Remco Drive Shaft Disconnect

[BillAdams]

The van jumped off a 30 foot cliff and came in nose first into the sidewalk.  Note that the concrete where the sidewalk "was" exploded leaving dirt only.  This was the lucky part as it absorbed most all of the energy of a run away van so the impact to the building was much less.  Had it run straight down the hill it would have gone in one side and out the other as that thing was cruising by the time if flew of the cliff.  There was a huge propane tank at the base of the cliff which the van jumped over but knocked it off it's platform as the rear end returned to Earth.  The propane company moved the tank farther away so a repeat auto incident could not hit the tank.

It was all very lucky as the van only bounced of the rear bumper of 1 pick up truck on the way down the hill and there were about a dozen campsites on either side of the road which were all occupied.

[hermanmullins]

Bill,

We are all happy as yourself that no one was injured.

Herman 

 

[BillAdams]

I was really bad timing.  I had just shut down my business and gotten hired by Winegard to train all the Western US RV techs on the Winegard product.  I think I had been working for them for about 3 months when this happened.  I called my boss and said I would need to take some unpaid time off and explained what had happened.  He said that I should take whatever amount of time necessary to put my life back together again and I would continue to be paid until I was all setup to work again.  Wait, What?  We got it all done and had a new van setup to tow again in about 3 weeks and hit the road again never having missed a paycheck.  Says a lot about the Winegard Company.

A few months later I attended an annual sales rep. meeting at the factory and the opening slide put up was my van with the caption "Some people will do anything to get the Winegard name in the news!"  It did make the local news there in Redding, CA.

Another funny part of this story was that Redding police showed up and I greeted them.  They had gotten dispatch that a van had crashed into the building and the owner ran away when it was actually a run away van crashed into the building.  The cop and I laughed and he left saying a tow truck was on the way.

[BillAdams]

I forgot to add the best part of the story.  Since we had left AZ and were headed into CA we bought 6 cases of 1.75L bottles of Jim Beam as they cost $18.00 in AZ and $30 in CA.  Not 1 bottle was lost!

[wildebill308]

3 hours ago, BillAdams said:

I forgot to add the best part of the story.  Since we had left AZ and were headed into CA we bought 6 cases of 1.75L bottles of Jim Beam as they cost $18.00 in AZ and $30 in CA.  Not 1 bottle was lost!

Thank goodness for small miracles.

Bill

[punxsyjumper]

OK Guys, I got the Remco disconnect installed on the truck. After instalation, I noticed a rubbing noise upon a crisp (or quick) pull out. Took it back and the shop fixed it. Turns out, with a Nissan Frontier it is a solid meet up with the drive shaft to rear but the Remco uses a uni joint so it's not solid anymore. Now when you start out, the torque moves the uni joint upwards and it was causing the rubbing noise. Got the noise problem resolved but I still have a vibration or axle wrap. It's only on a hard pull out. I'm told the fix is an extra leaf spring added under the main leaf. That will resolve the vibe issue but also give me a stiffer ride. The other option is a Roadmaster Active Suspension. Did anybody else have to beef up the rear suspension with this disconnect? I'm going to call tomorrow and talk with them about it.  https://activesuspension.com/

[BillAdams]

No, but mine was installed on a full size extended length van (9000#).  Maybe your toad is just too powerful for this kind of a connection.  I can't figure out how since the engaged driveshaft becomes a one piece driveshaft but maybe the torque is twisting something that is not properly secured.

[hermanmullins]

When the drive shaft disconnect was installed on my 08 Silverado I had a one piece aluminium drive shaft.  Due to the length they made a two piece steel drive shaft with a carrier bearing for support. Then balanced the entire shaft. Drive Shaft King did a great job and I never had a problem one.

Herman 

[rlbarkleyii]

7 hours ago, punxsyjumper said:

OK Guys, I got the Remco disconnect installed on the truck. After instalation, I noticed a rubbing noise upon a crisp (or quick) pull out. Took it back and the shop fixed it. Turns out, with a Nissan Frontier it is a solid meet up with the drive shaft to rear but the Remco uses a uni joint so it's not solid anymore.

My toad is a Nissan Xttera, 4X4 Auto 2013 which has the same running gear and suspension as the Frontier.   I had a Remco driveshaft connect installed by Drive Shaft Services, Marietta GA. When i researched the install before i decided, I was warned by several knowledgeable people not to let outfits like Campers World do the install. Turns out that CW and most of the RV outfits use the rubber "thingy" in order to complete the install without welding and balancing the shaft because they don't have the precision laths to weld and balance modified shafts. The Nissan shaft must be shortend when adding the Remco disconnect to end, and it is better to weld it to shaft as opposed to the rubber device. I went to a driveshaft specialist and they cut welded and balanced the shaft creating solid shaft with no weakness or trouble  points. Have been running it now trouble free for five years, no problems. Install cost was $850.00.

[punxsyjumper]

10 hours ago, rlbarkleyii said:

My toad is a Nissan Xttera, 4X4 Auto 2013 which has the same running gear and suspension as the Frontier.   I had a Remco driveshaft connect installed by Drive Shaft Services, Marietta GA. When i researched the install before i decided, I was warned by several knowledgeable people not to let outfits like Campers World do the install. Turns out that CW and most of the RV outfits use the rubber "thingy" in order to complete the install without welding and balancing the shaft because they don't have the precision laths to weld and balance modified shafts. The Nissan shaft must be shortend when adding the Remco disconnect to end, and it is better to weld it to shaft as opposed to the rubber device. I went to a driveshaft specialist and they cut welded and balanced the shaft creating solid shaft with no weakness or trouble  points. Have been running it now trouble free for five years, no problems. Install cost was $850.00.

Yes, the shop that did the install had to shop it out to a machine shop. They cut the end off the drive shaft and welded the Remco piece on and balanced it. Thanks for the info.

[punxsyjumper]

After talking with Bill at Remco, it looks like I may have an improper install. He said there is no need for an extra leaf spring with their product and that it def should not be giving me the vibration on a start out. As an old dragster, we always had to deal with torque causing wheel hop or axle wrap. Torsion bars and ladders bars were a good fix. That is exactly what this problem reminds me of, wheel hop. Since none of you mentioned having wheel hop with your vehicle it tells me you had it done right. The garage I went to is on Remco's list of installers but they may soon be off of that list. I'll keep you updated. Thanks Guys.

[manholt]

Cause found, now I hope you find a good installer!  Good Luck !

[punxsyjumper]

2 hours ago, manholt said:

Cause found, now I hope you find a good installer!  Good Luck !

Yep, thanks

[punxsyjumper]

Well, I'm a little bit surprised but I got a call from Bill at Remco and was informed I am getting the vibration because my suspension isn't beefy enough. Install was done correctly but now to fix the problem, I need to install another leaf spring in my suspension. 

[punxsyjumper]

On 8/11/2017 at 1:08 PM, punxsyjumper said:

Well, I'm a little bit surprised but I got a call from Bill at Remco and was informed I am getting the vibration because my suspension isn't beefy enough. Install was done correctly but now to fix the problem, I need to install another leaf spring in my suspension. 

Total BS, it's an improper install.

[BillAdams]

If you did not have that problem with the factory driveshaft you should not be having that problem with a Remco Driveshaft either.  Ever since Remco sold their business to Super Flo things have gone downhill.  I think it took 2 tries to get the right driveshaft and then it took 3 installers (we were moving) to get the right disconnect and have it installed properly.  It was very frustrating as we had to disconnect the driveshaft every time we moved and reconnect at each new destination.  I must say I got pretty good at it but it was months before we had a working system.

[punxsyjumper]

2 hours ago, BillAdams said:

If you did not have that problem with the factory driveshaft you should not be having that problem with a Remco Driveshaft either.  Ever since Remco sold their business to Super Flo things have gone downhill.  I think it took 2 tries to get the right driveshaft and then it took 3 installers (we were moving) to get the right disconnect and have it installed properly.  It was very frustrating as we had to disconnect the driveshaft every time we moved and reconnect at each new destination.  I must say I got pretty good at it but it was months before we had a working system.

Thanks Bill. Yeh, I had no problem with the original at all. When they first installed it, I had a rubbing noise when it torqued on start out. The shaft was rubbing the curved swing arm (shift fork) on the bottom when it torqued. Instead of fixing the problem then and there, they modified a piece to give it more clearance so it wouldn't hit. Great, that doesn't rub but it is still torquing and giving me a chatter. Plus, now I have a modified piece that is not made by Remco. I've spoken to 3 different machine shops (all on Remco's installer page) and all 3 said the same thing, "No way should you need to add an extra leaf". Improper install. One shop I spoke with said they get a completed drive shaft sent to them from Remco so when the customer comes in, they just swap it with the original and the customer keeps the original as a spare. This isn't over yet and like you, looks like I'm in for an ordeal. I'm not happy and they are about to find out. Maybe I should log everything in a blog, with pictures. Thanks

[BillAdams]

That's what I did.  I had Remco ship me a whole new driveshaft.  The first was the wrong one but they shipped the right one.  When I sold the van I sold it with the original driveshaft so the owner could either maintain the Remco option or remove it an re-install the original driveshaft.