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"Willy Mammoth" - Volvo 730 RV Hauler Build


bmzero

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BMZERO,

 

Your statement below got me pondering........Yesterday afternoon I had the pleasure of crawling under the Ole Freightshacker and pressure-washing it's belly-parts........ the ole gal was out of gear so the trans-driveline was free of torsion stress so I clould freely rotate to the limits of the trans and power divider gear lash slack. Rotation slack was say about 20 degrees but vertical and lateral tol was near-Zero (maybe 0.010" at the most). Now likely this old 10spd Road-Rager is not the same trans that you have and this engine / clutch / trans combo has less than 17K mi. since remain so maybe it might be a bit tight but I can't imagine that your driveline is "happy" with a 1/4" (0.250") of radial tol. Have you tried to deflect the diff-yoke to check the radial tol at the rear-end of the driveline?

 

1/4" radial "play" seems like it could be the Devils Playground of vibration.......

 

"Another thing that I'm slightly concerned about is the amount of slack in the output shaft of the transmission. While under the truck, I can move the driveshaft up and down about a 1/4". I asked the Volvo tech to check that and adjust if necessary. He said everything looked good to him. I just sort of nodded my head. Seems strange to have that much play in the output shaft. I can't say that it would cause this issue, but it does seem possible."

97 Freightshaker Century Cummins M11-370 / 1350 /10 spd / 3:08 /tandem/ 20ft Garage/ 30 ft Curtis Dune toybox with a removable horse-haul-module to transport Dolly-The-Painthorse to horse camps and trail heads all over the Western U S

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Having the trans output yoke shimmed was the first of two early fixes I had done after I bought my old KW (15spd). I also had about 1/4" play. The other was changing out the tires on the forward tandem to match the diameter of the rear tandem axle tires. It really smoothed up the driveline, but I don't know which helped the most because I drove it straight from the mechanical shop to the tire shop.

 

BMZERO, my thought is that if you took care of the drive shaft play, then you'd have an easier time of finding any additional vibration source. I'm only used to very old trucks, but I would imagine anything wrong with your steer tires would be felt through the steering wheel to some extent. Maybe on the newer trucks not so much.

 

Good luck.

Damian
'83 W900B, 3406B, RTO14615, 355 tandems, '95 Carriage Carriage triple axle

reluyog@gmail.com

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I do plan on taking it back to Volvo soon for some reprogramming, etc. I am putting together a list of things for them to check/verify. The output shaft movement is definitely at the top of that list, but I suspect the free play is supposed to be there.

 

http://www.thetruckersreport.com/truckingindustryforum/volvo-forum/277712-i-shift-output-shaft-free-play.html

"Willy Mammoth" - Volvo 730, Sold

Heartland Cyclone 4000 Toy Hauler
T-Minus 26 years and counting to being a full timer.

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If I get a chance soon I might throw up a mag-base dial indicator on the trans output yoke and see if my .010 gusetimate is close to a actual dial indicator measurement.

 

I actually have a anti-vibration condition with the old FL and that is if I get on a real smooth stretch of road...... the old doors stop rattling and the side windows stop shaking and the visors stop flopping and then I have to make sure that the ole girl has simply stopped moving......scary when a FL stops rattling......

 

Perhaps the Ishift trans at .038" MAX tol is common but that is WAY tighter than your estimate of 1/4" (.250") infact Several times more tolerance.....

 

Maybe we are both poor guestimators but a quick dial indicater check will answer the questions.

 

.038 MAX tol would be about I would guess as the MAXIMUM that I would ever waant to see that yoke and trans end of the driveline out of center.

 

You might ponder that the rest of the driveline components (slip sleeve, U joints, and driven diff yoke) have tolerances that when "added" together can conspire to make a driveline a real "shaker".......

97 Freightshaker Century Cummins M11-370 / 1350 /10 spd / 3:08 /tandem/ 20ft Garage/ 30 ft Curtis Dune toybox with a removable horse-haul-module to transport Dolly-The-Painthorse to horse camps and trail heads all over the Western U S

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1/4" is pretty accurate on mine. It's also possible that the Volvo tech didn't really look at the output shaft slack as I asked and was just stating a general fact about iShift transmissions having more freeplay than others. That's why I have it on the list when it goes back.

"Willy Mammoth" - Volvo 730, Sold

Heartland Cyclone 4000 Toy Hauler
T-Minus 26 years and counting to being a full timer.

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That amount of free play is NOT normal. It will set up a vibration that likely will "cycle" when at a steady speed.

KW T-680, POPEMOBILE
Newmar X-Aire, VATICAN
Lots of old motorcycles, Moto Guzzi Griso and Spyder F3 currently in the front row
Young enough to play in the dirt as a retired farmer.
contact me at rickeieio1@comcast.net

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That amount of free play is NOT normal. It will set up a vibration that likely will "cycle" when at a steady speed.

 

OK, maybe we're onto something here. I'll reach out to my Volvo tech and specifically ask him about this. Thanks.

"Willy Mammoth" - Volvo 730, Sold

Heartland Cyclone 4000 Toy Hauler
T-Minus 26 years and counting to being a full timer.

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OK, maybe we're onto something here. I'll reach out to my Volvo tech and specifically ask him about this. Thanks.

 

So, I can't help but ask.....

 

Is your vibration "cycling" as in getting louder and fading, then getting loud again? You never mentioned that symptom in your previous description.

 

I've hear this in lots of gearboxes on farm equipment over the ages.......'cuz I'm old.

KW T-680, POPEMOBILE
Newmar X-Aire, VATICAN
Lots of old motorcycles, Moto Guzzi Griso and Spyder F3 currently in the front row
Young enough to play in the dirt as a retired farmer.
contact me at rickeieio1@comcast.net

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No, it's not necessarily audible, but more so a vibration that shakes the hood. The frequency of the vibration is more inline with the rotation of the tires or possibly driveshaft. I don't feel it's the gearbox. However, I guess it's possible the short driveshaft could be out of balance and the vibration maximized by the free play in the output shaft. Just a thought.

"Willy Mammoth" - Volvo 730, Sold

Heartland Cyclone 4000 Toy Hauler
T-Minus 26 years and counting to being a full timer.

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If you don't feel it in the steering wheel. And your drive line was just redone

Don't rule out rear tires. We put old steer tires on my drive axle of my work truck and the vibration wasn't bad. But drove my crazy.

 

About two weeks ago, I had all four rears pulled off, spun for out of round, and balanced. Another $80 down the drain.

"Willy Mammoth" - Volvo 730, Sold

Heartland Cyclone 4000 Toy Hauler
T-Minus 26 years and counting to being a full timer.

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Well it might sound off the wall but when we set up new suspension on our off-road race trucks. A lot of times will put a GO PRO camera on the frame to show driveline and suspension travel while it's working in real race conditions. We have also put them on front suspension to.

 

I guarantee with what you do for fun you have at least one or two laying around. Maybe you should think about putting one up on your front airbag

areas that you think you have a problem with and another on your frame showing driveline and tires you might get lucky??

Charlie

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Well it might sound off the wall but when we set up new suspension on our off-road race trucks. A lot of times will put a GO PRO camera on the frame to show driveline and suspension travel while it's working in real race conditions. We have also put them on front suspension to.

 

I guarantee with what you do for fun you have at least one or two laying around. Maybe you should think about putting one up on your front airbag

areas that you think you have a problem with and another on your frame showing driveline and tires you might get lucky??

Charlie

 

Charlie, brilliant. No idea why I didn't think about that before. Yes, we do shots like that quite often on our cars, too.

 

I have the valve assembly, and new bracket, ordered at the local Volvo dealership. It should be here tomorrow. If that doesn't fix it, we're all going to see some boring GoPro footage of my front suspension. Thanks for the suggestion.

"Willy Mammoth" - Volvo 730, Sold

Heartland Cyclone 4000 Toy Hauler
T-Minus 26 years and counting to being a full timer.

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I got the passenger side front suspension leveling valve installed today. That made a huge difference in the ride quality, most likely due to insufficient height from that bag. Unfortunately, that did not fix all of the vibration. Again, that seemed to make a slight improvement toward eliminating the vibration, but did not eliminate it completely.

 

I'm going to throw some GoPro's on it soon to hopefully see the vibration.

 

I also added some fender mirrors today. These things are super helpful while driving.

 

Cosmetics-5_w.jpg

 

Cosmetics-4_w.jpg

"Willy Mammoth" - Volvo 730, Sold

Heartland Cyclone 4000 Toy Hauler
T-Minus 26 years and counting to being a full timer.

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Dude, That is a REDICUOUS looking set up... BRAVO!!!

 

By the looks of your front license plate, I assume you are a " HOLLYWOOD" Marine..LOL

 

I'm trying to get where you are pretty soon, but first I have to GET where you are!! ( getting the RV hauler and the RV)

I need to know all those simple little things that make the whole thing legal, and safe.. ie transfer paperwork, insurance, The Truck, The RV, ( you know, the little stuff) LOL

 

Again, GREAT set up Hard Charger...

 

BTW, I also have a Quad, that I race Motocross.. I fell too many times during my stint riding on the west and east coast, so now my EGO is broken, hence "no more" racing, but still go to the track..

 

Semper Fi,

hit me up!!

 

 

The Few!!

The Few

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Dude, That is a REDICUOUS looking set up... BRAVO!!!

 

By the looks of your front license plate, I assume you are a " HOLLYWOOD" Marine..LOL

 

I'm trying to get where you are pretty soon, but first I have to GET where you are!! ( getting the RV hauler and the RV)

I need to know all those simple little things that make the whole thing legal, and safe.. ie transfer paperwork, insurance, The Truck, The RV, ( you know, the little stuff) LOL

 

Again, GREAT set up Hard Charger...

 

BTW, I also have a Quad, that I race Motocross.. I fell too many times during my stint riding on the west and east coast, so now my EGO is broken, hence "no more" racing, but still go to the track..

 

Semper Fi,

hit me up!!

 

 

The Few!!

Thanks.

 

No Hollywood for me. Paris Island, circa 1997.

 

I have spent quite a bit of time on the West Coast with training and racing, though. We're headed back out there in a few weeks for a West Coast road trip.

 

I'll send you my email in my reply to your message. I'll help any way I can.

 

Semper Fi

"Willy Mammoth" - Volvo 730, Sold

Heartland Cyclone 4000 Toy Hauler
T-Minus 26 years and counting to being a full timer.

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I started assembling the hitch today. The pure enormity of this thing didn't really hit me until the pieces started going together. I couldn't be more happy with how this hitch is turning out. The laser cutter knocked it out of the park. I literally had to beat some of the pieces together with a rubber mallet. Perfect fit. No jig required.

 

Hauler-Bed-6_w.jpg

 

Hauler-Bed-7_w.jpg

"Willy Mammoth" - Volvo 730, Sold

Heartland Cyclone 4000 Toy Hauler
T-Minus 26 years and counting to being a full timer.

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I did a little more work on the rear entertainment system.

 

I added a new head unit for the rear audio processing.

sleeper-tv-mount-24_w.jpg

 

That rear head unit is connected to one of the dash AUX switches, so it's easy to turn and off from the driver's seat.

 

Here's the magic switch.

sleeper-tv-mount-23_w.jpg

 

This switch allows the rear audio to play only on the four rear speakers. That way, my wife and I don't have to listen to Scooby Doo for the entirety of the trips. We can close the rear curtain and, for the most part, tune out whatever movies they want to watch. To be transparent, I'm not a big fan of putting the kids in front of a TV, especially on family road trips, so their TV time will be relatively short. Most of this work is being done because I enjoy the challenge of doing it.

 

Here's a shot of the temporary head unit case. Eventually, it'll get a blade-style cabinet to hold the electronics and conceal all of the wires.

sleeper-tv-mount-22_w.jpg

"Willy Mammoth" - Volvo 730, Sold

Heartland Cyclone 4000 Toy Hauler
T-Minus 26 years and counting to being a full timer.

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That's what we've done so far. Last summer, I didn't have time to finish the bed and winch, so we loaded two dual sports on the bed and put the smart in back. Good thing, as we never unloaded the bikes and used the smart more days than not.

KW T-680, POPEMOBILE
Newmar X-Aire, VATICAN
Lots of old motorcycles, Moto Guzzi Griso and Spyder F3 currently in the front row
Young enough to play in the dirt as a retired farmer.
contact me at rickeieio1@comcast.net

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