*excessive* vibration

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slapthecat
Seasoned Traveler
Posts: 130
Joined: Wed Dec 25, 2013 4:18 pm
B190 Year: 1990
WBCCI: 0

*excessive* vibration

Post by slapthecat »

When I bought my '90 van, I was told that the generator had excessive vibration. "You wouldn't be able to sit on the couch while it's running". They weren't kidding!
Noise level isn't the issue - the entire cabin shakes, almost violently. Run it for 5 mins and your feet will vibrate for 15 afterwards.

It's mounted in the compartment with "L" brackets on each side, and one bolt is missing - assumed this might be the issue and planned to replace that and put some sort of pad underneath to help absorb the vibration. I showed a home-mechanic friend of mine, and he was wondering about the mount of the motor inside the generator - felt that it may be loose and moving around too much inside the gennie case causing the vibration.
I pulled the gen out and I see there are 3 large bolts underneath that mount the motor inside. These bolts all have small squares of plywood as a spacer between the head of the bolt and the case - all plywood is loose, meaning all bolts aren't fully snug(?) From what I can see the bolts go through the plywood, then the casing, some rubber bushings, then the mount.

Anyone have any experience/advice with this?!?
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skater
Site Admin
Posts: 2569
Joined: Thu Mar 08, 2007 1:00 am
B190 Year: 1991
WBCCI: 13270
Location: Annapolis, MD

Re: *excessive* vibration

Post by skater »

No advice, but I agree that's excessive. In mine, you'd feel some vibration from the generator while sitting on the couch, but it wasn't quite that bad. I actually slept on the couch with the generator running one time.

It definitely sounds like you're on to something with what you found. Those rubber bushings, if original, are now 24 years old, so...
1991 Airstream B190 - bought, 2005; sold, 2011; bought 2017
1995 Airstream Excella 30' trailer

WBCCI #13270, Washington, DC Unit
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