huffypuff

Thanks for the encouragement Tom and Kay, as for weird post ticat, think more in line of national lampoon vacation. It took lots of work but we removed all the steps brackets and straighten them. The good news it actually works as new and show no sign of damage. Tom how do I move this to the blog section?

Oh we had high hopes leaving for extended vacation but we keep running into one snag after another. It went as follows so far: We started out December 5th and no sooner that we were underway a lady crept out from a slow moving lane and stopped. I barely had time to stop as it was a true test of brakes and tires of both motorhome and toad. I have a dash cam for this reason for if I hit her she would of claimed I was at fault. I was shook up for awhile but my co-pilot claims the lady in that car was laughing. We got to Twin Falls, ID Walmart for overnight. All was fine until the morning when we found out the cargo heater failed and the plumbing frozen. We knew Las Vegas was warmer so we continue on. Once in NV it was about 3:30 PM and I was getting sun glare in my eyes from the sun darting between the cracks of the shades. Sure enough because of that I missed the sign that went from 70 - 45 mph and got nailed for doing 60 in a 45. He didn't want to hear my excuse and gave me a lecture about how I could kill somebody. I wish I could tell him about the lady the day before and if I was going the posted speed limit she would of been hurting. Once the coach got to warmer weather the alarm quit and jacks down light went out. When the pipes and pump thawed there was no damage lucky us. Another thing that happen was one of the jacks down didn't go off so the alarm was constantly blaring. I got so bad that I unplugged the keypad, who can drive with that noise. Since it was getting into the weekend and not able to find 12 volt cargo heater we had to call the dealer. We decided best to head south to route 10. We stayed at another Walmart on route 10 and Monday we finally got a call through to the dealer. The cargo heater is going to be shipped to one of ours NC stop. The campgrounds we look for on Monday didn't pan out and we drove and drove and went into the TA truck stop. Well it was full and only space was back field area. Now remember you can't back up with a toad on a tow bar so once into it we had to move on. We saw several large potholes full of water and tried to straddle between two of then. Sure enough the right front wheel suddenly dropped into one hole with the step hitting the ground bending the step. We have better luck finding a campground at Dallas / Arlington KOA. Today we began the process of removing the steps and brackets to bend back in place, not easy. Will finish tomorrow.

We are going to pass by there on I-40 but we are to press for time to spend a night there. Looks nice.

I had no problem insuring mine through my regular insurance company with $1,000 deductible. That is with American Family Insurance and the premium isn't too high. Of course mine is worth 1/3 of your new one. If I was you I would try other insurance companies as some specialize in RV insurance.

Do you plan to drive through B.C. and the Yukon?

Monaco Technical Support, Parts and Warranty Assistance: (877) 466-6226

My Jeep Liberty is a 4 cylinder diesel that gets up to 30 mpg. It flat tows with transfer in neutral and transmission in park with dummy key turn one notch.

Snake oil

This is a known problem and the solution is get updated taillight assembly. I replaced mine when 2006 Jeep Liberty was only two years old.

Roadmaster Even Brake system has all you need including breakaway. I'm very please with it as I can watch the monitor in the cab to see when braking or not.

If both house batteries and chassis batteries are not giving voltage, it sounds like main ground broke loose. Easy way to check is voltmeter from positive battery terminal to frame. If no voltage shows you got bad ground, if you got voltage trace positive battery cables until you find the broken circuit.

You know now that I think about it, it does seen like it's in a twist more than forward or backwards. I have to try turning the steering wheel next time.

Thanks Jim, Looks like I be keeping a claw hammer and punch on board of the coach. Glad to hear I wasn't just the only one and gave test run. I was home when I unhooked so claw hammer was in the garage.

I did the test tow today for about 100 miles of mixed driving. All went well until it came time to unhook. I pushed the release pins on the tow bar and one would release and the other was stuck. I tried rocking the toad, putting park brake on and off and it still wouldn't release. Finally I used a claw hammer to pull the pins from the bracket. I thought unhooking was supposed to be easy.

Got the electrical done for the even brake and battery charge and lights. Made custom 7-4-2 pin plug. Even brake automatic self test passed to ready state. Getting close to test pull.

OK I spent 1/2 day today installing the tow brackets. Had to remove bumper, grill, sway bar and links and drill six 17/32 holes. The bumper had to be trimmed to put it back on. Tomorrow I will install the vehicle brake monitor kit and breakaway for the even brake. If I have time I will see what I can come up with for charge wire and lights connection. I'm going to need another 12v power outlet in the motorhome. Found out steering lock still works so I need a dummy key made.

Xtra-ride is what we got and we used it twice in the year we had it with no problem. They fixed a broken slide when we were in Alaska last summer and the tach in the spring.

My old 93 never like it when the batteries went low, that could be it. It usually goes through a warm up period before it reset then was fine till next low battery.

Mine has a connection in front for air hose and the rear for toad brakes. Was going to equip with air hose for the tires but now maybe I should check if air is limited to that outlet.

OK, finally ponyed up the money and got the 4 on the rear replaced also. Again had to wait two weeks to get them in stock. Rides very nice and I feel safer now. East coast trip is in planing stage now where misses wants to go.

I wish you best of luck with it. I would help you if you were in my area.

I would need more information but look like the 2003 Mandalay is the best if size is equal. Why didn't I pick the Holiday Rambler is for the reason when I got mine I had to have lots of repairs to get it right. Lucky for me the dealer paid and did for most of it even though they sold it to me as is. I picked a dealer with a very good reputation and they proved it.

The Jeep is and automatic with full time transfer case. I need need to put it in park and transfer case in neutral. I think there in a steering lock but think I disabled it when I cut the cable to the shifter interlock. If not a dummy key one click forward will unlock it with no power on.

Thank you Rich, I thought about a hack I can do to a seven pin connector so 4 pin comes out for the lights and 2 pin comes out as ground and 12 volts. I hate to start engine at every rest stop and try to remember to pump vacuum out of brake booster before going again.

If it's a Cummins diesel pusher you properly best working from underneath and bring it straight down. Remove power steering pump first and hopefully the hoses will allow you to swing it out of the way and tie it off. Next remove the hoses and governor from compressor to get them out of the way. Remove the top bolt to from the compressor first then keep a hand pushing up on it as you remove the bottom bolt. Next you will bench press it down out of there. Good luck.