Highest Reputation Content

Welcome to FMCA.com's Community. By using FMCA.com's Community forums, blogs and photo albums, you agree to abide by the terms of this Member Agreement.

These terms may change at any time in the future. FMCA.com will endeavor to post general notices of such changes, but no individual notice of changes to Users will be provided. So check back periodically and review the Rules and Terms of Use to ensure that you still agree to abide by them. Unless you terminate your registration, you will be bound by any subsequent change in the terms of this Member Agreement.

FORUMS

Community.fmca.com wants to encourage an open exchange of information and ideas. But we cannot and DO NOT REVIEW every posting made in the forums, blogs or photo albums. You may well read any given posting before anyone on the FMCA.com staff does. Take what you find with a grain of salt. You can expect these areas to include information and opinions from a variety of individuals or organizations other than FMCA.com. We DO NOT endorse or guarantee the accuracy of any posting, regardless of whether the posting comes from a user or from an "expert" guest. In short, there is no substitute for healthy skepticism and your own good judgment.

Responsibility for what is posted on community.fmca.com lies with each User. You alone are responsible for the material you post. By using this site, you agree not to post or transmit any defamatory, abusive, obscene, threatening or illegal material, or any other material that infringes on the ability of others to enjoy the FMCA.com Community or that infringes on the rights of others. We retain the right to revoke the access privileges of anyone who we believe has violated any of these terms or any other term of this agreement.

Although FMCA cannot monitor all the postings in the forums and other public areas, we reserve the right (but assume no obligation) to delete, move or edit any postings that come to our attention that we consider unacceptable or inappropriate, whether for legal or other reasons. We will not, in the ordinary course of business, review private electronic messages that are not addressed to FMCA.com. However, we will comply with the requirements of the law regarding disclosure of such messages to others, including law enforcement agencies.

FMCA.com reserves the right to remove or ban any user for inappropriate conduct. FMCA.com expects that you will not use the service to violate anyone's rights in copyrights, trademarks, or other intellectual property. By submitting material to community.fmca.com, you are representing that you are the owner of the material, or are making your submission with the explicit consent of the owner. Submitting material that is the property of another without the specific consent of its owner, is not only a violation of this agreement, but may also subject you to legal liability for infringement of copyright, trademark, or other intellectual property rights.

No Soliciting. You agree not to use any area of the FMCA.com Community to advertise or to solicit anyone to buy or sell products or services, or to make donations of any kind, without our express written approval. Users may not advertise or otherwise promote any competitive RV Web sites.

You or FMCA.com may terminate your registration/account at any time for any reason. Once your registration/account is terminated, you may not engage in User/Member activities on FMCA.com, in any manner for any reason, without the express AND written consent of community.fmca.com Administrator. If you assist in enabling a terminated User/Member to access FMCA.com through your registration/account, your registration/account will be revoked.

COPYRIGHTS AND TRADEMARKS

The Internet allows people throughout the world to share valuable information, ideas, and creative works. To ensure continued open access to such materials, we all need to protect the rights of those who share their creations with us.

Although we make FMCA.com freely accessible, we don't intend to give up our rights, or anyone else's rights, to the materials appearing on the service. The materials available through FMCA.com are the property of FMCA or its licensors, and are protected by copyright, trademark and other intellectual property laws. You are free to display and print for your personal, non-commercial use information you receive through FMCA.com. But you may not otherwise reproduce any of the materials without the prior written consent of the owner. You may not distribute copies of materials found on FMCA.com in any form (including by e-mail or other electronic means), without prior written permission from the owner. Of course, you're free to encourage others to access the information themselves on FMCA.com and to tell them how to find it. Requests for permission to reproduce or distribute materials found on FMCA.com should be sent to webmaster@fmca.com.

We welcome links to our service. You are free to establish a hypertext link to this site so long as the link does not state or imply any sponsorship of your site by FMCA.com.

Trademarks: We don't want anyone to be confused as to which materials and services are provided by FMCA.com and which aren't. You may not use any trademark or service mark appearing on FMCA.com without the prior written consent of the owner of the mark.

Your submission of any content for display or dissemination on FMCA.com automatically grants FMCA.com a royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, non-exclusive right and license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, disseminate, perform, transmit and display such content (in whole or part) and/or to incorporate it in other works in any form, media, or technology now known or later developed for the full term of any rights that may exist in such content. If you are not the owner of such content, you shall be deemed to have warranted that the owner of the content has expressly granted to you a similar license.

We hope you enjoy using the FMCA.com Community forums, blogs and photo albums, and we welcome suggestions for improvements.

DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES AND LIABILITY

We work hard to make FMCA.com an interesting and enjoyable place, but we cannot guarantee that our users will always find everything to their liking.

You agree that your use of this service is at your sole risk. Because of the number of possible sources of information available through the service, and the inherent hazards and uncertainties of electronic distribution, there may be delays, omissions, inaccuracies or other problems with such information. If you rely on this service or any material available through this service, you do so at your own risk.

This service is provided to you "as is." FMCA cannot and does not warrant the accuracy, completeness, noninfringement, merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose of the information available through the service. Nor does FMCA guarantee that the service will be error-free, or continuously available, or that the service will be free of viruses or other harmful components.

Under no circumstances shall FMCA be liable to you or anyone else for any damages other than direct damages. This provision includes, without limitation, any liability for consequential, special, incidental, indirect or similar damages, even if we are advised beforehand of the possibility of such damages.

Thank you for visiting the FMCA Forums, where motorhome owners -- from novice to veteran -- can discuss everything about motorhoming. To promote a fun and welcoming atmosphere, we have implemented the following rules:

• Check to see if your question/comment already has been addressed somewhere on the site. Use the search feature.
• Post in the correct forum. Look at other topics and see where your topic should go. Do not cross-post the same question to multiple places.
• Choose an appropriate Topic Title. Try to summarize your subject briefly in the title, and elaborate in the message itself. Repeat the title in the body if it will make things clearer. An example of a bad title would be "HELP ME." A good title might be, "Cummins ISB Engine Fails on Steep Incline."
• Do not use a URL as a thread title.
• Keep all posts on-topic. We may delete individual posts that could ruin a good topic thread. Threads that evolve into good-natured, off-topic banter are better suited for a personal contact method such as a private message or e-mail.
• Include as much information as you can when seeking help. This may include: coach make/model, engine, chassis, transmission.
• Solicitations to buy or sell of any kind are strictly prohibited.
• Do not post to advertise your product or business. Commercial advertising is not permitted in any relation to your account, including URLs or active links in your profile or signature.
• When recommending a product to help a user solve their issue, please  disclose any affiliations -- paid or unpaid -- you may have with the  provider of that product.
• Any post deemed to be self-promotion, advertising or spam can and will  be removed. Posting excessive, unnecessary references to your products  and Web sites is self-promotion.
• You may post about problems you have with a product, company or organization, but using the forums for repeated attacks is forbidden.
• Posts on matters in which legal counsel is/has been involved, including posts related to future, current or past lawsuits, are not allowed.
• Political and religious posts are not permitted.
• Keep all comments civil. Constructive criticism is welcome, but insults directed toward other users or the site administrators will not be tolerated.
• You may not use this message board to post any material that is knowingly false and/or defamatory, inaccurate, abusive, vulgar, hateful, harassing, obscene, profane, sexually oriented, threatening, invasive of a person's privacy, or otherwise violative of any law.
• FMCA reserves the right to remove any message deemed inappropriate or disruptive to our Community.
• If a topic is recognized as a violation of any of these guidelines, please contact a Moderator or an Administrator either via Private Message or the "report post to moderator" feature; do not respond publicly to the member. And please do not argue a moderator's decision publicly on the forums.
• FMCA reserves the right to change these rules as necessary to meet any future needs that may arise.
• FMCA is not responsible for any messages posted. FMCA does not vouch for or validate the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any message, and is not responsible for the contents of any message.
• The messages express the views of the author of the message, not necessarily the views of FMCA.

Within these guidelines, FMCA encourages information exchange, friendly debate, socializing and good humor.

Thank you for being part of our online community.

You have heard correctly -- chlorine is tough on a lot of materials.

But, let's back up a step.  Nothing, I mean nothing is going to make a black tank smell "good."

Your objective is not to make it smell good, but to keep normal "bad" odors out of the RV.

If this is the issue, you need to look closely at the tank venting. Do you get odors when camping? When driving?  The more details, the better we can address the issue.

There are a number of things you can do to reduce the load on your air conditioners and thus make them more effective.

1.  If possible park the coach with the windshield facing north. This will minimize the amount of sunlight coming in the windshield and side cabin windows.  (Of course the obvious answer would end here...  Drive in the direction you are facing until dark.  Repeat until the daytime temperature is below 90 degrees!   )

2.  Request a shady site to minimize the amount of sun affecting the remainder of the coach.

3.  Use all your awnings whenever possible.  The large awning may not be useful in high winds but the smaller awnings should be used anytime the air conditioners will be operating.  

The above are all no-cost items that you can do to reduce the impact of the sun on your coach.  Here are a few more no-cost items.

4.  Cook outdoors or use the microwave when possible.  Eat cool, no cook meals when possible.  

5.  Shower at the campground showers and hang all wet clothing and towels outdoors until dry.

6.  Keep lights, TV's and other electronics off during the heat of the day.

7.  When parking after a day of driving, open the engine cover to allow maximum ventilation to the engine compartment.  Do the same for the generator if you have been using it while driving.  You can close these after sunset or the next morning if you are in a secure area.

Now for a few items that will cost you money but will further reduce the heat load on your air conditioners.  Start working on these after you have done all of the above you are able to do.

8.  If you have any large windows without awnings, install awnings on those windows if possible.  Awnings are one of the most effective ways to reduce heat coming into your coach.  If your slide outs don't have awning covers, consider installing those as well.

9.  Purchase a set of external sun screens for your windshield and cabin area.  These are usually a set of four sun screens that cover your biggest heat gain windows.  Use these screens whenever you are using your air conditioners.  Any time you are parked with a view anywhere other than north, these screens will be highly effective.  External screens are significantly better at reducing heat as they stop the heat before it comes through the window.  Internal screens are more convenient but not as effective.

10.  Purchase and use external sun screens to cover any other windows on the coach that do not have awnings covering them.  Windows on the end of slides usually have no awning cover.  They are usually small but still allow a significant amount of heat when the sun shine into the window.  All windows without awnings should have sun screens.

11.  Purchase foam board art panels (in the art supplies at Wal-Mart).  Cut them to fit your windows.  We cut several to height for a window and then stack them side by side, overlapping a little as necessary.  Put them in the inside of the window valence during the day.  Use them in rooms when you are not in the room.  Put them in the windows when you leave the coach for the day.  They will provide some additional insulation for the windows.

12.  You can use the night to cool the coach to a much cooler temperature.  This will get you off to a good start for the daytime temperature battle.  Run the air conditioners through the night to bring the coach temperature to 65 degrees or cooler.  It may mean living with cooler than comfortable temperatures at night and in the early morning.  Keep the temperatures as low as possible during the morning and into the afternoon.

We now have a reputation system that allows you to recognize helpful posts or good content. Here are some screen shots.


Click the plus (+) sign to "like" a post or give someone a reputation point.


Here, you can see that I've "liked" this post, along with one other member.


Clicking the reputation number brings up an inline pop-up showing exactly who has "liked" this post.


If you go to someone's profile page, a green bar will show the person's cumulative reputation "points," if any. Repuation will change from "Neutral" - 0 points -- to "Good" and "Excellent" upon reaching certain point increments.

So, when you see posts of value to you, use the reputation mode to say thanks and to help others single-out valued replies.

To add a little to the excellent advice that Gary(kd) has given you...

Be very careful where you post information about your travels.  You don't want anyone connecting your home address with your travel posts.  We are full time and don't have a house to worry about so can talk more freely but if your address can be connected to information that you are in Wyoming headed for Minnesota, it is like telling people your house is unattended for the foreseeable future.  

With mail forwarding services, you can generally have your mail forwarded to:  Your Names, General Delivery, Anytown, AnyState, Zip.  We use the USPS web site to find the post office we where want to pick up the mail, you can search by town and get the nearest four or five post offices.  Pick a small town if at all possible - it is much easier to find the post office.  The USPS web site has maps that will help you find a particular post office.  Not every post office in large communities handle general delivery mail.  In towns with multiple post offices, there will be one main post office that handles general delivery mail.  That is where you want to pick up your mail in larger communities.  We usually plan to have the mail there several days before we arrive.  General delivery mail will be held for several weeks.  You will need an ID (drivers license) to pick up your mail.  We have a mailing service that will forward our mail every Monday and we pay for Priority Mail which costs between 5 and 10 dollars each week depending on how much mail we have.  If you are in a remote part of the country, the 2 to 3 day Priority Mail claim of the Post Office is meaningless.  The mail will get there when it gets there.  All of Texas is remote... add a day or two to the delivery time there (we are there now).  Alaska is a whole different world for mail delivery!  Holidays add a day or two to the delivery times and the Christmas season will add as much as a week to the normal delivery times.  By the way, the USPS has its own definition of priority, it turns out to be somewhere between first and third class mail.  Given all the above, we've only had to delay departure from a location several times waiting for mail to arrive.  If you use a commercial service like FMCA, Escapees, Mail Boxes, Etc. and you ask the mail to be sent every Monday it should go out like clockwork.  If you use a friend or relative, you'll have to live with their lapses in memory and adjust your schedule for it.  Also if your friend or relative doesn't pick up your mail every day the mail could be sitting in the mailbox overnight occasionally.  I would file a permanent change of address with the US Post Office since the seasonal forwarding they do is good for six months or less.  When you return, you can file another permanent change of address to have mail returned to your home address.  I find the on-line change of address form to be unfriendly to people who are on the road.  Some of the information they ask for won't work for us so we get the paper form from the post office and file it.  You can ask to be certain but I think that first class mail is forwarded for one year.  You'll likely have to change your address directly with magazines to have them forwarded to your mail forwarding service.  Put your name on the no-mail list for catalogs (the junk mail kind) and put your phone number on the no-call list for phone calls before you leave.

I would suggest possibly putting antifreeze in the drains and toilets when you leave home.  This should slow evaporation and keep pests out without the corrosive effect of chlorine bleach.  If you add a little oil (corn oil, etc.) to this mixture it will form a barrier on top of the water/antifreeze which will retard evaporation.  You should be able to keep water in the drains and stools for the duration of your travels.  If you are worried about staining stools, you may want to just use the oil.

You can pick up messages from your answering machine with a cell or other phone.  If your answering machine or phone service doesn't have this capability get an answering machine or add that service with your phone company.  Try it out before you leave home.  Don't leave a message that says you are out of town or indicate anything about your travels as that is another tip off to strangers that you are gone.  We use a cell phone for all our phone calls and all our relatives have that phone number so we can always be contacted.  You can give your trusted business connections (attorney, bank, broker, etc.) your cell phone number and instruct them to use that to contact you until you have them change back to the home number.  We use e-mail for the bulk of our communications with children.  That way they can read about our exploits and then we can discuss more important matters when we are on the phone.

Stop paper delivery and if you get a free paper that is delivered to everyone, have a neighbor pick up those for you preferably on the day they are delivered.  Nothing says empty house louder than a pile of newspapers on the driveway or lawn.  By the way, your neighbors will know you are gone before you leave so you won't be giving up any secrets there.  You don't have to let them know how long you plan to be gone.

We have all our bills paid by automatic charge to our credit card (a few by direct charge to our checking account)  and then reconcile our credit card account with the statement we access on the internet and pay that via the internet.  That way there are no utility or credit card bills in the mail.  If the mail is delivered late, you won't miss any bills or payments.  I keep a record of the closing date for the credit card and the billing date for each of the utilities, insurance payments, etc on my computer calendar.  I can go to the credit card web site and check to see what the payment amount is for each item as my way of seeing that charges are as expected.

Tom and Mark,

This is one of those thorny issues...  First, I would point out that this is not a government agency or branch of government.  The freedom of religion issue in the courts is a matter of government not choosing one side or another.  It came out of the history of the split in the Catholic church which had Christians persecuting Christians throughout Europe.  Some fled to this country seeking freedom to practice their religion without the influence of a government dictating their religion or persecuting them for their religion.  They devised a system of government in which the government was to remain neutral in regard to religion.  That means that any government agency was not to pick, choose or encourage any particular religion.  It is the thing that has held our government together for so many years.  Theocracies inevitably self destruct as one religion attempts to control another.  Iraq would be a prime example of the problems of a theocracy.  We have done our best to try to establish our kind of government but they still choose up sides based on religion.

Now, FMCA is not a government agency.  FMCA is a private and social organization.  As such, the freedom of religion issue is not applicable.  Having said that, I carefully examined the FMCA documentation available on the web before I joined.  I wanted to be sure that the Family in FMCA was not a code word for a right wing religious organization.  The word family had been co-opted by the religious right at the time.  On the official level, I continue to see no religious expressions which indicates a desire to appeal to a broad section of society.  However, on the chapter level, there are groups which are clearly religious.  I can't remember the exact name but I saw a coach at Bowling Green last year that had a chapter sign that indicated Christians ... something.  I think that is fine.  A group with similar interests have assembled and formed a chapter.  Their name clearly indicates their religious nature and that is that.  Those who want to join know exactly what they are getting into.  

I joined a chapter several years ago and shortly after received a religious mailing.  I sent them notice to cancel my membership immediately.  There was nothing in their name to indicate their religious nature so I assumed this was an open organization willing to accept all individuals.  That may be true but their religious response to my membership cost them my membership and participation.  I attended a program and meeting of FMCA at the Redmond National Convention and sat through a thoroughly disturbing diatribe about religion in the guise of a Red Skeleton performance (recorded).

I sincerely hope that FMCA as an organization does not endorse any religion and I haven't see signs that it officially does.  There will always be those who feel they have found THE right answer and will try to impose their right answer on everyone else.  When someone uses the podium at a FMCA Convention to promote religion, it is their personal expression, not an official position of FMCA as far as I can tell.  If a chapter posts religious information on their web site, then they are in essence saying to everyone, you're not welcome unless you believe what we do.  If that is what they want to do, so be it.  I'm sure they'll find plenty of people who believe what they do.  If they don't, their membership will dwindle and they will either drop their position or fold up their tent.  

As an individual member then our challenge is to find a chapter that is tolerant of various viewpoints and will connect with other people on issues other than religion.  Sometimes the best we can do is to find an organization that at least isn't in our faces about religious issues.  There will always be someone in a group that feels there must be a prayer before a meal.  When it goes beyond that, we can argue/object or move on.

This is an alert to all Aqua Hot users.

Our AquaHot's boiler cap was stuck and allowed the boiler to boil out 11 gallons out of 16 gal of coolant over a period of I don't know how long! The cap was so deteriorated (brittle) that the rubber seals came apart in pieces when I removed the cap, which I had to use Channel locks to remove. The missing 11 gallons of coolant was causing the temp of the hot water to fluctuate, which I thought originally was the mixing valve; but after circumstances led me to check the coolant level I found out differently! 

After cleaning the Boiler cap neck, which was very difficult on our 04 Monaco Exec, because of where it is located and the size of the AquaHot and filling it with coolant, the Electric Heating Element burned out and I had to replace it. The Heating Element Replacement requires that you drain the boiler. Well there went the 11 gallons of Coolant I just put in by pumping it in with a new Weed sprayer, which was a real chore, because of where my boiler's cap and inlet were located!
I did have an unused 40 gal blue tank, that I was able to use to recycle the 16 plus gallons of 50/50 coolant mixture.

Note: Use Distilled water along with the coolant to achieve the 50/50 solution. This will keep the corrosion down in the room heat exchangers and save you money and
trouble in the long run.

The AquaHot Owner's Manual & the AquaHot Repair Manual says to check the coolant level in the reservoir tank and neither manual mentions checking the level of the fluid in the Boiler tank OR what type of Coolant to use!. The tank has a radiator cap on top of it like a car's radiator. ^{_{Do not trust just checking the reservoir's fluid level!!!}} 



I would advise everyone with an AquaHot to check the boiler's coolant level. Wait until the boiler is cool. If you can feel that the radiator cap on top of the boiler (Just like a car's radiator cap) is cool to the touch, along with the area around it remove the cap slowly and if the level is correct and full, the coolant will be right up to the cap and may even
overflow as you remove the cap.


If you cannot see or feel the coolant level go to: http://rvhydronichea...YDModelInfo.htm and see what type of coolant your AquaHot uses and fill it up. Note: you should find out what type of coolant your AquaHot uses anyway!
In any case you should check the boiler cap once a year and replace it every 2 years! You will save yourself a lot of headaches & heartaches, along with a lot of
money in repairs!

 God Bless and have a supper day,
        Larry the Tweety Coach Guy

I'm sure they will miss you.

I have read a few posts both here at FMCA as well as on other RV forum sites when the topic of what to do when a tire fails and you don't have a spare. Many times it has been suggested that the person plans on "limping" home or to the tire service center with just one tire in the dual position of their RV.

While on the surface this might seem to be a reasonable approach, there are a few things that need to be considered.

First, unless you have a TPMS that warned you that one of your duals was loosing air, in all probability you have no idea how long you drove with one dual underinflated. If you don't know when the tire started to loose you also have no idea at what speed you drove on one underinflated tire and also on one overloaded tire.

If a tire looses more than 20% of its air it is considered to be "Run- Flat" by tire industry

If you have driven on a "flat" tire it is considered to have been damaged and should not be considered for future safe usage.

What is not obvious when you read the above is that is one tire of a dual goes flat the mate has now been overloaded. I covered some of the info in a post on the Special Considerations for Duals, but there is more that needs to be considered.

If you have one tire punctured and loosing air the mate is "taking up" the load for both tires until it is 100% overloaded. Driving at highway speed will do serious internal structural damage. Most of which cannot be seen with out special equipment like X-Ray so it is simply considered scrap so now you need to replace two tires.

Trying to "limp" means that you need to reduce your speed and according to the special tables in Tire & Rim Association for adjustments for speed, inflation and load your limp speed is not 30mph or 20 mph or even 10 mph but it is limited to 2 mph. That is TWO miles per hour Maximum. Any more and you are damaging your tire beyond repair.

The solution would be to call for service. I would only drive on a single tire for a hundred yards at most to get to a location where I could safely pull off the roadway.

Hey fellas:

So Pete emailed me and I cut and pasted his reply here on this forum for curious readers. Pete also sent about 10 photos. Not sure how to get these to all interested parties.

We might just do a weekend simply because we are curious. However, we travel with young kids (3 and 6 years of age)  and no mention of park and weekend activities for the kids. We live just North of Boston, so it's about a three hour trek to this place should we decide to investigate and take a peek. If we do, I let readers know what we learned.

Thanks,
Rob

Hi Rob

We live in Lake Wales Fl in the winter and Maine summer. We are full timers. I have 10 lots there at Sandy Shores. We are on a lake and 5 mi. from the Atlantic. Camden, Rockport & Rockland are 15 min away. The Resort is very beautiful and easy access of Rt 1. Not very many people know about it. We do not advertise in ant R.V. books,or have a web site. We are a condominium assoc and we all own our lots. There are 75 lots at Sandy Shores and are  very nice. There are a few paved pads but most a very nicely landscaped. We do not except Pop Ups, Truck Slide in campers or Tents. Most lots are 5500 sq ft and there are 5 that are 7700 sq ft. There are very few children there, an occasional a grandchild. Pets are allowed and the usual rules you would find in any camp ground. Only one R.V. per site, Guest are allowed with no charge for a minimum stay (1) week and you can wash your R, V. and Autos. Lots are 17,57,75,72 74 62 64 & 46,52,53
Rent is $700.00 per mo May, June. Sept, Oct.  $800.00 July / Aug, includes elect.  / $2800.00 for the Season. (May1-Oct 31) Plus Electric.  You make $200.00 deposit direct to the bank info below.
Sandy Shores R.V. Resort is an upscale camp ground compared to the ones in our area. Sandy Shores rate are lower that all campground with in a 25 mile radius, and we are 200.00 less than they are. We also are a gated community. there are severl lot up for sale as well staring from $40.000.
Maine 's Season is a short one and everyone wants July/August. so the early bird gets the worm??? If you are interested let me know soon, as they will be booked fast..
.
My Bank information

Note from Moderator:  I removed his banking information.
Brett

Let me know if you get these.
Pete

Hi all. Very informative thread. However, be aware that not all Texas DMV Offices require a Road test to upgrade from a Class C to a Class B Non CDL License. I called around several DMV Offices and while most required both a written and a road test, one office did not require a road test. When I challenged them and said all other offices seemed to require a Road Test, they responded that it was at the discresion of the Manager at each office. So I travelled a little further a got an upgrade to a Class B Non CDL with just a written test.
So call a few different Texas DMV offices, you may be able to avoid the Road Test.

David B

David, which office did you go to?

Mike

Tom,

I was not picking on your situation, and I should have been a little more concise.  I keyed on your upcoming trip to CA as we plan for same later this year.  The information is for anyone traveling to or through California with an RV.  And as usual, everything is subject to change.

You're right -- it does wear on us.  For many reasons I will not expound upon here.

It really gripes me that the reporting process is anonymous via the Internet.  It is like keyboard bashing of someone on the web, then hiding behind the computer.  

It's not the subject matter I take exception with, it's the method of reporting.  And the subsequent defense the RVer has to generate for doing nothing wrong.  As in presumed guilty until you prove yourself innocent.

Have a great and safe trip.

Chuck

I stopped by the Gibson, Pa. Flying J which is off I 81, exit 219 to fuel up my class a motor home.  I planned on dumping, getting water and checking my tire pressure while fueling up.  To my surprise Flying J no longer allows you to dump free of charge and does not have water fill up or tire pressure gauges at their RV islands.  How can they say that Flying J is RV friendly when it eliminated all the conveniences it had when it was Flying J by itself without being a part of Pilot Fuel.  What  benefits do they offer to RVers to make us go to them vs any other fuel stations such as a TA Travel center, etc. Lets stop supporting them and find another fuel station that wants RVers business!!!!!!

I used to tow a Acura Integra and had no trouble. Now Honda has changed their direction with no obvious change in design. What gives?

I have had several vehicles which I have towed all four wheels down and none of these vehicles accumulated miles on the odometer. See the attached 2011 Ford Towing guide. I believe I would check with several other  dealers on this issue.

Tim,

First, check for stored codes in the Allison ECU (using the shift pad).

If no problem found, I wonder if they messed with the wiring.The exhaust brake signal goes from the exhaust brake switch/throttle position sensor to the Allison ECU and THEN to the exhaust brake solenoid.  So there is an IN and OUT wire at the ECU.

Only other item is the Allison ECU itself.

Brett

These kind of MPG threads always concern me as they often elicit answers of "what my coach gets" which is a VERY different question than what the OP asked.

Meaningful comparisons between different coaches/different drivers are VERY difficult to make, as there a large number of variables other than just the one asked about (see below).

Let me rephrase your specific question so we will get fewer "apples and oranges" comparisons:  Will a modern turbo, inter-cooled  400 HP diesel IN THE SAME COACH, WITH THE SAME TOAD, DRIVEN THE SAME ROADS, DRIVEN THE SAME SPEEDS, AND OF THE SAME EPA GENERATION, etc, etc, get better MPG than one with a 330 HP engine?

Stated another way, since all other variables are assumed to be the same (therefore the same HP would be required to move the coach over each mile of road), can a larger diesel engine produce XX HP more efficiently than a smaller diesel engine.

The answer is MAYBE-- it is certainly possible.  Unlike gasoline engines, diesel engines are most efficient at lower RPM and lighter throttle settings. So a larger engine, turning slower and at lower throttle settings can be more efficient than a smaller engine turning faster and at higher throttle settings.

But, remember, the larger engine will weigh more, so coach weight is up.  They will also likely require a beefed up frame (heavier) to handle the extra power.  The cooling system will have to be larger (heavier) to handle the higher heat load, etc.

Also, few would back out of the throttle of a larger engine while climbing a grade, and a larger engine WILL use more fuel at WOT (Wide Open Throttle) than a smaller one. Larger engines are quite a lot more expensive-- enough more than smaller engines that you could never pay for the difference if fuel consumption even if you agreed to keep your foot out of the throttle.


Just a few of the variables, each of which has a material affect on MPG that make comparisons between coaches less  relevant when addressing your question:
1.  Weight of coach (single slide 36' or quad slide 40')
2.  Weight of toad (Smart Car or 4 wheel drive crew cab)
3.  Terrain (flat lander or living in the Rocky Mountains)
4.  Speed driven (cruisin at 55 MPH or keeping up with the car traffic at 75MPH)
5.  EPA "Generation" (older, pre-emission requirement diesel of newer diesel with emissions equipment)

Brett

Is any one using this device yet and is it as good as they advertise?

I have a 2012 Tucson with 72 in width and we have a EZE tow dolly. We have almost 7 ins of clearance on each side. This is a great dolly. One of the best I have seen, only one that comes with disk brakes. Also only weights 400 lbs. cost $1799.00+ ship $250 anywhere .

 

Check it out at http://cartowdolly.com/.