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Friendship37, Welcome to the FMCA Forum. Yes, that is true of any Yahoo group.

PrarieDog1951, Can't help with the selection of a particular residential refrigerator, but be sure your electrical system is up to the task, particularly if you camp without electricity. Dry camping will require a reasonably substantial house battery bank and a quality inverter (pure sine wave best).

Herman, If they don't restore, you might also wander through a couple of wrecking yards. Particularly if they fit a BMW or other high-end car, you might find one that has been garage-kept and can buy them inexpensively.

Larry, I am curious about part of your statement: "Anyway they assured me it will all be corrected and it will be warrantied so CAT will stand behind it." Can't imagine how the engine manufacturer would warrant repair to a cooling system installed by the chassis maker and repaired by a dealer(s). Another question. Who made the bracket that ended up locating the fan improperly? I would get the specs from them and compare to actual. If they vary enough from spec to cause your "improper mounting", I would document that and go back against them for the work to RE-work their new bracket.

Herman, Tom revised his post to .060" permissible run-out. For tire truing companies in your area, might contact the manufacturer of tire truing equipment. Note, many will only work on small tires (race car tires), so find out from them if they true your size tire ON THE VEHICLE. Tire Truing Equip Amermac Ellaville, GA 800 841-8065 Brett

No problem. That would have just made you a LOT more picky than I am-- and on suspension issues, that would be hard to believe.

Larry, Congratulations on the new coach. Does the A/C condensate drain to the same place irrespective of how you level? Most have discovered that by slightly tweaking the leveler sensor that they can force the condensate to a "less obtrusive" side/end of the coach. Also, the use of the small "drain rail extensions" can get water away from the side of the coach. Completely off subject, but just want to make sure you have had the trailing arms replaced IF the 4 bag Roadmaster suspension. This is not an issue for any of the 8 bag suspensions. Don't know what model coach you bought. Brett

Actually, .006" is virtually impossible to find in a stock tire mounted on a stock wheel mounted on a stock hub. Most tire manufacturers say .060" is acceptable. My spec is .035". If more run-out that that, I have: Tires rotated on wheel. High point of tire put to top of rotation and loosen lug nuts and re-torque. If still over .035", have the tires TRUED. Yes, that is "shaving" the high spots of the tire. Will add many tens of thousands of miles of VERY smooth performance. Sadly, truing tires is a dying art, as it is an art-- not something an untrained tech can do on a machine. The place I have it done does not even work on outsider's vehicles (well mine). The guy trues 100% of the front tires on the fleet of OTR tanker trucks they maintain. The front tires are then spin balanced ON THE RIG. The drivers love him! I do this every time I have new tires mounted.

Herman, Not sure I follow. Yes, it rained early Monday morning (I drove in it on the way to the first seminar I presented) but cleared by early afternoon. Clear the rest of the week: http://classic.wunde...ast?query=46201 Now, stick around for the weekend and it looks like the remnants of Hurricane Isaac may come visiting! Been to a LOT DEEPER RV events! Perry GA before they redid the parking areas comes to mind. Remember Georgia rain shoes-- Walmart bags tied around your shoes and up your calves with rubber bands. Ah the good old days.

85 Eagle, Good question. But, as you probably know FMCA staff is at the convention working 18 hours a day, as are most FMCA officers. I am sure you will get an answer to your question, but right now they are knee deep in running the convention. You might try the link Bill posted again-- at least right now, it came up. Brett

Strouble, Welcome to the FMCA Forum. Yes, as of one week ago (I got current information, as I moderated the Towing Roundtable at the FMCA Convention this week), Ford shows the manual transmission Fusion towable 4 wheels down. You will have to look in your owners manual for the proper procedure.

Yes, give Mike a call-- just not this week. He is at the FMCA Convention all week. Saw him there in several of the seminars I gave. Brett

Accalex, EXCELLENT write-up. One question-- assume this is an automatic transmission Focus, but want to confirm. Brett

Locate the RELAY/SOLENOID that the switch controls. Your coach maker can tell you where it is. With a voltmeter, it is a very quick and easy test to see if the relay/solenoid is bad or if it is not getting the signal from the switch: There are two large lugs-- when batteries are not combined, they will have different voltage, one for chassis and one for house battery. When the Combine/Boost switch is on, the two large lugs should have the same reading, as the batteries are combined. If voltage at the two large lugs is not the same with the combine/boost switch on, locate the small signal wire on the relay/solenoid. If there are two small wires, one is ground, the other is the signal wire. If only one small wire, it will be the signal wire and the ground is through the body of the relay/solenoid. Remove the signal wire from the terminal on the relay/solenoid. With the switch on, you should have 12 VDC between it and chassis ground. If you don't you need to check the switch and/or fuse and/or wiring. If no voltage on signal wire, you can test the relay/solenoid by using a small jumper wire from either large lug (lug with higher voltage would be better) to the signal terminal of the relay/solenoid. Very little current is needed, so a small wire works just fine. You should head the "click" as the relay/solenoid closes and voltage at the two large lugs should be the same. Brett

Ranchmink, Welcome to the FMCA Forum. Best advice is to clean the front of your CAC (Charge Air Cooler). That will clear up both engine and transmission overheating issues. Yes, you could add an auxiliary transmission cooler, but remember if you run in very cold temperatures, the radiator helps WARM the transmission fluid. Too hot is bad, but too cold is not good either. If you do add a transmission cooler, I would install it before the in-radiator cooler and perhaps cover it in the winter.

Worse case is that you would run a new wire from any "only hot with ignition on" wire to the camera. The other option is to wire it to any 12 VDC hot and just turn the monitor/camera off when you park. Brett

If you do decide to store it during the storm, park as far inland as you can and park with all slides in. If you can put the back the coach toward the projected wind direction, that would be best. Brett

Pmarth, Welcome to the FMCA Forum. You should be able to find a constant hot 12 VDC source for your camera. And if you buy one with IR capability, it will work in the dark. Brett

Dissolve whatever you want to add in water. Pour in hose. Connect hose to shore water faucet. Turn on.

Guys, Let me suggest we call this one-- no new information is being posted. No need to continue to rehash this. And I never suggested that a 20 amp and a 30 amp= the same as an RV 50 amp outlet. It would provide up to HALF, since an RV 50 has two 50 amp hots. From my first post: "First, even if it works in a particular campground, it would provide HALF the power of a regular 50 amp outlet. A 50 amp outlet has TW0 50 amp hots so it provides 100 amps of available power. 20 plus 30 is 50 or one half a regular 50 amp." And my second one: "A knowledgeable electrician can re-wire a coach to split the circuits in the coach to use both the 30 and 20 GFI outlets to provide up to 50 amps of 120 VAC-- HALF the amps a standard 50 amp outlet provides."

The easy test I do on the brake-a-way switch is to go to a place with a gently sloping road with the back of the car facing down-slope. With vehicle in neutral, engine off, start down the hill. As you start, have someone pull the brake-a-way pin. You should hear the compressor come on (with the Invisibrake) and stop within a couple of feet. Brett

Don't know who made the suggestion, but testing all the functions of any supplemental brake is part of the installation process. Did you use the PSI knob on the on the Invisibrake to set pressures for your toad?

bdemattia, Welcome to the FMCA Forum. Sounds like a relay problem, or wiring or switch. Next time this happens, go to the relay (larger relays also called solenoids). Determine if there is 12 VDC positive to the small "signal" terminal of the relay/solenoid. If so, check both large lugs. One will be hot (12+ VDC) as it goes to the house battery bank. The other SHOULD be hot when the signal terminal is hot. If not, replace the relay/solenoid. This is the most common way for remote disconnect switches to be wired. I would use a digital voltmeter to verify it with switch on/off so you will be able to "catch it" the next time you loose 12 VDC.

McBrian, Not sure from you post (particularly the "leak in my system that was repaired" part)-- do you still have a problem or is it solved?? If not solved, should be pretty easy to diagnose the source of the vacuum leak: #1. Start by plugging the vacuum line at the engine. Drive and check for vacuum issue. That rules out both Invisibrake and the new vacuum line to it. Be sure to use a solid plug such as golf "T" rather than as screw, as vacuum will follow the threads of a screw or any threaded plug. #2. Next, move to the Invisibrake and plug the line that goes into the brake unit. Any change? That rules out the Invisibrake. If you good vacuum in tests #1 and #2 but loss of vacuum when the Invisibrake is connected, the next thing I would do is use a hand held vacuum pump to pull a vacuum on the Invisibrake. Determine bleed down time from, say 20" to say 5" vacuum. Call Mike Cannon at Roadmaster with the facts. The good news is this should not be hard to diagnose.

Herman, Can't answer that, as we don't have (and don't particularly care for) those with fully automatic temperature controls. Likely there is not "this is how they all work" answer. Do you have a separate recirculate button? If so, in the Texas heat, once inside temperature is below outside temperature, hit the button.