elkhartjim

Wow! Two oil changes in 90,000 miles. Now thats saving dollars. That statement along with some of the other ludicrous comments being made make me wonder if some of the posters are spoofers. Good night folks, I'll have a nice glass of Koolaide before bed. BTW, We all know the definition of a boat is a hole in the water you throw money into.

I have used the M&G Engineering brake on a 2011 Chevrolet Malibu and now a 2005 Jeep Wrangler and soon to be 2014 Jeep Wrangler. I installed the system on the Chev and 05 Wrangler and will install on the 14 Wrangler. Other than the non-proportional braking capability of most of the "brake in a box", what do you do with that big box once you arrive at your destination?

Well said, Bill. Whether its a $250,000+ Class A or a slide in truck camper they both have very similar components with the same problems.

Shopper, maybe you've answered your own question - buy a Lance tuck camper or a Lazy Daze class C. It seems you've now veered from your original question regarding should you avoid a Class A motohome.

I have read really good reviews on the Oasis Freightliner dealer in Phoenix. Remember also, if your a FCOC member the discount available. You don't say when you're traveling; the wind can be pretty fierce from central Texas to Phoenix. Heck, we had high wind advisories two days ago in the Houston area. I would recommend planning the drive through Houston either in the middle of the night or between 9:30am to 3:30pm. I always drive straight through as its quicker and much shorter than taking Loop 610 or the toll road. Unless you have an EZ-Tag for the toll charges, you may sit in long lines (10+ minutes) at each ticket booth. Safe travels.

I give thanks for the powerful condition I have - denial. Now if you really want to put denial to work for you, go over to the Jeep forum. A Jeep is the stastically the most unreliable vehicle ever made, yet we tow them and enjoy going topless (top down) whenever we get the chance. Yep...I've got a big case of denial. Thank you God! I know I'm contibuting to the hijacking of this thread and I apolgize to the OP for that.

As i see it, Shopper, you have two choices-listen to and believe the information that past and present owners of motorhomes on various RV forums are giving you or listen to and believe a salesman that most likely has never driven a motorhome more than a few miles on test drives. I recently looked at a Jayco Seneca. I wanted to know how much the salesman knew about his product so I asked things like "whats that extra tank for?", his response- "generator fuel", it was the DEF tank. "Does it have air brakes?". Now remember, I'm sitting in the drivers seat with my hand on the yellow knob that controls the brakes and his response was "no, power brakes". He did know it had three TV's and the dining table could make a bed of sorts. Do you have a friend, neighbor or relative that owns a RV? You need someone with experience with you and your parents to recognize fact from bull corn. I assure you, they want to talk about the bells and whistles because thats all they know.

I totally agree with Bill Adam's comments. I might suggest your parents/you look at 1-2 year old motorhomes as they will have most/more of the bugs worked out.

Yep, most of the state (TX) has been under wind advisories this week including Gun Barrel City. Usually by May the winds have calmed down in TX. BTW, to you non Texans, that is a city near Dallas and its not to be confused with the city of Cut and Shoot which is near Houston. You may want to check in to the FMCA trip routing service. Its one of the member benefits. I've never used it I just know its available.

What does your owners manual say? Make sure there have been no revisions to the manual also...some models were sold as towable but after destroying automatic transmissions Ford re-wrote or issued a supplement to the manual.

When are you planning this trip? Spring, summer, fall, winter? We left the Houston area about a month ago making a "loop" to northern New Mexico, Grand Canyon, Las Vegas and we're coming back the southerly route of Phoenex, Las Cruces, El Paso, Austin, Houston. Be advised even though all the roads are good, the wind in the spring can be brutal. Constant 20mph with gusts to 45 is not uncommon this time of year. We stayed in some great RV Resorts and a Walmart or two.

I use whatever the guys that come to my house to wax my motrhome use. I do provide a bottle of RejeX for them to use on the front cap including the windshield. It works great, even for lovebugs. I know some wax the complete mh with RejeX. http://www.rejex.com/

My 2 cents. I have a pet peeve on this and other forums I monitor. Someone posts a question and they get one to maybe even several responses; yet the poster is never heard from again. I think we're mostly all here to help others with our knowledge and experience so I believe its only polite to acknowledge when a response has solved a problem. My point, I'm reluctant sometimes to take the time to respond to a post and maybe others are too. Or maybe this is just my pet peeve.

If the attached link doesn't help, PowerGear is very responsive to emails. http://support.powergearus.com/techdocs/82-S0140-00.pdf

Like Bill, I've used Blue Ox trouble free for 5 years and over 40,000 miles. Its the years and miles that separate me from Bill. lol I'm sure Roadmaster users will be along to talk about their success.

I have been and Mike Cody, the instructor, is knowledgable and presents the material quickly and to the point. My wife did not attend instead chose to spend time at the local outlet mall. I would strongly suggest having your coach serviced while there. If you do have service, you can stay in the back parking lot with water and electric hook-ups. They have a dump station and water availble if needed.

Its interesting the ones that don't recommend it mostly have never tried it. I remember asking my buddy who happens to be the Interstate Battery Distibutor in my area about added mineral oil and he was emphatic about how detrimental to the battery it "could" be. I can only relate my experience and that of my fiends. I have not added water in 6 months and have not needed to clean corrosion from the battery terminals. Historically I've added water every 2-3 months and needed to clean the terminal at the same time. I neither recommend or endorse using mineral oil but I certainly like my results and now have added mineral oil to my golf cart batteries. I won't ever bring up desulfating my batteries...promise.

Hi Rich, You may also consider adding some mineral oil to each cell and eliminate the need to add water very often. I installed new house batteries (Sam's Golf Cart) last September and the motorhome has either been plugged in to 50 amp service in my storage building or in use and I've not added a drop of water. Another side benefit, I have not had to clean any corrosion since adding the mineral oil. There is a debate on how much mineral oil to use, any where from 1 oz to 4 oz in each cell seems to be the discussed amount. Google mineral oil in wet cell batteries. I have two friends that have used this technique for four plus years with success.

Truly sorry to hear about the problem (s) you've encountered with your new rig. The real sad part is a lot of new motorhomes may spend 3-6 months out of the first 12 months of ownership in the shop getting the bugs worked out. Just a thought, will GM, Ford or Chrysler pay for your gasoline when you return your vehicle for warranty work? Mine never has.

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Personally, I would start by identifying the weight/tow limits of your 24' Forest River. I tow a Jeep Wrangler that weighs in excess of 4000# and I'm not sure you can safely tow and stop that much weight. Regardless, whatever you decide to tow, make sure you have some sort of braking system on the toad.

All I was suggesting, Walt, is get some information from someone that has actually towed one succesfully.

Keeping the tank full during storage even ifs its just a few weeks is the best preventative for algae. Algae needs food (water) to grow and as has been previously discussed, water will not develop in any significant quantities if you will keep the tank full. All truck stops sell algae treatments, also farm supply stores like Tractor Supply and farm co-ops will sell these products. Without seeing what you're seeing in the filter bowl we can't tell you what you have but I can tell you from experience that algae is very slimy and may have a dark color but I've not seen algae that looks like specks.

Just a word of caution, Ford has literally re-written their manuals on both the Focus and Fusion models stating they no longer recommend them for four wheel down towing. I would want to hear from someone that is/has towed one before making that investment. JMHO.

Thanks, Bill. Dirt never bothers me- I'm older than dirt and dirt never hurts. I guess almost every negative review on RV Parks was regarding the 24 hour train noise...now that does bother me. If timing is right we will check it out. Thanks again. There is nothing like first hand experience.