Tires, plugs & tranny February 12, 2020, 12:33:04 am Hi all, I’m almost back as a six-wheeled LDOF member! We are a month or so out from buying a 2003 midbath with 75k miles on it. The $650 inspection from a NRVIA (RV Inspectors Assn) referral bought us some peace of mind.First a thanks to Larry, Joan and many others who I've learned from over the years! You are an amazing resource and many of us are grateful for your honest input that has (hopefully) brought happiness while saving some heartache and $$.I have three questions (for the moment), with two specific to this rig's vintage:1. Tires (Michelins): choice of LTX M/S 2, Defenders, Agilis and XPS Rib starting around $1,600 and up to $1,860 for the XPS Rib. We won’t be doing a lot of traveling on this first set of tires (summer jaunts and long weekends) so my gut says Agilis, age of tires being equal. Just looking for confirmation here if anyone has specific experience with these. I'll be getting extended valves & following instructions per the forum on removing wheel covers and going step by step with installer (thanks Joan).I don’t have service records yet, but my 2 main concerns given the chassis manufacture date of 2002: 2. Spark plugs: the seller (who I trust) offered take it to his mechanic to check the plugs. One question here with a follow-up:Would it be wise to replace them and torque to 28 (thanks Larry) or wait and take it to blownsparkplugguy? If mechanic just replaces plugs, is there anything else they should be looking at while they’re in there?3. Transmission (seller did tow occasionally): check the fluid and do a full flush (if needed/depending on service records). What about waiting and consider a new torque converter a little further down the road (not that I'm dying to drop another $5k)? I'll have them inspect the fluid in the parking brake reservoir as well (or would this be done during the oil change?) Thanks again to all and looking forward to getting back out there!-Eastbayray
Re: Tires, plugs & tranny Reply #1 – February 12, 2020, 02:39:36 am Quote from: East Bay Ray - February 12, 2020, 12:33:04 am. The $650 inspection from a NRVIA (RV Inspectors Assn) referral bought us some peace of mind.1. Tires (Michelins): choice of LTX M/S 2, Defenders, Agilis and XPS Rib starting around $1,600 and up to $1,860 for the XPS Rib. 2. Spark plugs: the seller (who I trust) offered take it to his mechanic to check the plugs. One question here with a follow-up:Would it be wise to replace them and torque to 28 (thanks Larry) or wait and take it to blownsparkplugguy? If mechanic just replaces plugs, is there anything else they should be looking at while they’re in there?3. Transmission (seller did tow occasionally): check the fluid and do a full flush (if needed/depending on service records). What about waiting and consider a new torque converter a little further down the road (not that I'm dying to drop another $5k)? I'll have them inspect the fluid in the parking brake reservoir as well (or would this be done during the oil change?) Welcome to the 2003 Club. Congratulations on having it inspected, it's something few do and many pay dearly for the lack of.TiresI believe the LTX M/S2 were replaced by the Defenders, our LD is now running Defenders. The Agilis CrossClimate is a newer design and is better tire if snow is encountered. It's the tire I would buy today.Michelin Agilis CrossClimate Tires | MichelinThe XPS rib is a summer tire and hard riding, Tire Rack has this to say:"Highway Rib Summer tires are not intended to be driven in near-freezing temperatures, through snow or on ice." That eliminates it as an all weather tire.Make sure to have a good spare tire.PlugsChange them now and make sure they are torqued to the updated standard of 28 ft/lbs. At 80,000 miles, I found two plugs that were finger tight. The Blownsparkplug guys can change them but their specialty is repairing already blown spark plugs. Any decent mechanic should be able to change the plugs.Change the spark plugs boots at the same time.LDs of this vintage have a history of spark plug coils failing, I suggest carrying a spare or two, along with a 7mm socket for the bolt. Even if someone else changes it, having a new coil in hand decreases the downtime.TransmissionChange the filter and do a total flush. If you plan on towing, consider a larger transmission cooler.Not sure why you would want to change the torque converter unless it is failing, it usually is only replaced if the transmission is being rebuilt. Some transmissions go many more miles, our friend Lorna has about 185,000 miles on the original engine and transmission.The parking brake has its own reservoir and no drain. Make sure it is topped off with the same fluid the transmission uses.I regularly check the parking brake's fluid level, it is hard to see and often ignored. A lack of lubricant in the parking brake can destroy the brake unit and, in some case, will take the transmission with, at a cost up to $10,000 to repair, if the transmission's case is not useable.The parking brake has a very small reservoir and only hold a few ounces of fluid, it's very important to keep it filled.If you are having a mechanic do the work, print the photos from the link below to show where the fill plug is located, most mechanics will have no idea that it is there or how to check it. A transmission mounted parking brake is something that disappeared on most vehicles 70 or 80 years ago.Parking brake oil fill | FlickrAt this age and mileage, I would have the following checked. U-jointsDriveshaft's center bearing, the rubber outer ring can disintegrate .Ball joints, check for wear and play. Make sure the ball joints have grease fittings.Tie-rod ends.Steering stabilizer, most are worn out at this mileage.Shocks Serpentine beltRadiator and heater hoses. Many rig of his age still have the originals and are living on borrowed time.Brakes. RV brakes can go for many years without service, due to the low yearly mile accumulation of most RVs. Even if the brake pads are OK, the caliper slide's lubricant and brake fluid deteriorate with time. Having the brakes inspected and the slides lubed every two or three years is a good idea.Flush both the power steering fluid and brake fluid. The brake fluid should be flushed every two to four years.Consider adding a power steering fluid filter in the return line from the brake booster.Amazon.com: Magnefine 3/8" Magnetic Inline Transmission/Power Steering...If maintenance records are not available, change the rear axle fluid and flush and change the engine coolant.Change the fuel filter.This should keep you busy for a while, when that's done', I will have a list of things to check on the coach.Enjoy the new rig.Larry 3 Likes As an Amazon Associate Lazy Daze Owners' Group earns from qualifying purchases.
Re: Tires, plugs & tranny Reply #2 – February 12, 2020, 08:46:54 am The Michelin Agilis (the one in Larry's link) is the replacement for the Defender, and will be a much 'fresher' tire choice. I suggest ordering all 6 with matching dates within a 2-month window of manufacture (and installing them with the date codes facing out.) If the best tire currently on the rig isn't good enough to be used as a spare, you might consider a less expensive, but still new and good quality, tire as a spare. Larry's listings are critical maintenance points; you will easily drop more than $5k on those without factoring in a torque converter! I'd also check the age and condition of the engine battery and replace it (and obviously, change the air filter). These are two engine batteries that may be of interest to you:Interstate Batteries | MTP-65Interstate Batteries | MTZ-65You didn't mention anything about solar, the charge controller, coach batteries, or the power center; if it's a 2003, and hasn't been updated, you will very likely want to plan for upgrading these components. You are probably sorry you asked for input!
Re: Tires, plugs & tranny Reply #3 – February 12, 2020, 10:04:59 am (smile). Welcome almost aboard. Some say the most expensive hobby is boat ownership followed by RVing. I agree.Glen
Re: Tires, plugs & tranny Reply #4 – February 12, 2020, 10:57:34 am Second Larry's recommendation on the XPS rib. I had a set on a pickup that regularly towed a 10,000lb. trailer. They were fine on warm dry pavement, but very slippery on anything wet, sunk down into the sand if off the pavement (no tire bulge at the bottom), and rode like an unloaded dump truck if I wasn't carrying a load.I traded them off for a different tire.HD
Re: Tires, plugs & tranny Reply #5 – February 12, 2020, 11:15:48 am Michelin's XPS Ribs have steel-belted sidewalls; the only other steel-belted sidewall tires in 225/75R/16E were/are a 947 and 949 from Goodyear, and I don't know if these are manufactured (in the appropriate size) any longer.XPS Ribs may be a good choice for heavy rigs, e.g., a 30' or 31', if one can accept the 'Highway' tread pattern. YMMV, as ever.
Re: Tires, plugs & tranny Reply #6 – February 12, 2020, 11:43:57 am Quote from: Joan - February 12, 2020, 11:15:48 amMichelin's XPS Ribs have steel-belted sidewalls; the only other steel-belted sidewall tires in 225/75R/16E were/are a 947 and 949 from Goodyear, and I don't know if these are manufactured (in the appropriate size) any longer.XPS Ribs may be a good choice for heavy rigs, e.g., a 30' or 31', if one can accept the 'Highway' tread pattern. YMMV, as ever.Had the Ribs on once a long time ago and had them replaced (at no cost). The LD rode like a tank.Chris
Re: Tires, plugs & tranny Reply #7 – February 12, 2020, 02:29:11 pm I like my Hercules Terra Trac Cross V. Under $1200 tax, balanced and installed.
Re: Tires, plugs & tranny Reply #8 – February 12, 2020, 03:11:10 pm If it was towing, service the differential. At my 30K transmission service the tranny fluid looked good but the diff looked burned. Of course most of the miles were towing.
Re: Tires, plugs & tranny Reply #9 – February 12, 2020, 03:34:26 pm Link to Ford's maintenance schedules:Maintenance Schedules | fleet.ford.comThis is a 'basic' list; there are additional services and intervals that are not necessarily listed on the schedule.
Re: Tires, plugs & tranny Reply #10 – February 12, 2020, 04:05:40 pm Hi Ray. The blown out spark plugs caused by too few threads in the intake manifold, was fixed sometime in 2003. So you are on the 'cusp'. Larry and Joan both with 2003 model years would know more about the change-over date/VIN's involved. I think Larry solved his problem when he had to replace his engine after a plug blew out. RonB
Re: Tires, plugs & tranny Reply #11 – February 12, 2020, 04:39:23 pm Quote from: RonB - February 12, 2020, 04:05:40 pmHi Ray. The blown out spark plugs caused by too few threads in the intake manifold, was fixed sometime in 2003. So you are on the 'cusp'. Larry and Joan both with 2003 model years would know more about the change-over date/VIN's involved. I think Larry solved his problem when he had to replace his engine after a plug blew out. RonBThe four thread heads were replaced with the new , seven thread casting in late 2003 engines. Our early 2003 had the four thread head, Joan's late 2003 LD has the seven thread head.The only way I know of for determining which you have is to pull a spark plug and count the threads. If you go that far, you might as well change the plugs and upgrade the torque setting.When a spark plug loosen, it can start bouncing slightly and weaken the aluminum threads, even plugs that have been replaced and torque to the higher setting can still blow out if the threads were previously damaged. That is most likely what happened t our engine.. It took almost 20,000 mies after the plugs were changed to have a plug blow out.If it happens, you will immediately know, it is very noisy, sounding like a variable speed machine gun.Larry
Re: Tires, plugs & tranny Reply #12 – February 12, 2020, 04:51:47 pm "Our early 2003 had the four thread head, Joan's late 2003 LD has the seven thread head.The only way I know of for determining which you have is to pull a spark plug and count the threads. If you go that far, you might as well change the plugs and upgrade the torque setting."---My 2003 has an engine manufacture date of May 27, 2003, stamped on the plug cover; the Blown Out Spark Plug tech who changed the plugs said that this date was the earliest that he had encountered with 7-thread heads. I had this service done at 87,000 miles; Ford's maintenance schedule lists 100,000 as the time for a plug change, but since I didn't know the 'thread count', I didn't want to take a chance on blowing a plug.
Re: Tires, plugs & tranny Reply #13 – February 12, 2020, 06:19:00 pm QuoteAt my 30K transmission service the tranny fluid looked good but the diff looked burned. Of course most of the miles were towing. Checking the Ford Service Schedule Joan shared, at least for our 2019 E450 V10, Ford recommends changing the rear axle fluid when towing at 22.5k miles. Seems to re-confirm what Joel said.
Re: Tires, plugs & tranny Reply #14 – February 12, 2020, 08:29:11 pm We too have a 2003 with the seven thread heads. I'd want to know going in whether I had the three or seven thread heads and then make my decision.At 75,000 miles I'd say change the plugs and have the threads counted before completing the purchase, torquing the plugs to the higher value as part of that. If the vehicle has the seven thread heads then I think at that point you could forget about this issue and feel good that you won't need a plug change for another 100K miles.If you have the three thread heads then you could gather information and talk with whomever you feel relevant and decide if you want to go ahead with the purchase and on what terms.We bought our rig new and of course knew nothing about this at the time. We took it to the Blown Out Spark Plug guys at about 50K miles, had the plugs changed and the threads counted in the process. It was a great relief to know we had the seven thread heads. I've given this issue no more thought since. If we'd had the three thread heads I think I'd have followed a much more aggressive plug change interval, probably something like every 50K miles. But I'd still worry.But every vehicle has its inherent weak points. You just have to understand them and decide what you can live with. Overall I've found the Ford chassis to be remarkably trouble-free in our 130K miles and now nearly 17 years of use. 1 Likes
Re: Tires, plugs & tranny Reply #15 – February 12, 2020, 10:13:26 pm Thank you ALL for the input. I have to digest all of this but fortunately I have a month to do so before I pick it up!
Re: Tires, plugs & tranny Reply #16 – February 13, 2020, 12:21:02 am Quote from: Joan - February 12, 2020, 08:46:54 amYou didn't mention anything about solar, the charge controller, coach batteries, or the power center; if it's a 2003, and hasn't been updated, you will very likely want to plan for upgrading these components. You are probably sorry you asked for input! The inspection noted the one solar panel but didn't mention the age of any of the batteries. Fortunately the seller has all service records so once I see all of these I can prioritize, starting with the chassis and moving through the coach. Oscillating tool & Eternabond being the first purchase for the coach.
Topic: Tires, plugs & tranny (Read 392 times)
previous topic - next topic
Topic: Tires, plugs & tranny (Read 392 times)
previous topic - next topic