Body Pad Kit
Lets keep them separated
A critical measurement in the design of
the GMC is the distance between the body and frame. Not only for the
clearance of the air cleaner to the bottom of the engine cover but also allowing
for brake, air, LP and fuel lines clearance for their routing, the body pads
keeping the body a minimum of 1/2 from the frame is critical. Here is what
I mean, this is a pic of air lines somehow sneaking through this one time gap
that is now gone.
Here is the copper LP line sneaking it's way down through the floor and on to
the other side of the coach again using the gap between the body and frame as
it's route
.
Looks fine--- right?--- look at the copper line from another angle
and you can see how the sharp aluminum edge of the body is digging into the soft
copper LP pipe. Bad Juju so is it important to have a 1/2" gap between the
body and frame? More than not transmitting vibration from the frame up
into the body, isolating the frame and body is less of a comfort issue and more
a critical clearance consideration. So now, do I have your attention?
The rest of the body pads have taken a hit
over the years, some were woefully thin as in this case
not giving in our opinion adequate clearance while other body pads have fallen
out completely as in the case here
and in this pic you can see the soft plastic air lines being threatened by the
lack of space as they route through the gap that is supposed to be there.
OK, there is the groundwork for what I want to show you next. Recently, we have found out about this age related issue. In renewing the fuel delivery system we determined that just installing new 3/8" fuel lines on the tops of the 2 fuel tanks is not enough. The tanks, being bolted to the frame end up too close to the bottom of the body mainly because of the body dropping too close because of these crushed and missing body pads. Now, our SOP (standard operating procedure) is to replace the body pads when renewing the hoses in the fuel delivery system. And to that end, we had been purchasing a body pad kit from a GMC specific supplier. The problem we have found though is that even these new body pads will crush down thin under the initial weight of the body immediately upon installation.
We're used to thinking out of the box around here and it has bothered me greatly this potential problem having to do with the gap between the body and frame. Sorry for the length of this product page, I should simply offer our product and it's price but I feel it important for you to know why we have come up with our own body pad kit and why. We try and support any and all GMC specialty parts supplier, I mean if we don;t all work together and help each other we will all surely perish. This is a small, tight knit community so supporting a vendor making a specific part is important to me. But---- when we feel we can design and offer a "better mouse trap" I feel it's out obligation and our commitment to the GMC community to do just that. Our all new body pad kit is not only improved in that the derometer or stiffness of our body pads will not allow them to crush down giving the 1/2" clearance needed to allow for good clearance for hoses, the kit costs much less ($50) and we feel is a better product. There are 20 body pads needed to properly isolate the frame from the body on your GMC, our kit provides for this plus we supply a special glue to help keep your body pad kit in place doing it's important job.
Wanna see what we have come up with? I feel the best product is a simple one, the paper clip was such a "better mouse trap" and I bet the inventor of it probably died pennyless and frustrated because everyone took a short piece of metal and bent up a paperclip. I don;t know the name of the inventor of this part as probably no one knows. Our body pad "paper clip" is what I would call the perfect part. It's simple, easy to install and certainly looks like will withstand the test of time so installing our 20 new body pads should be one of the best investments in reliability, safety and upgrading you can do for your coach--- and, you can "save money" to boot!
Here is one of our new body pads in place
As you can easily see, our new pad does not distort and holds the weight of the
body 1/2" away from the frame. 20 of these placed where the aluminum body
support crosses the frame will do what is needed and at $50 for the complete kit
I feel qualifies as the "better mouse trap". If you are interested in
having this kit and discussing what it takes to install the pads, give me a
call.
