100,000mile 04 dynasty

[Jeff sams]

Heys guys ,first of all I want to say thanks to all you guys for the helpful insight. My 04 dynasty just rolled over 100,000 miles. Already planning a trip to josam in Orlando to have all airbags ,bushings and chassis parts inspected . What do you guys recommend other than the routine maintenance?

[JohnC3]

14 minutes ago, Jeff sams said:

Heys guys ,first of all I want to say thanks to all you guys for the helpful insight. My 04 dynasty just rolled over 100,000 miles. Already planning a trip to josam in Orlando to have all airbags ,bushings and chassis parts inspected . What do you guys recommend other than the routine maintenance?

If you need them, don't buy air bags from the Monaco. You can get the same bags from a parts supply house for less than half the price.

[Dr4Film]

Josam bags are around $150 each depending on the model your coach needs. That's what I paid this past year for 10 of them.

Have them put your coach on the "shaker" platform to check all chassis components for slop, etc. While under there they can inspect the chassis frame for any cracks plus look at the shocks for leaks.

[jacwjames]

Just have them do the full chassis inspection, they've worked on enough Monaco's to know what to look for.  There have been reports of axle support cracking, I found hairline cracks on mine last year so they should check those.

Before you go take a quick look at your steering box, do you have any play, does the rig drive straight true,  Your rig should have a TRW box but some Monaco's have Sheppards which are prone to cause wandering, lots of people have changed to TRW.

In 2013 my wife took our Windsor there to have the front wheel bearings converted to oil bath.  They took good care of her while she waited in the waiting room the the 6 dogs.  They also did an inspection and fixed a couple minor issues.  I later called and talked to them about any maintenance needs for the oil bath hub, other then visually checking oil level on a regular basis I should never have to do anything to them.  I think the cost was $450 from memory. 

I've turned 127K on my rig. 

[tmw188]

I talked to Barry there about oil bath and said it was his opinion generally to keep the greased bearings unless you use it frequently. If you don’t then you should move it once in a while so the oil can lubricate the top half of bearings. Sitting for long intervals the top half has drained down to nothing.?

[Ivan K]

This is a widely accepted reasoning but consider that tag coaches already have oil baths and along with drive axles use synthetic oils and I have not heard of problems yet.

[tmw188]

8 minutes ago, Ivan K said:

This is a widely accepted reasoning but consider that tag coaches already have oil baths and along with drive axles use synthetic oils and I have not heard of problems yet.

That’s a good argument for sure. 

[jacwjames]

Wonder how often people get there greased hub bearings repacked, the maintenance schedule recommends 30K miles or Annually, ya that ain't gonna happen.

So my reasoning was that there was no way I would be able to repack the bearings "easily", didn't have a good place to do it at the time, didn't have the right tools etc.  Plus I know you have to be careful when reinstalling the hub to make sure you don't damage the seals and the hub being pretty heavy it would be tricky. 

So to get the hubs converted to oil bath wasn't much more the getting a repack so that's what I did.  Now I just have to pop the half moons and do a visual check on the oil level >>>> easy peesy. 

AND I know that a lot of the rigs did have oil bath front hubs.  Don't hear of many problems. 

[tmw188]

50 minutes ago, jacwjames said:

Wonder how often people get there greased hub bearings repacked, the maintenance schedule recommends 30K miles or Annually, ya that ain't gonna happen.

So my reasoning was that there was no way I would be able to repack the bearings "easily", didn't have a good place to do it at the time, didn't have the right tools etc.  Plus I know you have to be careful when reinstalling the hub to make sure you don't damage the seals and the hub being pretty heavy it would be tricky. 

So to get the hubs converted to oil bath wasn't much more the getting a repack so that's what I did.  Now I just have to pop the half moons and do a visual check on the oil level >>>> easy peesy. 

AND I know that a lot of the rigs did have oil bath front hubs.  Don't hear of many problems. 

I like that reasoning and would agree with that Jim. I called down there to get a quote to see if what I was told here locally seemed in line and that’s how the conversation came up. 

[Jdw12345]

1 hour ago, jacwjames said:

Wonder how often people get there greased hub bearings repacked, the maintenance schedule recommends 30K miles or Annually, ya that ain't gonna happen.

So my reasoning was that there was no way I would be able to repack the bearings "easily", didn't have a good place to do it at the time, didn't have the right tools etc.  Plus I know you have to be careful when reinstalling the hub to make sure you don't damage the seals and the hub being pretty heavy it would be tricky. 

So to get the hubs converted to oil bath wasn't much more the getting a repack so that's what I did.  Now I just have to pop the half moons and do a visual check on the oil level >>>> easy peesy. 

AND I know that a lot of the rigs did have oil bath front hubs.  Don't hear of many problems. 

Generally the inner bearing race rides up on the inner bearing journal before the seal gets to the seal land to avoid that from happening. Years ago, before I ever had a wheel dolly to service wheel seals we used to use a sheet of tin with little weight oil on it, remove the axle nuts, use a hydraulic jack to lift the axle just enough and slide the wheel, hub and brake drum all as one assembly (before outboard brake drums were common) off the end of the axle to service, no real special tools needed, axle nut sockets are generally available at Napa and relatively cheap.
If someone ever finds themselves in a jam you can do this as long as it’s relatively flat, a piece of wood or thick plastic will work also. Just a FYI.

[Ivan K]

I also prefer to do things myself and did not invest in the special carrier but this configuration of tools I already have, works for me. I jack the axle just right to drive the hub away on a creeper. Easy.

[Frank McElroy]

2 hours ago, Ivan K said:

I also prefer to do things myself and did not invest in the special carrier but this configuration of tools I already have, works for me. I jack the axle just right to drive the hub away on a creeper. Easy.

Yes - that's a great way to do it - I absolutely love your thinking to get-er done.

[jacwjames]

Ya, I know that the special tools help.  We had large overhead cranes at work that could handle just about anything.  Handling the large tires, axles, engines, transmissions all have a lot of weight but with the cranes it made everything safer and easier.  Only as a last resort did we attempt to do repairs out in the mine. 

So knowing that, and not having the proper tools I didn't even consider trying to do the oil bath hubs.  I have the knowledge but know when to go to the "experts"

But now that I have a garage with a good floor to work I am now just looking at buyint a good set of jack stands.  I am considering changing my airbags, since they are +22 years old.