benny@waskomtexas.com

We have a 1997 Roadtrek 190. The air conditioner that was in the MH was the original unit a Fedders. It was running just fine but was making a noise sometimes, vibration. I decided that I needed to remove it and see what was making the noise. I also thought that if I removed the 12 year old A/C unit that surly I could find a newer unit that would draw less ampage and have a higher BTU rating. My narrative below is for our Roadtrek, others may be different. REMOVAL: Disconnect the electric of course. Remove the rubber around the grill on the back of the MH. This proved to be pretty easy, it is an interlocking strip of rubber. You can take a small screw driver and separate the rubber, then just start pulling it out. Its a little hard to get started, but comes out very easy. There is, what appears to be a metal pan, to catch the condensation form the A/C, under the whole A/C unit. It runs from the front where it is raised in front of the A/C unit, inside the coach. It extends all the way to back grills. It drops down to under the lower back grill and reaches to the full width of the coach body in the back. It seems to work very well and be well engineered. There are two baffles, one on each of the A/C. The back of the A/C unit overlaps them about an inch. The baffles are attached to pan, I am not sure how they are attached, bolts, rivets or what. However there is a lot of black silicone all around the bottom of them. The back end of the A/C is attached to the baffles in two or three location with the same silicone. Take a knife and cut the silicone, this frees the back of the A/C. Go inside the MH and remove the the thin strip of wood trim that runs across the bottom of the A/C, there are screws into it from the inside of the cabinet on both sides. There is a piece of foam rubber that is right in front of the A/C in the pan. It just lays there, I think that it must be there to stop water that might surge forward in a quick stop. Once that is removed there is about two inches between the front of the A/C and a metal lip that sticks up about an inch. This is a good time to remove the doors off both sides of the cabinets. Most all of the screws that are used are the type that have square slots, so if you don't have the tips, just go buy some before you start. This metal lip is a piece of sheet metal that was about 2 inches tall and the width of the opening for the A/C. It is folded so that it is an inch tall channel. On the front of the metal pan that catches the condensation from the A/C is a lip that is bent up about 3/8 of an inch. The metal channel fits down over the 3/8" lip. It seems that after the A/C was originally installed, they put the channel down over the 3/8" lip then they used the black silicone to seal the whole front to retain the water. I was happy to find out that the silicone was not put inside the channel. The silicone was only put on the inside. I pried the channel off the lip. This operation bent the channel quite a bit. To repair the channel, to use later when I installed a new A/C, I slipped a metal yard stick inside the channel, said it on a flat surface and used a hammer to straighten that channel. The metal yardstick kept the channel from having a tight fold. Now the hardest part is two strips of wood that fill the space between both sides of the A/C and the cabinet walls. I read someone's else's post about removing the A/C and having to be very careful not to tear the headliner of the MH. The hard part is that the strips of wood are held to the A/C by three screws that go from inside the A/C and into the wood on each side. There is no way to remove the screws until the A/C is out of the MH. Then there are two screws on each side inside the cabinets. I removed the screws inside the cabinets. I am told that the A/C is secured in this way so that in a crash the A/C remains where it is. Good idea, no one wants a 60 pound A/C flying around inside the coach. This is where the headliner get torn, the wood strips are tight against the headliner. If you try to remove the A/C with these wood strips still on the A/C slide something in above them to protect the headliner. I did it the hard way, I located the three screws, took a flat blade screwdriver and hammer, with these right where I thought the screws came thru, I broke the wood strips in 4 pieces and removed them. Still be careful with the headliner. once the wood was removed I used a saw to cut the screws off flush with the A/C cabinet. This kept them from scratching the wood cabinets. I know, it was a heavy handed way to remove the wood strips. However, remember I was feeling my way with no instructions. Now the A/C is completely loose. I was surprised, too! There are two strips of rubber on each side of the A/C, one in the back and one in the back. They are stuck to the sides of the cabinets with a self-adheasive. I removed the front two once the A/C was out, but left the rear ones. I probably should have left the front ones also. But I was not sure at this point if I could find a replacement A/C with a higher BTU rating or would repair the old one and put it back into my MH. I was told that it would take two people to remove the A/C, one pushing and one pulling. Not true, I was able to remove it by myself. The only problem that I had was the metal strip that runs across the bottom of most window units. It sets against the window sill to hold it in place. I had to pry the metal strip up over the condensation pan front lip. Two people would have been easer, but I was in a hurry, that is my normal state. The old one is out, I cleaned it, put it in my garage window and it runs great and was not very dirty. No noise, I think that it was vibrating against the condensation pan. NEW A/C UNIT: I found an LG brand at Home Depot for about $250.00. It is a LWHD 1009R. The size of the original unit's size was 12" tall, 20" wide, 17 1/2" deep - BTU 7500 - amps 7.5 - Watts 880. The new LG unit is 12 3/8" tall, 19 9/16" Wide, 19 3/8 deep, 1009 BTU, amps 9.6. First thing that I did was to run it using the generator. The generator ran the A/C just fine, I turned it off, a couple of minutes later I turned it back on, killed the generator. I let it set for 10 minutes and it started fine and also ran the micro-wave. I guess the A/C had to let the pressures equalize. INSTALATION: First, the hole that the old electric wire went thru the cabinet wall is not big enough for the plug on the new unit. It is one of the new plugs with a trip relay built into the plug. The new A/C also has a metal strip across the top that holds in the window sill, three screws hold it on, take it off. Be sure there are no sharp burrs or anything that might cut the headliner. Next, clean out the condensation pan. Put the electric plug thru the larger hole in the cabinet, then get your son-in-law that just happen to come by your house and have him to lift the new A/C into the hole. Now, it's in the hole far enough that it will not fall out, the son-in-law can be dismissed. I slid it back into position and ran the A/C on shore power for about an hour. Worked just fine. A lot more to complete the installation, any suggestions welcomed and questions also.

It seems like the window air conditioner should be made upside down. The cold air blows forward and if you force it down it is just picked up in the A/C return. If the cold air came out the bottom and the return was on the top it could work much better. What would it hurt to install it upside down?

Great answer DoggyDaddy, I am not in that area so I could not help. We can really help each other if we can get this forum active.

I can not help you much. However, have you got on the Roadtrek, or one of the other "B" builders to see if they have a list of dealers in your area. Some of them sometimes rent motor homes. Recently my son called me to ask if him and his wife could use our Roadtrek. I really gave it some thought and told him no. I know dealers sometimes rent MH's and I always think of the movie RV. It took us a year of using ours before we were comfotable with all the things that we need to know. I am not saying this to discourage you, But I wouldn't rent or loan ours to anyone. Well, maybe, but they would have to have had a MH for quite a while and me know them very well. There is just so much to know about them and you can mess up real easy, I have. Being in law inforcement you know some of the stupid things people do on the road. For one thing they are top heavy, If have not wrecked, but it took me a couple of tight corners to learn that they are top heavy and taller than a car. Hey man, Good luck. And some of you others who read this make comments, but let's not discourage him, just caution. He would do the same for us if he stopped us. lol

We have a 1997 Dodge Roadtrek 190. This model, as do most Roadtreks, have fiberglass add-on panels on both sides, steps on the passenger side and the driver step, and a storage compartment on the driver side. Our MH evidently has been kept in a garage most of it's life. As far as I know there have been three owners. The people that we got it from kept it under one of those MH covers, but the sides did not come to the ground. Maybe the first owner also. When we picked it up it was facing the South and the sun shinned on the driver side. The passenger side had shade from some trees in the afternoon. The clearcoat on the two compartment doors on the driver side is coming off. I tried carefully wet sanding with 320 wet/dry sandpaper trying the "feather" the clearcoat with the idea of shooting a fresh coat of clearcoat on the doors. It didn't take but a few seconds to find out that the undercoat of paint is extremely thin. I have done quite a bit of car refinishing over the years and never shot on that thin. Ok, the question is where can I find paint the will match the undercoat ? I would prefer a spray can. I don't want to have to get out a spray gun for such a little job. Also, I know there are spray devices that use compressed air in a can to spray small amounts of paint. That would work if I can match the paint color. I appreciate any comments.

We had not had our Roadtrek very long till we pulled one of the curtain slides off. Shortly two more came loose. While we were gone to Colorado last month we broke another one. What I am calling "Curtain Sliders" are the white plastic parts that are attached to a thin piece of plastic stripping sewed to the curtain. The white plastic slides over the track. If the brad came thru the curtain material they would be much stronger. Here is how I repaired the curtains. 1. I took the curtain off and into my shop. 2. I put the white plastic part in my vise and drilled the bradded part of the rivet. Be very careful not to get the plastic hot with the drill bit. Use a large bit, all you want is to cut away the bradded part. 3. Then use a punch and drive out the rivet. 4. Drill out the white plastic just the right size for a new brass rivet. (I had some that had been around for years) 5. Punch a hole thru the curtain, put a very small washer on the rivet, push the rivet thru the curtain. Then push the rivet thru the hole in the white plastic. 6. Hold the assembly on a solid metal surface, use a center punch to swell the end of the rivet. Then I used a drift punch to further bred the rivet. 7. Reinstall the curtain. OK, so it does not look as good as new, the rivet and the washer show, you could paint them or cover them with cloth like a cloth button. Hey, this works and it has not pulled lose in over a year since I fix the first ones. Also we have learned to be careful with all the components of our MH. silicone spray would also help.

The more we use these forums, the more helpful they can be. I have posted several questions -- many people read them but few are commenting or answering the questions. If we use the forum more, it will be infectious.

I am not looking for the full wheel hubcaps like the ones that keep falling off. All I want is what probably came out on the cheap dodge cargo vans that just cover the lug nuts. I have two of the full wheel covers if anyone is interested in them. $20.00 each and you pay shipping or come and get them.

As I understand it, the flame in an RV refrigerator burns under a cup-shaped area that heats the water and ammonia to boil off the ammonia. I have been told that if you allow the motorhome to be more than a half bubble off level, that it will cause some kind of flakes to form in the solution, which will clog up the cooling system. Also, I have been told that if the motorhome is not level, then the flame just does not heat the solution as well, and it is less efficient. Does anyone know the truth?

We have only had an RV for about three years, but we have been in a lot of RV campgrounds. I don't understand why they don't make the parking level. Some RV parks are just gravel and they have a tractor with a box blade. I had a tractor until about a year ago and I have a level. It is very easy to level the gravel. We have also been in parks with asphalt and concrete parking. It takes three yards of concrete to make a 10' x 25' pad 4 inches thick. At $100 a yard for concrete, it costs a lot of money to pour slabs for an RV park. A good level can be bought for less than $25. Can you tell me why they don't level the gravel? Maybe I am to critical, because we have a Class B motorhome that does not have automatic levelers. What do you think ... am I too picky?

Here is one to avoid: http://www.arkriverrim.com/ We were there in July of 09 and he is a real grouch. They advertise WiFi and when I asked about using it I had to listen to his grips about how campers abuse it by uploading and downloading pictures, about downloading movies. Woops, I thought that was what the service was for. He said his wife could never get online because the "Paying customers" were using all of the bandwidth. There were no repeaters and he said he was not going to install any. He said it was FREE to the campers and they should not complain if it did not work. Nothing is free, WiFi is part of what we were paying for. Either provide it or don't advertise having WiFi. I never was able to get online there, even parked just outside the office.

2drifters are on the west coast contact them.

Skip & Nancy, we have corresponded before. There a lot of people reading this forum, but they seem to be reluctant to answer questions or comment. I can not figure out why. I get on other forums and there is a lot of participation, this is strange.

I have been doing that. I tried one in Colorado, they checked on their network and all they found was some in Texas for $48.00 each. I thought JC Whitney would have them, but they did not. They have some kind of spinners. They might work but then they might look strange with out adding the chrome outer rings. If it did not cost so much I would just buy chrome or aluminum wheels. I also tried the parts houses and all they had was some plastic wheel covers. I will keep checking at salvages.

I am going to fill this forum up with questions. Hereis a new one: When we got our 1997 Roadtrek 190 it had four full-cover hubcaps. It was not long until one fell off, who knows where. I asked on another forum where to find another and what it might cost. No Answers. After a few months I located one for $20. I felt that was a good deal. A couple of months later, I lost another hubcap, but a park ranger found it for us. Then we lost two more. I have two left if anyone wants them. What I would like to find is four caps that just cover the lug nuts, like an old cheap delivery truck. They would stay on. I hate driving it with no hubcaps; it looks like the vehicle in The Grapes of Wrath. Here is our Roadtrek and some modifications that I have made. http://www.waskomtexas.com/RV/ Anyone have a solution?

We have owned our 1997 Dodge Roadtrek 190 for three years. We traded our Chevy Avalanche for it. The Avalance was nearly brand new. I had been toying with the idea of getting some type of small motorhome to use for travel, because I have some back trouble and could not sleep in hotel and relatives' beds. I really was hopping for something a little bigger. I saw this Roadtrek advertised online and the selleer was only about 50 miles from my home. I asked my wife if she would like to go look at it. (She was not onboard for an RV yet.) We had not looked at any others at this point, but knew that we did not want anything big. We were not even interested in a "C" class rig. I had called the Roadtrek owner a couple of times and looked up Roadtreks online. My wife had never seen one. I asked the seller if he would be interested in trading for our Avalanche. He did not know what an Avalanche was. So, we agreed that my wife would drive to his house and we would talk and look at each other's ride. We met, looked them over, made a test drive, agreed to trade, went to our credit union, swapped titles and the deal was done. Our Avalanche was almost new, with less than 10,000 miles. The Roadtrek had just under 40,000 miles and was very clean. He probably got the best deal as far as value, but we have never been sorry. We have put almost 40,000 miles on it and it is still going strong. We have spent less than $2,000 on repairs and get about 15 miles per gallon. It is our home away from home. I sleep better in it than my bed at home. We have our own bathroom, which is great for me, I don't like public bathrooms. We just started using the shower. I could really use some suggestions on the shower curtain. We tore it the first time we used it. I pulled on the Velcro and it tore the curtain instead of releasing. Let's use this forum. We can help each other a lot.

Hey, a lot of people are reading the posts, so how about making some comments. We all have questions about our rigs from time to time. Let's add more interest to this forum. If you ask some questions, someone will answer and more people will come to the forum. I joined mostly for this reason. I have only owned a motorhome for two or three years and I have a lot of questions.

I have looked at the list. However, I would like a list of just owners of "B" class MH's. I can not be of much assistance to owners of larger MH's. I can not park one on my property, have never driven one, could not help with repairs, etc. I would be glad to assist owners of "B" class rigs.

If you have a Class B motorhome, you have a small rig that can be parked in a residential neighborhood. A lot of us park at Wal-Mart, service stations, etc. I suggest that we form a group of Class B owners who are willing to allow other Class B owners to park on our property at no charge. Most of us could at least provide electricity and some could offer other services such as a dumping or a water hookup. Wal-Mart and other locations are OK in cool weather, but when it gets warm we need air conditioners. At some places, larger motorhomes could be parked also. Not so with us, though, because we just have a driveway and some rigs might break the concrete. However, we have electricy, a dump and a water source. You can park here tonight ! See this website: http://www.waskomtexas.com/campsite/ Let me know what you think. I recently joined FMCA knowing that there is a list on the web site and forums. I know there are other sources to locate spots to park on other RVers' property. I just don't know where these lists are located. Let's keep the FMCA forum going strong. List any questions that you may have and answer questions when you can do so.

We rebuilt the front end just this trip and we had a front end shop check everything half way thru the trip. Shocks were checked also and shocks usually make a double bumping noise. This noise usually starts after driving 20 or so miles. It nearly stops if we run thru rain which cools down the underside and adds a slight lubrication to the underside.

We have a 1997 Dodge Roadtrek 190 with almost 80,000 miles on it. We just returned from a four-week trip to Colorado. After our last trip in May to Flagstaff, Ariz., we found out that our front end needed to be rebuilt. We were going up Monarch Pass and started hearing a loud popping noise under our motorhome. It sounded like metal "crinkeling" or the end of two peices of metal rubbing end to end. We stopped at the summit and looked underneath and checked all of the lug nuts. I took hold of the front driver's wheel and pushed on it and it popped. It continued till we got to Buena Vista. The next morning, myself and my brother-in-law, who has taught auto mechanics at a junior college for 35 years, crawled under the front end and could not see anything. So, we took it to a front-end shop. Of course, it made no noise when the mechanic drove it for about 10 miles and had it checked. They could find nothing. When we got to Borger, Texas, I got it up on a lift and inspected it along with the mechanic, and all we found was a lot of sheet metal that acts as heat shields for the water tanks that are under the Roadtrek. We are back home in East Texas and I will take it to the local mechanic who works on our cars to have him find the problem. I think that it is the sheet metal moving. When we have driven for 100 miles or so it gets worse, and if we pass through some rain it quits. Any ideas on this problem?

Our refrigerator, Dometic, is not cooling very well. It is set on max and is only about 30 in the freezer and over 40 in the bottom. I think that it must have a carbon buildup in the burner area. I am reading the web page at: http://www.woodalls.com/output.cfm?id=2147...k4xgK2wHVbJv%26 But not sure I want to take on the job. Have some of you done this ?

There are a lot of "Type B" motor homes on the road, how do we get in touch with them. This forum is not very active. I joined FMCA and Roadtrek International to make contact with other type B owners. Who knows of an active forum?

There is a nice state park near Tyler, Texas if you get down on I-20. I don't know anything about I-40. When we are up in that area we have relatives who we stay with. RV Park, Tyler State Park, 903-597-5338, 789 Park Road, Tyler Texas 75706

We will send the RoadTrek application off tomorrow thanks.