Quote:
Originally Posted by USTraveler
I mentioned in an earlier post that it took me 7 hours to install the UltraTrack Rear Track Bar. I thought I should elaborate a bit on that as a consideration for anyone else considering the same installation. I think I could have done it quicker if I'd had access to air tools but I don't have that capability. Some of the time consisted of me needing to crawl out from under the MH to get another tool or more tools and then crawling back with the tools. I did spend a lot of time with the shim for the sway bar on the passenger side. One of the bolts would simply not start threading in the mounting hole. After considerable time and effort trying different adjustments and alignments of the hardware I finally figured out that the problem was the holes in the shim were too far apart by about 1/8 inch. The problem was exasperated by the fact there just isn't much room under the motorhome to get a good angle to see what is happening. Fortunately I had a nice, coarse rat tail file that my dad gave me about 55 years ago and I was able to elongate the hole in the shim enough to be able to start the bolt. Of course after all the previous efforts the thread on the bolt and the welded on nut for the sway bar bracket were somewhat buggered up and that made getting the bolt started difficult. Finally I was able to get it started and with a little lubrication, perseverance, and patience was able to tighten the bolt down. The next trial was the bolts that connect the actual track bar to the driver side sway bar bracket and the passenger side frame bracket. After adjusting the length of the track bar to get the holes to line up with the holes in the respective brackets and inserting the 3 inch long bolts all that was left was to thread on the lock nuts and tighten down the track bar to the brackets. That simple little step took nearly 2 hours. The lock nuts were extremely difficult to thread along the bolt. They were extremely hard to turn and I began to wonder if they were the wrong thread size, but I persisted, even though it was necessary to use a 24 inch cheater bar with my 1/2 inch drive ratchet. If the bolts had been 2 inches long instead of 3 inches I could have done it a bit quicker. Two inches would have been about the right length. So, just a heads up for any DIY'ers out there that the device marketing may not be the reality and all applications are not created equal.
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$30 Harbor Freight impact wrench did the trick on those lock nuts.
Did you remove the bolts from the sway bar??? I didnt and learned my lesson the hard way. By removing the sway bat bolts it removes all the tension so the shim and brackets line up easily.
Took me about 8 hours also. Did my buddies rear track bar and chf to front and back. Took 2-1/2 hours for all. Very easy when you know what youre doing. Wish I knew before doing mone.
Jerry
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