wolfe10

I will repeat one more time-- a 5000 pound hitch does not necessarily mean that your coach was designed to tow 5000 pounds. THE authority on towing capacity is your coach manufacturer. Towing capacity is determined by the LEAST strong component. Much better to confirm before you spend your money than to find out you are operating dangerously/illegally. Brett Wolfe

There are several thing that you need to determine: Coach GCWR (Gross Combined Weight Rating) Towing capacity-- remember the LEAST strong element determines capacity, NOT hitch rating. It could be brakes, transmission, coach frame or indeed the hitch itself. Rear axle capacity-- the tongue weight will add well more than its actual weight to the rear axle because it is located so far behind the rear axle. Indeed, as Jim said, an equalizing hitch will help redistribute tongue weight. You need to weight your coach and verify that with the loaded coach, car and trailer you are considering that you will be under GCWR. And with a 33' gas chassis coach pulling a 24' trailer, handling WILL be affected. Brett Wolfe

Your coach house AND chassis electrical systems are 12 VDC, not 6,24,48, etc-- same 99% of all coaches out there . You can achieve that 12 VDC by wiring any number of 12 VDC batteries in PARALLEL, or by wiring PAIRS of 6 VDC wired in SERIES in PARALLEL. To make it easier to visualize, consider a "pair of 6 VDC batteries wired in seires" to be a "12 VDC battery"-- that is what they are. Tom is correct, you want DEEP CYCLE batteries. There ARE 12 VDC deep cycle batteries, but they are rare compared with 6 VDC/golf cart batteries. Go to the battery manufacturer's website and CONFIRM that the 12 VDC batteries you got are indeed deep cycle and not starting or marine batteries. And you could have done a LOT of damage to your 12 VDC system running it on 24 volts, which is what you would have if the wires were attached on the 12 VDC batteries as they were on your old 6 VDC batteries-- light bulbs, PC boards in refrigerator, furnaces, water heater, etc. This is something that anyone working on batteries/RV's (including all RV owners) should KNOW. TURN EVERYTHING OFF/DISCONNECT THE BATTERIES/TURN OFF CHARGER IMMEDIATELY. After re-wiring to 12 VDC, have a qualified RV tech check out ALL 12 VDC items-- I mean ALL. Brett Wolfe

Tom, An OPEN neutral is easy to diagnose-- voltage will be way off from 120 VAC plus/minus 10 VAC. What he found was not an open neutral, but a neutral connection with a lot of resistance (enough resistance to cause enough heat to melt insulation and discolor wires). There was enough conductivity to handle small amp loads, but not high-amp loads. I can no think of a way to detect this either except to have a digital voltmeter/polarity checker plugged in all the time (and monitored when larger loads applied). Both AEC and Good Governor made/make these. I have used one for the last decade on our coach. Have not yet run into a "partial neutral", but, a fair number of mis-wired outlets. This is particularly true in Mexico, where until recently no ground was required, so reverse polarity a frequent issue (frequent enough that I a made a reversible adapter to quickly and inexpensively "reverse it"). With one of these monitors (they plug into any standard house-type outlet in your coach) one can be careful without having to go overboard to paranoid. It becomes second nature to check the meter when adding heavy loads. Brett Wolfe

Tom, Indeed the most damage we have ever seen to coachs' 120 VAC systems was from an open neutral in a high-end CG in Vermont. AN EXCELLENT REASON FOR CHECKING VOLTAGE AND POLARITY BEFORE PLUGGING IN. As always, I checked the CG outlet before plugging in with my Fluke meter and read voltage varying from 145-177 VAC!. Sent Dianne up to the office for repair or other site. Checked voltage at second assigned site and read the same. Finally, (Dianne and CG owner not happy campers at this point) another site on the other side of the park where voltage was fine (118 VAC). Ya, you guessed it, "no one else has complained-- must be my problem". After setting up camp, went over to the "high voltage" area and asked several campers if they were experiencing high voltage. You guessed it, no one else had checked voltage, but ALL were running on 160+ VAC when I checked their sites. Several thousand dollars worth of A/C's, TV's and microwaves damaged. After two days of digging with a backhoe, the electric contractor found a break in the neutral wire under a culvert. Moral of the story-- always check voltage and polarity before plugging in (and check voltage again as you add high-amp loads). Brett Wolfe

Cathe, Indeed, you are shortening the life of your refrigerator. Can you not drive the right wheels up on leveling boards on the curb side to compensate for the crown? THAT is the right answer. Brett Wolfe

Richard. Welcome to the FMCA Forum. I would be VERY surprised in your coach is was not wired from the factory with the alternator charging BOTH battery banks. Is this "no charge" of house battery bank a recent development or has it always done that? Have you checked voltage with a digital voltmeter? With engines off and shore power off, check voltage at house and again at chassis batteries. Start engine and check again at both battery banks. WHAT ARE THE READINGS? And indeed, if you find that not only does yours not charge now, but that it was not designed to charge both banks, there are solution that are reasonably simple. Easiest (KISS): Buy a marine simple ON-OFF 360 amp continuous duty switch. Install alternator output and chassis battery to one side and house battery to the other side. Now, with switch off, you are charging only the chassis battery. With switch on, you charge both banks. This will also work to charge both banks from the charger/converter and service as an emergency start "combine" switch. Only issue is that you need to turn the switch OFF when dry camping so that you do not run down the chassis battery. You can also use a HD CONSTANT DUTY solenoid to combine the banks. Size (in amps) must be equal to total alternator output. Connect chassis battery to one large lug. House battery to the other large lug. Small signal wire to ignition source (if you want them both charged every time you run the engine) or to a 12 VDC switch that you can turn on as you want. Brett Wolfe

Linda, Belts break for a number of reasons: All rubber parts become more brittle with age. There could be a slight mis-alignment of the pulleys. The belt could have been over/under tensioned (always check automatic tensioner when replacing the belt. Stones or other debris could have been kicked up between the belt and a pulley, damaging the belt. One of the accessories can be seized up (usually alternator or A/C compressor). Always spin all pulleys when changing a belt. The belt could have been installed incorrectly-- with the grooves one tooth off (in or out) on a pulley. Brett Wolfe

Freightliner should be able to e-mail you or fax you a diagram. They are the ones who route the serpentine belt (as they spec the alternator and A/C compressor). While changing the serpentine belt, suggest you also replace the Caterpillar speced (get from Caterpillar dealer) water pump belt. If the old belts are still in place, you can always draw serpentine belt routing before removing the old belts. Brett Wolfe

Good post. There are many reasons we need to pay more attention to the quality of 120 VAC service in CG's than in stick homes. Many CG's electrical systems were designed decades ago when the largest electrical draw in an RV was maybe a TV and a fan. Certainly not a two A/C with microwave and 120 amp charger running at the same time. Much of the wiring/pedestals are out in the open and exposed to moisture, dirt and abuse. Many CG's are located outside municipalities with ENFORCED electrical codes. Many CG electrical outlets have been corroded, pitted and sprung by thousands of users/abusers. Many CG's electrical systems have been "fixed" by owners or RV'ers. Either buy an "automatic" 120 VAC system monitor/management system or (as I do) pay attention! I check polarity and voltage before I plug in and recheck voltage (large-display plug-in voltmeter) each time an additional high-amp load is added. Also, unplug anytime there is an electrical storm in the area. Contrary to ads, NO surge protector will protect from a direct/near-direct lightening strike. By properly monitoring the 120 VAC power, we have never had a problem with our rig caused by poor 120 VAC power, and that includes 5 winters spend in Mexico where power is even more questionable than north of the border. Brett Wolfe

CORRECT TIRE PRESSURE To determine the correct tire pressure for your coach, neither Michelin nor Goodyear recommend carrying the PSI imprinted on the tire sidewall UNLESS YOU ARE CARRYING THE MAXIMUM WEIGHT which is also imprinted in the sidewall. Go to Michelin or Goodyear's RV Tire Guide and you will see that the tire manufacturers do NOT have a single recommended tire pressure for each size tire, but always show a chart where correct PSI is based on actual weight. So how do you do this correctly: BEST way is to load the coach as you go down the road. Get all 4 (or 6) wheel positions weighted. RVSEF does this at all FMCA events and many other places. Of course you can just weight axles, but here you are ASSUMING perfect left to right weight distribution-- something that is NOT true on the majority of coaches. Taking the heavier wheel position on each axle, go to the tire manufacturer's weight/PSI chart for your tire and determine the correct MINIMUM pressure. All tires on an axle get the same pressure based on the heavier wheel position. Many add 5-10 PSI to that as a safety cushion (so you do not have to go and recheck when your wife stops at the outlet mall). Next best-- look at your GVWR plaque which by law will be in the driver's area. On it will be recommended PSI BASED ON MAXIMUM GAWR. Here you are assuming your weights are not higher or lower than maximum. You had better hope that this number is wrong, or you have no safety margin in tire carrying capacity. Further down still-- put in what is on the sidewall of the tire. ASSUMES you have NO LOAD INFORMATION ON WHAT THE TIRE WILL BE CARRYING. Could be right on (hopefully not) or could be off by 20 or more PSI. All tire manufacturers recommended tire pressure are based on COLD (have not been driven) AT THE AMBIENT TEMPERATURES YOU WILL BE EXPERIENCING ANYONE WHO TELLS YOU WHAT PSI TO CARRY WITHOUT WEIGHTING YOUR COACH DOES NOT KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING. Example, the "correct" minimum tire pressure from the Michelin book for a 275/80R22.5 is 75 pounds if the load is 4,500 pounds and 115 if the load is 6,175 pounds. BIG DIFFERENCE. Brett Wolfe

Welcome to the FMCA Forum. 1. Google "Honey Motorhome"-- lots of information there. 2. Information you seek can roughly be broken down into three sup-groups: Chassis, house and RV systems. What chassis to you have? The house (like construction, sidewalls, roof) will be unique to your coach manufacturer. The RV systems such as water heater, furnace, A/C, refrigerator will be standard brand RV components. You can get detailed information on them from each component manufacturer. Brett Wolfe

Is the thermal cut-off FIRMLY against the tank? Brett Wolfe

Though written for rear radiator, the process is virtually the same for side radiator except the dirt will be on the outside-most thing (inter-cooler or A/C condenser): On all coaches, but PARTICULARLY REAR RADIATOR coaches, the CAC (Charge Air Cooler, also called inter-cooler or after-cooler by some manufacturers) and radiator need to be cleaned AT LEAST ONCE A YEAR. You can verify that you actually need to clean them by taking a strong flashlight. Access the engine from the TOP (bedroom). Shine the flashlight inside the fan shroud/between fan blades. The fan blades "sling" the dirt toward the perimeter, so you want to make sure that the perimeter is as clean as the center (You are looking at the front ((Front of coach)) of the CAC. The radiator is behind that the CAC (back of coach). Yes, there are a few coaches with stacked radiator/after-cooler and these can be cleaned from the back (back of coach). If you just have dirt on the CAC, a hose with garden nozzle will work fine. If there is oil/greasy deposit, get the engine a little warmed up and turn it off. Wet the after-cooler and spray some Simple Green EXTREME (which is aluminum-friendly) along with water on it (CAC) from the FRONT inside the fan shroud. Let sit, but not until it dries out. Hose out. Repeat. Pressure washers are dangerous -- it is hard to maneuver them around the fan blades and VERY easy to bend the fins. You will also want to clean the radiator which is done from the back/outside of the coach. But this is NOT where most of the dirt will be deposited. And make sure the crankcase breather (1" ID open hose on most Caterpillar engines) is extended to behind the air intake (shroud) for the cooling system. Also verify that the extension ONLY goes downhill from the engine (no dip loop or sag) or you could do serious engine damage in cold weather. One of the byproducts of combustion is water vapor which can freeze if allowed to collect in the extension and if it blocked the whole tube BAD NEWS. Now, if you are climbing a hill and experiencing overheating, use the transmission down arrow to select a lower gear. For a given road speed, XX number of HP are required (read that also as heat produced). Producing XX HP (same heat load) but with the water pump turning at say 2,100 RPM instead of 1,600 RPM WILL reduce engine temperatures. But it will also increase fuel consumption. So I view this as a short range fix ONLY. Best answer is to get the cooling system back to 100%. Brett Wolfe

Do NOT trust any salesman to know and give you the correct informaiton on this. READ the owners manual or give Ford a call. Previous Fusions are towable 4 down (without major modification) only in manual transmission configuration. Brett Wolfe

Actually, the operative information from Michelin is PAGE 1 of Michelin RV Tires: "In addition to regular inspections and inflation pressure maintenance by consumers, it is recommended to have RV/Motorhome tires, including spare tires, INSPECTED REGULARLY BY A QUALIFIED TIRE SPECIALIST, such as a tire dealer, who will access the tire's suitability for continued service. TIRES THAT HAVE BEEN IN USE FOR 5 YEARS OR MORE SHOULD CONTINUE TO BE INSPECTED BY A SPECIALIST AT LEAST ANNUALLY." Brett

Good point, Wayne. In fact I "polish" the male contacts once a year with 2000 grit sandpaper. Corrosion makes a poor conductor! One of the prime causes (other than loose CG outlets) of arcing/burning of the male plugs is unplugging from the outlet with the breaker on. ALWAYS TURN OFF THE CG BREAKER BEFORE PLUGGING IN OR UNPLUGGING. Let the CG breaker be the "switch" NOT your shore power cord. REASON: If your cord is carrying an electrical load, as you plug in/unplug, there is a moment when all that current flows through just the tiniest tip of your shore power conductor causing it to burn. Brett

A great article in this month's Family Motor Coaching magazine about checking and maintaining your shore power cord: http://www.fmca.com/index.php/magazine/art...aking-ends-meet Check the female end of your shore power cord. It takes a lot of bending and twisting, and a loose or corroded connection can cause a fire. Check YOURS -- it takes only a few minutes and may save you some $$$ or even prevent a FIRE. Brett Wolfe

Doug, Without posting more information on your rig (transmission, GCWR, actual weights, etc) your advice may be misleading to the OP. Your rig may be very different mechanically from the rig he is considering. And a new buyer may not know all the relevant factors that determine safe towing limits and be able to translate from your rig to the one he is considering. And we sure don't want to make recommendations on purchase based on a discussion of "I got away with ............." if it exceeds the manufacturer's recommendations. Let's be safe out there. Brett Wolfe

Sounds like the breaker that partially trips may be bad. I would replace it. Breakers DO occasionally fail. Any electrical parts house should have those breakers. And while you are there, tighten all connections in the 120 VAC breaker box-- I do this annually. Obviously, do this with the shore power cord and generator off/disconnected. Brett Wolfe

Gary, As you suggest, there are certainly different (equally acceptable) techniques for climbing a grade. It really boils down to how much driver interaction one wants as well as how robust the engine cooling system is. I prefer to use economy mode and use the down/up arrows to TELL the transmission what I want done. It is equally acceptable to leave it in either economy or power mode and let the Allison "do its thing". I think we both agree, but want to make VERY clear about one point. You said, "Repeat until you are comfortable with the speed the coach is holding." For those new to driving heavy vehicles, we need to point out that the "comfortable speed" has little to do with how straight or curvy the road is, and EVERYTHING to do with holding the vehicle's speed in EQUILIBRIUM. You will see just as many truck runaway lanes on straight descents as on curvy ones! Once a heavy vehicle's speed gets too much over equilibrium speed, the brakes are truly inadequate to "regain control". This is something everyone operating a heavy vehicle has learned-- you need to know how to use your exhaust brake/Allison transmission along with perhaps an OCCASIONAL use of the service brakes to safely descend a grade. If in doubt start slower-- it is always easier to speed up. And watch the 18 wheelers. You should be faster than the loaded ones and slower than the empty ones. Once you get the hang of it, you can use ALL these things to control speed: Exhaust brake on/off Up/down arrows to lock the transmission in a gear Service brakes. Example: You are on a grade where 4th gear with the exhaust brake on provides too much braking. But turning it off/touching the throttle allows not only the brake to turn off, but the transmission to up-shift, causing you to accelerate. Here you may want to use the down arrow to "lock" the transmission in 4 gear and merely toggle the brake switch on/off to fine tune your speed. Brett Wolfe

Gary, It is basically the same test that you are required to know to get an air brake endorsement on a driver's license in most states and I understand ALL provinces in Canada. Brett

Air Brake System Pre-trip Check 1. Be on reasonably level ground. Block wheels so the coach can not move even with the parking brake off. 2. Start engine and run until full air pressure is reached. Listen for the dryer to purge (about 120 PSI). 3. Shut off the engine. 4. Release the parking brake by pushing in the yellow button (make sure you don't roll, and do NOT apply the brake pedal). 5. After the initial pressure drop, the system should not loose more than 2 PSI per minute. 6. Apply the brake pedal firmly (still with the parking brake OFF). 7. After the initial pressure drop, the system should not loose any more than 3 PSI per minute. 8. With the engine off and parking brake off, rapidly pump the brake pedal to bleed down the air supply. During this stage you should watch for the warning light and buzzer at about 60 PSI and then the yellow button (parking brake) should pop out at about 30 PSI. 9. Restart the engine and build up air pressure again. While building up pressure, check how long it takes for pressure to go from 85 to 100 PSI at cruising RPM. It should be less than 45 seconds.

Don, There are many ways your 120 VAC could be wired to the inverter and refrigerator. I am assuming that when you say you loose the circuit that operates the refrigerator you ARE talking about the 120 VAC circuit. Is your inverter output wired through a sub-panel? If so, are you sure that no other circuits powered from the sub-panel are dead? When you say you "loose one of the circuits" does it trip a breaker or GFI-- if not, what does it trip? If it trips a GFI, turn off 120 VAC including the inverter. Use an ohm meter to check the refrigerator 120 VAC heating element. Disconnect the two leads to the 120 VAC heating element. Check between them-- either 0 or infinity ohms indicates a bad element. Now check between each lead and ground (metal surrounding refrigerator flue). If any reading other than 0, the heating element is shorted to ground. And if the path to ground is slight (a mud dubber nest for example), it may be enough to trip a GFI but not enough to cause a problem on the inverter. This is just one of the many potential causes of your problem. The more facts you give us, the better we can help you. Brett Wolfe

Bob, First, you already know that the alternator USED to charge both house and chassis battery banks, so indeed it should (as it does on 99% of coaches). There are two basic types of battery isolators: 1. Solenoid-based isolators (look like large electrical relay with two large lugs and one or two small ones). 2. Diode-based isolators ( usually rectangular with 3 large lugs and large area of cooling fins) I will answer for #2 as that is most likely-- if you have #1, let us know and we can talk you through troubleshooting it. With engine off, one large lug should read the same as chassis battery voltage (use digital voltmeter-- at Sears, Radio Shack, etc for around $20). Another large lug should read the same as house battery voltage). The third lug should show zero, as it goes to the alternator. With engine on, the "alternator lug" (usually center one) should show alternator voltage (likely around 14.0 VDC). Both of the other large lugs should show the same and about .6 VDC less than the alternator lug (due to loss across diodes). If one of the diodes is burned out, it will not pass current to its battery, so that lug would continue to read battery voltage rather than the higher voltage provided by the alternator. If that is not it, look for a fusible link between isolator and house battery bank. Brett Wolfe