Lost power steering fluid. HELP. 2001 Diplomat

[Craggar]

I really don’t know why you wouldn’t just have a look at the steering box and if it’s dry have a look around the tank, if it’s dry too you probably have an issue with a hose between the front and rear.

[tomevansfl]

I checked the power steering reservoir and it was bone dry. I couldn’t see any fluid on the ground. 
 

Tomorrow is Monday and I have resigned to have Coach-net tow it to Josams in the morning. 
 

I’ll keep everyone up to date on what they find. 

[tomevansfl]

On 6/18/2024 at 7:10 PM, Dr4Film said:

 

Well, it took two days of waiting in my car with the a/c running to get a tow truck to tow my Diplomat to Josams. Thank Coach-Net. 
 

I think I discovered the location of leak. The gravel under the steering box was discolored. Barry at Josams, nice guy BTW, said he swapped out a TRW steering box for a customer a couple of weeks ago and it cost $2,000. Ouch!!!

Barry said he would call me in the morning to let me know what they find. Wish me luck. 

On 6/18/2024 at 7:10 PM, Dr4Film said:

Have you called Barry at Josam's to see if they would do the repairs? That would be my first call. They changed out the Sheppard Steering box to a TRW for me on my previous Windsor.

Barry said a customer paid $2,000 for a swap to a TRW.  Is that in line with what you experienced ?

[tomevansfl]

I picked up my coach yesterday. Cost was $1,999.34 for TRW steering box swap. Yeah, why not just an even $2,000? 
 

The steering was a little stiff when I left the truck yard but I didn’t have to constantly turn left, right, left again to keep it in the lane. I never got over 45 MPH.
 

BTW, there was a white Monaco Dynasty in one of the service bays. 
 

Tomorrow we head down to the beach for the 4th of July.  I’ll be on the interstate so I’ll find out how much better it drives. I also replaced both front tires so it should ride and steer better. 
 

Thanks for sharing your knowledge everyone. 

[jacwjames]

Ya, the cost of DP ownership catches up with you. 

Considering I've read that people have paid ~$1700 just for the TRW box the total cost seems very reasonable. 

[Dr4Film]

On 6/25/2024 at 5:11 PM, tomevansfl said:

Barry said a customer paid $2,000 for a swap to a TRW.  Is that in line with what you experienced ?

Nope. There are tons of posts on this subject over the years. That's the beauty of the search function on this site.

I worked directly with a special contact person (Brent) at Weller Truck in MI to get the correct TRW box for my Windsor. Barry ordered the new Pitman arm that needed to be installed. Total cost for the box, pitman arm and labor was around $900. This was done back in 2017.

Brent Hofstra
Assistant Team Leader in steering department
Grand Rapids, MI
616-724-3762
bhofstra@wellertruck.com

This is information dated back to 2016

 

[Cubflyer]

I think you did good Tom E, only way it could have worked out cheaper (and I’m not sure what the tow cost) was if you had taken the collectives advice and found that the leak was slow enough to drive it to the shop. (Not good for the environment, but…).  Pretty clearly the leak had nothing to do with the tire changes… just a ‘when it rains it pours’….. literally…   Price wise, prices have changed since 2017, my parts last fall were closer to $1000.00 and if I had it to do over I would have been more than glad to pay someone else to remove and replace it.  It is very heavy and mounted in an awkward location and takes some skill to get it rigged correctly.  Two people at some point is helpful and it involves inside and outside the coach duties. 
Just my opinion….

Ken

[tomevansfl]

Thanks Ken.