skiprd

Winnebago is affected too: Winnebago Industries is recalling certain model year 2010-2013 Winnebago Journey and Tour motorhomes, and certain model year 2010-2013 Itasca Meridian and Ellipse motorhomes, manufactured June 18, 2010, through November 17, 2011. The chassis are equipped with connectors for diode jumpers that may come loose, resulting in an open circuit. Two circuits are affected: The one that disengages the cruise control with brake pedal use, and the one that illuminates the brake lights with brake pedal use. Failure of the cruise control to disengage when the brakes are applied may increase the risk of a vehicle crash. Without the brake lights illuminating when the brakes are applied, the driver's intent is not communicated, increasing the risk of a crash. Daimler Trucks North America will be conducting the recall on behalf of Winnebago Industries. Daimler will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the diode jumpers to make sure they are fully locked in place and will correct the vehicles as needed. The recall is expected to begin on January 28, 2013. Owners should contact Winnebago at (641)585-3535 or Daimler Trucks at (503) 745-6910. Wow. Skip

As to the cruise control not disengaging when you hit the brake pedal, I just saw this on the rv-recalls website: Thor Motor Coach (Thor) is recalling certain model year 2011 through 2013 Tuscany, Astoria, Ultrasport, Montecito, and Palazzo recreational vehicles, built on Freightliner brand XB and XC custom chassis, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The recall potentially will impact 727 units. The vehicles are equipped with diode jumpers that may come loose in their connectors resulting in an open circuit. Two circuits are affected: The one that disengages the cruise control with brake pedal use, and the one that illuminates the brake lights with brake pedal use. Failure of the cruise control to disengage when the brakes are applied may increase the risk of a vehicle crash. Without the brake lights illuminating when the brakes are applied, the driver's intent is not communicated, increasing the risk of a crash. Daimler Trucks (DTNA) will notify owners on behalf of Thor, and Freightliner dealers will inspect the diode jumpers to make sure they are fully locked in place and will correct the vehicles as needed. The recall is expected to begin Jan. 28, 2013. Owners should contact DTNA Warranty Campaigns Department at (800) 547-0712, 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Pacific Time Monday through Friday, e-mail address DTNA.Warranty.Campaigns@Daimler.com, or the Customer Assistance Center at (800) FTL-HELP after normal business hours. DTNA's recall campaign number is FL-634. Not sure if that's applicable to your unit, but thought I'd pass it along anyway. Skip

I recently ordered one from amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Plews-75-030-Capacity-Plastic-Battery/dp/B000RFUF12/ Skip

FWIW, I agree that other communications/information options have made CB less useful, but when we went to the Good Sam Rally in JAX a few weeks ago, when I was in line to get sequenced for a parking spot, I gave a holler on channel 13, which used to be the "RV channel" (and maybe still is). A couple guys came back and we had a nice chat, just killing time waiting to get parked. (I also called CQ on 2-meters and had the same experience.) Cell phones, GPSs, etc., are in many ways better for what CB was used for, but they're all one-to-one means of communication, as opposed to one-to-many and many-to-one that is available through radio. The social aspect of the RVing community is something we find attractive and it's too bad that the radio-based component of that experience isn't more popular. And a CB does prove useful from time to time in avoiding and getting routed around traffic, wrecks, road closures. Your mileage may vary... Skip K4EAK

It is true that every GPS on the market it capable of being wrong, which is why our rule for traveling is: "Maps, GPS, and Brains--Always Have At Least Two." What makes it confusing, though, is that we've found that the various GPS units do *not* all have the same errors, which makes it hard to figure out which one is telling the truth and which one is having some kind of a mental problem. I've been known to run as many as four different mapping options simultaneously (just to play around and see what happens): a GPS, a PC, a smartphone, and a tablet (sometimes multiple units within each category), all running different software, and it's interesting how often they disagree with one another, especially on routing options. Looking at them right now, the Garmin Zumo 660 and MapSource software both locate Topsail right on the bippy. Streets & Trips also gets it right. So does the Nexus running CoPilot. It looks to me like GoogleMaps isn't even in the right ZIP code. I assume the new Apple maps program gets it wrong, but only because it seems to get everything wrong. So, there you have it ... and hence our traveling rule. For what it's worth, the reason I haven't added a Rand-McNally unit to the arsenal (and why I'm still using my old Zumo 660 from my motorcycle as my primary GPS) is because being able to program routes on a computer and load them into the GPS is a critical feature for me, which seems to have been dropped from the capabilities of most units. Too bad. As soon as Rand-McNally adds that feature (if ever), I'll definitely give it a look. Skip K4EAK

We recently completed a trip of 1200+ miles in our new Thor ACE 30.1. MPG at fill-ups ranged from 7.78 (battling a headwind) to 9.07, with an average for the trip of 8.45 mpg. No toad, traveled mostly at 65 on interstates, 55 on highways.

Another update: I got a reply from Trimark that said, among other things: "I believe it was just a random incident." There was no stated basis for the conclusion, so I can't evaluate whether it's reasonable or not. Just passing it along. Further info will follow... Skip

Interesting update: last weekend, I sent an e-mail to Thor relaying my story of the broken lock. Tuesday morning a rep from Thor called my office. He stated that he had received the e-mail and had immediately contacted the manufacturer of the door (Dexter Door, I think he said) who had incorporated the Trimark unit at issue. Dexter reported that they had not seen any significant number of problems, certainly nothing to indicate a problem in the design of the latch. The Thor rep speculated that the failure could have been due either to a problem in installation or a random manufacturing problem not spotted in the inspection process. Whatever the cause, though, my account was flagged so that when the dealer get's OK for the replacement under warranty, he'll see an instruction to FedEx the latch assembly to Dexter for analysis. The Thor rep said he'd call me back once he had a report from Dexter. I worked as an engineer at a manufacturing company for several years, and Thor's response actually feels right to me, both in terms of the responsible way to handle such an incident and in guessing (that's all it is right now) as to the possible causes. In any event, I'll report back once I hear from Thor with the final conclusion on the problem. Skip

Clay (WA5NMR) -- thanks. I hope I never need it, but at least I now know where to drill. 73 Skip (K4EAK)

Tom -- We do indeed have an emergency exit. (In addition, after reviewing the fire safety materials at the FMCA convention, we ended up so alerted to the danger that we not only made sure the window was functioning, we actually practiced an exit! As you point out, it was not graceful, but better than the alternative.) But that really doesn't solve the safety issue of a defective door latch unless one assumes that any fire will be courteous enough to break out somewhere other than between you and the exit. If we were sitting on the settee, for example, and a fire started in the kitchen, we may not be able to get to the emergency exit in the bedroom. That would render the defective door handle now a life-threatening defect. Skip

The same thing just happened to us on our Thor ACE 30.1. I'm not sure if I have the same make and model of door handle assembly, but it looks like it. The complete description of the event and the solution process is on my blog (http://blog.skiprd.com), but here's the short version: While on the way home from the FMCA convention in Indianapolis, at a gas stop, the outside door handle seemed unusually hard to open (it was always a little sticky--that should have been a clue), and then WHAM!--the handle sprang outwards, a small white plastic part went flying across the parking lot, and the door was thoroughly and stubbornly positioned in the closed position. The door handle would flop freely, but had no effect, and the door would not budge. Fortunately, there were no grandchildren or dogs inside, so I was just temporarily stranded at the fuel island. Good Sam roadside assistance eventually sent a wrecker to the scene (which was definitely not what I needed), but we were able to figure out that the broken part rotated clockwise to retract the latch. I couldn't get the tool on the broken part with enough force to move it, but the driver of the wrecker could. (Thank goodness for young, strong men who have a calling to drive wreckers--once again, providence at work.) He had enough hand strength (which is to say, a lot) to force the top of the broken part forward to spring the catch! The door was now open! From there, I retrieved my keys, got my toolbox, and we were able to disassemble the handle from the inside. We removed the spring-loaded latch and determined we could use the deadbolt as a make-shift door lock, which would hold the door securely closed until we could get home. (It was not apparent whether the inside handle would have worked, but I wasn't about to chance it.) To my way of thinking, this is a very serious defect. Had there been people or dogs inside the coach, it could have been life-threatening, and I would have borrowed a sledge hammer and broken the door, a window, or whatever to get inside. Had there been a fire and we had been trapped inside (like one of the incidents above), the consequences could have been fatal. I intend to contact Thor, report the problem, and consider whether a report to NHTSA is appropriate. I'm going to be reluctant to replace the door handle assembly with the same unit unless the defect has been corrected. Otherwise, I'm going to have to figure out how to install a different make or model. Thanks for starting this post, and please keep us informed of further developments. Skip

I have a similar question. I saw a photo from a prior convention and it looks like the units are parked, as one would expect, pretty much cheek by jowl. I guess we just queue up and go where we told getting in, but how do we get out? Do the units have to leave in order? What if someone wants to leave early? Thanks muchos, Skip

Thanks -- I tried that in maps.google.com, but didn't find much. I tried the Bing search--got a little more. I'm thinking that we'll come prepared for eating in the motorhome and play it by ear once we're there. Or find someone to mooch a ride off of. See you soon! Skip

Thanks very much. I forgot to mention that we won't have a car and are looking for places within walking distance. Skip

OK, here comes question 2 from the newbie quarter. What do people do for eating? I'm mainly thinking about supper--obviously, we can eat in the motorhome, but are there restaurants either in the display/vendor area or within walking distance? I've done a maps.google.com search, but didn't find much. Thanks again. Further newbie questions to follow, Skip

This is our first FMCA Convention, and the first of what may be several posts on what to expect. First question, what do people do with pets? We've got a 30-amp electric site, so we could keep them in the cool of the coach, returning several times per day to take them for a walk, provided (1) we won't be sent to Leavenworth for leaving our pets unattended, (2) there's someplace to walk them, and (3) getting to and from the campground from the exhibit areas is something less than a day hike. Or we could board them here in Atlanta and continue to deplete our children's inheritance. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Skip

Thanks to all for the replies. I meant to state that boards under the tires would be used only if necessary to get the MH "level enough" that the jacks could finish off the leveling without lifting any tires off the ground. We're off to our shakedown cruise this weekend and very, very excited about the new MH phase in our RV'ing lifestyle. Thanks again, Skip

Hi guys -- we are brand new to owning a motorhome (although we've been RV'ing for 30+ years), brand new to this forum, and brand new to all of the automated gizmos on our 2013 ACE 30.1. I guess it's impossible to get any newbier than that. So, this is the first of what I assume will be lots of questions. I've read through these posts, and it sounds like the correct procedure for leveling the motorhome is as follows. 1. I plan to install a refrigerator level on the driver's console calibrated so that it indicates level when the refrigerator is level. 2. At the campsite, use 2x10x16 (or thereabouts) boards, or leveling blocks, if necessary, to get the MH roughly level per the installed level. Make sure that the tires are entirely on the boards. 3. Place other boards under the leveling jacks if the surface is soft. (It looks like not more than an inch or two high under the jacks.) 4. Deploy the leveling jacks. Confirm that the tires are NOT off the ground. (Which I assume means that the leveling action of the jacks is limited to the suspension travel of the MH.) I didn't see anything in the posts about placing wheel chocks, so I assume that's not necessary since the tires are on the ground and the parking brake is set. I'd really appreciate it if someone could confirm that this is right (or correct it if it's not), and accept my apologies in advance if this is all perfectly obvious or if the answer is, as they say in the computer business, RTM.