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BennieH

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Everything posted by BennieH

  1. "Last September, I pulled into a rest stop outside Springfield, IL. Someone knocked on my door and it was the Illinois Dept. of Revenue. " Illinois has serious money issues and I think you are part of their solution. Your LLC was all they needed to ticket you and the $1000 was felt to be low enough that you'd just pay. Only a lawyer can assist you in this case.
  2. Our 03 Camelot uses Silverado headlight assemblies. I bought LED replacement lamps from M4 Products. Replaced both low and high beams. Wow, what a wonderful difference.
  3. REV does have them. You need to be a bit persistent to get the right person to look for them. Before they closed the Oregon call center, I was able to get mine. They do have them, the newer folks don't have a clue how to get to them and they need to have the time to find them (they are electronic file by the way).
  4. Demco Excalibar with over 70,000 miles now, is what we have. Rebuilt it 2 years ago (new bolts, seals and boots. All welds fully checked) and it has been totally trouble free.
  5. 2 1/2 years on our Amish unit and it is great! I had ours done in Shipshwana by JC Refrigeration (Owns Dutch Aire).
  6. I moved to FMCA from Good Sam due to the pricing. I also had issues at Camping World and want try someone else. I also switched to FMCA (Nationwide) for our coach insurance. Progressive kept going up on price. About a $400/yr savings.
  7. I had excellent service from Shock Warehouse. They also had the best pricing for my needs.
  8. In my 35 years as a firefighter and 15+ as an EMT and my wife as an life long RN, we have seen the results of someones bad behavior way too much. We both now carry and also avoid anything that looks questionable. My advice is if you carry, get training (never stop training), practice, learn what your weapon will do and always, always know what is behind the threat. By the way, you will get arrested and held until things are sorted out. It is so sad we have to be prepared like this now days, but it is the current reality.
  9. Yes, All older Monaco, Holiday Ramblers had a poor lower corner design for slides. If you go to Talinrv.com, Chris Throgmortin has done a lot of research into the problem (owns a Holiday Rambler) and has a fix. Go watch his videos and you’ll get an understanding of the problem. He also sells replacement corner plates to correct the problem. I did all my slides before I had issues. Did the work myself using his kits.
  10. Installed Bilsteins and it was not the worst job. 3 hours for the front, 4 hours for rear and the ride is excellent from a 2 hour test drive! No more banging over pavement patches or uneven pavement. Best $650 spent (SHOCK WAREHOUSE). That is for 8 shocks. Tip for anyone deciding to tackle it themselves and have the stud top: mount get a nut splitter and just crease the nut, you don't need to split it. Every top stud nut spun right off with my short handle rachet. Also it is tight under there! I am only 160# and found that I just don't bend as well as I use to!
  11. Last year I had Chris T. of Talin Mfg measure our coach for some replacement awnings while at the Rambli'n Pushers MS rally in 2016. He also inspected our slides. The bedroom slide was in need of some recaulking, but otherwise in good shape. We did discuss the Guardian Plates being something for the future. I did order and install them late summer 2016 for the Bedroom slide. I had Chris measure the living room slide at the 2017 MS rally as well as the bedroom slide for the plates for the rollers since there was signs of some wear from the rollers. I also wanted to be proactive and prevent problems. I put about 8 hours into the work over 2 days. I finished installing everything last week and was an fairly simple job if you have good mechanical skills. Key things: This will eliminate any chance of slide floor rot that Monaco products are susceptible to. They look very good and give things a fresh updated look. The slides are actually quieter with the Guardian plates when moving in or out! They also run much smoother and sound as if the motor is having an easier time moving things. I highly recommend them! I also found out as I worked on the install that I have one of the Monaco experimental flush floor slides with rollers after the lift blocks instead of a glide bar.
  12. Gander Mountain was always higher priced than Cabella's or Bass Pro when I went there. Been a few years since I last went in one, same thing for Camping World.
  13. jwj14, is it an AWD Edge? We tow our 2007 AWD Edge without any issues at all. Our procedure is the same as the above "Start the engine and allow it to run for five minutes at the beginning of each day and every six hours thereafter. With the engine running and your foot on the brake, shift into position D and then into position R before shifting back into position N." I do know that some of the front wheel drive Edges were not flat towable because they had a different transmission that the AWD ones.
  14. It's a perfect fit! I have found Gander overpriced and their service sucked on a Warranty issue. I'll take Bass Pro or Cabellas any day!
  15. You'll love the ARP control. Works very well and I am glad I put it in.
  16. This one was all mine and I am still kicking myself! I should have kept my focus. She has been great about it and keeps telling me to forget it.
  17. I have driven Fire trucks (including a 95' ladder) for 33+ years as a volunteer and never had an incident or put a scratch in one. That said, all it takes is a distraction/loss of concentration and ooops! This fall when backing the coach into the backyard as we have done for 15 years I bumped a utility pole with the front corner. Was watching my wife in the mirror and kept losing sight of her. I asked her to stay where I could see her and plain flat out didn't check my right mirror as I should have. My fault any way you cut it. Stuff happens. Wife keeps telling to stop beating myself up over it. I think my pride was wounded worse than the coach! We have discussed and used it as a way to plan on how to avoid something in the future where ever we are. At least insurance covers stupidity! The truck repair shop that did the body repairs was absolutely wonderful! A lot of companies could take customer service lessons from these folks. I did review them on RV Service Reviews.
  18. We've used a Demco Excalibar for 12 years now. Have not had any problems with it and it is a 7,000# rated. Easy to use. We have used nothing but their baseplates and I installed all my own. Instructions are very good and they were fairly easy to do. Last year I put new seals and dust boots on it. Cost around $50 for the parts.
  19. Found I had the dreaded leaking lift pump on my ISC350. Tightening the bolts did not work, so I went and picked up a new lift pump from the Coach Care center. This is the new style pump since the original is discontinued. One of the mechanics there told me that it was designed to be universal in application and the bracket/top had additional places for fittings. They also changed the fuel inlet and outlet holes to make more gasket surface. You also need to get 2 plugs for it to close the unused holes. I also got a gasket for the new pump as a spare. Saturday I went to swap it out. Holy cow is that thing in a miserable spot! Raised her with the levelers and then cribbed it with 4x4's. Dropped the starter so I could get at everything since I couldn't get at a lot for the top. I had one of the fuel lines that would not come loose (fitting kept turning in the pump housing) and was having a devil of a time trying to get at the top lines. Finally decided to drop just the pump and look at the gasket and assess the situation. I finally went to NAPA and got sheet gasket compatible with diesel. I cut a new gasket, put it all together, cleaned all of the fuel off everything and cycled the pump 5 times without starting the coach. Perfectly dry! Took it for an hour drive on the interstate. Same results! If it need the new pump in the future, I'll let the coach care center do it or I'll build an adapter plate that allows me to use the new pump on the old bracket. That would not be too hard to do since I have the old pump gasket and the new spare. There is a difference in the inlet and outlet hole sizes (smaller) and all the mounting holes are the same.
  20. Medico, You were only ripped off if you took their deal. They failed to honor a verbal deal. I would have walked out. I've had that game played on car trades and I have walked out. They changed the deal. You were under no obligation at that point to accept it.
  21. I had my tire dealer turn them for me so they run parallel with the rim. Sensors on & off easily plus easy to air up!
  22. We had the problem with our rear air in heavy rains. I also found the water was above the gasket area as I was trying to find the leak. I got new gaskets and then got to work. When I had the heat pump/ Air conditioner off to replace the gasket I found that the roof was slightly depressed where the unit sat and that with the coach level found that the unit was pitched forward. The forward pitch allowed water to get past the drains. I then cut and put 1/4" to 3/8" shims (I cut the shims myself so that the roof was fully supported) between the roof and the supporting structure so it was slightly higher and level. I put a little wood glue on to hold them in place. Reassembled everything. Has not leaked since. Had a good RV repairman tell me to do that. He says he has found that getting things level, not sitting in a depression and making sure the drains are clean solves most AC leaks.
  23. The industry is it's own worst enemy along with the customers. They all talk quality and innovation, but similar to the way the automakers were, they force all their suppliers to cut the cost of every component. Why? Because the consumer expects to get a product with all the features at the lowest possible price. I was taught that in business there are 3 things you can deliver, Cost, Quality and Customer Service. Pick which 2 you wish to deliver as all 3 cannot exist at the same time. My last employer was a Quality & Customer Service focused company. We were not the cheapest, but in the 18 years I was there, we never had a down time financially. I for one will look at the quality of a product before I spend my money. Probably one of the reasons I don't go to a number of big box retailers. I am surprised at how sloppy even some of the top name RV's look when we go to the shows. My 13 yr old coach has a better fit and finish still! I would bet that if a builder went for quality and pushed their suppliers to do the same they would succeed.
  24. For our 2 cats, we were trying to find the "right" spot for the litter box. Pam & I did some looking and measuring. Here is what I built. It will fit in a corner by the dining table or it can be placed next to the recliner and the height works in either location. The litter box goes in the bottom and Pam is making a curtain that will cover the opening. It's currently in the living room so that both of them can get used to it. As you can see in the one photo, Louie is inspecting it. So far it has their approval. We hope put it in the coach this weekend (if they allow us to!). I'll post some photos with it in place later.
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