kaypsmith

The radiator shop mentioned above ( http://www.cgj.com/) is a very good source as Bill mentioned above. As I live in Alabama, I had to have them build a new one for me last year, the results was excellent. Kay

A little clarification on some misguided thoughts concerning 50 amp service being 100 amps total on the generator may be in order here. It is true that on shore power a 50 amp 240 volt circuit does have 100 amps available at the cg box, but on generator power, you must take into consideration the running watt figure that the generator is rated at. A 7500 watt Onan generator is only 62.5 amps available at 240 volts, which is 31.25 amps on each side "L1 and L2", 120 volts on L1 and 120 volts on L2 for a total of 62.5 amps 240. To calculate this, you need to take 7500 watts, divided by 2 = 3750, this is the total watts available per 120 volt side, then to break this down to amps, you must divide 3750 by 120 = 31.25. Using these same calculations, Carl's 10,000 watt generator is 41.6666666667 amps per 120 volt side or a total of 83.33 amps. In other words, you will need a 12,000 running watt generator to provide the same current as a 50 amp cg circuit. Please also note that generators today usually have two numbers of watts showing, in this case the first labeled with the higher number is only surge watts, which means that number will be provided for a very short period, usually one or two seconds, then the second number is the one that is significant for actual running continuously. Hope this helps to understand why the generator was most likely shutting down under a larger load. Also as mentioned by other posters, a hard start capacitor to replace the existing capacitor in the ac units might help in the future with the situation, as its purpose is to lighten that higher surge load on initial startup.

This is a perfect place to use a short stroke solenoid, you could mount it in a position that will push the reset, use a pair of wires which can be ran anywhere that you would like to be the reset point, add a momentary push button at that location, and of course apply the proper voltage to activate the solenoid. "Take that you nasty engineers (Xantrex) who couldn't put the reset button on the remote control panel above the entry steps inside my motor home!" "So I will do it for you." LOL

One last suggestion, after charging to 100%, disconnect each battery from each other, and from the coach. Check the battery level on each independently, leave disconnected for a few days, then check the levels again. If there is one bad battery, it should show up this way. And if there is only one, it can easily pull the others down, much less expensive to replace only one than all four.

They are rated for 1000 cycles @ 50% discharge, and specs significant degradation if allowed to discharge below 50%. The Lifeline GPL-4DL is a high performance, Mil-Spec, AGM battery, produced in the United States. Due to the Lifeline Battery's quality construction, it has an industry leading 2% per month self discharge rate at 77°F (25°C). These batteries off gas only 2% by volume under normal operating conditions, again, industry leading. No sulfuric acid leaks, no acid clean up, and more power in the same space when compared to conventional batteries. For GPL-4DL Marine and Seafaring Applications, click here I have a friend in the battery rebuild business that often is able to "shock" them back to life, not something for a novice to try. I have had him perform this for me in the past and have been fortunate to get extra life out of them. Also a good cleaning of the battery terminals might be in order, I have a nephew that lives just above Gainesville that I can have stop by to assist in this procedure if you would like, "he doesn't have a bad Back", no pun intended. Good luck with the project, Kay

Ouch, they are pricey but what a battery. This is an off the grid dream. I wonder if they were factory installed in your coach, if so that's 11 years. After looking at the photobucket, dates on batteries, looks like 7/11, 4.5 years isn't very good for that much of a battery. I wonder if they are actually bad?

George, If you look at the wiring configuration, check to see if two sets of the batteries are connected positive to negative in the configuration, or is all four positive to positive and negative to negative, this will tell if 6 volt or 12 volt. If the first occurs they are 6 volt, if the second, they are 12 volt. This is assuming that your coach is the normal 12 volt house configuration, most are.

Yes, anti-virus and anti-malware, both important, but not as an integrated program. The best anti-virus's that claim to also catch malware do not do as good a job as an anti-malware program for the malware. Malware in todays environment can be as devastating as the virus's.

Best advice, do not download any programs to your computer without a full review of what it does, and who wrote it. I am not referring to the reviews that the advertisement comes with, they sometimes are lies just to get your attention and permission to download. Also while loading any software, go through the entire procedure one step at a time, paying attention to the items that are checked with a check mark, uncheck them especially if you do not recognize what the product is that they are trying to promote. Go to programs and features under control panel, and look for toolbars, one toolbar at a time is usually OK, but when you find multiple ones, uninstall them, they seem nice but your search engines will slow to a crawl and your webpage just decreases in the amount of data that you really want to see. These same toolbars not only slows the web pages, but affects all workings of the programs that are locally installed and used. I have been on location where the complaint is that my computer is just so slow and programs are not working, removed as many as seventeen toolbars, and local programs actually go back to work and are back to their original speed.

When you get to Florida and start back northward, take I-95 to be sure you go through Savannah Ga., be sure to visit Fort Pulanski (a great place for history buffs) while there and many other historic sites are there. If you haven't already gotten a senior pass for the National Parks, they can be acquired at most ranger stations, cost $10.00 (lifetime) with proof that you or wife is at least 62. This will get you free admission for you and your party to any national park, and most Army corp of engineers parks give half off for camping with them.

Jim has a very good point. Here is a link for the left hand drill bits that should work well: http://www.ebay.com/itm/13-pc-Titanium-Nitride-Left-Hand-Drill-Bit-Set-Broken-Screw-Stud-Extractor-set-/271782271373?hash=item3f477c598d:g:LNgAAOSwPYZU5~kU

Stainless steel is drillable. If the bolt is large enough to work with, and takes a lot of patience to drill so that the drill bit doesn't walk off of the bolt and into the aluminum housing. I purchase special extra hard bits at Fastenal that work extremely well. Use a very sharp pointed punch and carefully ping the punch with a hammer to make an impression into the bolt as perfectly centered as possible, and of course if there is enough room to do the work. Good luck with the repair, Kay

Good point Bill, I forgot to mention state income tax, and now the powers to be have figured that we do have amongst the lowest property taxes, so they need to be raised to be in line with other states. Will be in Houston for work on the 29th of this month. Kay

My RV sofa and co pilot seat came from the same place, service and product very good.

Spare cables sounds like a good plan, along with belts, hoses, light bulbs etc.

If you don't believe that is cheap, come to Alabama, ad valorem tax is assessed annually based on black book values, I have watched the faces on new motorhome owners when they were hit with $1700.00 to $2600.00 tags. Now the good part is if you purchase the vehicle in Alabama, the state portion of sales tax is 2.75% plus local fees can be 1% to 2% added to that, so a $200,000.00 coach sales tax can be significantly lower than neighboring states such as Ga. and Fl. etc.

When I get bored "LOL", I get the metal polish out.

Rich, I think Lyle is correct, check this link. http://www.batterystuff.com/kb/articles/battery-articles/battery-bank-tutorial.html

Is the coach receiver rated enough that you can use a dual receiver? Carry one scooter on the back of the coach and one on the Jeep. I have a dual receiver on the back of my coach that I carry a mini golf cart, weighs 308#, then tow the car on a tow dolly, works well for me. You can still tow your Jeep 4 down also.

Probably just a Monday morning built coach, whomever installed the valtera valve was not over the hangover yet. Should be an easy replacement, but I feel that Thor should make the repair even if out of warranty. It is clearly poor quality control for the inspector to let it go off of the assembly line without correcting the mistake.

Thanks Carl. Actually 1963, I toured their facility in 1989 because I had a friend that lived in Macon Ga., at the time, was an interesting tour. Here is the Wikipedia page that describes the company in detail, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Bird_Wanderlodge I didn't mean to offend Erniee in any kind of way.

I mistakenly said conversion, then Erniee corrected me. I edited the post to take out conversion, as I did say it wrong. Wanderlodge was a "sister" company for lack of better words, to Bluebird bus company. Bluebird made the bus that was sold for many years to school systems throughout the U.S., and probably others. The coach was produced specifically to be used in the build of the Wanderlodge motorhome. There have been plenty Bluebirds that have been converted , mostly known as schoolies, the likes of which is my current project for my youngest daughter.

Was the coach new when you bought it, and is the dealer an authorized Thor dealer?

I'm with Tom, two year steer, I have posted this before. Rich pointed out Kumho brand, I have had very good service out of that brand. Also have had good luck with Sumatomo.

If you don't do a walk around at every stop while taking the CDL course/license test, you will fail. Yes that is a very good practice. Last December in getting off to Tennessee in the coach, I had already done the walk at home, my wife needed to go to bank before hooking the toad to the coach. While hooking up, I looked under the coach just as antifreeze started pouring. Water pump had gone bad, that quick.