We got the 78 Elegaza II delivered on friday. We know a little more about the motorhome at this point. We purchased from the salvation army but the motorhome was still at the original owner's house. He purchased the new back in 78 and has taken it on a grand total of 4 trips over the years. It has 13,500 miles. He maintained the motorhome until 2008 when his failing health left it more or left abandoned in the driveway. He has kept all the documentation and has two maintenance manuals. He also has two huge binder full of GMC motorhome newsletters neatly filed away. Neat stuff.

Anyway started putting the coach up on stands today to work on it. It has the original jack with the chain hook. After I got one of the rear sides up the jack started leaking badly around its base. I have access to a quality floor jack but I wonder if any of you know if the original jack can be repaired, the bracket is really low to the ground when the suspension is empty.

For those who are interested here are some pictures of us cleaning up the rig.

http://imgur.com/gallery/8nzTo

Dan
Allentown NJ
78 Eleganza II

Dan,
The OEM chain/bottle jack is really not a very good and not really safe to use, you need to get a couple low profile bottle jacks 6 to 12 ton in size.


The coach needs to be jacked from both sides evenly. You can crack or pop the windshields if you're not careful. If you have a large floor jack
3 or 4 ton you can use it in the middle of the front cross member and lift the coach. I use two 3 ton floor jacks on the frame just back of the from wheels and 2 bottle jacks in the back to lift my coach evenly. By chance did the PO have some jack pads to use on the rear bogies?
http://www.appliedgmc.com/prod.itml/icOid/1103
Like this or similar. Safest way to lift the back. DO NOT get under coach without using jack stands or blocking up the coach with wood cribbing.
http://gmcmotorhome.info/rear.html#hook
or
http://gmcwsproducts.blogspot.com/2006/04/jack-hooks.html
JR Wright
GMC Great Laker MHC
GMC Eastern States
GMCMHI
78 GMC Buskirk 30' Stretch
1975 GMC Avion (Under Reconstruction)
Michigan

On Jun 22, 2014, at 9:12 PM, Daniel DeLuca wrote:

> We got the 78 Elegaza II delivered on friday. We know a little more about the motorhome at this point. We purchased from the salvation army but the motorhome was still at the original owner's house. He purchased the new back in 78 and has taken it on a grand total of 4 trips over the years. It has 13,500 miles. He maintained the motorhome until 2008 when his failing health left it more or left abandoned in the driveway. He has kept all the documentation and has two maintenance manuals. He also has two huge binder full of GMC motorhome newsletters neatly filed away. Neat stuff.
>
> Anyway started putting the coach up on stands today to work on it. It has the original jack with the chain hook. After I got one of the rear sides up the jack started leaking badly around its base. I have access to a quality floor jack but I wonder if any of you know if the original jack can be repaired, the bracket is really low to the ground when the suspension is empty.
>
> For those who are interested here are some pictures of us cleaning up the rig.
>
> http://imgur.com/gallery/8nzTo
>
> Dan
> Allentown NJ
> 78 Eleganza II
> _______________________________________________
> GMCnet mailing list
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G'day Matt,
Sorry I'm going to disagree with you a bit; here's a couple of GOOD bottle jacks.
http://www.gmcmhphotos.com/photos/g5846-ford-torin-jack-comparison.html
The Torin jacks are readily available from Applied GMC and Northern Tool; the Ford jacks you have to do a Google or eBay search for.
Regards,
Rob M.