Allegro scissor jack stabilizing

[Cristina Gouin]

We stabilized our 87 because 4 dogs and 2 humans yea rock and roll it....  We mounted a Scissor jack (think ours are 5 ton each could be 7, bought at Sands RV...  on each corner of the chassis frame.  The front ones face front to back, the back ones face side to side.  Large U bolts over frame rails.  I keep 4 pieces of 2x10 x 10" in the basement compartment to put under each foot if on mud/sand etc. Place so grain is perpendicular to foot of jack.   pat rigged me a 18" long piece of tire iron fitting the end screw of the jack, ground out to fit into my 18V ryobi drill.  I put my bubble level app on my phone and sit that on the bumper in the middle as I run the jacks down.  I have an actual small bubble level that sits in the fridge on the bottom shelf as you should level for your fridge to use for final tweaks.  If rain is expected I'll put a little tip into her towards the back end as yup windshield has always had a leak that 6 years of resealing has not found.... but not more than a little tilt. 

Tina

[Cristina Gouin]

I went over and looked... Mine are bolted directly to the frame...no U bolts at all.  I know my mechanic had an issue when he had used the jacks to lift her up to work on brake lines when he redid all of them (Oh sh** moment when pedal hit floor, fluid boiled)...  One came loose when he had her booty way up front way down, front one skewed and he had to replace it.... 

Tina

[Jim Stoltz]

Thanks Tina. I could go that route, too. I ordered up the U-bolts anyway - that would be easiest (no drilling). 

[Jim Stoltz]

I got some 6" U-bolts, but it looks like I measured in the wrong spot. They will work ahead of the axles, but in between the axles the frame is 8" thick. I'd have to mount the jacks well behind the rear axle in the back and ahead of the front axle in the front. Might not be a big deal. But despite it being the first weekend of Spring, it's too cold to roll around on the ground underneath the thing. I'll get to it as soon as it gets warmer.

[Cristina Gouin]

Drill holes in the frame.. bolt on.. much easier.... fronts face front, rears face sides...

[Jim Stoltz]

Good idea. I'm going to drill holes, at least in the front. In the rear it looks like the U-bolts will work because I need to mount them pretty far back to clear the gas tank and whatnot. The frame is not as thick at that point.

[Jim Stoltz]

On the windshield thing....

The driver's side windshield on mine leaks, and my friend's recently-acquired '87 Allegro does the same thing. The other day, while I was positioning plastic cups under the drips to catch the water, I decided to do a little more investigating.

I sealed the roof really well, so I hoped the leak wasn't where the fiberglass nose meets the aluminum. A sure way to tell is to remove the access panels in the cab, above the driver and passenger seats. I removed them and looked around with a flashlight. Dry as a bone. So the leak has to be the windshield itself.

Over the weekend I applied some residential door & window sealant along the top of that windshield. I didn't just run a bead on it, I mashed it down into the frame with paper towels. All I had was a tube of black sealant, so it was looking pretty messy for a while. I soaked some paper towels in WD40 and cleaned up the excess.

We had the first afternoon thunderstorm since I've applied the sealant roll through yesterday. I deliberately pumped the rear suspension up so all the water would run off the front. No leaks! Except for the side window, which I intend to work on next. That one seems to be a much bigger leak because I can hear the wind whistling through it going down the highway!