pneumatics
Senior Member
- Joined
- Oct 8, 2020
- Posts
- 227
Hopefully this is just an odd occurrence and not a long term issue. We have had this MH for 4 years and now 36,000 miles covering all kinds of roads both rough and smooth. Returning from out most recent western trip it is time for the annual state (PA) inspection. From the report:
"During inspection tech found track bar bolt is missing. Track Bar bolt on passenger side missing and drivers side was loose. Replace Both track bar bolts."
This is the bar that keeps the axle located to the frame left and right and pivots up and down as the axle moves. See pics of the bar and frame side and axle side.
Parts are W520216-S440 Nut and W707655-S439 Bolt. Cost to me $96 parts and $168 labor (had to wait 3 days for the parts to come in, not stocked locally).
After my astonishment, discussed with the tech and the service writer what is the deal here? The tech was most informative, he has seen this on a very few heavy duty work trucks where Ford used the same front axle configuration but never on a F53 MH. Typically subject to a lot of rough roads (construction) and heavy loads. Mostly the bolts will be loose and caught during an inspection, nobody seems to notice while driving. When the bolts are loose, Ford specifies that the bolt and nut be replaced with new, not tightened. This is due to the lock-tite that is used with each bolt. The applied torque is 190 Ft. lbs to the nut so you need a large torque wrench to install them. The bolt itself is double D with a shoulder, the hole in the bracket is Double D to keep the bolt in position. Tech noticed some wear on the remaining bolt and none on both of the bracket holes.
This is a 2019 chassis V10 that was produced in Jan 2019 with a build date of May 2019 by MOR/RYDE. So the last year of the V10 production and a Pre-Covid MH.
Another item to check on pre-trip. I do not know when it got loose and the missing bolt is laying somewhere along an interstate somewhere.
We traveled back on I-70 from Denver and then to I-64 Louisville, I-71 to Cincinnati and back to I-70 then home. If you see it......
While I did notice a bit of movement during the trip home the winds were constant and from the North mostly. As we know we are driving big sails down the road so a bit of back and forth with these chassis is somewhat normal.
This is a heads up mostly, while I can attribute to either a lack of lock-tite or mis-torque from the factory or the rough roads we all see, this is truly something that I did not check other than a visual inspection pre- and mid-trip.
You betcha the socket and wrench will be employed now.
"During inspection tech found track bar bolt is missing. Track Bar bolt on passenger side missing and drivers side was loose. Replace Both track bar bolts."
This is the bar that keeps the axle located to the frame left and right and pivots up and down as the axle moves. See pics of the bar and frame side and axle side.
Parts are W520216-S440 Nut and W707655-S439 Bolt. Cost to me $96 parts and $168 labor (had to wait 3 days for the parts to come in, not stocked locally).
After my astonishment, discussed with the tech and the service writer what is the deal here? The tech was most informative, he has seen this on a very few heavy duty work trucks where Ford used the same front axle configuration but never on a F53 MH. Typically subject to a lot of rough roads (construction) and heavy loads. Mostly the bolts will be loose and caught during an inspection, nobody seems to notice while driving. When the bolts are loose, Ford specifies that the bolt and nut be replaced with new, not tightened. This is due to the lock-tite that is used with each bolt. The applied torque is 190 Ft. lbs to the nut so you need a large torque wrench to install them. The bolt itself is double D with a shoulder, the hole in the bracket is Double D to keep the bolt in position. Tech noticed some wear on the remaining bolt and none on both of the bracket holes.
This is a 2019 chassis V10 that was produced in Jan 2019 with a build date of May 2019 by MOR/RYDE. So the last year of the V10 production and a Pre-Covid MH.
Another item to check on pre-trip. I do not know when it got loose and the missing bolt is laying somewhere along an interstate somewhere.
We traveled back on I-70 from Denver and then to I-64 Louisville, I-71 to Cincinnati and back to I-70 then home. If you see it......While I did notice a bit of movement during the trip home the winds were constant and from the North mostly. As we know we are driving big sails down the road so a bit of back and forth with these chassis is somewhat normal.
This is a heads up mostly, while I can attribute to either a lack of lock-tite or mis-torque from the factory or the rough roads we all see, this is truly something that I did not check other than a visual inspection pre- and mid-trip.
You betcha the socket and wrench will be employed now.
