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rbaldwin · 05-12-2019, 06:22 PM

Has anyone has an underbody squeak/creaking noise? It's very annoying when we walk up and down the isle-way of our 2017 Flying Cloud 25RBT. The dealer said it was "dust in the brakes." They cleaned the brakes drums out - boloney, that made no difference whatsoever. Further, the dealer said "all Airstreams have this squeak." Not! It just occurred for us on our last trip - suddenly. We pamper our rig; it lives in an RV garage. It's immaculate, but it obnoxiously creaks now all the time!! Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated. We're still under warranty.

HHPJ · 05-12-2019, 09:47 PM

Same problem in our 2017 25a. Going to Jackson Center in June before warranty out to fix. Airstream will drop the belly pan and fix footings on subfloor. Many here have had the fix. Don’t settle for anything less than what you paid for!

fubar201 · 05-12-2019, 10:56 PM

I found loose stabilizers. Tightened, cleaned, and lubed. Worked for me.

ROBERTSUNRUS · 05-12-2019, 11:47 PM

Hi, when new our trailer floor creaked a lot right where the hallway meets the rear bedroom. G&G Trailer Service went underneath our trailer and fixed it. Now from time to time due to flexing we might get a little creaking somewhere in the floor. This is normal and it comes and goes, like I said due to flexing of the trailer. Mostly our trailer is creak free, so I can live with that.

Like I said, at first our floor creak was really bad; Those can and should be fixed.

ROBERTSUNRUS · 05-13-2019, 01:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ROBERTSUNRUS

Hi, when new our trailer floor creaked a lot right where the hallway meets the rear bedroom. G&G Trailer Service went underneath our trailer and fixed it. Now from time to time due to flexing we might get a little creaking somewhere in the floor. This is normal and it comes and goes, like I said due to flexing of the trailer. Mostly our trailer is creak free, so I can live with that.

Like I said, at first our floor creak was really bad; Those can and should be fixed.

Hi, C&G Trailer Service [authorized Airstream service center] in Bellflower, California. Last I heard Rod and Darlene retired and closed the business.

garybair · 10-25-2019, 10:40 AM

We have the same squeak in our 2015 Serenity 28, coming from the suspension somewhere. Squeaks when we walk around. We took it to the local dealer who said it was from the shocks and replaced those, just in time before an 8K mile trip. Well, it didn't fix it and we have another appointment in a few weeks to try again.

Here is a link to a pic showing where we think the squeak is coming from. Anyone else experience this? We have about 25K miles on our trailer.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1mx...Qh28mEeyz0kO-r

Link above (hopefully)

Baby Zeppelin · 10-26-2019, 06:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by garybair

We have the same squeak in our 2015 Serenity 28, coming from the suspension somewhere. Squeaks when we walk around. We took it to the local dealer who said it was from the shocks and replaced those, just in time before an 8K mile trip. Well, it didn't fix it and we have another appointment in a few weeks to try again.

Here is a link to a pic showing where we think the squeak is coming from. Anyone else experience this? We have about 25K miles on our trailer.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1mx...Qh28mEeyz0kO-r

Link above (hopefully)

Yeah, we have that too. It's annoying as it can be heard in the trailer when moving around, and also from outside the trailer when someone else is moving or walking in the trailer. Could not duplicate the noise when I took the trailer to JC a month ago. The tech did fix my creaking bedroom floor by loosening the screws in the trim around the perimeter. I was skeptical, but that noise is gone.

The suspension squeak is puzzling. I had my wife rock the trailer gently while I listened under it with a mechanic's stethoscope. I could not isolate it to a particular suspension component. I've heard a similar noise from the rear of a car that had drum brakes applied by the parking brake cable. The parking brake shoes would move slightly with the drum and squeak against the backing plate if the car were rocked slightly. I'm tempted to pull the drums and lube the points where the brake shoes rub the backing plates on this trailer.

Problem did not occur until the trailer had about 20K miles on it. I just installed a Dexter axle lift kit to raise the trailer about 2.5", and it had no affect whatsoever on the noise.

garybair · 10-28-2019, 11:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baby Zeppelin

Yeah, we have that too. It's annoying as it can be heard in the trailer when moving around, and also from outside the trailer when someone else is moving or walking in the trailer. Could not duplicate the noise when I took the trailer to JC a month ago. The tech did fix my creaking bedroom floor by loosening the screws in the trim around the perimeter. I was skeptical, but that noise is gone.

The suspension squeak is puzzling. I had my wife rock the trailer gently while I listened under it with a mechanic's stethoscope. I could not isolate it to a particular suspension component. I've heard a similar noise from the rear of a car that had drum brakes applied by the parking brake cable. The parking brake shoes would move slightly with the drum and squeak against the backing plate if the car were rocked slightly. I'm tempted to pull the drums and lube the points where the brake shoes rub the backing plates on this trailer.

Problem did not occur until the trailer had about 20K miles on it. I just installed a Dexter axle lift kit to raise the trailer about 2.5", and it had no affect whatsoever on the noise.

Funny, I used a stethoscope too and best I could tell is the sound is coming from the location pointed to in the picture in the link above. Did you look at the picture and can you say if your squeak is coming from the same place?

Ours started making the noise also with about 20K miles on the trailer..

I could email you a small sound bite of the noise, to see if it's the same as yours, if you want to privately message me your email address. Our appt with Airstream on this is Nov 18 and I'd like to give them all the clues possible.

Updating this post with a link to a mp3 file with the noise:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1b2..._BKCEEpTFvc7if

Hoping we can solve this for all of us. thanks

Gary

johnparris · 10-29-2019, 10:12 AM

I have this same sound on my 2019 Classic. Seems to be caused by forward/backward motion when walking around inside. I don’t think I’ve heard it since buying a set of X-Chocks.

fubar201 · 10-30-2019, 11:04 AM

FWIW - I had the same squeaking on my Sport 22. After driving me crazy for days, I finally found it was the stabilizers. 3 of the 4 were loose. Tightened and the sound went away. Might just wanna give that a quick check.

garybair · 10-30-2019, 01:58 PM

Fubar, are you saying your stabilizers were squeaking even in the UP position, not touching the ground? We only put ours down when at a site for overnight.

fubar201 · 10-31-2019, 08:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by garybair

Fubar, are you saying your stabilizers were squeaking even in the UP position, not touching the ground? We only put ours down when at a site for overnight.

Nope. Only when down. Sorry.

garybair · 10-31-2019, 09:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fubar201

Nope. Only when down. Sorry.

Okay, thanks for the reply. That's a different squeak then, and sounds like it has an easy fix.

DAHBABY · 11-21-2019, 07:24 PM

We are having the same sound in our 2018 Serenity FB 25T when we move around. It is new and was very irritating at first. Please post an update when you know what J.C. resolves your issue, and thanks for recording the sound, that's exactly it.

garybair · 11-21-2019, 11:02 PM

Will do. It has been in the shop 4 days now with no update. They must be sitting on it. I will call them tomorrow.

We found that the tongue Jack needs to be in just the right position to exacerbate the squeak, when the trailer us disconnected from hitch. We left it in their parking lot with a big note on the tongue not to move the trailer until the squeak cause is identified.

We can still, usually, get the squeak to occur when connected to TV too.

garybair · 11-22-2019, 09:44 PM

Dahbaby, I need to clarify that our Airstream is not at JC. We're in Oregon. The dealer is doing is good job of trying to figure this out and what our options are.

The noise is coming from the axle. The service department contacted the axle manufacturer that suggested first applying a lubricant (like wd-40) to the spot indicated in this picture.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1mx...Qh28mEeyz0kO-r

I had thought of trying that before, as I knew the sound was coming from there, but I was afraid of getting overspray onto the brakes (so if you try this be very careful). Anyway, the service folks tried this, but it didn't fix the issue (maybe it reduced the sound? I don't know).

Might be an issue with some kind of rubber piece inside that rubs, and there is no way to lubricate it. They are checking on next steps with the axle maker. There is a 5-year warranty on the axle (I'm a few weeks short of that so would qualify), but we don't know what it would cover.

Our 28 is a 2015, and we have roughly on the order of 25K miles on it. I wonder when they started this axle design, and if it's still the same on the latest coming out.. ? Also wondering how widespread, or not, the issue is. I hope it's just a few of us.

DAHBABY · 11-25-2019, 11:45 AM

Garybair thanks for the clarification. I hope the dealer is able to pinpoint your issue. I am not sure what our axle looks like, or I'd post a photo. Unfortunately I am not able to store her at home so a special trip to see her is needed. Good luck.

ArgosyJeff · 11-25-2019, 06:40 PM

I would venture that the squeak is coming from surface contact of the end of the axle tube rubbing against the face of the lever arm.(The area you indicated on the photo.)Most likely due to surface rust build. I would clean this area as well as possible then apply a liberal coat of white lithium grease applied to ensure it gets into the crevice between the two faces.

Baby Zeppelin · 11-25-2019, 07:01 PM

<quote>
Updating this post with a link to a mp3 file with the noise:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1b2..._BKCEEpTFvc7if
</quote>

garybair, sorry to be so slow to reply - life got in the way. Yes, that is the noise we hear.

<quote>
I would venture that the squeak is coming from surface contact of the end of the axle tube rubbing against the face of the lever arm.
</quote>

Tried spraying WD40 in that area, so far no change. I'm going to just live with the noise 'till we need new tires, then while all the wheels are off I'll pull the drums and lube the shoe to backing plate contact areas to see if that fixes it.

Let us know what the Oregon dealer finds. JC and my local dealer never did seem to hear our noise.

garybair · 11-25-2019, 11:11 PM

Yes, I'll keep you in the loop on progress/discovery.

My understanding is that the axles have been the same since 2010, fwiw.
Guessing this isn't too common of an issue or they'd be a bunch more discussion on it by now.