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View Full Version : a ton of work for a squeek in the sterring column


encantotom
06-18-2007, 05:45 PM
a friend of mine is an expert at rebuilding gm steering columns. so when i told him i had a slight squeek when the wheel was tilted down when steering left and right on a straight road he said, lets take it apart. well, 12 hours later, we (he is the better word) had it back together. it is a maze of special tool needed parts (he had them all) and we totally took it apart down to the floor and cleaned and lubed it all up. have not driven it yet, but if it has a squeek now, it is not there....it takes a real pro to do it given all the wierd parts in there. a job not for the fainthearted.

there were alot of wires that were hooked up to nothing that we removed. it appears the steering column was set up for cruise and some other features that my coach does not have on the column so we removed them.

thought i would share.....

tom

fulltiming
06-18-2007, 05:57 PM
Thanks Tom.

Newell several parts from Chevrolet and Ford in their early 1990's coaches. This is actually a blessing since you can still get most of those parts at your local truck dealer. The headlight dimmer switch is located inside the steering column cover and available from a Chevy/GMC dealer. No need to ask me how I know, that should be obvious and yes, I did notice a number of 'extra' wires. The yard lights are Chevy pickup bed lights. The headlights are available from the Ford dealer.

encantotom
06-18-2007, 06:07 PM
funny you would comment on the lights. when underneath working on the front leveling solenoids i saw the headlights were ford. then my buddy who is into restoring chevy pickups showed me the side yard lights were from a chevy pickup bedlight......

on this maiden voyage...4k miles into it in the first two weeks now and 900 miles to go in the next two days, the second day on i40 across new mexico, the 22 foot zip dee awning came down at 70 mph with 50mph crosswinds. it flapped like an albatross and thought we were going to taken flight.

i got it up and tied it up. my buddy who also has a coach helped me take it apart and adjust the tension on the awning and i talked to zip dee and i might need a new latch. quite an experience. when i was in a town of 25 people and a gas station in 50 mph winds trying to get it back up i could hardly stand up.

fun times.

tom

fulltiming
06-18-2007, 06:19 PM
ZipDee has a small manual awning travel latch available (about $30 each) that mount on the metal cover and the side of the coach that will eliminate the awning unfurling. I have added those to all my ZipDee's, window awnings as well as the main awning. Any dealer that sells ZipDee's can get them for you. I suspect that Newell can get them for you as well and I prefer to purchase directly from Newell where possible.

The awning locks at the ends of the patio awning are not always sufficient to prevent unfurling in very high wind conditions. Tying the support arms together does not make any difference either. The previous owner of my coach has lost the patio awning and the replacement cost $1,800 installed so I thought the $30 for the travel latch was worthwhile insurance. See the travel latch at http://www.zipdeeinc.com/diagram_awningtravellatch.htm