Accessing Onan 4.0 BFA Generator for Servicing?

Started by Rinkydink, March 29, 2011, 11:56 AM

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Rinkydink

Hello old friends... I've been away for while but like the old days, I'm here with a question :)

So my Onan 4.0 Gen has been running great in my '80 Brave until recently. I'll start with my main question first... How the hell do you get to anything to service it? Do you have to remove it to work on it?

How do you access these things and if it must be removed, how difficult is that? It's not going to slide out the access door, I'm assuming it drops out? If I take into service, is that what they do?

Hope all is well and thanxs in advance for your input!

Mike

RV Mech Tech

RD - welcome to the world of RV service - I have seen that type of installation on some RV's where the access door is smaller than the genset - try working on a diesel generator on a class A that has no removable front cover on the front fiberglass nose- yep you have to remove those with a forklift from the front if it does not have a slidout tray or from the bottom if there is no access front cover !!!!  - Unfortunately removal from the Rv may be the only choice - I have done this several times even on the newer RV's so nothings changes - this can be accomplished with a jack  ( a motorcycle lift is the best choice or a heavy duty floor jack with a support pad of some sort) is required for this - also sometimes the manufacture will weld the steel cage together once the genset is in place - real intelligent move so if that's the case removal may be a serious problem and a new cage may have to be made . one that you can disassemble to remove the genset in the future - one other suggestion is to open up the access door and install a larger door and install a slidout tray (fabricated by a welding shop) but this is an extreme and very impractical (and expensive) for most RV owners -  one of the other things that you find is that in a coach that has close quarters around the genset the insulation tends to get into the cooling passages of the generator more than other spacious compartments so check for this as well - the BFE series is a larger style genset than newer ones - some pictures would help and maybe other members can come up with some suggestions - as far as I know the service manual is still available from Onan the resource list -let us know what you find

Rinkydink

I'm back... thanks for the responses so far. I took some pictures, created an album in my gallery. I became a little frustrated and didn't organize them or comment on each one as it was going very sloooooooooooooow. Bottom line is, It does appear the bottom drops out or as Tina pointed out in the BFE... Which I erronously typed instead I have a BFA... but I saw bolts on three sides, maybe it does indeed "swing". Here are the pictures I took... ouloaded out of order and don't know how to change them!

http://www.classicwinnebagos.com/forum/index.php?action=mgallery;sa=album;id=353

Thanks everybody!