Check bearings if you've had MorRyde IS intalled lately

[Golfmedik]

Hi guys and gals, yep, it's been while since I've written a post, but we had something happen to us that needs to be shared. We had the IS suspension put on back in October of last year and had towed our unit approximately 2200 miles when we had a catastrophic bearing failure back in May. We had just left the campground a few miles when I noticed the left rear wheel laying out at the bottom. Before I could get the rig off the road, the grease had flamed up and was burning. Once off the road and the fire out, it was obvious that we had a major problem. The outer bearing had come apart and allowed the rotor to come in contact with the caliper bracket, broke the brake pads and welded the bearing race to the spindle which took off most all of the spindle threads. After about 9 hours of trying to find parts to repair the unit, I had to leave the camper on the side of the roadway overnight over an hour and half from home. Thank God it was in the yard of a very nice couple who previously camped. I called MorRyde early the next morning(Monday) and they were trying to find someone to come from Augusta,GA to repair it. I asked if they would allow me to repair it. They said yes! I was shipped the full beam assembly which included the spindle and then a rotor, Timken bearings and races, caliper, caliper bracket, tire, brake pads and brake line. All of this was shipped overnight and arrived Tuesday around noon. I and a friend took off to repair it. The repair was pretty straight forward and I had asked for the torque specs from MorRyde so that I could make sure it was in spec. You need a good torque wrench, good impact wrench(mine was Milwaukee) and a 1.5" impact socket to remove and install the double 1.5" nuts on the beam assenbly arm. You could do it with a 1/2" ratchet with a lot of forceful turning if you had to. All of the work took us approximately 2 hours as we were 4 feet from the white line of the highway in these folks' yard. The repair was successful and we got it home after two days on the roadway. The camper was looked after well! When I got home, I talked with MorRyde again and was sent all new timken bearings and brake pads after I tore down the rest of the bearings for inspection and found all four spindles and bearing races on both the outer and inner bearings were scorched. Turns out I had all China made bearings on my unit. I have two other identical campers of friends of ours that we all had this done within 90 days of each other, tear their bearings down as well. One was home, the other in Key West. One unit had all Timken bearings and races, the other had Timken Bearings and China made races!!! ALL FOUR on both rigs had scorched spindles and bearing races!!! They too contacted MorRyde and were overnighted all parts that were needed and they too repaired their rigs themselves. All parts from my camper and all of the bearings and races from theirs were all sent to MorRyde to evaluation and inspection. Just last week, we were sent an email stating they had concluded that the installation process during this time frame had been the culprit. The bearings had not been seated properly during installation by using Torque Sticks. Since their review their install process, all new equipment for seating bearings had been purchased. I'm still waiting on reimbursement from MorRyde on all expenditures I encountered during this ordeal, and all that hinges on is verifying receipts with them. They, however, will not pay me for all of my time. Funny, they would have had all the same expenditures as I did, PLUS travel and time, but I guess it is what it is. I still recommend the independent suspension and MorRyde did what they said they would do as far as getting me parts. Sorry for the long post, but if you've had the IS from MorRyde installed since the last rally, you may want to tear it down and inspect it well!

[Curtis]

When did you get yours done, I just had mine done last week.

[77cruiser]

Check for tire wear too. My alignment was way off towed out 5/16-3/8 in.

[Golfmedik]

I had mine done in October last fall. You should be good to go. Funny thing you guys mentioned alignment. Since I had to have my unit aligned after putting on the entire beam assembly, and took it to a place south of Atlanta to get it done. They showed me a shelf full of shims from MorRyde saying they have to take them all out to get the unit aligned to proper specs. Just wondering why the shims have to come out?

[rames14]

After talking to Monty at rally, we had our unit checked while at MorRyde for inspection. We had our IS installed the month before his. Ours had Chinese bearings and they are being replaced as I write this. If you had IS installed around this timeframe, follow Monty’s advice. Sure glad I did.

[Lhinkle114]

We had ours done in March this year, we will have to have them look at them

Thanks for heads up

[LDMoore06]

Spent the night in bay 5 at MorRyde. Must have just missed you Ron Ames. Alignment check, bearings repack and brake check.

[Our3231CK]

Thank you for the information, were scheduled later next month for the installation, I'll be sure to check while work is being done.

[artfuldodger]

It seems that rv,ing is only affordable if you are a superb mechanic capable of doing major repairs at the side of the road.

[rames14]

Larry, sorry we missed you. John, you’re right, you need to be mechanical or rich. I did learn one thing from Gary Wheeler today. They use the existing bearings if you have disk brakes transferred over to IS.

[LDMoore06]

Our bearings were all good. I did have 2 busted rubber springs that were replaced and alignment was off. New pads and brake lines flushed. All good. Except the checkbook. Lol

[ep4me]

i am not so sure you can find a us made wheel bearing anymore from any brand including timkens. for what that is worth i think alignment caused your bearing failure