]

Very interesting ... the plate bolted to the frame. My coach had a
triangular shaped/T-section piece of metal that was originally welded
to the frame as the upper shock mount (damage on same side as yours).
(The shape is harder to explain that it is to see ... just an "ear"
sticking out of the frame rail with a cross piece for additional
strength.) The fix was a few bonks with a 5# hammer to move the piece
back into position (after the weight was removed from the suspension)
and weld up the crack. No damage to the shock.

With so few BBs built, you'd think there might be more uniformity
from one to the next.... ("Gee, this week, we'll use the plate and
next week we'll just weld the mount to the frame....") I wonder what
order our '95s were built. (My body is number 111033.)

I guess use and storage conditions play a role in the air bags ...
mine seem to be OK -- I assume they're the originals but it's always
possible that a previous owner replaced them. There's no mention of
air bags in the receipts I have for the owner who had the coach for
two years before I took possession.

Pete Masterson
'95 Blue Bird Wanderlodge WBDA 42
El Sobrante CA
aeonix1@...



On Sep 17, 2007, at 4:04 PM, bumpersbird wrote:

> I think you guys might be right about dumping the jacks befor airing
> up. My coach drops very fast and stops hard, it probly isn't a good
> thing. So I air up befor hitting the stow button.
> My coach had about 134000 miles when I discovered the cracked mount.
> It was the left side and it destroyed a new Koni adjustable shock
> that only had a few hundred miles on it.
> The crack was found when the shop was putting in new air bags. I
> replaced all of them due to dry rotting. When the mechanic lifted the
> front of the coach up, the shock pulled down on the mount and you
> could see the shock mount pulling away from the side plate mount. An
> interesting note the mount for the shock is on a plate that is bolted
> to the frame. I had the mechanics weld the plate to the frme and
> welded the mount to the plate. It appears to be a little lite as far
> as what it is expected to do in terms of performance.
> I'm assuming that it is a know problem because when I aske my BB tech
> about it he quickly replied, just weld it back in place. That's it?
> Yes, it's an easy fix. :{
> An associated problem at the time was the coach would not always air
> up properly. The front left would be a few inches low. I had the air
> level sensors checked and one replaced and that did not fix the
> problem. It turned out to be a bad rocker swith on the dash for the
> main air dump relay. Some times it worked, some times it didn't and
> some times it did a little of everything. But it always aired up to
> full height after a few little bumps in our drive way. It could have
> been a problem for a while befor I bought the coach. I'm not really
> sure because I replaced everything on the front end shortly after
> buying the coach. New Michelins,Koni's,Draglink Ends,Tie Rod
> Ends,Chassis Alignment, Air Bags.
> She runs very well now, I know that air pressure is very important a
> few lbs. cold either way makes a big diffrence in how she tracks.
>
> Kurt Horvath
> '95 PT-42
> 10AC
>
> --- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, Pete Masterson
> wrote:
>>
>> That's an interesting idea... and might be a possibility as I've
>> noticed that the coach comes off the jacks fairly rapidly. I'll
> make
>> my procedure to 'air up' before raising the jacks. I usually need
> the
>> air pressure for the waste water dump valves anyway as that's
> a 'last
>> thing' before departure from most places where I've used the jacks.
>>
>> The technician at Henderson's didn't speculate on the possible
> cause
>> of the break (after considering that the shock might have been too
>> short). The failure was pretty obvious, so I'd think that it would
>> have been noticed when the current shocks were installed. I don't
>> know if there's something different about the left vs. right
> side ...
>> the right side didn't show any signs of fatigue.
>>
>> Pete Masterson
>> '95 Blue Bird Wanderlodge WBDA 42
>> El Sobrante CA
>> aeonix1@...
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sep 17, 2007, at 2:42 PM, David Brady wrote:
>>
>>> Another scenario that could excessively stress the shock
>>> mounts (assuming they bottom before the air bag bump
>>> stops) is releasing the HWH jacks before adding air to
>>> the bags. In this case the coach will come down quite hard
>>> onto the bump stops or shock mounts, whichever hits
>>> first.
>>>
>>> David Brady
>>> '02 LXi, NC
>>>
>>> David Brady wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Seems like not enough miles for ordinary metal fatigue
>>>> to set in. Is there something else going on? Perhaps when
>>>> the suspension air is dumped, the weight of the coach comes
>>>> down on the shocks, not the bump stops. Could be that
>>>> the Koni's are too long for the chassis/suspension, or it
>>>> could be that the frame pick up points are woefully under-
>>>> engineered. At this point, I think we should all go out and
>>>> check our shock to frame mounting points for cracks.
>>>>
>>>> David Brady
>>>> '02 LXi, NC
>>>>
>>>> Pete Masterson wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> One (left front) shock mount was cracked. The coach has about
>>>>> 130,000
>>>>> miles. Henderson's checked the other factors and determined
> that the
>>>>> shocks did not need to be replaced.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> [
>>



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