blakeloke

Tireman - where about in Tennessee are you? We are in Lebanon at the KOA. Blake

They are night races on Bristol's 1/2 mile track. The last race is Saturday night so no conflict with Monday's eclipse! Blake

This one Joe? Blake

Joe......here are the pics. The wood is the flooring that Ernie out down on the floor (engineered Acacia). The new step lights are from West Marine. Blake

Joe, Hopefully Ernie will post the link to the step treads. He did a great job on ours and we've had no problems with our storage compartment. I can post a picture if you want. Blake

We opted for the Nashville area because of the races in Bristol. Good chance that cloudy skies will hamper viewing of the eclipse. Ordered our viewing glasses last December. Blake

Hahaha.....yeah! Actually in Bristol, TN for the races this week. Then back to Lebanon for the solar eclipse! Blake

Carl, We are in Tennessee. Blake

Joe.....used your queue on the BFGs. Next year we will replace the tags. Tireman.....was hoping you would chime in. I thought interesting that we had that much slippage but honestly didn't know if that was normal. Then on to Lebanon for the eclipse. Blake

Replaced steer tires last week ahead of the current trip we are on. Long story short and after contacting several dealers in our area, we finally found a pair of BF Goodrich tires to replace the XZE Michelins. The Michelins were 295/80r/22.5. The Goodrich's are 315/80r/22.5 (ST230). Some points to note: The BFGs were covered through the FMCA Advantage Program (Michelin Company). Discount was about 10%. I found the tires through Snider Fleet Service in Houston. Was worried about degradation in ride quality but was pleasantly surprised. Straight line ride was about the same but maybe a bit stiffer due to higher load rating. Cornering and cross wind ride seems to be better. I think due to stronger sidewalls. Here's the interesting thing: As we were sitting in the office, and watching the service tech install the tires, the service manager said these tires, and most all, would "move on the rim" for up to 5,000 miles. Brother and I looked at each other and thought Baloney! So, before heading back home I took a Sharpie marker and marked the tire where the valve stem was on the rim. Lo and behold, by the time we got back home the tires had moved about 70 degrees from original location! Tire pressure had not changed at all. We are about 1,000 miles into this trip and it seems the tires have settled in with minimal movement. I've been marking and noting every evening we stop. I haven't noticed an imbalance since the tires have moved but will have them rebalanced once we get back home. Safe Travels and "Go Harvick!!" Blake

Thanks Joe.....I was actually surprised at the amount. According to the detail on the check we were awarded "25 of shares in the settlement fund". So, $37.11 per share. Court approved fees and expenses were $9.16 above that. The annual payments, over a 4 year period will total $927.75 (payments are of unequal value). Not sure how they arrived at the share number but seem to remember that a portion of that decision was for the length of time we had the refrigerator. In our case, we've had it since 2005. Blake

The Jeep is in the warehouse now.....but we'll be in Bristol in a few weeks! Blake

Today we received our first of 4 settlement checks from the Etter et. al. lawsuit. This check was in the amount of $228.90. We will receive the same amount each year until 4 total payments are received. At least covers some of the cost for the residential frig conversion! Blake

That's odd.....our 'Blue Ox baseplates came with the plugs. Good to know they are available in case someone "borrows" ours! Blake

gnmiller, If you are willing to store on the northside (Woodlands Area) you might try Free Eagle Storage. It's a new facility and very nice and secure. We have a 25' x 50' unit with 14' x 14' roll-up and a walkthrough door. 50 amp to each unit plus 15amp outlets. Although we have a home garage for our coach we have the ability to park our coach there with no problem. Currently we have a couple of cars, trailers and other equipment stored there. Number is 281 771 5575 Blake

We have a factory installed macerator on our coach. We've been RV'ing for decades and agree the macerator is slower. But, I've no problem with the time it takes because I don't have to fiddle with connections (hose is permanently affixed to discharge of pump) and I get positive pressure when dumping which works very well when on uneven terrain. Usually I dump tanks the night before we leave then do final empty as we break camp. The only problem we've had with our macerator (in 12 years of use) was when dry camping. To conserve grey water capacity we empty our dish water pan into the black tank via toilet. That particular time there was a utensil that got dumped into the black tank also. Once home I had to disassemble the unit to fish out the utensil (yuck). We're just a little more careful now and no longer own that particular utensil! Blake

gnmiller, Congrats on your new Newell! I did the flat tow set-up on our '07 Ram truck when it was new. It required removing the front bumper and valance and other parts. Not a hard job but took awhile. So, with our '16 Grand Cherokee, we had Action RV do the flat tow install. They are located in Conroe near the lake. Great quality work! In both cases we used the Blue Ox set-up. Current tow bar is Blue Ox Aventa II. Blake

Hi Mike, We too are prepping for the storm. Our coach is safely in the garage and generators are fueled up and exercised. You may consider renting a spot at Free Eagle storage for the period of the storm. It's a new facility, completely enclosed and MH spots have 50a hook-up. Largest they have is 25' x 50' w 14'h roll-up doors. Our coach fits in there but we have other vehicles and trailer stored there. Facility is off of 45n near Research (Woodlands). Blake

uh....doing dishes is a volunteer thing for me and I really enjoy it!!!!

Good point Bill.....great motivation. I didn't want to wash dishes with cold water! Blake

Folks, Wanted to post about a "fun" situation that Deb and I had on a trip we are now on. Yesterday after setting up and hooking up we immediately started the relaxing ritual (beer and wine). After dinner we discovered we didn't have hot water to wash dishes and take showers. My thought was that I'd get to it in the morning. The short version was that one of our Prevent a Freeze switches was not in "operation" mode which allowed the Swan switching valve downstream of the water heater to bypass to cold water. So, once I switched it to "operation" all is fine. We've never lived in cold climate and have never had to winterize the coach so the solution never crossed my mind until: I checked for propane. Gauge showed ZERO but I was certain we had propane. Broke camp, unhooked water and electric then drove to filling station. We only needed 19 gals of propane so now I'm really perplexed (we have a 60 gal tank). Came back to campsite and re-setup. Took both propane and electric on/off switches off and tested for voltage. Nothing. Checked fuses and honestly couldn't find the circuit. At this point a little more than perplexed. Next, checked the manifold block to see if hot water lines have been closed off and bypassed. Although we didn't have hot water we were getting cold water through the hot water faucets. Crawled into basement and traced lines back to hot water heater. Put my hand on the hot water heater discharge line fitting and lo and behold it was hot. I'm feeling a little better now since I probably have hot water. Further crawling around and I see a Swan Industries box that appears to be a mixer or bypass with both hot and cold water lines going to it. Got online to see what the heck is Swan Industries and I see the box and the Prevent a Freeze rocker switches. So, got up and fiddled with the switches and one was not set correctly! Well......now we have hot water and both electric element and propane burners are working. So, in my defense, this coach has only resided in California and Texas so we've never needed to winterize it and haven't camped in really cold climates so I never bothered to learn about the Prevent a Freeze system. Probably should have! Hope this helps someone else down the road! Do I get the DA award today? Blake

Good work nowronhere! Thanks for the update! Blake

Uh....Carl.....that would be Blake!!!!!

Joe.....saw some of the others too! A couple of years ago we were in New Mexico at a truck repair shop and out back they had a Red Bay coach that was a total loss. From the looks of it, the hottest part of the fire was where the fridge was. Thankful for the information from this forum (and you) that pushed me off the fence to get a residential model. Plus the need for cold beer! Blake

Was just perusing this website to answer another post. They post pictures of their totaled coaches in hopes to sell parts. In looking at the Monaco coaches I was amazed at the number of coaches that had fires at where I would guess the refrigerator to be. http://rvexteriorbodypanels.visonerv.com/cgi-bin/f/monacomotorhomeparts.pl? Blake