Noisy Goosebox? Allow me to help..

[Super_Design_16_21]

As many know, I'm having a love/hate long term relationship with my Gen2 Goosebox. One of the more recent issues, it's been popping terribly when I added air, and sounds like death driving down the road. Well, I fixed it today, and I wanted to let others know how. Honestly, this is a huge miss from Reese, this should be part of the manual for normal maintenance on these things.

If you look at your GB, in the very front on the port/starboard side, you'll see a big washer and allen headed bolt. That bolt holds a rod that provides the pivot for the GB, when it articulates, it moves up and down on the rod in there.

Well, problem is, just like any pinned connection, it's going to rust and get nasty in there. Quick version, you need to knock that pin out and grease it! Mine was terrible, covered in rust, and was a bear to get out. Once I got it out, cleaned it up, and greased it, it was also a bit of a bear to get back in; you'll need a jack to get it back into position.

This should be (and will be for me) a yearly thing on a goosebox. That joint is GOING to give every single owner a problem eventually, it's a metal on metal, extremely high stress joint that has no way to grease it. I can promise you, given enough time, you'll have a terrible sounding and rough moving/riding GB if you don't do this.

The real miss is two fold. First, make it recommended and detail the procedure to do what I did. Or, better yet, put a zerk on it so you can just pump a little grease into the pin every now and then. Alas, Reese didn't do either, so now you have to have some shmoe on the Internet tell you how to correctly maintain the hitch and no manual or diagrams to show you how to do it. If others are interested, I'll grab some pictures and detail out the procedure, but it's pretty self explanitory. Honestly, when you get into it and see how it's built, you'll think the same thing I did "How is this supposed to work?!" and "Who designed this joint sliding metal on metal with no way to grease it?!?!?".

The good news, after I did it this AM, we towed about 500 miles. Quiet as a mouse, and it rode SO much better. I'm sure the articulation was being limited by the rust; a small bump wouldn't make it move so it was like a fixed hitch. Thrilled with the results, not at all thrilled I had to "figure out" how to correct maintain my hitch.

I pushed my pin out about half way each way and greased the outside of the pin. I also put some in where the pin was pushed out on both sides so the internals are greased as well. My pin appeared to have some white lithium grease smeared on it but it wasn't much but a little does go along way. I bought my goosebox January or February last year and put about 3k miles on it last year.

I did replace the Allen bolts with Hex bolts for easier access. I am just going to do this same procedure once a year and that should be more than enough. Easier than doing my wheel bearings and I will just do it this way when I do those.

FYI let the air out of the bag before starting. Makes it easier getting everything lined back up.

Thanks OP for the heads up on this

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[geotex1]

And finally, what I should have checked before I lost 2 hours of my life:

Attachment 38512

Oh, good grief!

[FT4NOW]

And finally, what I should have checked before I lost 2 hours of my life:

Attachment 38512

[emoji24] Oops....kind of like measure twice cut once, at least no cutting was involved.

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[geotex1]

@Overtaxed, do you have a caliper where you can measure the OD of the shaft in inches and millimeters for us? If it is a stock diameter, or within a diameter easy to bring down, I have a machinist that will build how I have been describing.

[Mediocrity]

@Overtaxed, do you have a caliper where you can measure the OD of the shaft in inches and millimeters for us? If it is a stock diameter, or within a diameter easy to bring down, I have a machinist that will build how I have been describing.

Your guy making it just for you? I'd be interested in purchasing one, if the price is decent.

[Overtaxed]

@Overtaxed, do you have a caliper where you can measure the OD of the shaft in inches and millimeters for us? If it is a stock diameter, or within a diameter easy to bring down, I have a machinist that will build how I have been describing.

I do, I'll get a measurement and report back. Like others, I'd be interested in a cross drilled/greasable pin as well, driving it out will work, but it's messy and moderately time consuming. Be much nicer to have a zerk to pump some grease in every few months. It won't take much to keep that joint well lubricated, but from my experience, it does take something more than a dry pin!

[Overtaxed]

Shoot, sorry guys, I've been super busy on another project and haven't had time to put the caliper on my pin. I did want to update the thread, my Goosebox is completely silent now. Done about 3000 miles on the new pin (which I polished and greased, as well as polishing the sleeves on the Goosebox. It makes exactly 0 noise now. Absolutely this was the problem, and, as I said in the beginning of the thread, everyone with a GB is going to eventually have this happen if you don't break it down and grease that pin. It's steel and in the weather, it will rust, it will pit and then it will make noise, guarantee it.

I'm also 95% confident it improved the ride. The easier that pin can rotate, the more force that can go to the airbag vs the truck. It certainly feels better to me using my sophisticated "BIS" measurement tool. Perhaps more accurate, my wife commented on our way home last week "Man, the RV feels like it's riding great". For her to notice something like this, well.. Yeah, let's stay with "significant improvement".

[Markb777]

Shoot, sorry guys, I've been super busy on another project and haven't had time to put the caliper on my pin. I did want to update the thread, my Goosebox is completely silent now. Done about 3000 miles on the new pin (which I polished and greased, as well as polishing the sleeves on the Goosebox. It makes exactly 0 noise now. Absolutely this was the problem, and, as I said in the beginning of the thread, everyone with a GB is going to eventually have this happen if you don't break it down and grease that pin. It's steel and in the weather, it will rust, it will pit and then it will make noise, guarantee it.

I'm also 95% confident it improved the ride. The easier that pin can rotate, the more force that can go to the airbag vs the truck. It certainly feels better to me using my sophisticated "BIS" measurement tool. Perhaps more accurate, my wife commented on our way home last week "Man, the RV feels like it's riding great". For her to notice something like this, well.. Yeah, let's stay with "significant improvement".

Driving home last week I noticed every time the GB moved up and down there was a terrible clunking noise and felt like the chucking with the traditional B&W I replaced. I'm assuming this is the same pin issue since it has never happened before.

Could you please provide the best way to get this part directly from Reese. I know you have already done all the legwork, but I'm sure many of us would appreciate any inside info in order to order the pin. I also have the 20K GB.

Thanks in advance,
Mark

[Overtaxed]

Driving home last week I noticed every time the GB moved up and down there was a terrible clunking noise and felt like the chucking with the traditional B&W I replaced. I'm assuming this is the same pin issue since it has never happened before.

Could you please provide the best way to get this part directly from Reese. I know you have already done all the legwork, but I'm sure many of us would appreciate any inside info in order to order the pin. I also have the 20K GB.

Thanks in advance,
Mark

That sounds like it Mark; the sound is pretty awful when you get a lot of articulation on the GB with the pin dry, I can confirm that, for sure. I've had a few pulls since I got it fixed, and, it seems to handle the bumps better too, but some of that is pretty subjective. My wife noticed, so that says something.

Hopefully Reese won't mind me sharing this info, but, I worked with John Azzopardi; [email protected]. Make sure you stress the size of the GB (16 or 20K), if you read the entire thread, you know the pins aren't the same size! Also, before you go for a new pin, you may want to push yours out a little and see how it looks. If it's pitted/corroded like mine, yeah, a new pin will be the only fix. But if it's not to that point yet, adding grease may be the end of your problem. The fundamental issue here isn't the pin or sleeve/collar setup, it's that this is a dry metal/metal joint with tremendous force and no directions or way provided to add grease. The new pin, if you don't grease it, will be a temporary fix, the real "fix" would be a pin with a grease zerk on the end of it. Absent that, knocking the pin out a few times a year to add grease.

[Markb777]

That sounds like it Mark; the sound is pretty awful when you get a lot of articulation on the GB with the pin dry, I can confirm that, for sure. I've had a few pulls since I got it fixed, and, it seems to handle the bumps better too, but some of that is pretty subjective. My wife noticed, so that says something.

Hopefully Reese won't mind me sharing this info, but, I worked with John Azzopardi; [email protected]. Make sure you stress the size of the GB (16 or 20K), if you read the entire thread, you know the pins aren't the same size! Also, before you go for a new pin, you may want to push yours out a little and see how it looks. If it's pitted/corroded like mine, yeah, a new pin will be the only fix. But if it's not to that point yet, adding grease may be the end of your problem. The fundamental issue here isn't the pin or sleeve/collar setup, it's that this is a dry metal/metal joint with tremendous force and no directions or way provided to add grease. The new pin, if you don't grease it, will be a temporary fix, the real "fix" would be a pin with a grease zerk on the end of it. Absent that, knocking the pin out a few times a year to add grease.

Thank you for following up so quickly! I have been following this thread since December and until last week had not had any issues. You have described the scenario much better than I have. Will see if your contact will sell a replacement pin, although I have not inspected mine yet. When I pull it apart I would like to have a replacement ready rather than wait for one. I cannot imagine there could be any other issue other than the airbag which is inflated to spec and holds it's pressure nicely.
Mark