Brakes and Leaf Spring U Bolts

[bobotty]

I have a 2018 31L5 coach. Just wondering if anyone has had to have these items replaced what they had to pay for it. I was quoted $4539. Is this a reasonable price?

Thanks
Bob

[Sunseeker16]

Originally Posted by bobotty

I have a 2018 31L5 coach. Just wondering if anyone has had to have these items replaced what they had to pay for it. I was quoted $4539. Is this a reasonable price?

Thanks
Bob

Just curious, why would leaf spring U bolts need replaced?

[bobotty]

One is broken and all are rusted and not in good shape.

[Sunseeker16]

Originally Posted by bobotty

One is broken and all are rusted and not in good shape.

The condition of the u bolts on a 6 year old unit seems awful unusual to me. Not hard to change if you have some hefty tools.

Assuming the front brakes a disc brakes, they are easy to replace. Rears can be a different animal especially if they are drum brakes. It's hard to give an opinion on the cost without knowing the full scope of the work. Does it include rotors and/or drums, servicing/replacing the bearings, checking the alignment after replacing the u bolts. And other things?

[bobotty]

Pads, rotors and seals and diff fluid for the brakes, 2292 for rears, 1112 for fronts. All four rear U Bolts replace 1136. Nothing I could do on my own, not a mechanic.

[realshelby]

My question is....how do you know the rotors need replaced? How many miles on the coach.
Not replacing rotors makes the brake pad change take about 1/4 of the time.
Spring U-bolts being broke is a concern for me. Were there repairs done in that area before?

[bobotty]

The coach is in for NY State inspection. Report says failed for delaminated rotors and broken/rusted U bolts. Coach only has 8k miles on it. They are saying the problems are from rusting.

[NXR]

Find a Ford Commercial Dealer that works on the F53 and take it to them. Brakes on an F53 typically last 50,000+ miles.

Has yours spent a lot of time around salt water?

Ray

[jimmoore13]

I'm a travel trailer guy, so I can't comment on the cost of the repairs on your Ford medium truck chassis. I agree that you might want to shop around a bit, because that does sound expensive.

NY is a very difficult state for rusting out vehicles. I grew up in NY and lived there until I was 50. Their road maintenance practices are very hard on all vehicles. My brother is in upstate NY, and his Ford F250 is 10 years younger than my Dodge in Colorado. He's had to replace his pickup bed and perform all kinds of rust repairs on the suspension and elsewhere. Meanwhile, my 2006 RAM looks brand new. The difference is how the roads are maintained in the winter.

Your rig has no miles on it, so the rot must be from road salt and, perhaps, from going to ocean-front campsites.

Two thoughts...for the future.
1) The things you're fixing are attached to other "things" that may also be deteriorated by corrosion. Inspect your chassis carefully and thoroughly. Attaching new springs to rusted out frame rails won't do much good for very long. ALSO...very important. Inspect your brake lines and change your brake fluid. Brake lines rot out, too. And old brake fluid absorbs water and makes the brake lines rust out from the inside out.
2) Given this experience, if you drive the rig on the road during the winter, and/or if you bring it to an ocean beach, you need to wash the underside of the coach thoroughly as soon as possible after exposure to corrosive elements. That's not an easy task, but there are undercarriage wash facilities for commercial trucks in New York State.

There's no reason that a 6 year old truck with 8000 miles on it should be this badly rusted unless it was exposed to a lot of "road" or "sea" salt, and it wasn't washed soon after. Even then, this deterioration is extreme. If you want to keep this coach, it needs to be inspected and cared for in keeping with the service it's exposed to.

I'm not scolding. I'm commiserating. The condition of your truck chassis is hard to believe.

[bobotty]

Originally Posted by NXR

Find a Ford Commercial Dealer that works on the F53 and take it to them. Brakes on an F53 typically last 50,000+ miles.

Has yours spent a lot of time around salt water?

Ray

Coach has never been near saltwater but has traveled northeast roads. It is at a Ford dealer......that is who failed it on inspection. The RV dealers tell me they don't do chassis work....called 3 of them. They say the problem is rust causing the rotors to delaminate.

I'm really looking for someone that has had to pay for these replacements to see if the estimate is a fair price. I don't need opinions on whether the brakes or u bolts need to be replaced.....the NY Inspector has failed it for road worthiness. I have no choice but to have the work performed....just trying to get a feel for what others have paid.

[NXR]

I'd suggest asking over here, the iRV2 Ford Motorhome Chassis forum: https://www.irv2.com/forums/f23/

If you do not have an iRV2 account, just create one using the same email address as you use here. Both sites are owned by the same company so it will find your account here and streamline the account creation process.

Good luck,

Ray

[Twinboat]

Get a second opinion, you don't need to use Ford.

Big Four tire in Syracuse worked on my motorhome and inspected it. Call around.

[D W]

Originally Posted by bobotty

Coach has never been near saltwater but has traveled northeast roads..............

I was stationed in NY almost 40 years ago. Everything in NY either rusts or corrodes. In the winter they dump pure salt on the roads.

[Twinboat]

Yes, they salt the roads, but only in winter when most RVs are in storage.
There's more to the story with that kind of rust.

I picked up an 1988 F150 a few years back, in NY. We called it Rusty. Digging thru some papers in the glove box, found out it came from Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

[Sbosserman]

Originally Posted by bobotty

I have a 2018 31L5 coach. Just wondering if anyone has had to have these items replaced what they had to pay for it. I was quoted $4539. Is this a reasonable price?

Thanks
Bob

OMG no that is NOT a reasonable price. Maybe 25% of that would be a normal RV repair facility price.

[Aussieguy]

Originally Posted by bobotty

Pads, rotors and seals and diff fluid for the brakes, 2292 for rears, 1112 for fronts. All four rear U Bolts replace 1136. Nothing I could do on my own, not a mechanic.

next time find a local repair shop that can do brakes
half the price of dealer

anything else breaks.... get second opinion

[realshelby]

Price for front and rear rotors with pad kit are under $600 on Rock Auto:

https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/...+pad+kit,13824

I have bought parts like this from them many times. Good parts. Find a local truck shop and they can put these on in a few hours labor.

There is even a section at the bottom for fully coated parts for....Rust Prone Areas!

[realshelby]

New U-Bolts for rear springs. Need two kits at ~$55 each:

https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/c...it/doe0/929701

[jimmoore13]

If the Ford dealer did the inspection and has set you up to pay for repairs that the Ford dealer claims you need, absolutely get a second opinion from an independent truck repair shop.

I understand the NYS DMV inspection system. The dealer just "condemned" your vehicle and started a clock ticking (30 days?) to get the necessary repairs...or a second opinion. Get the second opinion.

In my years in NY, many service shops pull this stunt to test your capacity to be a "sucker." This may or may not be a scam, but the incredulousness you've heard from others suggests you might be getting jerked around.

I had a '69 Mustang. I bought all the parts and installed ball joints, tie-rod ends, and so on on the front suspension. The "Brand" Tire Stores were running an alignment special, so I brought it to them to align the front end after doing all that work. Mind you that the parts were shiny brand new, and yet the "technician" at the Brand store had the audacity to tell me the front end was shot and spouted off a list of parts I had just replaced. To prove it, he took me to the shop, grabbed the front and rear of the tire and yanked them back and forth...with the steering wheel whipping back and forth wildly...in an attempt to "prove" his point. I came very close to punching him in the face. I reported the shop to NYS authorites for this attempted fraud.

So, you get the point. While your rig might be dissolving into a heap of rust, this could also be a business building scam. Definitely go to an independent shop for a second opinion and quote for the repairs...if any repairs are needed.

P.S. A couple of drives with road salt won't rust out your vehicle. The corrosive capability of road salt is not infinite, because the salt attached to your vehicle is not infinite. Furthermore, driving in the spring rains cleans the underside of your vehicle. Is it possible that your 6-years/8000-miles old vehicle has experienced a unique set of circumstances that caused incredible amounts of rust? Perhaps. But it's far fetched. If you haven't personally confirmed the diagnosis and seen what has been described, get a second opinion.

[bobm253]

Lots of scammers and over zealous inspectors out there. Had an inspection fail because of a piece of front spring broken off. Wanted to install two kits for almost $800 at the time. I did the work myself and the one spring had less than 1/2 inch broken off the bottom end. They really had to search to come up with that repair. I'm all for safety etc but this seemed overboard.

A mechanic friend had installed brand new ball joints on his car. Took it to a national muffler shop for inspection. They failed it and said he needed new ball joints.

Your estimate seems way overpriced. With a proper impact wrench its an easy job to replace spring u-bolts.