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jleamont

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Posts posted by jleamont

  1. Posted · Report reply

    Ray, thank you for the update, and I agree, no GPS, I can understand cell phones etc, we do not allow any cell phone activity in the company i work for, hands free or otherwise in the trucks or company cars, our safety department does not want any controllable distractions, our in cab satalite communication system has GPS built in and it is locked while the tractor is in motion and the map directions are down loaded when they are dispatched in the AM, no driver interaction unless there is a problem and the Vehicle must be stopped with the parking brake applied to access, the driver can only view the map on the screen while in motion.

    I received my camera yesterday, my wife was excited, I would not be suprised if it is installed by the time I get home from work. we were both very suprised how small the camera was, I bought the newest version that you have. Hopefully it is only used to capture scenery. :)

  6. Posted · Report reply

    Rich, thank you for the detailed explanation. I will have to monitor these more often, perhaps reposition the coach so I can access the battery compartment when it is parked for the season.

    I am concerned about the "battery equalization" process the charger performs, if it is getting the batteries to boil how long can they take that before something catastrophic happens? The charger runs this cycle for three hours, seems a bit too long to me, could three hours do more damage than good?

    On a good note each battery has a temperature sensor attached to them, so I am guessing the charger is monitoring this and will back off if they become overheated.

    I would probably feel better if this was all taking place farther away from the coach.

    desertdeals69; how long do you equalize yours once a year?

    Thanks guys

  7. Posted · Report reply

    So we are planning a 7-8 week trip this summer to celebrate our 40th anniversary. Some thoughts for our trip are:

    1. The Finger Lakes of NY

    2. Wern part of Ohio

    3. Madison, WI. We are attending the national convention.

    4. Mall of America

    5. Mt Rushmore and the Bad Lands

    Any suggestions for campgrounds or things to see please post. We are open and the only thing definite is the national convention.

    Looking forward to all of your comments.

    Dan

    Dan, sorry I cannot help you with your question...but I have one for you if you do not mind.

    Have you ever stayed at Normandy farms, if so what did you think of it? We are discussing a possible trip up north next summer, Cape Cod etc, I didnt want to stay on the cape, due to its always packed or so I was told, do you have any recomendations? Maybe on the Cape but a better time to cross over the bridge?

    Thank you,

    Joe

  8. Posted · Report reply

    Ray, thank you for the link, glad to see you and your wife were able to avoid a rogue truck driver and escape personal injury or property damage. They are supposed to be "professional" obviously he falls short in that department.

    I stepped up and ordered this camera for my wife as a suprise (shes a camera/photo enthusiast). She has mentioned purchasing one for a while now and I was skeptical of the different brands and quality, not knowing anyone who owned one until now made me hold off.

    Thank you

    Joe

  9. Posted · Report reply

    Tireman thanks for the input, he is operating an E450 cutaway chassis, the F450/F550 or pickup truck cab has the low pro truck tire 22570r19.5 with an F rating if they were on the econoline the chassis world would be a better place. I had the tire kissing issue and once I removed the goodyears after one tossed the tread on I95 in SC the kissing went away, not sure why it happened in the first place. wheels were original and the tire size LT22575 r16 is the posted size on the manufactures label.

    14 years old......it was time to replace awhile ago.

    It's nice to have someone here with your background on tires.

    Joe

  10. Posted · Report reply

    New coach (to us) to many gadgets on board, trying to put my head around the equipment on this coach. I have been going over our coach for the season and I checked the house batteries, they were low on water, so I unplugged the coach, disconnected them added distilled water, cleaned the tops and connections, reconnected the cables and shore power line.

    Next I went into the coach and turned the Xantrex remote panel ( model RC7). The system went into a "battery equalization" mode, not knowing what this was I opened the manual and saw the batteries needed to be ventilated so I left the tray extended out and uncapped all 4 batteries (6 volt Interstate Workhorse batteries). In the next ten to twenty minutes they began to boil. According to the manual this is to take place for three hours, at about 1.5 hrs I checked them with a hydrometer my readings were in the normal range so I shut down the equalization mode.

    My question is how often should this be done? How often should I check these? The last time I added water was in November when I parked the coach for the season.

    Seems like it needs more maintenance than I gave it. This is the first coach we have had with lead acid batteries, the last coach had 1 AGM for a house battery.

  12. Posted · Report reply

    motorcyclemania,

    Welcome to the FMCA Forum.

    If this is the Workhorse W chassis, it is a well regarded chassis. Mileage is likely be very slightly better than the same coach with the Ford chassis/V10.

    Brett, what years had the brake concerns I often read about... reason; I have a relative looking at a Fleetwood with a Workhorse chassis 8.1 Vortec. the coach is a 2010.

    Thanks

    Joe

  14. Posted · Report reply

    Mike, pulling with all 4 down shouldn't add to the weight on the back of the coach. I had a golf cart that I towed in an enclosed trailer (since have sold it) but it did add tongue weight to onto the coach hitch, and you could feel it. Not sure what yours is rated at for towing (sticker usually on the hitch from th RV co) but our our old coach was rated to tow 3500lbs with a max of 350lbs of tongue weight. I towed a car with a dolly at first then bought a Jeep Wrangler and I flat towed the Jeep (much easier). Like Brett said early on it must be due to the frame extensions the RV manufacture adds to the chassis.

    Example: Our door jamb showed a 185" wheel base...but it actually measured 201", when You looked underneath you could see where the frame was spliced. I discovered this when I was replacing U-joints on the driveshaft, everyone only listed a two piece driveshaft including the dealer, ours was a three piece :blink: thankfully they used the same parts including the support bearings, just more of them.

    According to Ford we had 65" of after frame (center of rear axle to the end of the frame rails)...it was more like 132", it to had additional rails added where Ford left off. see the attached picture, I had 11' from the center of the rear axle to the bumper.

    post-39881-0-24221300-1425902346_thumb.j

  16. Posted · Report reply

    I have a love seat sized jack-knife sofa on my curb side slide out that I want to replace with a wall hugger love seat duel recliner. I have been surfing the internet but have not found what I'm looking for. I was at the Dallas RV show last week and saw a large 5th wheel that had exactly what I'm looking for. However, I was not able to find any manufacturer's tag on it.

    Any suggestions would be appreciated.

    Thank you,

    Ron Jacobs

    2005 Inspire #51264

    Ron, I bought a Dinette for our coach from www.Shop4seats.com my next is a J lounge from them as well. The quality of the product was outstanding, when I called to order it they were very nice to work with. I have been all over the web searching for a couch or J lounge, I did locate a few buth they are mostly in Indiana and they will not ship.

  17. Posted · Report reply

    Mike, I have a friend that swears by Michelin, he has a 2009 Fleetwood Jamboree on the same chassis as you E450 super duty. His is a 31' coach, he is also over on the drive axle, not sure how this keeps happening with class c's. I weighed ours with a full tank of water but the compartments were empty, I was 1100 over, with that being said I ran the tires on the rear at 80 psi and I installed a tire pressure monitoring system. The TPMS system saved me with all of the tire problems by alerting me before the tire came apart, and valve stem extension failures I experienced with that coach.

    If they are 10 years old I would replace them, for extra protection pick up a set of tire covers for when it is stored, they will help the next Set no look so bad at 7 years, that is a s far as I would run the next set, also take a peek at the spare, make sure it is good enough so you have it in case you need it.

    Tire failures on a motorhome can be scary and they usually do a lot of damage.
    Shop around for tires, I ran a set of Firestone trans force HT's and had good luck with those also, they were more cost effective than the Michelins, I did not check the Michelins with the FMCA discount, it may work out better for the Michelins.
    Good luck.
    Joe

  18. Posted · Report reply

    It would help if you could provide a bit more information.

    What is the DOT serial data on your tires? I assume they are not original.

    What size and Load Range tires and inflation is specified on the placard?

    Do you have actual scale weigh slips taken when the RV was fully loaded? Ideally you have the individual corner weights.

    RE "RV" vs "Truck" tires.

    I am not aware of any industry or government standardized tests that are RV specific. Some companies do market to the RV user and make claims about their tires but I have not seen data making a direct comparison between tires from different manufacturers that try and simulate RV use so I tend to consider "RV" tires to be primarily more of a marketing designation than a technical one so I try and stay away from making brand specific recommendations.

    Here is a post from my blog on "Best Tire"

    More info once I get the answers to the above questions.

    Tireman9 I too was hoping you would see this. He has the same chassis I use to have, the oem tires are 10ply "E" load range. I do not recal the tire pressure specs for the front but the rear were supposed to be set to 65psi, (tire max for 10ply was 80psi) the problem I had at 60 there was evidence of "kissing" and I experienced several tire failures, all were a different failure type, nothing consistent. I bumped up to a full steel casing Bridgestone R250, while I never had another problem again the additional weight and stiffness of the tires affected the ride and fuel consumption. These were a small price to pay for piece of mind, I also recommends he weigh the coach in a loaded situation, ours was over on the drive axle with a full load of fresh water.

    Joe

  19. Posted · Report reply

    It is so much more than the question of where to park the dolly. When we started out we used a dolly to tow. It had surge brakes that applied when we slowed. Good idea, poorly installed. The flange which held the brake against the compression caused by the slowing of the coach broke. We had that repaired twice. We had a flat tire on the road in the middle of Kansas and could not find a replacement tire anywhere. I had to go to the nearest dealer for the tow dolly to get a tire and it was on a rim so now I had an extra rim (at extra expense). I figured I'd get a spare tire but now searching in the St. Louis area at major dealers I still could not find the correct tire size. That was it. I called the manufacturer and told them the whole story which included signs of failure in the arm. They agreed to replace the dolly. I returned it to the factory near Houston on my way south. I picked up the replacement brand new dolly and put it up for sale. It was gone in two weeks and I never looked back. It is just one more piece of equipment to cause problems.

    I heard a speaker who said one time, the more tires you own the more complicated your life is. I think that is true!

    Agreed, the last line is so true. We first towed with a dolly, first trip, when I hooked up at home it was simple, got to the campground and I was wearing Khaki shorts and a light colored polo, both went into the trash after. When I crawled under the dolly to unhook the safety chains I got dirty from the campground and the under carriage of our car. We used the dolly for a few more trips and sold it. We eventually bought another Jeep Wrangler (#5) with a manual transmission...I do not miss the dolly. My hook up now takes me less than 3 minutes and is effortless, no crawling under, no trying to find a place to park the dolly..etc...etc.

  21. Posted · Report reply

    post-39881-0-29181900-1425643695_thumb.jJohn_Harris, I just had a 50 amp installed at our house where our coach parks. I asked the same question to the electrician, he told me the only additional cost would be the price difference in the wire and a small price increase in the box. I think it totaled up to be an additional $60.00, but now when we are loading the coach to go away I can run the A/C and be comfortable.

    just in case you are looking for a box I bought this one from Home Depot on line

    Connecticut Electric

    Model # CESMPSC55GRHR Internet # 100669936

  23. Posted · Report reply

    Started around 1998, I took my new wife to meet my Grandparents in Johnson City TN (too sick to make the wedding when we got married), my grandfather always had a camper of some sort. A that time it was a Hornet fifth wheel, we met up with them and they invited us to follow them to Pigeon Forge TN for a long weekend getaway. My wife and I stayed at a Best Western down the street, we hung out with them when we were not sleeping. I loved it, my wife was on the fence (5 star hotel girl) (good thing the Best Western was very nice that could have been our last trip together :) ).

    Kids started to come along two years later, frequent Disney World trips and stopping many times for the restrooms and food along the way I decided to bring up the idea of a motorhome again, it was shut down almost immediately. A few years had past and my wife wanted to take a road trip across country to California from Pennsylvania, she looked into renting a Class C, it was so expensive she asked me about buying a fixer upper for cheap doing the work myself, using it for the summer and selling it the following spring. Of course I agreed thinking finally a motorhome in our family.

    I located a 1998 Coachmen Santara 311SB for sale on consignment in the Poconos that needed a bunch of TLC, husband passed wife had it at the local dealer to get rid of it. So we bought it In February 2008. I worked on it several nights a week and we took it out the first weekend in May to give it a try and see how it goes. The kids had the time of their life my wife had fun also. Summer comes along and we head out for the west coast, we saw so much and stopped at every possible land mark all the way out and back, absolutely the best family vacation ever, we all had alot of fun. We started to book long weekend family trips ever since. As the kids got older the Class C became smaller so this past spring we traded it on the DP we have now. My wife will tell you she is not a "camping person" still to this day....but we still have a lot of good times and memories when we head out. I asked her pick out the next Motorhome (our current DP) so she would warm up to it faster ;) .

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