jleamont

Jim, I do not have the manual to my 2003, what does it say to do with a Manual trans? I put both in Neutral now and unlock the steering column.

WOW, Carl that's nuts!

Trynforpar, Nice coach! Enjoy

Carl, the one on my coach is so bad I bought a Black Vinyl nose bra for it to cover up the ugliness. I plan on removing the 3M protector over the winter (weather permitting). I will not put anything back in its place, just the nose bra.

Carl, agreed! I just fall into the "legal" side for a few states and I am only pulling a 2 door Jeep Wrangler. Good thing the DW didn't get her 45' coach, I would have to park the jeep on the roof....wait, then I would be too tall, hmmm stand it up against the back wall, headlights pointed at the sky?

I found the company that makes a kit to remove these. I met this guy in 2014 at campground we were set up at in Pigeon Forge TN, lost his business card (still kicking myself for not having him take care of it that day). Anyway http://www.wipeoutsystems.com/store_products.html is the website, you have to call and tell him what you need, its not listed on their website (the site needs updated). He also has a video on youtube. Now all I need is a steamer to heat it up.

Herman, do you have the 3M shield on your coach?

http://towingworld.com/towinglaws.cfm I use this as a guide from another post, much easier to read and digest.

Dynarobert, what did you use to scrape it off and remove the glue?

Ditto on the recommendation for Rt90 over I-10. We ran I-10 December 2013 through Van Horn to San Antonio and it was not a good experience. If you do encounter bad weather by accident keep an eye in your rear view mirror for Tractor Trailers bearing down on you and stay out of their way. When we were up there those guys were running 70+ on ice covered roads, eventually we caught up to them in a massive pileup and truck parts scattered all around the highway. Not a good experience, one for the memory I could have done without. Off of that subject, the only site recommendation I have to add is Tombstone AZ, not far while traveling down I-10, neat place!

Thanks Brett for the link, that's a reasonable priced muffler and not very large. I have no idea if the current muffler is straight thru or not. It looks like a transit bus muffler its got to be every bit of 4' long and 3' wide, given the size of the mounting system holding it up I bet its heavy. It does have an offset which makes me think its not straight through. I am not concerned with better performance or MPG, stock it does just fine, if any is gained from the change so be it. If I cut the heat down in the engine bay that would be a bigger positive. My old Class C I removed the Banks muffler after one year (hung down too low and snagged a tree root) I replaced it with a Flowmaster "big block" muffler, no improvement over the Banks but it kind of sounded like a swarm of bees passing you when that V10 was wound up . At idle is sounded like it meant business. Thanks for the recommendations!

RustyHog, we just purchased a Denver Mattress, "Supreme Euro" model at the Hershey RV show. So far we love it! Our bed also raises and this one is fairly light compared to the one removed. We have a "narrow king" size bed in the coach.

Old thread but the question is once presented itself. The muffler on our coach is starting to fail at the end caps, getting a bit rusty around the seams. Any recommendations for a replacement muffler? When I checked on the web the Aero muffler mentioned above with the Venturi is all I seem to locate for our coach. I have 5" inlet and outlet. I have the ability to retrofit a replacement (mig, tig welder and plasma cutter in the garage). Maybe something that will provide better flow, MPG, lower exhaust gas temps? Our last coach had the Banks Power Pack with headers and it really did nothing to the MPG, just accelerated much faster. Things to consider, I don't want excessive interior noise and with a true Jake brake I don't want to aggravate people when using it. I wouldn't mind a little extra noise but I don't want to rattle Windows. Most towns now have signs posted not to use compression brakes and I can only think it's due to modified exhaust on trucks and tractors, I do not want to roll into town and make enemies. Thanks for any recommendations.

If memory serves me, the F53 column has a plastic part with a gear on it that moves when the ignition is turned. They were prone for the pin on the one end to loosen up and cause the ignition switch (not the key switch) which is located down the column, to hang partially engaged. It should be simple to access and remove the two torx mounting screws, remove it from the column and operate it by hand and see if it stops. You can identify it easily, it's tan with a bunch of wires in a plug connecting to the side of it, the connector has a bolt going through the center (wiring harness is bolted to the switch).

I'd drive it broken with no Jacks before you ever see me in a tent!

You would think with all of their experience in this industry they would have had all of this figured out by now.

Same to you, thanks Herman!

Puff, good info, I am at 132.48 Amps DC worse case scenario while in defrost.

Puff, I cannot speak to the model alternator that is in our coaches as far as reliability goes in the RV industry. My experience with Leece Neville in the trucking industry and emergency vehicles has not been good, they were always prone to premature failures. After saying that it is on my list to upgrade to a Brushless 170 or 240 Amp Delco (36SI or 40SI model) before it dies and leaves me stuck.

Thanks Wayne, good info!

Tom, I couldn't agree with you more! Thank you for the post on your swap, it was the inspiration for ours.

Herman, same to you and your family. I am looking forward to your posts in 2016

I removed the wheels under the unit prior to installation and I used "L" brackets for the installation to keep it in its place. I closed off the roof vent and the side wall vents and that's it. I have a Trace RV20-12, 2000 watt inverter with an auto start generator feature, so if the batteries go low boondocking the generator will take over. The system is controlled by a remote XC7 control panel and (4) 6 volt house batteries. Coach Alternator is a 160 AMP Leece/Neville My entire interior of the coach is all LED lighting so I do not have much draw other than two power Maxxfans and the refrigerator. We have 8000 miles on the fridge swap and it works great. I cheeped out and bought the most energy efficient lowest price unit which was a plain refrigerator, old school design freezer on top, fridge on the bottom, no ice maker. I have less than $700.00 on the entire project including wood trim I had to stain to match the interior. The unit is boxed in with the exception on the bottom is open and the trim on top is notched to allow for air circulation around the unit. I fabricated a door latch I copied off of a 2014 Fleetwood Excursion, that incidentally had the same refrigerator I purchased as standard equipment. So far so good, I think the total installation took me 4 hours, the hardest part was getting the Norcold out since it is at lease four times heavier than the GE. I do love the performance of the residential unit compared to the 1200LRIM that was removed. If it only last half of the time the Norcold did I am ok with that.

haha. My thoughts exactly.

ObedB thanks for the information on the dog, yes we do have one. We were not sure what the rules were for the dog and now that we are staying on the US side we should be good. I will remember that for the future. Wayne, I looked at Heartland, the poor reviews turned me off, most complained the sites were small and it was hard to navigate through the campground. I actually thought about Daisy Barn and when I Google earthed it I saw a bunch of permanent sites I cringed. Since we live close to NJ and anyone that has ever camped in NJ with all of the permanent sites in every campground would understand why I cringed and closed the web browser . Our past experiences sometimes dictate how we plan for trips in the future the next time I will consider Daisy Barn since you have experienced it and the people are nice, it is good to know that there actually are pleasant people in permanent sites. We have got to get out of this area more often and explore.