And so it begins

danemayer said:

Are there not 2 or 3 bolts coming down from above?

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There was ZERO hardware securing the microwave.

My prior unit, 08 3055RL Bighorn, was the same. Microwave just sat in shallow "tracks" and was kept in place by the plastic trim. Only one time did mine bounce off the track, but when it did it did not do any damage to front trim or any thing.

Jim M

jimtoo said:

My prior unit, 08 3055RL Bighorn, was the same. Microwave just sat in shallow "tracks" and was kept in place by the plastic trim. Only one time did mine bounce off the track, but when it did it did not do any damage to front trim or any thing.

Jim M

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Over the years I have probably reset the micro 1-2 times a season, so that's around 10 plus times.

danemayer said:

Are there not 2 or 3 bolts coming down from above?

Click to expand...

Our bottom rear inserts and rests on the installation rail affixed to the rear wall. The micro is pushed up flush with top and two large bolts are inserted up and through above cabinet bottom where they screw into a large washer type cap.

Saw a concern in another thread and thought I would revisit it here. Not necessarily a mod, but a definite trailer 'do'.

I had a bent piston on my Cyclone, center jack right side. It was quite noisy when we got home and setup in the driveway. And upon inspection, obviously bent.

Since the bend appears to be at the upper end of the piston, the only thing iI can think of is that I did not raise the jack far enough before I did my brake check. I usually lift them just off the ground. This past weekend the camp site sloped to the rear, which made the possibility all to real that when I thought they were high enough, they were not. The jack may have "dug in" when I did the brake pull.

I made up a wheel chock out of a piece of 4x4 so I would have a flat surface to push against. Drilled a 1.5" hole in another piece of 4x4 and then cut the block, splitting the hole.
I raised the trailer so the tires were just off the ground, slid all my chocks in and then lowered the trailer, essentially locking the tires in. Then raised the bent jacket till it just cleared the ground.

Several attempts of pushing the piston and testing got me back to near vertical. Close enough that using a straight edge and eyeballing it - it is fixed. Much quieter too.
It took pushing the piston well past center to remove the bend.

Waiting for a price from Lippert for a jack, but if I'm guessing right, a new assembly is over $500.

Lesson learned - raise the rear jack all the way and the front jacks about 1/2" before doing the brake pull test.

Original Closed thread

Very creative way to straighten the piston! Duane if it doesn't make noise anymore and doesn't leak you may be fine leaving it on as it is. Just a thought!

Next month it will be three years Chris.

porthole said:

Saw a concern in another thread and thought I would revisit it here. Not necessarily a mod, but a definite trailer 'do'.

I had a bent piston on my Cyclone, center jack right side. It was quite noisy when we got home and setup in the driveway. And upon inspection, obviously bent.

Since the bend appears to be at the upper end of the piston, the only thing iI can think of is that I did not raise the jack far enough before I did my brake check. I usually lift them just off the ground. This past weekend the camp site sloped to the rear, which made the possibility all to real that when I thought they were high enough, they were not. The jack may have "dug in" when I did the brake pull.

I made up a wheel chock out of a piece of 4x4 so I would have a flat surface to push against. Drilled a 1.5" hole in another piece of 4x4 and then cut the block, splitting the hole.
I raised the trailer so the tires were just off the ground, slid all my chocks in and then lowered the trailer, essentially locking the tires in. Then raised the bent jacket till it just cleared the ground.

Several attempts of pushing the piston and testing got me back to near vertical. Close enough that using a straight edge and eyeballing it - it is fixed. Much quieter too.
It took pushing the piston well past center to remove the bend.

Waiting for a price from Lippert for a jack, but if I'm guessing right, a new assembly is over $500.

Lesson learned - raise the rear jack all the way and the front jacks about 1/2" before doing the brake pull test.

Original Closed thread

Click to expand...

For some reason I remember this

porthole said:

Saw a concern in another thread and thought I would revisit it here. Not necessarily a mod, but a definite trailer 'do'.

I had a bent piston on my Cyclone, center jack right side. It was quite noisy when we got home and setup in the driveway. And upon inspection, obviously bent.

Since the bend appears to be at the upper end of the piston, the only thing iI can think of is that I did not raise the jack far enough before I did my brake check. I usually lift them just off the ground. This past weekend the camp site sloped to the rear, which made the possibility all to real that when I thought they were high enough, they were not. The jack may have "dug in" when I did the brake pull.

I made up a wheel chock out of a piece of 4x4 so I would have a flat surface to push against. Drilled a 1.5" hole in another piece of 4x4 and then cut the block, splitting the hole.
I raised the trailer so the tires were just off the ground, slid all my chocks in and then lowered the trailer, essentially locking the tires in. Then raised the bent jacket till it just cleared the ground.

Several attempts of pushing the piston and testing got me back to near vertical. Close enough that using a straight edge and eyeballing it - it is fixed. Much quieter too.
It took pushing the piston well past center to remove the bend.

Waiting for a price from Lippert for a jack, but if I'm guessing right, a new assembly is over $500.

Lesson learned - raise the rear jack all the way and the front jacks about 1/2" before doing the brake pull test.

Original Closed thread

Click to expand...

Duane That's what I've always worried about. Were you able to straighten it back out and get it to work ? Or did you just do that to get it back up, then replace it ?

jesstalkn said:

Duane That's what I've always worried about. Were you able to straighten it back out and get it to work ? Or did you just do that to get it back up, then replace it ?

Click to expand...

Still using it 3 years later.
If I didn't tell you about it you would never know.

I reposted it because you CAN bend the ram. I was doing a brake check and did not raise the rear jacks like I usually do, and that jack dug in.

If you look close in the first picture you can see the ram is bent, near the top.

Re: And so it begins - mods to personalize the rig

I thought you were planning on replacing it when you said you called for a price. I wouldn't worry about it. If it's been working for three years there is no reason why it won't work another three.

Re: And so it begins - mods to personalize the rig

Good deal.
Aluminum is hard to bend back into the same ​shape it once was !!!!!.

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Re: And so it begins - mods to personalize the rig

OEFVET said:

I thought you were planning on replacing it when you said you called for a price. I wouldn't worry about it. If it's been working for three years there is no reason why it won't work another three.

Click to expand...

I would have Chris if my repair didn't work. LevelUp, one of the 2 best things I did to the Cyclone.

Since I started using the Condor wheel chocks the bike loading is a lot easier. I added a pulley to the Condor so that the winch cable would pull from higher location. Wasn't really happy with the way the first winch load worked out.

jesstalkn said:

Duane That's what I've always worried about. Were you able to straighten it back out and get it to work ? Or did you just do that to get it back up, then replace it ?

Click to expand...

porthole said:

Still using it 3 years later.
If I didn't tell you about it you would never know.

I reposted it because you CAN bend the ram. I was doing a brake check and did not raise the rear jacks like I usually do, and that jack dug in.

If you look close in the first picture you can see the ram is bent, near the top.

Click to expand...

Not to be a worry wort but I thought I would add my .02 for the sake of the group. If the bent cylinder rod is allowed to cycle into the can of the cylinder the extreme angle on the piston will likely cause the wear band to fail on the piston. When this happens the piston will act like a precision wood plane on the inside of the cylinder. The subsequent fine shavings of metal/aluminum will be pushed straight back to the hydraulic manifold and the tank where they will contaminate and seize all the solenoid valves in the manifold. Further contamination will ensue and embed the metallic wear particles into all the other cylinders piston seals and wear bands. Requiring at minimum a complete system tear down and cleaning likely with replacement of the manifold and tank and reseal of all the cylinders.

That would be a worst case scenario for operating with a bent rod but if it happens it can take only one retract cycle to start the process. Every subsequent raise and lower of the offended rod will elevate the situation.

My point is for the less mechanical type members is just because it retracted and didn't puke oil everywhere don't assume all is well. Retracting the bent rod would be the wrong thing to do. If you just took it off most machine/hydraulic shops could easily straighten the bent rod for you and not even require any parts, much like what Duane has done very creatively I might add.

CarterKraft said:

Not to be a worry wort but I thought I would add my .02 for the sake of the group. If the bent cylinder rod is allowed to cycle into the can of the cylinder the extreme angle on the piston will likely cause the wear band to fail on the piston. When this happens the piston will act like a precision wood plane on the inside of the cylinder. The subsequent fine shavings of metal/aluminum will be pushed straight back to the hydraulic manifold and the tank where they will contaminate and seize all the solenoid valves in the manifold. Further contamination will ensue and embed the metallic wear particles into all the other cylinders piston seals and wear bands. Requiring at minimum a complete system tear down and cleaning likely with replacement of the manifold and tank and reseal of all the cylinders.

That would be a worst case scenario for operating with a bent rod but if it happens it can take only one retract cycle to start the process. Every subsequent raise and lower of the offended rod will elevate the situation.

My point is for the less mechanical type members is just because it retracted and didn't puke oil everywhere don't assume all is well. Retracting the bent rod would be the wrong thing to do. If you just took it off most machine/hydraulic shops could easily straighten the bent rod for you and not even require any parts, much like what Duane has done very creatively I might add.

Click to expand...

Very good point. A little work now could save a lot of work later. And money !!!!

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

I week ago a put a Nest smoke/CO combo detector in the Cyclone.

The Nest stuff is WiFi capable.

This morning while enjoying breakfast in the rally hall at the Virginia Rally I received a message "The smoke has cleared".

Interesting, I called Deb - "did you set of the smoke detector?"

"toast" and the notifications seem to work.

porthole said:

I week ago a put a Nest smoke/CO combo detector in the Cyclone.

The Nest stuff is WiFi capable.

This morning while enjoying breakfast in the rally hall at the Virginia Rally I received a message "The smoke has cleared".

Interesting, I called Deb - "did you set of the smoke detector?"

"toast" and the notifications seem to work.

Click to expand...

That's good to know Duane. Do you connect it to your phone's wifi or the campground?

Bones said:

That's good to know Duane. Do you connect it to your phone's wifi or the campground?

Click to expand...

It is connected to the wifi ranger router, which sometimes actually connects to the internet.

Replacing the pinbox I finally did something that has been a problem since buying the Ford and the 2011 Goshen rally.
The older style frame for the pinbox has more material in it then the newer trailers.

When backing into spaces and with a little uneven ground, the frame would hit the side rails for my roll top cover. Currently I would max out the air bags in the hitch to 100psi to raise the nose of the trailer as high as possible.
Previously I had also changed the height limit bolt in the hitch to allow an extra 1.5" of lift. Still it would get a little to close to the rails.

.



So, I got out the Portaband and sawed away the ears

. .

Still have some finish grinding to do, waiting for the monsoon to stop to go for a ride.

- - - Updated - - -

Even without a roll top cover, the 2017 Fords with the higher bed rails can have an 'interference' between the pinbox frame and the bed side rails.

I saw recent evidence of this, so be aware. On the plus side, it is the plastic top cover that gets chewed up and is only about $70.