Iso pads installation

[tom geiger]

Whoo boy, finally getting the iso pads put in. Ended up just cutting the carriage bolts out, hope to find a replacement bolt that may be stainless
steel or zinc. Will need to loosen the donut bolts at the front and back of coach. Hoping I will not need to replace them. Will do the jack stands
and lower air bag pressure on one side at a time to lessen the frame uplift pressure. I saw the # 10 Tek SS screws being used. Would 3/4" length be
enough or should I do 1" length?

Thanks,
Tom
76 Eleganza 2
KCMO

 

[Ken B]

WOW! I have done 4 coaches and never even loosened the bolts. Those things are bedded in the wooden floor and some times over compress intothe wood
if too tight. I am thinking the floor is 1" or 3/4" thick plus you have the thickness of the bracket, plus the thickness of the aluminum shield on
later coaches, and the thickness of the nut. I have a problem and I am thinking that 1" might be too short. I can not see where anything less than
1" would work and maybe they are even longer than 1".

All of this is just an opinion from someone that has never even had one loose or out. I would get longer than need because longer will not hurt you
while too short ones sure would.

If you have one of the old cutoff ones just measure it. Also look in the parts catalog. Sometimes they state by size what size bolt is used.
--
Ken Burton - N9KB
76 Palm Beach
Hebron, Indiana

 

[RF_Burns]

Glad to hear you are unloading the suspension and loosening all the hold-down bolts.

Here is a link to my experience. I have a 1977 and was going from thin (there was a variety of padding material or none in mine) to thick (about
5/8") pads.

http://www.gmcmhphotos.com/photos/g5800-isolation-pad-installation.html

Trick is to use several jacks along one side to lift one side of the coach evenly at once. The screws I used were self drilling, thread forming wide
head machine bolts. I believe they are generally used for fastening roof trusses. These screws have Robertson square socket drives. Hard to find
outside of Canada, but once you use them you'll toss your Philips, Torx etc screws in the garbage!

http://www.gmcmhphotos.com/photos/isolation-pad-installation/p39578-isolation-pad-replacement.html

To raise the 4 corner mounts because I went with thicker pads, I slipped several large flat washers under the donut to make up the space. The existing
donuts were in good shape.

I used slotted washers at the front braces beside the engine to make up the height difference there.
--
Bruce Hislop
ON Canada
77PB, 455 Dick P. rebuilt, DynamicEFI EBL EFI & ESC.1 ton front end
http://www.gmcmhphotos.com/photos/showphoto.php?photo=29001
My Staff says I never listen to them, or something like that

 

[tom geiger]

Yes, that is something I do not want to hear, cracking. I'm sure many have done this without loosening the hold down bolts but I'm going to loosen
all holdowns that are on the coach just to make sure. I would like to replace the side rail hold down bolts with a u bolt if I can find the right
one. May not, if so then I'll shop around for the best replacement bolts. I am doing the 5/8" pads.

Thanks all, looking firward to the nice ride improvement!
Tom