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Ball Joint?


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Well I replaced the grease duct boot with a little ingenuity. The tie rod end was fine on the drag link. A universal replacement wasn’t available and I wasn’t crazy about the design so much.  I used a digital caliper and took some measurements. Got to looking around my STUFF and remembered I had a new never used boot for my Blue Ox tow bar. I took some measurements and they were so close I thought why not. I could of used one less spiral on the boot but I forgot to cut it off. I’m pleased with the outcome. Were there’s a will, there’s a way as they say. 

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  • 6 months later...
On 12/4/2021 at 8:19 PM, Rick A said:

Call Roadmaster. They are totally awesome! 

I called Monaco and they finally got back to me: "Unfortunately, Monaco did not record any parts information for the steering draglink or any components of it for that 2011 Cayman"   Do you have the tel# for Roadmaster?  All I can find is roadmaster tow bar/tow plates...  Looking for the ball joint grease cap...

On 12/15/2021 at 5:54 PM, tmw188 said:

Well I replaced the grease duct boot with a little ingenuity. The tie rod end was fine on the drag link. A universal replacement wasn’t available and I wasn’t crazy about the design so much.  I used a digital caliper and took some measurements. Got to looking around my STUFF and remembered I had a new never used boot for my Blue Ox tow bar. I took some measurements and they were so close I thought why not. I could of used one less spiral on the boot but I forgot to cut it off. I’m pleased with the outcome. Were there’s a will, there’s a way as they say. 

F5159FA1-565B-42B6-8997-F46217322073.jpeg

B3F5F827-27C0-4A36-9EF7-1C79A23761EF.jpeg

F77B340A-A3AE-4AF2-9D6E-96F8BA770A19.jpeg

EF3C9772-0133-4D06-99E0-4E516A332BA2.jpeg

EECB30CF-DA01-4086-A152-4AC0492ABB47.jpeg

WoW!  Great job!

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There is no more Roadmaster Chassis Company. Between Navistar and REV, they have destroyed the blueprints and chassis manufacturing equipment but also they destroyed the brand name in favor of their own brands that they prefer to sell.

We are now left to fend for ourselves.

Edited by Dr4Film
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4 minutes ago, Dr4Film said:

There is no more Roadmaster Chassis Company. Between Navistar and REV, they have destroyed the blueprints and chassis manufacturing equipment but also the destroyed the brand name in favor of their own brands that they prefer to sell.

We are now left to fend for ourselves.

That is what it has felt like.  As a matter of fact, I even called the dealer that I purchased the Monaco from brand new. They asked what chassis I had and I told them "roadmaster" and he was confused. He asked again, "is it a Freightliner, Ford, P30, etc.?" I had to repeat that it was a Roadmaster.    Not the first call that I made that the person had no idea what a Roadmaster chassis was...

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1 hour ago, NormanF said:

That is what it has felt like.  As a matter of fact, I even called the dealer that I purchased the Monaco from brand new. They asked what chassis I had and I told them "roadmaster" and he was confused. He asked again, "is it a Freightliner, Ford, P30, etc.?" I had to repeat that it was a Roadmaster.    Not the first call that I made that the person had no idea what a Roadmaster chassis was...

Source Engineering in Oregon is one of the places that knew the chassis and also what went into it.  There is another big truck alignment shop up there.  They have an online store and sell a variety of upgrades…..someone will have to chime in.  Josams in Orlando is the other and Barry is the shop manager.

Those three places might be able to supply replacement numbers and such. The good news, Barry has he rarely sees a failure in the joints and such….and he has been working on them for at least 25 years and did all the front end and chassis warranty work for Monaco’s original Wildwood service center.

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43 minutes ago, NormanF said:

anyone know the torque specs on the original drag link ball joint?

If you are into reading, here is a good link to a December discussion.

https://www.monacoers.org/topic/3564-ball-joint/

read the long post or the step by step.  Then go to page 2 for the Spicer Manual.

you might want to PM @vanwill52   He is our expert, among many, and has changed out some steering boxes. If he doesn’t know, it ain’t available.

 

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Although I have never had to replace my drag link, I bought a worn-out one from a generous member years ago, just in case I ever needed to replace it.  I could see that ONE end of the tie rod end had been "permanently" staked to the drag link by multiple swages.  That was intended to make it "permanently oriented", so that the "bow" in the drag link could never be installed incorrectly, and the "bow" would always allow additional reduction in turn radius.  Understood.  But there are SO MANY ways to accomplish that objective that did not render the drag link junk when the staked tie rod end failed.

When the time comes (if ever), I will cut through the stakes and replace the tie rod end with a garden-variety heavy-truck tie rod item.  I have a nicely equipped home machine shop, and I will cut through the stakes to be able to unscrew the (standard) tie rod end, screw in the new item, and choose a method for ensuring it is always oriented correctly..there are numerous methods that do not require something as primitive as "staking" the threaded tie rod in place.

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