Ford F53 chassis problems contine

[JBDALHB]

Tow #3 today. At 1500 miles the front driver side wheel bearing assembly blew and had to be totally rebuilt including spindle, hub, rotor, etc. At 1750 miles, the front passenger side did the exact same thing. Yesterday, at 2250 miles, driving home from Memorial Day camping, something broke again on the front driver side. Lots of banging, clunking and thuds even rolling in a straight line. Didn't feel like the wheel bearing again but it was so bad there was no way I felt safe driving it so tow #3 was called. It's here for service in Indianapolis...let's see what the problem is now. We love the FR3, just growing more concerned for our safety and being stranded. We feel like we cannot drive too far from home for the risk of breaking down again. I hope no one else is having such horrible issues with their Ford chassis.

[KansasFR3]

Keep us posted. I know there was issues with Ford's robot over torqueing the front wheel bearing hubs causing them to fail on some F53s.

This is one thread that comes to mind that I remember coming across.
http://www.irv2.com/forums/f23/2014-...gs-230065.html

[linchat]

I am hearing a kind of squeeking from my front drivers side wheel. I wander if it could be bearing issues. I know my pitnam rod grease seal is blowout. Looks like ford during manufacturing overfilled it or over tightened it. Hard to find a ford dealer who will work on RV's in S. Florida, on my trip north, hoping to find ford dealers a little more accomodating that can take a look at the pitnam arm (2 diff techs said just keep it lubed each oil change) and the squeek.

Pitnam arm seal not a big job if you can get the rig off the ground and if it can be replaced. Sometimes you have to replace the whole assembly just to fix the seals.

[JBDALHB]

Thank you KansasFR3. Yes, back in April my research (after this happened twice) found that thread....everyone with a 2014 chassis should read that entire thread. I reread the thread today and I did see that someone had a problem with the driver side shock needing fixed - maybe that's my new problem. Supposedly 2 weeks now before the dealer here can even look at it. I have the 2015 30DS but it is a summer 2014 production so it does ride on the 2014 chassis and it seems all/most of the reported problems were with that year chassis. In both instances, I have made a report to NHTSA web site.

https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/Vehicl...nt/index.xhtml


Linchat, when your wheel bearing 'goes', it feels more like you have blown a tire and there is more thudding, banging, clunking, etc than squeaking.

[Newbies in an FR3]

I had an alignment done on our new 2015 FR3 25DS and they found the left front kingpin to have a lot of up and down movement. We're busy chasing down Forest River to repair our windshield wipers which both broke off in drizzle and a leaky skylight, but now I'm nervous that I should also be chasing down Ford and attempting to get them to do a pre-emptive repair!
We're excited about the RV, but this sure is daunting, I admit.

[Gualter]

I to had a 14 Ford chassis and had same issue with wheel bearings,loose shocks,loose dash Ac to the point that it fell off. As far as for dealers in FL I found one in Jacksonville ,they were great ,I believe it was Coggin Ford.

[JBDALHB]

Gualter, some questions for you please. Was your 2014 F53 chassis part of your Forest River FR3 or another product? And after you had fixed all of your issues, were things resolved to your eventual satisfaction such that you stopped having all the chassis failures we both have experienced? Thanks for any additional context to your story.


For me it has become an increasing safety issue. I'm reluctant to drive more than a tow-truck ride distance from a Ford truck center and I am concerned for the safety of my family even when it is repaired again.

[Gualter]

Hi Jbdalhb
The chassis was a 14 f53 Ford ,it was built by a different manufacturer ,the coach it self was fine but I did not trust that specific chassis, so I got a different coach 2016 Georgetown 378 with a 2015 chassis so all is well with that but we have other issues,the major one is the main slide(the bottom (floor) is being replaced)so our trip of 8 months has been interrupted after 2 months now since April 17th and I'm told motorhome will be in shop at least till middle to end of June.
I guess with RVs there is always issues.

[jogalot]

How does one find out the chasis yr. My was purchased on May 30 2015 FR3 26 FT.

[JBDALHB]

You can find the build date two ways. First if you still have the original F550 Motorhome Stripped Chassis (F53) window sticker from Ford, it will have a data printed in the lower center of the paper. I understand this to be not the exact date but an approximate date. In my case it says 6/20/14.


Or you can go by VIN. The VIN is from Ford, not Forest River. Type you VIN into
Ford VIN decoder - Lookup and check Ford VIN number and get options and specs for free. Search Ford history, price and car loans.
and you will get the build year and the sequence order of production. There are other VIN decoders online, feel free to play around but these will for certain nail down when your chassis was made.

[JBDALHB]

Has anyone ever dealt with the black hole of Ford Motorhome Division and Ford Customer Care?


I called the Ford Motorhome Division to explain all the suspension issues. They claim they only handle repairs and not customer service or product complaints/issues - to call Ford Customer Service. Ford Customer Service says they've never worked with the Ford Motorhome Division...call them back. I am caught in a Ford black hole of finger-pointing.


Meanwhile the latest problem with my Ford chassis still hasn't been diagnosed. June isn't off to a great start!

[repsolgamma]

Wow this is really scary!

We purchased our FR3 DS 25 back at the end of 2014.

Our first trip was from California to Maine, we made it to Iowa before we did the CHF.

No matter what we have done to try to resolve our steering issues, so far nothing has really helped much.

Was not aware of any major issues with the chassis for 2014, now I'm going to take a much closer look. The steering on this thing is so loose that I literally chase the front and back and forth between the lane markers all the time.

I am starting to wonder if my air pressures might be too high, I set them at 100 psi front and back for all tires.

Now it looks like I need to get my kingpins inspected, as well as the front bearings.

Thanks everybody for the heads up, without this forum I would have never known this!

[Combatcoal]

100 psi seems high. for a 30ds it's around 82

[KansasFR3]

Yeah, 100 psi is probably way too high. Even though on the 30DS, it says either 82/84 psi, the front axle is light enough to be set at the lowest PSI value for the tires, which is 80 psi. You really won't know until you weigh your loaded RV on a CAT scale at a truck stop or such. Once you have an axle weight, you can look up the appropriate psi per the load rating chart. Start there, and if you haven't gotten an alignment done, do that too.

[repsolgamma]

Trying the pressure change is worthwhile, considering the cost!

Thanks all for the input.

[jogalot]

FR3 alighnment completed all ok. bearings checked all ok. new tire valves going on all 6 wheels tomorrow without any extensions, having wheel beads put into all 6 tires for balancing tomorrow an a spare tire going into the rear storage department tomorrow if it fits through the door opening also, Ours is a 2014 chassis, 25DS, got really scared after reading all the complaints so we had the coach checked out, after today we feel much better.

[repsolgamma]

No extensions?

You must have a good reason.

How does one check air pressures on inside tires?

[drivmsafe]

Originally Posted by repsolgamma

No extensions?

You must have a good reason.

How does one check air pressures on inside tires?

Easiest way to check the inside tire pressure, if you don't have extensions, is to remove the cap (the 3 lug nut caps that have a small indentation using a 1 1/8" socket). If you do not have valve extensions I would recommend installing 135 degree extensions to make checking, and inflating easier. If installed properly you should not have any problems.

[StephanFR3]

Good reason is extentions can cause leaks.

[RJJ]

After having an extension leak I put on DuallyValves valves from Borg they work great.
http://yourtireshopsupply.com/catego...torhomes-buses


2015 Georgetown 329DS
2014 Chevy Equinox