gaylemarlowe

Gee, I didn't know we had rules to keep out the fluff and get right to the point of the story???

Brett: I agree that if you have family or friends to drive your coach home that would be the way to go.. For those few like me that don't, it would certainly be a good idea to consider who the driver or the company is and what their record is. Manholt: If all you got was that I was speeding, I guess you missed the point.

Just got back from a motorcycle trip from Colorado to California and back. On the way back while on I40 near Needles California, we had a rare occurrence. While we were riding at about 80-82 mph, we saw in our rear view mirror a large vehicle fast approaching in the fast lane. Very shortly we were passed by a 40 ft DP of some brand and year and he was doing about 90-95 mph. Windows open, curtains and shades blowing in the breeze and it appeared he was by himself. At the time I thought how goofy this guy was and he must be in one big hurry to get somewhere fast. That night we talked about it and it occurred to me this guy may have been providing a ferry or transport service to someone that owned the coach. And that got me to thinking about our FMCA insurance. If we had a medical emergency and had to have the coach driven back home by someone, what are the chances that our coach would be treated the same way? I know none of us would want our coach treated in such a fashion, not to mention the hazard he was being to himself and others on the road!!! Would you long time members weigh in on this?

We had the same problem. After all was done, it turned out that the last rv park we were at had galvanized water pipes. When we hooked up and turned the water valve on, a big slug of rust had evidently came out of the pipe, went thru our hose and plugged the screen at the water inlet fitting , completely shutting off the water supply. Took it apart, cleaned the screen, and everything okay.

Herman, I did look at the route suggested, but have not been that way yet. With your recommendation, we may try that way, weather permitting.. Seems to look like one of the shortest routes. And I will honk really LOUD! Butler, thanks for the reminder on safety and the ever present "get-there-itus". Having flown for quite a few years, I am well aware of that deadly syndrome, having a few close calls because of it. Happy New Year to all!!!

Yes, we will be having a very short weather window to sneak out of our mountain valley and down across Raton Pass, so we will definitely be checking the weather closely. We know that this time of year the conditions can change in minutes! I did consider going down I-25 to I-10 which would get us into warmer weather sooner, but that does add quite a few miles. But, the weather will dictate which route we take. Thanks for the suggestions.

Going from Pueblo, CO to Sarasota, FL in about 2 weeks. We usually take 87 to Amarillo, 287 to Wichita Falls, 82 to Sherman, 69 to I-20 to Shreveport,49 south to I-10. I know a bunch of you have traveled this area and was wondering if there is a better selection for routes and roads. 44 ft Newmar with tag, towing pickup with Harley in the back. Thanks

Thanks to all for their input. I was trying to stay away from adding a sound bar due to no good place to put it, but may have to rethink that. I also did not really want or need to mount the new tv on an articulating arm. The current cabinet location is okay and it would look better with the tv mounted inside the cabinet like the old one. More head scratching to do before diving in!

We are wanting to replace our old, front, heavy tube type TV with a modern flat screen. Went to Best Buy to look at the new ones and gather sizing information. We found out the new TV's have little tiny speakers on the bottom or sides of the TV. When the new TV gets mounted inside the old TV cabinet, the speakers will be inside the cabinet. What does everyone now do to get decent sound from the new flat screens?

Same here. Had a major problem with the little buggers, bought Freshcab and oil of peppermint, now no mice.

Herman, We just changed our toad from Jeep Grand Cherokee to Ford F150 2013. Ours is 4 wheel drive and has the 4 down tow info in the manual. The dealer told me it started in 2011 and as far as he knows, all the 150s with 4 wheel drive has it. Sure makes it easy to hookup and go!!!

If you have the 4 wheel drive and the switch on the dash to engage 4 wheel mode, the owners manual says switch from 2 wheel mode to 4 wheel mode 5 times in seven seconds and you will see a message on the display that it is in neutral mode.

Just 20 miles south of Pueblo is another Koa that is much better than the one in Pueblo. Right on the east side of I25 at the exit with high ground and great views of the mountains including Green Horn Mountain. And, as Herman says, we are the town of Hero's! I70 west to Limon Colorado is good, then Hwy 24 into Colorado Springs to pick up I25 south. 24 is kinda bumpy right now, but keep it to 55 and it's not too bad. We are 25 miles southwest of Pueblo and have a hookup in the driveway at our house (elec & water) for those that are willing to travel a little ways off the interstate. Stop on your way there and back again. You definitely want to see Royal Gorge, Garden of the Gods, Pikes Peak, Bishops Castle, and a whole bunch of others!! Safe Travels!

We use the RVI brake system and we like it. Easy to set up, no issues with power drain, transferable to another vehicle easily (which we just did). It is an initeria system so there is just a fraction of lag when you apply the DP brakes to when the towed brakes engage, but we like it.

Wow, that is a bunch of work. I know as I spent a whole lot of time back when I had our Monaco looking for a few hard to find parts. Wish I had this list back then, but now it will go into the coach for future use. Thanks very much to Les Doll!!!!

Yup, oil on the back side of wheel and drum. Sooooo, will have it fixed when I get to Spartan factory next month as I have no way to get the wheel off. My little 1/2" air impact wrench just sets and chatters away happily but does not loosen anything that large!!!

Hi Guys, 2005 Newmar Dutch Star 4320 on Spartan chassis. When we went to Texas this winter, I noticed a small amount of oil being thrown from the right tag hub cap. Pulled the hub cap and found the cast wheel hub quite oily and the oil level down just below minimum. Pulled the clear plastic viewing cap with the rubber plug in it and thought the gasket looked a little suspicious. So got a new gasket, sealed it, bolted it on, filled with oil. Made the trip back to Colorado and the oil flinging problem is still there. I pulled the center cap off and it looks just like it did before I changed the gasket!! Oil level is again down to minimum. What am I missing? Oh, and for the ones out there that have the similar coach, I got the recall on my steering box bracket and am going to the Spartan plant in June to have the recall done. If you haven't heard of it, you should check your coach serial and year for the applicable coaches. And spring has finally arrived!!

I know this topic has been kicked around many, many times. However, I wanted to ask those out there that have replaced their carpet with hard flooring if they liked the change and was it the correct decision for them. The other 1/2 of my tour group likes the comfort of the carpet but not the inability to stay clean for many years. She mentioned our trip to Texas this winter when it was in the 20's most mornings and the carpeted portion was comfy to walk on. I certainly agreed as we both don't like the cold much anymore. Any hard flooring is going to be much colder I am sure, but more durable. Anyway, just wanted to get some feedback from those that have already gone this route. Thanks in advance for any responses.

We did get to Fredericksburg, Bandera, Comfort, Luckenbach, and a whole bunch of other little places I can't remember. The drive out of Kerrville along the Guadalupe River was especially nice. Took most of my pistols and spent some time at the nice range in Kerrville. You folks do have some ranches that are a bit bigger than our part of the country! We did get to San Antonio and the River walk. Went to the Alamo and learned a lot I had not known before. I think next trip we will be in the same spot before we move on to a different part of Texas. Was a nice visit.

We got back from our trip to Texas last month (just after a 2 ft snowfall here at home) and wanted to thank the members that recommended Buckhorn Lake Resort in Kerrville, Texas. Had a great time seeing the sights. I think we drove every road we could find for 75 miles around Kerrville. The resort was great, clean, neat, enjoyed the Saturday breakfasts, the Friday entertainment, and the Sunday cocktails. Just wish I had taken my Harley as the biker gang would meet every morning at about 9:00 in the parking lot and then take off to somewhere. Left me standing there drinking my coffee, green with envy! The Harley is going with us next year for sure. The countryside in that area is very scenic with the rolling hills and rivers. They do call some of the hills "mountains" and I had to correct them a bit and tell them what a mountain really looks like. Being from the mountains in Colorado, the hills down there are hills. But, we had a great time even tho the temps were way below average the entire time we were there. Cost was pretty reasonable except for the electricity being quite a bit more than home costs. Left Kerrville and decided to go to Carlsbad as we had not see the caverns there before. I-10 to 285 ( I think) north to Carlsbad to the KOA, way overpriced and extremely dusty and smelly from the oil station across the field. Elevators were out of service at the caverns so left and kept going north to Santa Fe to pick up I-25 north. I don't think I have ever been on a worse road than 285 north from I-10 to Carlsbad and Santa Fe!!! Almost all the traffic was oil field tankers and the road was broken up so badly I wanted to drive about 25 mph. But the speed limit was 65mph and the tankers were doing 70. Absolutely beat us and the coach and toad to death. Won't go that way again!!! Got home just in time to winterize during the 40 degree day we had and then stuffed the coach back into the garage. Will be time to get it out for spring cleaning soon. Anyway, great recommendation by you guys, Will go there again!

Thanks for the quick responses. It looks like I was reading the charts correctly, but was not sure. Now I can feel certain the coach is riding on properly inflated rubber. Gayle

In prep for our upcoming trip I always check the psi in the tires. As I had it weighed again just recently (not individual corner weights) I thought I would again go to the inflation charts to make sure I was okay. But, for some reason, when looking at the inflation charts, I seem to get a bit confused about weight capacities as they seem to indicate axle "end" weights vs axle total weights and single vs dual tires. Hopefully Tireman or another knowledgeable person can help. Front tires = Michelin X Coach HL 295/80/R22.5Z Front axle weight= 12,900 lbs Drive tires= Michelin X Coach HL 295/80/R22.5Z Drive axle weight= 13,932 lbs Tag tires= Michelin XZA2 Energy 295/80R22.5 Tag weight= 7840 lbs The reason I had it weighed again was I just took it to the local truck dealer to have the steering box bracket welds inspected due to the recall by Spartan. Welds okay for now. The Cat weigh station is right across the road, so I figured a quick recheck was in order. The above weights are with most all traveling goodies in the coach, full fuel, but empty water and waste tanks as it is still not warm enough to put water in till we get south. I have not included any fudge factor for the water or waste tanks. Thanks in advance Gayle

Rich, I was loading some of our goodies into the coach and took another look at the face of the monitor panel to see if I missed a number somewhere. No number. As with a lot of other problems, I decided to try pushing the buttons again to see if anything changed (and they never do) and the goofy thing now lights up just fine!!! Guess I just scared it into working again. Thanks for the advice, even tho I haven't had a chance to do it. Gayle

Just got the coach out of the garage for our upcoming trip to Texas starting Sunday or Monday. Found several gremlins, such as: 2 slideouts did not want to work, but after wiggling the wiring plugs to the motors located in the basement they started up okay. Smoke detectors needed batteries, clocks needed batteries, found 2 dead mice but luckily I did not see any damage yet. My current problem is the monitor panel that shows battery condition and tank levels does not work now. It has the Newmar nameplate on the front of it, but no numbers. Where would I start to look for the issue? Pull the faceplate and check power behind the panel? Or look for the power source to the panel? I already checked the 12 volt fuse and it's okay. 2005 Newmar DutchStar 4320 Thanks

Having gone thru your dilemma myself just a while ago, I strongly suggest you put on new tires before your trip. As with your coach, ours had tires that looked absolutely new, no wear, no cracks, looked great. But, they were approaching 10 yrs of age. So, after finding new Michelins in Iowa, we sprang for a complete set. Your peace of mind knowing you are riding on new rubber with hardly any chance of a failure, is worth a lot. But, riding on the old ones, you will always have that doubt in your mind about the life of the 10 year old tire. Remember, the tire makers suggest replacing at 7 years, well before yours (and ours) 10 year age. You also don't have to go for Michelins, as any quality rv tire will give you the safety you are after. Good luck and safe travels!