Month old Diesel Pusher winch

Stubborn66 · October 13, 2020

I got a call yesterday for a 40 foot diesel pusher stuck at a winery. I get there and it doesn't look like it is stuck bad.

This one had Independent suspension up front, no straight axle, generator up front with a low exhaust pipe exiting on the driver side in front of the tire. I asked him to open up the front bumper to see if there were any access point to the frame, no luck.

On my second look underneath to find a place to hook to I see the broken shock mount on the passenger side. I take a picture and show it to the owner, thankfully I had not even had a chain or strap near it yet. He asked me if that would make it shimmy at about 45mph.

The only place I could get a solid hook up point was on that side at the control arm, inboard of the shock mount. 1/2 in chain with a low line and it pulled easy.

After we got it out and on dry ground I went back under and saw that the plate was attached to the underside of the lower control arm with 4 bolts that appeared to be 3/8" that had broken. The rig cost over 500K and within the first month those suspension bolts broke, should have been 1/2" to handle the stress.

It pulled out very easy but I am glad I saw that shock, you know that shimmy would have been my issue had I not seen it.