jleamont

Kind of familiar with Ellis County. I have been to Corsicana TX a few times with my old job (truck body co there and armored vehicle plant) that was neat time.

Thank you wise one! Bill you brought up some great points I had forgotten about. All of my friends that have trailers must drive those large clunky vehicles around the remaining parts of the year while the trailer is parked at home. So the other 340 days (give or take) of the year they get to drive a 9.0 mpg vehicle everywhere (x the national average of 12,000 miles per year...ouch) and struggle to find a place to park it. I also struggle with the math, not my strong point, so please excuse me, $70,000 for a truck $40,000 for the trailer $110,000 I didn't pay that for either coach or the combination of both including my Toad, hitches, braking systems upgrades. Since the topic is Full timing, the above doesn't apply to its entirety....but does... The other side of it is the storage, I had forgotten about that, my friends have to store all of their outdoor furniture in their beds and tuck the sheets tight so they don't shoot through a wall or window (paper thin) because there is little to NO storage under. A motorhome is crash tested since people ride in it, a trailer is not therefore they can be built like such (paper thin). Now all of us "experienced" folks can agree you probably wouldn't want to sleep where your camping chairs were sitting, or would you? Mine tend to have dust, stones caught up inside the leg tubes, mud on the feet etc.... Yea I clean them off before sliding them into the basement but there is still dirt. No training class or college I went to taught me that. My friends grill, charcoal grill that is went bouncing around the interior the lid flew off and scattered charcoal dust through out the kitchen, family room area. It took both of us a while to clean it up, that was the simple part, over a few beers, I had him laughing about it in a few minutes (I am usually good at that), his DW was twisted up about it and was going to make him sleep in his truck, set the tone for a few days, you could cut the tension it was so thick.... good thing his truck was so big. I told him to sleep on the fifth wheel, after all most people post they sleep in their fifth wheels, still not sure how they don't get greasy. Off of the subject above but none the less important, if you like to follow laws and enjoy life that is; If you think a company vehicle is a great idea (sure...why not my Joes plumbing truck it can pull a trailer ill just use that) and you decide to use your company truck to pull your camper, you might want to think about that first especially if its labeled with your business or registered to the business. Once the trailer connects to it and you cross the 10,001 lb combined GVWR threshold its now a Commercial Motor Vehicle, which means you must follow all laws related to a CMV, here's a few; alcoholic beverages are illegal to transport, cell phones are illegal if hand held, you will need a medical card, DOT number on the door driver qualification file at your office, or home if that where you work from and it just goes on and on. Up here they are starting to crack down on that. We saw it last year in VA, DOT waving them over at a roadside inspection near a popular CG on the Chesapeake Bay. Easy to spot, ladder racks decals tool boxes etc. There were a few unhappy campers that week. Sorry, I went off topic, but its good to point out things to the folks that are new and looking. I did consider it when I had the business and a diesel powered service truck. I camp to relax and take in the scenery, enjoy time with friends, new and old friends that is, I stared at that dash of the service truck often while working nights and weekends, when I go away I want to leave all of that behind, not be reminded of it. Not sure how it is for the rest of you but when I sit in the seat of our coach I can feel the stress melt away.

Well, I think I know where it is...it does have a manual flush knob on the back.

Al, glad to help. One brake system to look at that when you search the web for these systems and it doesn't show up is M&G link below if you wanted something to read up on. http://m-gengineering.com/index.html They have a system that might suite your needs. While none of them are cost effective in my mind this system for a coach with hydraulic brakes is the price of the removable box type, but fully proportional. No doubt the cable type mentioned above is the most cost effective route. I thought I would pass this on, when I was looking M&G never came up on my web search and I wanted to look over all of my options and digest the pros and cons of each one before making a decision. good luck with your search.

Thanks, more like "work in progress"

Wayne, which model are you using LFN45B-EZ? We find either too much pressure or not enough, more often its not enough but I fear removing the inline reducer. Mine has the gauge on it so when a CG has it too low I fill the tank on the coach and run off of my pump.

Jim, nice leg work! No safety chains/cables is crazy, that's one way to ruin your day and someone else's life.

Wayne, I was thinking to opposite of you. "I believe the day to day, rolling earthquake going down the highway, has a higher toll on the MH". We often camp with some friends with trailers, they often find broken stuff and items thrown throughout the interior from bouncing with a trailer that only has springs, no shocks. So one bounce turns into several. More entertaining to follow them down the road, we often joke upon arrival how their trailers spend as much air time as ground time, if only their credit cards would give them some of those air miles . I always tell them don't text and drive, when I follow you guys it looks like you are drunk, I'm reaching for the radio, lights and siren, lol. The response is always "I never touched my phone, you didn't feel that wind"? One of them is a professional trucker with over a million miles of no accidents. Our old class C really beat the daylights out of the interior and body traveling down the road, as much as their trailers do, it just weighted more and we were in it to experience the shock, they only see the aftermath. I actually broke the coach body mounting once and cracked a wall. I guess its all on the suspension design of the coach/Trailer and the wonderful roads in the US we all can relate to.

Blake, I was hoping for the same, lol

After reading the instructions on Blue Ox website, the bar is supposed to under go an inspection/PM at 10,000 miles, I know my friends had not, his didn't fail it just got sloppy. I will say it is looked at often to see if something looks out of place, thus the reason for sending it back for an overhaul before it failed. Doug, if you are reading this what was done? I remember it was really cost effective to have it overhauled by Blue OX. Here's another thought, these are designed to pull, not push from what I have read. Without toad brakes you are asking a lot of any tow bar.

Carl say Cheese! Herman, your response above "stud and nail" is priceless.

Jim, I was trying to figure out where were the safety chains were in those cases? My bar has two cables that parallel both tubes on my tow bar and connect the to the jeep frame and the coach hitch.

Carl, yup.... I had my service truck full of tools, My dealership box full of tools and my home box full of tools. I sold the Service truck and most of the home box tools(including the box) when I sold the business last year. The only down side is between the project car in the garage and the tools and machinery from the service business my garage is bursting at the seems . It is nice when you need a specific tool I just walk out and grab it, something metal breaks just go and weld it or make it. What really nice is when I need to change the oil on the coach, I have oil plumbed on a hose reel to a 55 gallon drum with an air pump, I just walk it over to the coach and set the handle to 26 quarts, lock it and walk away. I kept some stuff from the mobile PM trailer I had built.

Doc, good to know about the dog, our dog already has a few screws loose, this should be interesting, lol. We have a chihuahua Jack Russell mix. 9lbs of pure goofiness. Can't wait for Easter weekend now.

PA, it's considered a trailer which requires a license plate. If it's over 3000lbs GVWR it must have brakes, if it has brakes it is required to pass annual state inspection. When we had one it had a GVWR of 2999 no brakes no inspection, still had a "trailer tag" it only cost $5.00 per year to register.

We will miss you back here in PA. Lol Just think, no snow to shovel......am I dreaming?

Al, have the weld shop check the integrity of the cross members. I was told by Coachmen (the original not the Forest river Coachmen) the weak link in my old coach was the cross members within the frame extension, the side to side push/pull when not driving straight was the concern. I had 11' after the rear axle center, so there was a lot of leverage when not driving straight if I was into a turn and slammed on the coach brakes, something was going to bend. In an effort to keep the weight down they skimped on those, I was told if they were built as strong as the Ford cross members it would take too much weight off of the steer axle making the unit unsafe to drive. Mine was a bit different than yours, the hitch was rated at 5000, but the frame could only support 3500. I met a fellow last year with the same brake box I have that is broken (different post) anyway, he fiddled with a crimp on the compressor wiring so inside so it looked like it worked if he got stopped or was in an accident, but it was just for show. The lights worked, just no compressor would turn on. He told me if ever in an accident he would just play stupid as if it just broke. I do not recommend that route but just an example of what's out there. Some manufactures make kits for coaches with hydraulic brakes so you can still have proportional brakes on your truck, yes they can get pricy, but it pays to shop around. Good luck, hope this helps

I read similiar problems somewhere else. I have a friend that had to have his rebuilt after 20,000 miles, I thought that was odd. They are certainly a reputable company, maybe they started to source parts from "the lowest bidder". Seems to be common these days. Or just lack of maintenance

Carl and Five, remind me to stay away from you two while driving. Lol

I called Cummins, got all of the part numbers and pricing, Googled those numbers , bought everything new on EBay (much cheaper for Cummins parts). My oil I use the same as the chassis, Mobil Delvac Elite 15w40 synthetic blend, per Cummins I was told to use the same coolant that is in the chassis, Fleetgard ES Compleat. I agree with the responses above, call them they are great to work with. I used a vacuum cooling system filling tool to fill the generator engine so I didn't have to exercise it to get all of the air out. https://store.snapon.com/Cooling-System-Vacuum-Fillers-Kit-Cooling-System-Filler-P649161.aspx

Carl, so far they look and smell the same. If anything changes it goes in the trash.

52 years is a great thing! Carl, in one post you went from serious to a cheap shot, lol that was good I'm still laughing and my wife is looking at me like I'm nuts!

Carl, the topic of electric toilets has come up in the past. So I figured I would photo it. Yea, the first thing my wife told me when I brought it home was "please remove the sink in the bedroom soon" we only had it one day and we were on our way out with it. That weekend the kids used that sink to get ready while I was cooking and the DW was using the other. Now she likes it. I'm just a walking ATM what do I know?