Shake on a Ramco mirror

[BoaterAl]

Has anyone taken on replacing the motor on a Ramco mirror ? My drivers side does the shakes and is annoying on a rough road.
AL
2005 Marathon XL II

[Danss]

Mirror is velcroed to a block of wood which is glued to the frame. Call ramco for advice. Dan

[HarborBus]

Al mine does the same thing, it's been low priority but it would be good to know the fix.

[jack14r]

Let us all know the fix.

[Mark3101]

Has anyone taken on replacing the motor on a Ramco mirror ? My drivers side does the shakes and is annoying on a rough road.
AL
2005 Marathon XL II

It just happens that I was at Prevost in TN this week for a couple of days. One of the things they did was to replace the drivers side mirror. The old one had the shakes and the chrome was peeling. The new one also shakes, but not as bad as the original one. The passenger side one also had a small case of the shakes. The tech removed the glass, found out that the thermostat and heating element were loose, and replaced the glass. When putting it all back together, he epoxied between the plate that the glass is velcroed to and the motor supports. Then he put two BIG dobs of epoxy on the mounting plate between the velcro strips. This mirror now does not shake hardly at all. I have to go back in September to get several of my side sheets re-glued...about a two week ordeal I am told. I will have him check the drivers side to see if he can get that one to quit shaking as well. It is annoying to say the least!

[BoaterAl]

Looking for the best way to stop mirror shakes. Your replacement for the Ramco mirror was another mirror as your chrome was peeling. Did Ramco stand behind the replacement ? I see your bus is an 2008 so the plating process was probably defective. Should we be in the seating position to hear the cost of a new mirror ?
AL
2005 Marathon XL II

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Ramco has been called Crapco on this forum due to their lousy durability of their products.

I am surprised they lasted this long on a 2008 coach.

I wish there was an alternative.

[jack14r]

One of the techs at Liberty told me to get some small foam pipe insulation and cut pieces small enough to wedge behind the mirror and that should stop the vibrating.

[GDeen]

One of the techs at Liberty told me to get some small foam pipe insulation and cut pieces small enough to wedge behind the mirror and that should stop the vibrating.

That sounds like a good idea. I guess once you do that you need to leave your adjustment alone, or re-wedgie it if you do change the mirror position. My passenger side is the only one that has this problem and I have gotten used to it. Would be nice to fix it though.

[Kenneth Brewer]

One of the techs at Liberty told me to get some small foam pipe insulation and cut pieces small enough to wedge behind the mirror and that should stop the vibrating.

Bless you.

Thanks.

[gmcbuffalo]

Mark with that exopy will it be possible to remove the mirrors in the future?
GregM

[Mark3101]

Looking for the best way to stop mirror shakes. Your replacement for the Ramco mirror was another mirror as your chrome was peeling. Did Ramco stand behind the replacement ? I see your bus is an 2008 so the plating process was probably defective. Should we be in the seating position to hear the cost of a new mirror ?
AL
2005 Marathon XL II

I am still under factory warranty until Ocotber of 2011, so Prevost took care of it. I am not sure of the cost of a new mirror head, but I am sure they are expensive.

[Mark3101]

Mark with that exopy will it be possible to remove the mirrors in the future?
GregM

I am not sure. The technician said that it should have come from the factory that way. I did not see the name of the product he used...it was in an air caulk gun when he applied it. I think they cut it with a hacksaw blade to get it off...he had one he used to get the old glass out of the passenger side mirror. He was surprised that there was none there, only the velcro strips.

[Jerry Winchester]

I have the same issue and watched the tech at Prevost fix one a few months back. He said the mechanism that adjusts the mirror gets worn and the shakes set in. He took a hacksaw blade and cut thru the adhesive, which I think is Silkaflex, to remove it. I planned on buying one of the adjusters and replacing it at POG 9 with the braintrust assembled. He walked me thru how to do it, so I think I have a pretty good idea of how to fix it.

[HarborBus]

Sounds GREAT to me. There's nothing like a good show and tell.............:)

[Prevost.Rick]

what i have heard so far would be my quick fixes to overcome the velcro that attaches the mirror to the base,2nd is one of your front tires out of balance,3rd the year of coaches we are talking about ,let me ask a personal question do you feel any vibration in your steering wheel,or does your belly jiggle,the 1st is vibration in your front end ,the 2nd could be in early years in the xl2 had rear axles that were,nt stored correctly and the shafts were warped which caused a vib around cruising speed,around 62 to 67 ,so what speed doe,s your mirrors vib.

[GDeen]

Hey Rick,
My steering wheel and coach feel smooth as glass on good road, so I think it is more a wind issue in my case.

As to the belly jiggle, I plead the 5th.

[BoaterAl]

Parts here from Ramco, removed the mirror with a long bladed narrow puddy knife, releasing Velcro and cut the small spots of adhesive top and bottom center of metal support plate, about the size of a 50 cent piece. Marked the 3 wires 2 for mirror and one to t-stat before separating which are male/female plug ins. In removing the mirror I did cut the heating wires glued to mirror as I could not see them. I had ordered a new mirror ... was not sure I could get it loose with my luck sometimes. Aluminum tape over center hole (4 inch) exposed the motor which is screwed to mirror frame with 4 screws. Backing of round motor housing pops off and there are 4 spade plug ins mark 1,2,3,4. reassembled and rough up the back of the metal backing plate that is glued back together. The motor housing is actually glued to the backing plate with a bead around the outside housing of the motor and pressed on. That to me was strange as it could of been secured with screws. Ramco sent me a small tube of silicone/adhesive as used by there assembly plant. I centered the new motor and used a couple of small rectangle pieces of Styrofoam on each side of the large motor access hole plate and with 2 extra long ties around the whole mirror put slight tension to hold tight. Cut some pieces of card board and placed under plate for horizontal support. Needs to sit for 24 hours. Actually the adhesive will dry faster with heat and humidity and we have lots here in KC. Tomorrow reconnect the 3 wires add 2 spots of adhesive and set mirror. Parts were $77.00. Ramco customer service was very helpful and there instructions were right on. Black pipe insulation behind the mirror was suggested for extra support, I think would work if one was real careful putting it in place as the wires are just left loose on back of mirror top and you could knock the t-stat off the mirror back.. I had a lot of shake and that probably would have not cured mine.
I did see where my motor gear and track had the excess play, this was the shaking and wiggle.
AL
2005 Marathon XL II

[dmatz]

This is the vibrating ramco mirror thread I found. My coach does the same, it has been to Prevost to be fixed, it was not and will back to them again.

[BoaterAl]

It still shakes after 2 rebuilds, one by me and the other by the factory.
On my rebuild and replacement of all items inside the Ramco mirror at $77.00 there is only one item that causes the mirror to shake. That is the genuine cheap plastic gear and rail motor. Also,for what they charge for a complete mirror assembly new is jaw dropping over the top way to expensive.
During my reassembly spoke to Ramco about what I believed was excessive play in the gear motor assembly they sent me, so they sent another one. On a road test it still vibrated. After many phone calls and I removed the complete mirror assembly and boxed up as it comes off the bus . Had to pay ship they would pay ship back to me.
According to there tech the mirror was rebuilt again, and they confirmed as I asked him strait out did you you replace the gear motor assembly ? He said they did and its fine now. It still shakes and about the same as my gear motor replacement.
After taking the mirror all apart and try to determine the cause for shake IMHO it's the gear motor assembly. It is poorly made with moving parts made of plastic. You would think that the price paid for those mirrors the component moving parts would be of better quality. There is nothing in the gear motor assembly to allow correction of end play, gear lash of parts that are plastic....and the mirror will shake because of that. Velcro and there two spots of glue just transfer all the play to the gear motor assembly. That parts being so small and the mirror glass so large increases the shake of the glass.
One idea I had on a better fix was to set small springs attached to the gear housing and the mirror frame at 4 corners, this would pull on each and lessen the travel of the gear back lash . Good winter project.
Doug, let me know if they get it fixed and I do share the frustration Prevost or any other shop must have when the "attempt" to take the shake out of a Ramco mirror. Don't beat up the tech on his trying to correct the vibration.
The $.49 cent piece of insulation suggested does have a better chance of fixing the vibration then $77.00 of new parts and a factory rebuild.
AL

[Jerry Winchester]

I had mentioned the possibility of doing a technical session on changing out the servo mechanism on these mirrors at the last rally, but not much interest in it. It you want to see it done, put it on the list Jon started and if there is enough interest, we'll do it. If not, we'll get the parts and fix someone's on an off day.

Al, your explanation is the same one the Prevost tech gave me. And it doesn't matter if the mirror has 20k miles or 120k miles on it. It still shakes.

[BoaterAl]

Jerry, good idea "but" taking someone's mirror all apart at the risk of getting crap replacement parts from Ramco doesn't sound good to me. In the rebuild the reassembly has to be "packed" back into he chrome housing and set in place with glue. Drying time 1-2 days. One of the items on the do list was to spend a little time cutting some black insulation to size to place behind the mirror. The suggested repair by probably most techs for the Ramco Shake.
I'll try and stop by the stage line here in KC that helped me with a ride height adjustment and get some of there repair ideas with there Ramco mirror repair/replacement.
AL

[LarryB]

Al, tell me more about the "black insulation" you are going to use behind the mirror. I have one that needs to be resealed.

Thanks.

[BoaterAl]

It was suggested to use the black pipe insulation sold in 5 foot lengths at Lowes or Home Depot. It's treated and will not absorb water. Tilt the mirror full left or right and carefully put the piece inside standing up. The trick is to open the insulation allowing it inside and then get its curve back again to obtain the minor tension result. I'am not sure if you use the entire curve or need to slice part of it out.

[truk4u]

I used the pipe insulation for the Velvacs (also junk) on the CC and it stopped the jitters. I cut pieces from the insulation tube with the peel off sticky paper, moved the mirrors to there extreme right and left while sticking the insulation to the mirror. When it moved back in place to the normal position they tightened up the mirror.

I can post a picture if needed.

[Mark3101]

I used the pipe insulation for the Velvacs (also junk) on the CC and it stopped the jitters. I cut pieces from the insulation tube with the peel off sticky paper, moved the mirrors to there extreme right and left while sticking the insulation to the mirror. When it moved back in place to the normal position they tightened up the mirror.

I can post a picture if needed.

Please do so. I may have to resort to something like that. The shake is very annoying!

[BoaterAl]

Tom, works for me with the picture.

Good idea to stick the adhesive side to the mirror back, keeping the insulation in place.