blakeloke

Roland, Thanks for the update and glad first blush seemed like an improvement. Enjoy your trip! Blake

Hey Joe, Out in California now with our son. He thinks he knows where to get the battery tie-down straps here locally. Might have time between chores to go take a look. Will keep you posted. Yes Kay.....thank you for the tip! Blake

Carl, bummer...sorry to hear. Are you taking your coach to TCC or Action for the body repairs? Blake

Carl.....I have battery envy! !

rlaird, Search my post regarding this lawsuit under Norcold Lawsuit in this Forum. Here's the link to the claims registration. https://www.norcoldclassaction.com/home.aspx If I remember correctly, the deadline for filing was August 26th. It couldn't hurt to try and file. Doubt they'll fix or repair your unit. But perhaps give you a couple bucks towards a replacement. Blake

glsponchos, Here's the wiring diagram for our stove in case you have the same model. Still amazed at Joe's retrofitting and craftsmanship! I'm putting that mod on my list.......getting longer by the day! Blake

Ooops....my bad. Thanks.

I look back at when we bought our coach. Lot's of beers and years ago but some of the "oooops" are still vivid. The day we picked up the coach was a couple of weeks later than the day we inked the deal. One reason for that is the dealer had to PDI the coach and perform final detail. Mind you......very well respected and knowledgeable dealer in Northern California. The first night we camped at a local park to the dealer. Deb and I were giddy as heck, pushed out the slides and started exploring the coach. We woke up to water covering a good portion of the bedroom floor. Guess what, the clothes washer water fitting line was leaking. I shut off the water line at the manifold and called the dealer. They sent techs out to the campground and all was well. Time to break camp and head down the mountain. One of the bedroom slides wouldn't come in. Call to dealer again, they sent techs and fixed that. Throughout the early years we visited the Monaco facility twice to have things repaired. Ditto to the dealer......all done professionally and under warranty. However, there was one issue that never got resolved to my satisfaction. The airbag leveling system (Firestone) really didn't work well. Sometimes the coach would level, other times it wouldn't. Long story and way out of warranty, Action RV was able to diagnose and fix the problem this year. The past seven years or so we haven't been able to use the coach as much as we would have liked to. I was working all over the world and had a foreign assignment in PA for four of those years (sorry Joe.....no offense) and the coach was quietly tucked away in the garage at home with Deb. So, borrowing a term from Puff....I'm back in the saddle and learnin, fixin and improving as we go. Blake

GLSPonchos, I love it when members ask question because I always learn from the answers and often use the Q&A to improve something in my coach. If your stovetop is the only think that runs on propane, you may want to consider making a conversion to convection as Carl mentions above. That way you can ultimately get rid of that heavy propane tank. Read Jleamont's posts regarding removal a propane tank. I'd like to be able to do that but it would require major reconstruction surgery for us. We don't have Aqua Hot and rely on the furnace and heat pumps. What brand stovetop do you have? Blake

ke4jr, Your route would be perfect for me during warmer months. It's hard for me to read your stops but one of them looks like Laramie? The elevation there is 7,200' and low temp is expected to be 30 degrees this Thursday. Freezing temps is a whole new ballgame when it comes to RV camping. I personally would reroute to more southern climes. Not sure what your interests are, but you have Carlsbad, Anazasi cliff dwellings, Tombstone and great weather that time of year. You may want to also check the campgrounds........some are seasonal and close for the winter. I think the KOA in Cody WY closes soon if not already. Welcome to the Forum and enjoy your travels! Blake

Joe, Good observation. The Ram truck stop lights aren't as bright as I would like. But, the Mall Crawler lights are as bright as the factory. Blake

RodgerS, Sounds like an interesting course for someone that wants to be certified technician to perform PDIs. But not for me. Before we bought our coach we studied, drove and asked a lot of questions to owners of all sorts of RVs. Although we had owned several RVs before, I soaked up as much information as I could. After a few months we made the decision to purchase what we have now. Eleven years later, I am still learning and enjoying the RV lifestyle more than ever. Looking back.....the coach we own now may not have been the coach we would buy today. Just because our travels and interests are a bit different now. Thinking about it, we probably would have opted for a 45' with a tag axle given what we do now. That is, we're burning miles on the open road rather than tooling around the High Sierras when we first bought. No amount of study and schooling could have changed that decision. I kind of look back at my career in the real world. I worked with a petroleum engineer with great credentials and extremely bright. He could cite theories and equations at the top of his head. I never thought I could compete with the likes of his intelligence. But what I realized, he could never pull the plug and write programs that led to the bottom line. Others said he had analysis paralysis. I used this advice to help me get off dead center when we purchased this coach. So, really no regrets. Just like our home and property, when stuff goes bad (s*$t happens) I figure out what to do. Either from folks that have been there, done that.....or, by research through great forums as this. I hope I don't sound condescending but if so, I apologize. Just my opinion. Blake

Bill.....thanks for the tip. I finally registered on Cummins Quick Serve after getting our engine serial number. I couldn't fit my fat head in to find the serial number but found it on a Cummins West invoice. Joe.....you were right. Engine has a build date of 24 November 2004. Errr....day before Thanksgiving! Still awaiting word from Monaco on the chassis data. Blake

Carl......Troop 133 out of Bakersfield was always the best. Especially at Jamboree! We used to go to Red Rock Canyon in the winter because of the mild weather. You probably remember how the wind blows there......well....one Thanksgiving I made the mistake of deep frying a turkey......grittiest turkey we've ever had. Blake

Joe, the top set of batteries are tied down with the original straps. The lower set (house) are just sitting there. Those straps are long gone. I have a mild concern about the condition of the trays although they slide fine. Once we get back home I'll remove the batteries, spray the compartment and trays then coat with spray on rubber liner (Rhino-ish). Deb is pretty good at sourcing stuff. Lemme see if she is willing to look for straps! Carl, really fortunate that the trays slide in and out. When we decided two house batteries wouldn't serve our needs we were Boondocking in Phoenix at the Sam's Club. We traded in the two batteries that were toast and bought four 12v deep cycles. Did the conversion in their parking lot with permission of the manager. Blake

Ditto Bill's comment regarding Blue Ox. We did same for '07 Ram truck years ago and '16 Grand Cherokee a couple of weeks ago. Blake

I'm kind of like Herman with respect to batteries. We are using wet cells and seem to have enough Boondocking power for our needs. Our coach was poorly equipped with respect to batteries when we bought it. It had: 1 -12v chassis battery 2 -12v house batteries. Our chassis battery was not on the charging circuit so I hard wired in a maintainer and plugged it into the A/C outlet in the engine compartment. We always plug the coach in at home and the maintainer has always kept our chassis batteries fully charged. To combat the lack of overall juice I installed: 2-12v big rig batteries (Sam's Club) 4-12v deep cycle batteries (Sam's Club) I know, I know, I know......our battery compartment is horrid and needs attention! I just wanted to show how our set-up is now. Wish I had a picture of the original set-up! Blake

Got it......thank you Joe!

IDavid33, Here's a couple of options for you when you're in the Death Valley and Sierras (our old stomping grounds for 50 years before we left for Texas). Another place we enjoyed out in the Desert is Red Rock Canyon. It's a State Park with spaces that will accommodate your pusher. No hookups so Boondocking all the way. Nice walking trails and very different scenery vs. the High Sierras. We've visited Yosemite several times. Hard to get camping reservations but there are several RV parks just outside the entrance. Try Oakhurst and Coarsegold. In February you will encounter high elevation winter weather. We've done highway 101 north into Oregon via 299 from Interstate 5 in our pusher and toad. Beautiful ride with some very tight turns and steep hills. We took it easy and had no problems. Overnighted in a rest stop on 299 and woke up to an inch of snow on the coach! Welcome to the Forum and enjoy your trip! Blake

Haha Jim....that's a first for me. I've never heard the "mall crawler" term before. Deb has a larger SUV and she calls it a "grocery getter". Our son is a huge Jeep nut off roader. When we were searching for a new vehicle to drag behind the coach he strongly suggested one similar to Joe's. So, we looked and drove, but just too hard to get in and out. Especially for some of the older relatives that ride along with us sometimes (87 y/o in-laws). Thanks for the compliment Carl and Joe! Blake

We've had our coach for just over 11 years now. It's approaching 50,000 miles with 13,000 of them put on within the last year. We've always had the generator and engine serviced regularly and have serviced other systems from what we've learned on this forum. Example: air dryer and filter, air governor etc. Our coach has always been garaged when not in use. We always get comments that our coach "looks" brand new and folks are amazed it's 11 years old. Given it's age, we're working on upgrading some interior features such as flooring and sofas......much like folks do on their traditional homes. LED light conversion is done along with some new fixtures. Have also upgraded the tube TVs to HD flat screens, over the air antenna and satellite dish. RV salespeople......we've had many RVs throughout the years. My philosophy is, homework before purchase is very important. The salesperson's job is to sell you an RV. You are the only one who is interested in the best bang for your $$'s. Even worse is a salesperson that has never owned and RV. Blake

We're actively looking for a residential fridge to replace our Norcold 1200. Up until the trip we are on now, our Norcold has been working fine but now does not work well when using LP. I know Rich and Joe have recommended running on LP to reduce the risk of fire but we are now on electricity to keep our perishables from spoiling. After reading other posts regarding conversions here's my thoughts. Safety.....reduce risk of fire by replacing Norcold with a residential unit. Space limited.....we have a furnace under our Norcold. I've peeled back some of the trim pieces and removed the furnace cover in attempt to get true maximum dimensions for the new fridge. I don't think I can get true dimensions without totally removing the Norcold though. New fridge....once we locate a fridge that will fit, determine how to get it into the coach. It may not go through the door and our largest window is the driver's side. Don't want to take the windshield out! So, If we can't get the new fridge in will have to recycle thoughts and perhaps look for a different fridge. New fridge....I think our Norcold has a total capacity of just under 11 cu. ft. A small residential has at least 15 cu. ft. Much more room for beer ! Budget....replacement Norcold 1210 is $3500! I'm sure I can install a residential unit for a fraction of that cost even if I have to do some cabinetry work. Boondocking....Yes, we find ourselves without shore power on occasion. Most recently during race week at Talledega and Walmart parking lots. At Talledega we ran the generator during the day for air conditioning and set the generator to auto start during the evenings. Our current configuration is 4 wet cell 12v batteries for the house. Inverter....have to understand if our current inverter will support the new fridge with respect to sine wave and wattage. For now......considering buying a basement fridge and making do with that until we get home to rip out the Norcold. Haven't totally decided yet. Question....It looks like I have plenty of room to modify the furnace cabinet to gain some vertical height. Is there a minimum headspace requirement for the furnace? I guess I should research installation requirements for that. Question, Joe.....please see attached picture. We have a trim piece above our Norcold. Did you find you had extra space above your Norcold that gave you more vertical height? Other thoughts I haven't considered? Thanks folks......Blake

Joe, You do absolutely amazing work from engineering, project design and installation. Much beyond my paygrade! I'm gonna have our mechanical guy look at your post and see if he can perform same. Like you, I want to insure reliability over better performance. But, I don't know what I don't know, but everything you and others have said makes a lot of sense! Thanks for the documentation of the work! Blake

Roland, Hopefully you'll notice a difference in ride after you change your shocks. We changed from Monroe to Bilstein and noticed a huge difference. Then upgraded tires to Michelin and another big improvement! Our coach has much better road manners on highways that are in ill repair. We have always slowed down on bad roads but the coach handles better when roads are rutted, have potholes or changing lanes with different elevations. Please let us know your thoughts. Blake

Joe, Once we get settled in to our destination I'm gonna call Monaco with our chassis serial number and see if they have records of what chassis we have and get specs. With a March 2005 build date I'm wondering if the chassis and engine is a 2004. We toured the factory in Oregon and watched how the chassis and coaches were assembled. At the time, they only built Dynasty's, Executives and Sigs in Oregon. Our coach was built in Wakarusa Indiana......not sure where the Roadmaster chassis was built (yet). Blake