jleamont

Rich, an engine with SCR (uses diesel exhaust fluid) require less parked regenerations. This was the regeneration cycle I mentioned above, being his coach is a 2009 he is right on the threshold from being SCR equipped or not. The engines with EGR only are dirty and do require more frequent parked regeneration cycles, especially if there is not a lot of highway traveling at which point both are designed go into a "passive regeneration" if the soot level warrants it. In my experience the non SCR engines require a regeneration on average 2-3 times more often....but again it will depend on the driving conditions more highway...less parked regenerations, but still necessary. Every situation I have experienced when a chassis manufacture does not install a switch on the dash it has always baffled the engine manufactures, one time I was handed a bulletin where the engine manufacture warned the chassis manufacture that it was needed...but still produced without. I would either have the switch installed or in my case I would not leave home without my scan tool. I hope one day the Feds, engine manufacturers and chassis manufactures can figure all of this out and get on the same page. The amount of problems and out of pocket expenses the consumer has to contend with is crazy. I deal with this and all of the problems with the new technology every day. And I must admit some engine manufactures are better than others but they all have problems with this technology and in the end the consumer suffers, like in this situation.

Ok, I called Monaco...no longer available. It is a wind deflector. I think I will remove it and see if there is a difference in the wind noise. If it is a problem I wil have to engineer something. good thing I do not sit over there!

Don, From my experience with this message, if you cannot force it through a Regen with the switch (since you are not equipped with one) I would take it to the dealer, while I was there I would ask them what it would cost to install a switch. I ran into this with Caterpillar a few years ago..they felt driving should be enough, well it wasn't and the CAT dealer recommended we install a switch on all of the fleet with the C7S engines. I installed a force switch on the dash of each unit, just some pre planning, wire and a momentary on switch. Being this is an RV Diesel Pusher the distance from the engine to the dash is much greater than the trucks I was working on at the time. I would save a few $$ and ask them to put the switch in a suitable location in the engine bay or a side compartment close by would be better, so you can access it when needed. The fleet I responsible for now we average a manual regeneration once every 6,000-8,000 miles and they usually take 45 minutes parked in a safe location (away from anything that can catch fire from the heat generated). If you let it go to long it can clog the Particulate filter to the point it will have to be removed and cleaned with a machine...and that gets costly. Just my two cents but I hope it helps. Joe

Thanks Ray, I am going to call Monaco to see if it came this way or it was an aftermarket add on. The boss wants it replaced . I guess this time I will listen...or dig deeper.

Roy, I cannot speak to Progressive, we have Erie with full coverage, I remember my wife telling me it was more than Progressive (we looked at it before) but so was the coverage, we usually max out insurance coverage to be safe. I am curious to see what posts follow from people with more experience with claims etc.

Second photo. It looks like a channel to help with wind noise off of the door. Thanks, Joe

Ray, here are photos of what I have broken, any idea what this is called and do I need it?

That would be the start of a day you wished you stayed in bed. Brett, Herman, still smiling and laughing over the comments, love this forum!

Wheel to hub runout could need to be corrected. When the front wheels were installed on a hub piloted design the wheel will never be at a true center, over time the tire will wear with a high and low spot on the tread causing a vibration in the steering. To correct you will need to lift the tire from the ground, locate the hub flange tabs and place a feeler gauge between the flange tabs and the wheel (.060 is where I check them), on one of the tabs the gauge will slide in the easiest, mark the tire directly above this tab, spin the wheel 180 degrees and loosen the lugs, this will allow the wheel to reposition itself on the flange in the opposite position it was in, retorque the wheel. I would try this first since it will be the most cost effective with little to no out of pocket expense, especially if you can do this yourself.

SKellyRV, Try www.nwrvsupply.com, I was looking through their website for odds and ends that were missing on our coach when we bought it and i was impressed with the inventory they have for those hard to find items. It might be worth a phone call to them, they were very pleasant to work with on the phone also. Other than an internet search, Maybe Iowa80 truck stop's website will have something similar for the cap and Northwest will have the logo for the center. Good luck with your search. Joe

Ray, I am determined to figure it out, one I do I will let you know. Does your door have a piece of plastic protruding out that looks like a wind deflector on the hinge side of the door? I am trying to figure out what it's called, mine broke over the winter (cover slapping it) and I need to either remove it or replace it. It looks like its mounted under the hidge and comes out on a 90 degree from the hinge.

Interesting, I have an HR 02 Imperial, and the door chirps when driving down the road depending on the position of the coach and condition of the road, which is very annoying, anyone have a fix?

I run Demco commander tow bar and blue ox Apollo brake, Jeep Wrangler all 4 down.

Mike, good to hear, new tires were your only option from the sounds of it. As far as the weight goes, I do not know what to say, I lived with it on our old coach after some modifications, Bilstein shocks, Firestone ride rite air bag helpers, Roadmaster sway bars and a rear track bar addition, all masked the over weight feel on the rear and made the unit handle much better on the highway. I felt comfortable driving it after the modifications. Knowing it is over in the rear is good, you can tailor your driving habits based off of that. Good luck Joe

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.

I rechecked all 4 last night, only one cell on one battery was on the 1265 line, all of the others were on 1275 or above. That made me feel much better since these were on a float charge for the last day. Thanks for all of the help. Joe

Brett, thank you for the input. once I install the nose protector i purchased tonight I am going to recheck the batteries and see where they are. Much easier to correct in my driveway than at the campground. Thanks again Joe

Thanks Rich, I will take that approach with them, I just found it hard to walk away while that was going on for that extended period of time. Thank you, Joe

Thank you for the information. I really appreciate the wealth of experience and knowledge on this Forum. Joe

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

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

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

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

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.

Great, thank you both for the info. Joe