jleamont

This would be a new one for me, I have never heard of anyone needing additional cooling on an Allison. Is there an issues with overheating you are trying to correct?

I saw a book from these folks somewhere, anyway it looked pretty useful; https://www.big-rigs-rv.com/Home.html

YUP, and you don’t usually know you have a problem until you have a problem. The majority of the time it’s years of build that if routine cleaning had been performed there would be no build up.

At that age I’d have them change the gear oil in the rear if not already done. Inspect the brake hoses. At that age I’d probably replace them and flush the brake fluid.

We live in PA, winters can be tough but not as bad as other parts of the country. Our coach had flooded batteries for several years. I would top them off and keep the coach plugged in for the 5 months it remain parked outside. Every two months I would check the water level. My charger remained on “float” most of the winter. Every spring I would equalize them. Our charger did a fantastic job keeping the batteries happy and I got 9 years out of those batteries. I swapped those out for AGM’s 2 years ago, changed the charger settings and only open that compartment to clean them and check the torque on the cable studs twice a year. If it gets cold and you do not keep it plugged in pull the batteries and take them inside, keep them charged with a battery tender or you risk them freezing.

I was wondering if someone had a comparison. Our friends trailer has the Coleman Mach on the roof and you cannot have a conversation inside. Our Dometic Penguins I don't consider them quiet but you can carry on a conversation inside without yelling.

You must be in our area. If that were me I would wait for the roads to be clean after a rain and point that coach south and don't look back! Campground selection will be limited so you might be able to get to the bottom of AL or top of FL but it sure beats being in the NE! I wouldn't run it with calcium chloride on the roads and start the rapid decay process on your motorhome or you'll be replacing it long before its time.

Nice colors and again WELCOME!

I have always opened the roof vents with everything shut down (HVAC), unit plugged in. During summer I will set the roof vents to automatically open and the fans to come on above 90 degrees. Winter storage I just leave the roof vents open.

I would replace it prior to traveling. If it completely fails you will have a problem on the side of the road plus its stressing your air system operating at that duty cycle. Be sure to block the suspension with jack stands suitable of carrying that weight prior to crawling underneath.

Here is a video of you have a volt meter. hook it up in place of the test light in the video. Let us know how much of a draw it reads.

Ideally you should have all 4 corners of the RV weighed (scale under each wheel position, not the entire axle) equipped the way you travel (all items stocked inside including passengers and the fresh water tank full). I checked and the PSI rating from the chassis label is assuming the vehicle is loaded to its MAX axle ratings. Since you do not have 4 corner weights running the 80 PSI is OK but there is a concern especially if the chassis is overloaded which is NOT uncommon. Personally I like to run 20% higher and see how it feels, if it wanders i'd back it down 5 PSI but wouldn't go below the 80 PSI rating from the chassis manufacture. The 120 PSI rating on the tire is a MAX pressure, you would ONLY need that if you had 9610 (or 4805 lbs on each front wheel) lbs of weight on the steer axle and 18160 lbs (or 9080 lbs on each dual wheel set) on the drive axle. Since your axle weight ratings are no where near that I wouldn't run that much PSI in your tires. I guess at this point you can see where having the coach weighed on each corner is so important. How does it handle with that much PSI in the tires? FYI, most tire shops have an SOP to fill tires to their MAX PSI rating, they do not want to be responsible for underinflated tires nor do they know what your vehicle weight is. The chart below is from the Double Coin website.

You and me both. I haven’t spilled any disinfectant on myself yet but I am certain that day will come.

Meet a guy once that washed his new Corvette with Cascade, only did that once, paint was destroyed. Slightly off topic but you are 100% correct.

Not when you want to get to Disneyland, it’s July and you know your gas coach would climb the mountains on the other route but never stop going down them, you opt for the hot route . Co pilots idea!

So I wonder how that would hold up crossing the Mohave Desert in summer? We did that in 08 and it was 122 that day outside, I cannot imagine how hot the basements were in the RV.

My thoughts exactly. There are places in the Northeast that there is NO one to come for you. Know it all too well from work. If it’s that bad in the northeast I can only imagine what it’s like out west.

Ditto, same size on our coach. I will change the tire. I did use this spare once, fixed the take off and put it in the basement. Swapped them back out so all 6 matched this year and drove to Florida and back.

90% of the time its a alignment Caster issue after the suspension has settled with age and mileage. 10% of the time the front axle track bar needs new bushings. Given the mileage you are at I would look underneath and have someone rock the steering wheel back and forth, see if there is excessive play in the track bar mounting on both ends. A thorough front end inspection is in order to make sure nothing is loose also, then its onto the alignment rack. Very common problem on a Jeep Wrangler or most vehicles after a lift kit has been installed especially if you do not have the Caster corrected. You can source aftermarket track bar bushings or a complete bar to correct the failure on Ford's end. From the factory those bushings are not robust enough for the application.

I am guessing you experienced a sever steering vibration that you couldn't get under control until you came to a complete stop? Otherwise known as "Death Wobble".

All 6 on my coach are aluminum, no steel!

YES!! bring a couple of boxes of donuts and a box of coffee, food goes a along way with mechanics! Just remember once you set the bar you’ve set the bar.

David, I see them in the FMCA magazine all the time at the back of the book in the advertisement section.

I carry ours in the basement, it sets perfectly on top of the one slide out tray rails and it allows for items to sit under it. Its mounted on an aluminum wheel to help with the weight when I have to drag it in and out.

The reason most shops do not want to work on RV's isn't the coach configuration, its the clients. Once they hear its an RV, depending on the shop you could still be turned away. The same thing is happening at free boon docking spots i.e. Walmart, the few spoil it for the everyone. Shops do not want people standing over them suffocating their staff. The root of their business is commercial vehicles with deeper pockets, they have relationships with the fleets in their shops and the drivers just drop them and leave unless a quick fix item. They don't sit inside the truck for days while their staff has to work around them. If it's an Over the road tractor, the driver will get a rental car and hotel and come back once the tractor is ready.