wolfe10

Sam, Since you will likely be replacing the tires because of age, tread wear, it is a good idea to verify the tire build date (last 4 digits of the DOT.... number indicate the WEEK and YEAR of production. Try to find tires less than 3 months old. This applies to in-person and long distance orders. Brett

Bill, Totally agree as long as the two brands (on other side of dual application) are roughly the same size so the differential doesn't have to work too hard. Said another way, if up-sizing tire size, I would not combine old/smaller tires on one side of the back and new/larger tires on the other. Look at tire "Revolutions per Mile" on the tire manufacturer's website for information on how different your two selections are. Brett

The hydraulic fluid returns to the jack reservoir when the jacks are stowed. To locate it, listen for the jack motor when extending or stowing the jacks (assuming they are hydraulic not electric). The fluid level is checked at the reservoir. Start by physically looking at the jack to make sure the piston (shiny part) is clean and not bent. Check the return springs. HWH is great about helping with troubleshooting over the phone: HWH 800 321-3494, 563 724-3396. Brett

Ross, No problem. The time difference is explained by the time zone I am in vs the one you are in. As an example, it is currently 4:00 PM on 8/23 where we are in Texas (CDT). Obviously, you are WAY east of us! Brett

Ross, That is REALLY weird. Aug 9 2010, 07:37 PM is still showing as a post for me. I will cut and pasted it here: Posted Aug 9 2010, 07:37 PM Ross, I have to respectfully disagree with you on the adequacy of this particular coach's weight carrying capacity FOR MOST BUYERS. Based on the Winnebago/Freightliners numbers (with full fuel and water) the reserves are: Front: 976 pound reserve Drive: 7,272 pound reserve Tag: 1,135 pound reserve The vast majority of coaches on the road today have less. I do, however, strongly agree with your main point: All buyers should verify that the reserve capacity of any coaches on their "short list" meets their needs. And different buyers can have very different needs-- i.e. some may just weekend, while others looking at the same coach may full time and may collect rocks for a hobby.

Ross, I agree, it is unfortunate that the Winnebago post was deleted. You can see the weights they posted that both they and Freightliner got for that coach in my post 8.9 7:37 PM. I just got off the phone with the system administrator at FMCA. If you recall, the day the whole FMCA website went down for a week, funny things were happening. He was reviewing that post (as he and I do all posts) and it appeared that they had posted the same information twice. He tried to delete one copy and both disappeared. When the FMCA Website came back up, he contacted Winnebago and asked them to re-post it. As far as the title, remember, many use the search engine to find topics of interest. "Axle Overloading - Lack of Standards, Cargo Carrying Capacity can be misleading" does convey the sense of the thread and allows the search engine to come up with the discussion. Brett

Jim, Caterpillar's recommendation for first valve adjustment in an RV application is at 30,000 miles. And that is what was presented on a slide and in the handout at the Redmond FMCA Convention Caterpillar Engine Maintenance Seminar. Time is not an issue. They have found that it takes the engine approximately that number of miles to break in. Brett

Sounds like you should be calling and troubleshooting the Brake Buddy, assuming this brake lockup occurs while towing with the Brake Buddy in place. Brett

Not sure I disagree with Bill's assessment, but you asked for the pros and cons so I will get that started. Rear Radiator: Pros: Less expensive to build (no hydraulic system to drive the fan). Most are direct drive, though some have a low/high speed clutch. Cons: Much quicker to clog the cooling system. Basically a vacuum cleaner for the highway-- the dirt on the road is stirred up by the coach and 6 wheels passing over it. That air then passes over the hot rear axle, hot transmission and hot engine before being pushed by the fan into the CAC (Charge Air Cooler) and radiator. Must be cleaned more often (generally requires accessing from the bedroom/closet and cleaning the front of the CAC with a water hose working inside the fan shroud/between fan blades). Side Radiator: Pros: Stays cleaner longer (draws in air from side of coach rather than from underneath). And when it does need cleaning, it is from the side of the coach, not from under the bed/closet laying on your belly. Engine access is much better-- things like belts, water pumps, alternators, etc are easy/ less expensive to service. Generally take less HP, as hydraulic systems are easy to control to change the HP used to turn the fan as cooling needs change. Note: some rear radiator coaches also have low/high speed fan clutches. Cons: More expensive More complex More expensive coaches with larger engines tend to have side radiators. Brett

Tom, You and Bill are correct, if his goal is to totally turn off shore power. My recommendation above would allow him full use of shore power for things not powered by the inverter, yet allow his solar panels to charge batteries and provide 120 VAC to all the appliances and outlets powered by the inverter. And to fine tune this even further, if plenty of sun and therefore fully charged batteries, the refrigerator could be switched to 120 VAC and powered by the inverter. If less solar, leave refrigerator on propane or shore power. Let's see what the OP has in mind. Brett

Bill, Sure, turning off the main 120 VAC breaker (two breakers pinned together if 50 amp service) would work fine, BUT if just the 120 VAC breaker/power to the inverter is off, battery charging and circuits "fed" by the inverter would be done by those large solar panels while he would have full access to all other 120 VAC appliances (like A/C, microwave, etc) from shore power. Brett

Sam, No, haven't heard of tennis balls. Golf balls yes but have no first hand experience with them. But I guess I am really old fashion. Particularly on front tires, mine are checked for run-out ON THE COACH. If over .035" that is fixed first because an egg-shaped tires, even if balanced rolls, well, like an egg). The "fix" may be rotating the wheel on the hub, tire on the wheel, or if neither of the above work, truing the tire. And, yes, there are still places that do tire truing. I then have the fronts spin balanced on the coach. I want all rotating masses, not just tire and wheel to be in balance. Those heavy drums or disks as well as hubs may not be perfectly in balance. Brett

Welcome to the FMCA Forum. Let me describe how the inverter/chargers are wires on MOST but not all coaches. There is a breaker in the 120 VAC breaker box to the inverter/charger. When the inverter "sees" the 120 VAC from the shore power or generator (i.e. from the breaker box) it does two things (again, most have these features): "Passes through" the 120 VAC to outlets and appliances supplied by the inverter. Sends 120 VAC to the charger part of the inverter/charger to charge the batteries. If this is how yours is wired, turning off the breaker to the inverter is all you would need to do so that your solar panels, not the inverter/charger will charge your batteries. If no breaker, the most I would interrupt with a separate breaker would be the 120 VAC wire to the inverter/charger. If any question, consult your chassis maker and/or inverter/charger manufacturer. Brett

Welcome to the FMCA Forum. ABSOLUTELY. If the dash A/C doesn't keep you cool enough, turn on the generator. Best practice is to turn on the generator, let it warm up for a few minutes (no load), then turn on the A/C. To shut down, turn off the A/C, let the generator cool down for a few minutes, then turn off the generator. Do NOT shut the generator off under a load except in an emergency. That would be akin to running your car or motorhome at highway speeds and just shutting down the engine. And it is very hard on the generator's voltage regulator as well. Brett

Desmo, Good question. Sadly, there is no consistent location for the transmission temperature sender unit, so comparison with other rigs may not be relevant. Allison does not have an "approved" location for the sender. Some are on the line coming out of the torque converter, some on the "far" side of the transmission cooler. But I assume you have the synthetic fluid (Transynd) which is not as susceptible to breakdown at higher temperatures as was Dexron. And yes, the transmission will run hotter in stop and go driving than other times because the torque converter is not locked in 1st and lower speeds in second gear. It is locked in all other gears. You can help the temperature situation by shifting to neutral if you will be stopped at a light for awhile. Brett

Mike, Excellent-- good description and reasonable conclusions. The one thing I didn't see in your analysis was to start by verifying ride height before verifying weights. If a ride height valve is out even a half an inch, it can shift quite a lot of weight side to side. Concerning the original post/article: The weights I posted above (Aug 9 2010, 06:37 PM) show the weights that both Freightliner and Winnebago got for the same coach-- and those numbers do make more sense than those published in the article. That doesn't mean I wouldn't rather see the percent of reserve capacity on each axle even closer. Brett

Ross, I have to respectfully disagree with you on the adequacy of this particular coach's weight carrying capacity FOR MOST BUYERS. Based on the Winnebago/Freightliners numbers (with full fuel and water) the reserves are: Front: 976 pound reserve Drive: 7,272 pound reserve Tag: 1,135 pound reserve The vast majority of coaches on the road today have less. I do, however, strongly agree with your main point: All buyers should verify that the reserve capacity of any coaches on their "short list" meets their needs. And different buyers can have very different needs-- i.e. some may just weekend, while others looking at the same coach may full time and may collect rocks for a hobby. Brett

Milha, We stayed at Monte Verde RV Park. A small, quiet, family owned park. You can look north from the park and see Mt Wheeler at 13,161 ft. If you are looking for a park with all the bells and whistles, this isn't the one. But we enjoyed the quiet, the hiking trails in the area and Taos is just over 24 miles to the west. Brett

We are in Troutdale (just east of Portland on the Columbia River). Leave in the morning for the trip over the mountains to Redmond. See ya'll there. Brett

Milha, Welcome to the FMCA Forum. The nearest "escape the heat in Texas" destination we have found is Angel Fire, NM. We spent last August there and did not turn on the A/C a single time. With an elevation of over 8,000 feet, the climate is GREAT. I just looked on the weather site I use and the high the next three days is 76 degrees F. Brett

Please understand that I am not recommending against any steering stabilizer or centering device, BUT in many cases people turn to these devices to mask alignment issues. Too little caster will cause wander, wheel lack of return to center, etc. So, please get alignment set to specs before doing anything else. Same applies to setting tire pressures based on actual weights-- that can make a real difference in how a vehicle tracks. Brett

Don, Welcome to the FMCA Forum. It is actually a little more complicated than that. Many coaches use gel-coated front and rear caps and a different material on the sides. The caps may be some/all chopper gun or may have some hand la-yups. Usually small gel coat cracks are the result of overly thick gel coat (gel coat is very hard, but brittle). Clearly, if there is flexing of the substrate deeper cracks can develop. I am not aware of any hand laid up side material. There are sure different grades though, ranging from Filon with exposed fibers visible to quality gel coated products. It sounds like your eye is "trained" to look. May start by looking at older coaches of the brand you are considering and then finding out from the manufacturer if they are still using the same materials/process. You can also ask questions here as you narrow down your search. Brett

No, ULSD is not available in Mexico at this time. And ULSD (15 PPM sulfur diesel) is required for all diesel engines build (not chassis or coach build date) after 1/1/07. There is no additive that will "correct for" the use of high sulfur diesel in a vehicle designed for ULSD. Brett

Don, Since these are wet cell batteries, if your charger or inverter charger has an equalization mode I would run that. I like to see the house disconnected while equalizing, as voltage can rise to over 15 VDC. Yes, on some coaches, your charger will not work with the battery disconnect switch in the OFF position. Doing this isolates all the PC boards on the coach from high voltage. The other option is to pull the fuses on the refrigerator, furnace(s) , water heater, etc. Equalize them and quite equalization when the SG stops rising. Re-test the batteries. Brett

No right or wrong answers here. Advantages of propane over gasoline: No worries about gasoline going bad and clogging carb jets-- i.e. the generator can be stored for much longer than a gasoline model with no fueling issues. Much cleaner burning fuel-- doesn't carbon the generator. Generator will have longer life than the same generator powered by gasoline. Does not require an additional fuel tank/source assuming you have a diesel powered coach. Disadvantage of propane over gasoline: Slightly less efficient (fewer BTU's per gallon)-- so it burns slightly more fuel. Questions you need to answer: How many hours do you intend to run the generator? What is the size of your propane tank? Most generator spec sheets give fuel consumption at both 1/2 and full throttle-- determine whether the consumption figures along with your propane tank size meet your needs. Do you camp in areas with propane available-- in many area, CG's sell propane. Most all Flying J's sell propane, etc? Brett