sandyhepburn

If the batteries check out okay, another issue may be the motor in the shade itself. My 2007 Bounder had that problem - the shade eventually stopped working completely. The manufacturer, AutoMotion, was not much help. They did provide me with a PDF file showing how to adjust the limit switches, but that did not solve the problem, which was a bad motor. They do not offer replacement motors at all - they prefer you replace the entire shade. I did, however, work out a way to replace the motor myself for about $100 instead of paying $800 for a new shade. It required me fabricating a drive gear for the replacement motor I found but its been working great and the motor I found is actually more powerful than the original. I can send the PDF file I wrote detailing how I fixed it if anyone is interested.

Not sure about the rectangular hole, but the round hole looks like it would be for a 12VDC outlet - aka cigarette lighter or 12VDC power port.

At one time we had a Triumph fifth wheel, made by Fleetwood, that had a similar issue in the wardrobe. The clothes rod was screwed in to the "ceiling" inside the closet, and it came down. It turned out the ceiling was nothing more than the same 1/8" luaun plywood that was used for the walls! The screws holding the clothes rod were basically screwed into cardboard! I ended up rebuilding the closet, putting in some real wood to hold the clothes. That was one of the MANY poor quality issues we had with what Fleetwood was trying to pass off as their "flagship" fifth wheel after they retired the Avion line.

More and more Walmarts are being forced to close their lots to us, both from the behaviour of some idiots, and from local ordinances - but nobody ever mentions spending the night at Camping World. It's common for them to allow us to stay overnight if we have a service appointment the next day - why not stay there with no service appointment? I know they're not a prevalent as Walmart, but if there's one in the area it might be a viable option...

Even that is not true - most manufacturers will send you copies if you ask. I sent an email to Fleetwood and received wiring diagrams, both 12V and 120V, plumbing diagrams, paint diagrams, and others in return email - no charge.

If you're in the San Jose, Ca area you can go to Leale's RV Service on 7th St - they'll do a 4-corner weight for free - I just had my Bounder done there last week while they were repairing an awning arm.

I've found that it can take several minutes for all my sensors on my TST system to connect to the display, but it's easy to get around that issue. When we get up on the morning that we're hitting the road the first thing I do is to power up the system. Now I can go and do my breakdown chores (dump the tanks, put away outside stuff, etc.) and by then all tires are reporting in so I can check them and hit the road. If any tires need air it's a simple task to haul out the compressor and take care of it.

Kind of difficult to get a decent reading on the heat gauge when you're rolling down the road at 60 mph...

Yup - we were returning to California from Yuma this past April and hit a wind storm. Visibility at times was about 1/4 mile because of the dust. Driving wasn't too bad while we were heading west, but once we turned north the wind was pretty much broadside and was trying to unfurl our slide topper on the driver's side so we pulled in to the first campground we saw and hunkered down to ride it out. When we got back on the road the next morning, maybe 20 miles up the road we came upon a large toy hauler fifth wheel on its side on the side of the road with the pickup truck that was towing it at right angles to the trailer, still on its wheels. Somebody found out the hard way that the wind usually wins when it really wants to...

We've already sent in our money for the 2014 Rally, but haven't seen any confirmation, or other correspondence yet - hopefully we'll be seeing something soon!

I contacted Fleetwood and received complete electrical (both 12VDC and 120VAC) schematics, as well as plumbing schematics for our 2007 Bounder. As for wiring accessibility - it's really no different than a stick and brick home - the wiring is typically hidden behind sheet rock.

Well, Kay, it seems one of us is confused. In my case, my electronics career started as a hobby back in the '60s, followed by school, and then 35+ years working in the semiconductor industry in a design capacity. I know what was refered to as a DPDT switch back 50 years ago, and it seemingly hasn't changed. Here's a decent reference for your reading pleasure - about 3/4 of the way down the page is a description of the double pole, double throw switches, in exactly the configuration used for our shades: http://www.1728.org/project2.htm

Yes, you definitely need a momentary contact, center off switch but I maintain it is a DPDT, not a DP4T. Here's a visual representation of each of the types involved: DPDT: D4T: Sorry for the size difference. As the images show the DPDT has 2 separate circuits - the "poles" or center contacts of the switch, and will allow a connection to 2 different destinations - the "throws". For the DP4T switch it still has the 2 separate poles, but it allows each pole to connect to each of 4 separate throws. These type switches are usually roatary, or slide, switches rather than toggle switches. In the image for the DPDT switch it is shown wired as it needs to be for the job in question: providing the up and down action of the powered shades.

We used to own trailers and fifth wheels and for a long time I religiously covered their tires whenever we weren't actually moving. At one point I was doing some maintenance and had to remove the tires from a fifth wheel - although the outside sidewall looked brand new, the inner sidewall had serious cracking. It's not just the sunlight that affects our tires - ozone plays a role as well, and unless you cover the ENTIRE tire you're not really helping much.

Not really, Kay. The term "pole" refers to the number of distinct circuits a switch controls; the term "throw" refers to the number of positions the switch allows. The switches used in these shades are double pole double throw - they control two separate circuits and have two distinct positions. Wikipedia actually has a decent entry for this, with good diagrams to help understand the nomenclature.

Have you checked the prices? Super Single wheels will run you around $1000 each and up; then the tires are in the $1000 range as well. Once you have them mounted, if you have a tire problem on the road you can expect to wait over 8 hours for help because not many tire shops stock them. If you can live with that you should consider what truck drivers say about them: I know very few drivers who think much about them for over the road driving.

For anyone looking for a good tire shop in the San Jose, Ca area, that happens to be part of the FMCA/Michelin program check out: Tehama Tire 2152A O'Toole Ave, San Jose, Ca 95131 We recently had a blowout on a new Michelin bought at a different dealer, and the folks at Tehama treated us great. They coordinated with the Michelin traveling rep to have our bad tire inspected, and then shipped to their engineering guys on the east coast, and ordered us a replacement tire, that we had installed today. They kept us informed by phone as we waited for the rep to make his tour through his territory, and kept us updated on the status of the new tire as it was ordered and received. Their staff are friendly and hard-working and really took care of us - we recommend them to anyone looking for tires!

This link will explain it all... http://www.fmca.com/join-family-motor-coach-association/member-benefits/fmca-connections/3455

Here's what ours looked like, from the outside: ...and from the inside: Right now we're waiting to hear back from Michelin how much, if any, help they will give us on replacing the tire. It only had about 2000 miles on it when it blew.

A lot can happen between stops. Case in point: two weeks ago we left the house for a weekend outing with our club. I checked the tire pressures at the house and everything looked good. My wife was following behind me in her car and we stopped at a Camping World about 20 miles down the freeway. A quick tour around the coach showed that everything looked good. Got back on the highway, with the wife right behind me, and drove another 5 miles to the campground. When we got there the wife said that about a mile back she saw the inner dual on the curb side wobbling. A quick inspection revealed a brand new zipper had appeared in the sidewall. Now, it happened after we stopped, so no amount of checking would have caught it. If the wife had not been driving behind me and seen the tire wobbling, I could have driven on until the outer tire blew from overheating. A TPMS would have alerted me to the zipper failure when it happened and allowed me to take action. Bottom line: I'd rather have a TPMS monitoring my tires than a connection between the two tires that is SUPPOSED to properly isolate them - it still won't alert you to a failure on one tire. Common blowouts are indeed caused while driving - and it's those occurences that are best served by a TPMS monitor. If the tire lets go and does no damage to the coach then you won't know about it until the second tire fails from overheating - then you've got more damage to repair. In our case, the roadway was clean and smooth. I saw no debris that would have punched a hole in my sidewall, felt nothing when the tire let go, heard nothing, saw nothing out of the mirror or rear-view camera. My wife saw no debris emerge from under the rig - her only indication that something was wrong was the tire wobbling on the rim. A TPMS will alert you at once to the first tire failing, allowing you to get off the road quickly. I just ordered a TST system, with 6 flow-through sensors for the grand total of $299 with free shipping - maybe they were $600 last decade, but the prices are much more reasonable now. Go ahead and connect your dual tires together if it makes you feel better, but it's no substitute for a monitoring system.

I've never seen axle weights referred to as a percentage before - I'm assuming those percentages are related to the GAWR on both axles? Our 2007 Bounder 35E, while it does have some rattles while driving, is certainly not objectionable, and it's entirely possible to carry on conversations in a normal tone of voice while we're driving. I've seen reports of the metal framework that the dash is attached to coming loose from the chassis due to broken welds - but that seems to cause air leaks and "floating" dashes rather than amplified sound. In any case, have you checked ALL the welds connecting the superstructure to the chassis?

You can also get a Verizon discount if you are a veteran...

Nope - a look at the tires will reveal the correct pressure for those tires IF THEY ARE CARRYING THEIR MAXIMUM LOAD. To find the correct pressure for the tires based on the actual load they are carrying you need to find the Load and Inflation Tables for the tires on your rig. For instance, if you have Michelin XRV tires in size 235/80R22.5 your correct inflation will be actually 95 psi for the front and 90 psi for the rear tires according to the chart at http://www.michelinrvtires.com/michelinrv/tires-retreads/load-inflation-tables.jsp - what you will see on the sidewall of the tire is a statement that it needs to be inflated to 110 psi to carry its maximun weight of 4675 lbs in a single configuration, or 4410 lbs in a dual configuration.

We are looking at the information for the Western Area Rally in Jan 2014 - the flyer and the text describing the rally both state that it is 4 nights of dry camping, but the price schedule shows prices for a coach with electric. Is electricity available for everybody, or is it only available for those with handicap placards? My wife relies on her CPAP machine every night, but we do not have a handicap placard.

The graduate with a science degree asks, "Why does it work?" The graduate with an engineering degree asks, "How does it work" The graduate with the liberal arts degree asks "Would you like fries with that?"