JimC295

I just want to give a shout out to Weller truck parts and to post the contact who is currently handling the Shepard to TRW gear box swap. Weller was awesome to deal with, I first emailed John Vanlaan who said he no longer handles the swap info but set me up with Nick Vangeest (Nick Vangeest nvangeest@wellertruck.com ) it was plug and play after that. Nick even offered to send one of their trucks to pickup the core. If you are contemplating the swap Weller is a great place to assist you in this endeavor. I am including a copy of Johns 1st email with Nicks name. Good Morning Jim, Thanks for reaching out to us. You have come to the right place. I am no longer in the Steering Department, however, I am still with the company and happy to point you in the right direction. We have sold many of the TRW replacement gears. They are not quite a bolt on and go replacement, however, a lot of RV owners have made the swap and are extremely happy with the change. The TRW gear you will need is the TAS65 052 and the NEW Pitman arm that will be needed for the swap too is 84242502. I have included some instructions from the forum (These instructions are older and we have sense updated which TRW gears and Arm works best but they are the same concept and should help you or your mechanic doing the swap). I have also included the Steering Department and counter sales Nick Vangeest who can better help you with questions, pricing, and shipping. Hope this is what you are looking for and can help make your Monaco Coach more enjoyable for you. John

Ive got my TRW gear box and Pittman arm ordered. Not sure when I'll get it installed but I'll have it if and when we get a mild day this winter. I emailed Nick Vangeest and he got my stuff coming right away. Great service. I started with John Vanlaan but he is no longer in the steering department but he was able to get me the number I needed and some instructions from the forum that he said were edited by Weller to ensure all the I's and T's were crossed and dotted and forwarded the info to Nick.

Ive been alerted to that issue. Ive inspected mine but not really close. After I get my gearbox changed out that is next.

I have to give a shout out to Rev group. I determined I needed to ask for the build sheet for my coach. Ifound out I needed to verify the model number of my sheppard box. I emailed them yesterday mid afternoon and got an answer before 5 pm. AWESOME response! My Sheppard pn is PMN34 so now the hunt is on for a trw replacement.

In the front everything appears tight. I asked a friend to observe the movement as I turned the wheel. I was just a little concerned when all were talking about drilling the hole for the adjustment screw when it appeared I didn't need to. I am confident that it is the box causing the issue, it is a real white knuckle drive at times. I live on a dirt road and I can move the wheel several inches in either direction without changing direction while driving 15-20mph. You mentioned the track bars I have what I think is the original design so I'm thinking I need the source engineering bars or at a minimum get mine welded up by a competent welder.

I have a filter and need to install. I've got a minor leak and because of my research into this topic I'm a little confused about my box. The pittman arm has the previous owners name on it so I'm wondering if he had someone make changes to the system. I don't think mine would work with it bolted to the frame because the generator is right against the frame.

OK this is probably a stupid question but as some will say "there r no stupid questions". I have been reading everything on the forum about steering issues I also have been consulting with Chad Young. I crawled under my coach and took pics and am pretty sure I have an M100 Sheppard box . My question is I thought these boxes were mounted directly to the frame and the hole that needs to be drilled was into the frame to adjust the TRW box. Mine is mounted a good 3 to 4 inches away from the frame so any adjustment could be done I would think with a wrench and a stubby screwdriver. 1 more question is the H frame everyone is talking about and the Watts X braces, is that only on RR8 chassis. I looked at the Monaco watts site and they do not have anything listed for RR4.

I am headed home today, once I fill it up then I'll compute it again. So standby for an update.

David, I agree it seems high. I did have an elevation decrease. Where we live in N GA its about 1200 feet and I traveled to N FL. Im gonna track it the rest of the trip and reevaluate.

I ran mine over twice on my last 2 stops, truck pumps have a lot of volume. Flashlight is a good idea, thanks

Well, I guess my expectations were to high. I had a 2007 Ram with the Cummins 6.7 and on cruise it never dropped off cruise and it would fly down the on ramp if I floored it. I also had a tune in it so maybe I should think about that for this. I'm guessing I was pushing about 375hp and this one is rated at 300. But yall have given me some perspective.

Maybe I screwed it up. I've go more legs on this trip so I'll keep checking it. I have not been down shifting but may start doing that. Just trying to understand what is normal. My main concern is on ramps and merging into traffic. I have not scaled it yet but GVWR is 27K and I towing a camry fairly light.

I read somewhere that the 8.3 was much better on diesel than the 5.9 and seems like I remember 12-13 mpg. If I did not screw this up I got 13.4 with my toad in tow, WOW. I have a question though, is it normal for the tranny to not down shift with the accelerator floored? I changed the fluid and this was the 1st time I got it hot enough to run the diagnostics and turns out I was a couple of qts low. This is my 1st MH so not sure what normal is. Thanks in advance

Tom I do have a (edited) CO or Carbon Monoxide detector on the baseboard in the bathroom. I am aware of the deadly consequences of a gas leak inside an RV. I am just wanting to get this coach back up to spec so we can enjoy it and feel safe traveling in it. I spent 25 years in the USN and every sailor is a firefighter we received extensive training on fires and causes of fires and gases in enclosed spaces. If deployed on a ship and you have a catastrophe u can't call the fire department. LOL

Don Carter is just a short hike down the road from our house in Cleveland. I checked out Vogel once and decided it was to tight for my 5th wheel maybe I'll take another look since I no longer have to bend in the middle. LOL