fagnaml

I've enjoyed reading the many responses which were great as usual ! Since my original post two months ago, there has been a big wave of colleagues my age and a bit younger who gave "two weeks" notice to retire on May 31 (today) as the PBGC and 30 year Treasury rates used to determine their heritage company "lump sum" pension are quickly increasing (higher interest rates = small lump sum pension amounts as big as $100,000 -$250,000 depending on years of service). These colleagues begin retirement tomorrow, June 1, with absolutely no idea of how they will spend their days in retirement. The general response was 'I'll figure out what I will do later". Having no plan for use of retirement time would be very uncomfortable for the long time Operations Manager / Project Manager in me. "Plan the work / work the plan" is engrained in me. I'm not a "shoot from the hip" style my colleagues have suddenly become. Guess I'm too regimented in what I do?

This past February 1, 2022 at age 62 I celebrated my 40th service anniversary with my large energy company employer. During the service anniversary I had several colleagues of all ages asking me when I would retire. My response was "in a couple of years" but if being really honest at the moment my answer is "I don't know". I greatly enjoy my senior manager role in the company, enjoy my team which spans three generations (Millenials, Gen X'ers, and a couple of Boomers), enjoy the business contributions my team makes, etc. I (and especially my wife) like very nice compensation package. The wife and I are financially ready for retirement with a very significant nest egg (nice size 401k account, good pile of company stock awards and rather big lump sum pension monies waiting). I'm not physically, emotionally, mentally ready to "slow down" yet. I don't want to be like several somewhat older colleagues who retired and after six months returned to full time jobs because they didn't know what to do with their time. Several forum members have very successfully crossed the bridge from full time career to a very enjoyable retirement. My questions for the "retirees" are: How did you know when it was time to retire? Did you develop a plan for how to spend your time in retirement or just "go for it"? How long before retirement did you start thinking /planning your retirement before making the decision to retire? I have no fears about finances in retirement. My fear is not yet knowing how to spend my time during retirement. I don't want to become one of those grumpy old men who sits in a recliner watching cable news all day and complaining about everything. Thanks in advance for your insights.

Thanks for the responses! Seems like general consensus now on FMCA and iRV2 is when in storage, turn the residential type refrigerator off (with breaker off) and open doors to prevent mildew from forming. I did fail to say in my original post that I have the 21 cu.ft. Whirpool "french doors" refrigerator that thus far has been trouble free!

On the iRV2.com forum, the owner of a 2018 Newmar Dutchstar posted that his residential refrigerator had failed cooling and was asking about how to remove the refrigerator. Within that long string of comments, one forum member stated that "owners of residential refrigerators turn of the fridge while the coach is in storage for months which is not good. Residential refrigerators are not designed for infrequent use". When putting my coach into storage for weeks, even months at a time, I turn off my residential refrigerator, trip the breaker (so lights in fridge are off) and open the doors to prevent mold from growing. After reading the comment that "refrigerators are not design for infrequent use" I wonder if my practice of turning off my fridge while in storage. What is the advice from the forum on shutting off / not shutting off a residential refrigerator while a coach sits in storage?

Wayne - I initially missed your comment about your wife's opinion of "roughing it". My lovely bride is "Mrs. Picky" for RV parks with Buckhorn Lake RV Resorts in Kerrville, TX as her "measuring stick" for all other RV parks. The RV parks I choose need to come close to Buckhorn Lake quality or she ain't totally happy. And you likely are very familiar with the phrase "happy wife = happy life".

Responding to Bill's original post, being an upper level manager at a Midstream / Downstream / Chemicals energy company and with 2021 being another very difficult financial year due to Covid, I didn't get many chances to take time away from work except for a few long weekends with my lovely bride. Those weekends included: 1) A trip to the Texas Hill Country last March for the "Wine and Wildflowers Journey" Passport event on the Texas Wine Trail (needed a lot of wine to reduce my stress). We stayed at the Buckhorn Lake RV Resort in Kerrville 2) A trip to San Antonio in May to explore the many historic Missions in the San Antonio area and dine on the River Walk. We stayed at the Alsatian RV Resort in Castroville 3) Our "dry camping" outings were weekend outings to Baton Rouge for LSU's four home game against SEC conference opponents. We travelled to Lake Charles on Thursday afternoons of those weekends to spend the night at the A+ RV Park near Sulphur, LA to have dinner with youngest son and his wife and kids, get our good Cajun vittles at Rouse's Market, fill the fresh wat tank on Friday morning a drive to Baton Rouge for two nights of dry camping with many other motorhome owners / LSU fans. All six outings were within a "huge" 300 mile radius of Houston so our total travel distance was a very disappointing 3,200 miles. The number of states visited was a dismal grand total of two (if traveling in state counts!!). Even though the weekend adventures were few and the distance travelled small, each outing was extremely enjoyable with the wife in the Hill Country and with family and friends in Baton Rouge. LSU defeating Texas A&M (again!!) was an especially enjoyable weekend.

Thanks for the quick responses! I'll clean / lubricate the rams as suggested (a maintenance task I haven't done on this coach). I submitted my jack's retraction issue to Equalizer Customer Support Team and received the following response below. If I do have a bad "pressure switch" on the levelers hydraulic system, is replacing that switch a DIY job? Likewise, if I have a wiring problem for the pressure switch is that a DIY effort? I appreciate any thoughts / insights / guidance the "forum wizards" have! ===================================================== My Submission to Equalizer: Please describe your Service/Support needs or Questions During outings to LSU football games this past fall, to retract the leveling jacks required pushing the "All Retract" button at least twice (and occasionally three times) for the leveling jacks to fully retract. The hydraulic fluid reservoir is full (no leaks anywhere). I would think the leveling jacks would fully retract with one push of the "All Retract" button. My controller looks like Auto Level Keypad #3103. Any suggestions on what I need to adjust / fix so that the leveling jacks fully retract with one push of the "All Retract" button? Thanks for the help!! The Response from Equalizer: You are having issues with the pressure switch signal. To trouble shoot, go to the hydraulic pump look for a YELLOW wire WITH A BLACK STRIPE it goes to the pressure switch. Disconnect it from the pressure switch and put it to ground, you can use the same ground stud on the side of the pump. But make sure it is connected to ground. Once that wire is grounded, extend both front and rear jacks just to get the indicator lights to turn “on” then hit the “all retract”, the system should start running. Outcomes: The system runs continuously - it means the pressure switch is bad Or The system shuts off between 5-7 seconds - that means that you have a bad connection on that yellow wire with black stripe. It is either broken somewhere or it came off the plug somewhere on the harness connection

While my coach is in storage for the six weeks, I'll have a few weekends to do some minor maintenance work. One item I'd like to address are my leveling jacks. I have an Equalizer leveling system on my coach that generally works well. However at the end of all seven LSU football weekends this past fall, the leveling jacks would not fully retract with one push of the "All Retract" button on the controls keypad. Most times I had to push the "all retract button" twice (a few times three times) for the jacks to fully retract. Outside of checking the hydraulic oil system (reservoir is full, no leaks) I don't know what else to try to get the jacks to fully retract with one push of the button. To compare and contrast, my prior coach had a Lippert leveling system that with one push of the button would fully retract the jacks. The Equalizer Leveling System looks like this --> https://eqsystems.us/product-category/motorhomes/class-a-diesel/ My keypad controller is this one --> Auto Level Keypad #3103 - EQ Systems What thoughts does the forum have as to why I need to push the "all retract" button at least twice to get the jacks to fully retract? Thanks for the help!

Nav1 -- Welcome to the forum ! Congratulations on both of your retirements and thank you for your many years of military service ! There a many, very knowledgeable forum members willing to help each other at anytime. You will enjoy the many adventures you have with your motorhome. As others have stated, start with some sorter mileage outings to learn the nuances of your coach and fix any problems that occur. Then start the longer mileage / duration outings. Regarding your comments about "being locked up in your home for two years" in the age of Covid and RV is an extremely safe way to travel and see any area of the country. At the end of each day the only "viruses/germs" you come home to are "yours"! Never be hesitant to ask the forum for help and guidance. When you have a moment, please create a "signature block" like mine and many others that states your coach year / manufacturer / model , your "toad" vehicle and any other pertinent information for forum members to easily view and provide guidance. Again, welcome to forum and best wishes for many safe, enjoyable outings with your coach!

I'm hoping the Houston RV show is a "go" this year but never know what the Harris County Judge will dictate about use of county facilities especially with lots of Omicron running around.

I had the same thought during the last few weeks. I was attributing the lull in discussions to the end of RV/camping season and our motorhomes going into winter hibernation. 😴

Quick update on my vandalism / theft. The thief was caught a week ago by Sheriff deputies who had increased patrolling of RV storage facilities. The thief confessed to breaking into all of the affected storage facilities and stated he was looking for small items "to hock" and for alcohol. Don't know yet what charges, bail, etc. will be filed. Regarding my busted 24" x 48" frameless, double-pane window. The window is manufactured by Hehr which was acquired by Lippert a couple of years ago. The window must be manufactured meaning a 4-6 week time before a new window is ready to ship. Then add another 2 weeks for shipping and installation at my local RV repair shop. The cost of the window is stunning! The price from Newmar Parts is $1,250 not including taxes and shipping! I have Geico insurance for my coach and thus far they have been OK to work with. The cost of the window replacement falls under my $1,000 deductible comprehensive insurance coverage which includes vandalism / theft. I tried extending the "no deductible glass replacement" coverage in the policy but the answer was glass replacement only applies to the front windshield. So, it's a $1,000 out-of-pocket expenditure to get the window replaced and having to wait 6-8 weeks until the window is replaced. A happy camper I am not! 😡

Thanks Herman!!

I agree! The website update resulted in this convoluted path to the Forum. Prior to this change, after logging-in the "Forum" was a simple "button" at the top of the FMCA home page. One of the great benefits of FMCA membership is the Forum which always has great members and great advice. Can Herman or other Forum moderators influence FMCA home office to again provide a "Forum" button at the top of the home page?

I posted earlier today about the vandalism / break-in my coach suffered at its current storage location. About ten miles away from my current facility is an very nice RV storage facility that offers fully enclosed (but not climate controlled) storage with nicer amenities that my current storage facility --> Boat & RV Storage in Richmond TX | Luxury Boat & RV Storage (luxboatrvstorage.com) . My coach is 40'8' overall length, and I'm guessing ~10'6" "mirror to mirror" width. My question to the forum is which of the storage space sizes at this facility would be most appropriate for my coach -- 13'x45' or 14'x50' or 16'x55' ? My thinking is the 14' x 50' space would be most appropriate (?). My current storage space is a covered , drive through 13'x 50' space --> Grand Parkway Boat and RV Storage in Katy, TX. For the enclosed storage facility I would need to learn to back into a storage space. The space between storage buildings is ~65'. Is that enough space to somewhat easily maneuver my coach to back into a storage spot? Thanks for your thoughts and guidance!

For RV owners who store their RVs in the south Katy / Richmond / Rosenberg / Sugar Land area of southwest Houston, since last Monday (11/1/21) and continuing through yesterday (11/9/21) a "petty thief" has broken into five different storage facilities followed by breaking into higher-end motorhomes and fifth wheels. The break-ins are occurring in the 2 a.m. - 5 a.m. time frame. The thief (who appears to be a slender built male in security videos) cuts through a section of chain link fence surrounding a storage facility then proceeds to "pop out" a window on each RV to gain access inside the RV. Once inside the thief dumps drawers and cabinets looking for anything of value and liquor then quickly exits the RV and moves on to the next RV.In the wee hours of this past Tuesday morning, the thief broke into my storage facility and then broke into my motorhome. My drawers and cabinets were strewn everywhere but the only items the thief stole were a couple of carving knives and a 1/2 pint each of Bacardi Silver and Crown Royal. Other RV owners in my storage facility also had some utensils / knives taken along with any liquor they had in a cabinet. A couple of owners had iPads in their RVs which were taken. Other than a couple of iPads, the thief is not taking any electronics (TVs, DVD players, etc. are untouched).Thus far the RV storage facilities that have been attacked include Grand Parkway Boat & RV Storage (my facility), Katy Cinco RV Storage, ACE Boat and RV Storage, Accurate Boat & RV Storage and Affordable RV Storage. The Fort Bend County Sheriff Department's Automotive Theft team is working to capture this petty thief who is vandalizing individual RVs. Forum members storing their RV's in the Katy / Richmond / Rosenberg / Sugar Land area of southwest Houston need to remove anything of value from their RVs while this thief is on the loose.Attached are images of the frame-less window the thief pryed off of my coach to gain access.

This past weekend (10/13/21) while driving home from LSU's win over Florida, my Tire Minder TPMS system went into alarm showing my inside right rear tire pressure was down to 90 psi. I was in the middle of the 30 mile long Atchafalaya Swamp causeway and luckily could pull of on an exit to add air to the tire. I spent an unplanned Sunday evening with my son and his family in Lake Charles as no tire shops were open to provide help (Love's / Speedco said they will not provide tire service to RVs!!). Monday morning I took the coach to Southern Tire Mart in Sulphur, LA who "diagnosed" the problem as a "cut grommet" on the bottom of the valve stem and they proceeded to change the valve stem. The repair bill was $40. Filled the tire to 120# and started the drive to my home in Katy, TX. Throughout the Sulphur to Katy drive the tire pressure slowly dropped and was down to 100# when I arrived home. This morning took the coach to Southern Tire Mart in Katy and they found the source of the leak at the bottom of the valve extension the previous owner used. The rubber gasket at the bottom of the valve extension was "gone" when it was removed from valve stem (I don't know the manufacturer of the old extension). I purchased a new Milton brand valve extension to attach to the inner wheel valve stem --> Milton 4-1/8in. Truck Valve Extension | Northern Tool The valve extension is supported by a spring type "stabilizer" --> Wire Valve Stem Extension Stabilizers 4" - Always Shiny Wheels and RV (shinyrv.com) Without the valve stem extension, for me it is a very painful knuckle scraping, back breaking, contortionist effort to reach the valve stem to check inner tire pressure, add air if needed, attach my Tire Minder TPMS transmitter valve stem cap, etc. while reaching full arm length through small 3"x4" oval hand-holes in the wheels to reach the inner wheel valve stem. It's likely the previous owners had similar painful experiences which is why they installed the valve extension. Do my fellow forum members use valve stem extensions for your inner wheels of your rear duallies? If the answer is "no", how do you reach the inner wheel valve stem to check tire pressure et al without getting bloody knuckles, bruised forearm, sore back, etc.? If the answer is "yes", what do you do to prevent a leak from the extension? Thanks for your thoughts and suggestions!

Patriot -- When I purchased my coach 2-1/2 years ago, it had OEM Michelin XZA2 tires which at the time were less that four years old. Six months after purchasing the coach, those OEM Michelins developed a rather significant amount of sidewall cracking on all four tires (the previous owner stored the coach in covered storage). There are several posts on FMCA and iRV2 about Michelin tires suffering pre-mature side wall cracking. I replaced the Michelins with a new set of Hankook AH37 tires (275/70R22.5) tires for $375 each using the Hankook tire discount program that FMCA had at that time. Thus far after ~10,000 miles of use I've been very pleased with the Hankooks (especially knowing that they will age-out long before they wear-out). If you are the "typical" motorhome owner who only drives ~5,000 miles per year, take a look at Hankook tires and save some $$$.

rwhit -- Welcome to the forum! There are many great forum members willing to provide help at any time! Regarding your question, until 18 months ago I had Good Sam Roadside Assistance for my previous coach (2007 Damon Astoria) and for my current coach. I fortunately only had to use Good Sam help once when the serpentine belt on the Astoria shredded because the A/C compressor locked-up while driving home from an LSU football game on a Sunday afternoon on I-10 in Louisiana. It took Good Sam ~four hours to find a heavy duty towing company to that had a wrecker available to tow the Astoria to a repair shop. Being the first time to use Good Sam's service, I don't know if a 4 hour wait time was excessive or not. I was just glad a tow truck was found! 18 months ago when it was time to renew the Good Sam Roadside Assistance the annual cost had increased dramatically to $150 per year which sent me shopping. I decided to used FMCA's Roadside Rescue with Safe Ride RV Motor Club roadside assistance which has better benefits than Good Sam and purchased a two year contract with Safe Ride for $75 per year. Fortunately I haven't needed to use Safe Ride's services !! When my current Safe Ride contract nears expiration I'll compare the renewal cost with the cost for Good Sam and others. I view road side assistance as relatively inexpensive insurance to make life a bit less stressful. Also, if I struggled to get tire service through a roadside assistance policy, I would contact Pilot/Flying J or Love's both of whom provide 24/7 emergency service including tire repair/replacement. Again, welcome to the forum!

During my lunch time reading of iRV2.com forum, I saw this new posting and the words that came to mind were "WTF" !--> 🍺 Hold My Beer 🍺 on Twitter: "East bound and down 🍺 https://t.co/BcxS7yWJM3" / Twitter. Makes me wonder if all remaining intelligence in society has gone away. I'm anxious to learn the thoughts of the forum.

The answer for my new ask for help is probably posted somewhere in the forum archives but I couldn't find a discussion thread so here I go (please excuse me as I revert back to early days of Coach 101 class!). For seven years I hung "purple and gold" globe lights on the awning tube on my previously owned travel trailer and coach for use on LSU football weekends. Hanging the lights was easy using my three folding paint "step stool" --> RV Globe Lights Purple\Yellow 6 Pack (rvpartscountry.com) The awning tube on my current coach is much too high to hang the globe lights without using at least an 8 foot tall a-frame ladder. So, for the 2019 football season I didn't use my globe lights and of course last year their was not season. In lieu of the globe lights, would it be feasible to install a thin LED light strip along the back side of the "flange" of the slide-out without causing problems for slide-out operation? --> How to Hang LED Strip Lights - Video Guide Included - Lepro Blog I would not provide a permanent power / switch for the LED light strip -- I'd simply attach the power supply and plug into an existing outside receptacle for seven weekends each fall. Is the back-side of the slide-out lower flange the proper place to install a thin light strip or would the coach "wall" immediately below the slide-out be the better location? Any words of wisdom from the forum would be most appreciated! I'd love to "snoop" around a higher-end coach that came equipped with under-slide out LED lights to see a factory installation but am afraid of getting shot.....

The "fake leather" upholstery on my Flexsteel pilot and co-pilot chairs is cracking and peeling is several locations. I've learned through FMCA and iRV2 forums that this "phenomena" is common for Flexsteel chairs after about five years of use and Newmar is well aware of the problem. To remedy the problem Newmar can provide new upholstery at a 50% discount price of ~$1,000 but I have to find and upholsterer to install the new material. There is no recourse with Flexsteel as they exited the RV furniture business a few years ago. Mr. Google directed my to an upholstery business by the name of Tru Colors Auto Upholstery in Missouri City, TX (located in the south Houston area) who quoted me a price of $650 per chair, including the new upholstery, to come to my motorhome, remove the chairs, reupholster and re-install the chairs. They need 10-14 days to complete the work. Their price seems reasonable (especially compared to Newmar's price for just the upholstery material !). I also learned that Tru Colors Auto Upholstery is the "go to" business that PPL Motorhomes in Houston uses when RV furniture needs re-covering before placing an RV on PPL's consignment sales market. Is the $650 per chair reupholstering cost reasonable based on the forum's experiences? And for Houston area folks, has anyone had work done by Tru Colors Auto Upholstery? Are there other Houston area re-upholstery business I should consider? As always the forum's thoughts and guidance are very much appreciated!

Thanks for the prompt responses! My interpretation of the responses is for my coach a DEF Head failure is not a big concern -- correct? Jleamont -- Your comment about annually replacing a filter in the bottom of the DEF tank is the first I've heard of this maintenance need. I don't recall seeing any discussion on FMCA or iRV2 about replacing a DEF filter. The Lube Zone business I have used the last two years for my annual oil & filter changes, chassis lube, etc. has never mentioned nor recommended a DEF filter change. You stated that DEF tanks have a filter on the bottom of the tank. Mr. Bing search for images of a Freightliner Custom Chassis DEF tank doesn't readily show the tank having a bottom filter --> freightliner custom chassis DEF tank filter - Bing images And my Freightliner Custom Chassis Maintenance Guide doesn't mention changing a DEF filter. Can you and other forum members share additional info about a DEF filter and filter change frequency for my Freightliner XCR chassis?

Seems like I revert to Motorhome 101 class more often than I'd like. The iRV2.com forum has a new, very lengthy discussion about "DEF Head Failures" which per the discussion starts happening after about 15,000 miles of use and mostly on Spartan chassis. After reading this long discussion, I started to wonder / worry about the DEF Head on my coach which has a Freightliner XCR chassis that has 14,800 miles of use. Thus I'm turning to the experienced professors of FMCA for some basic education: 1) Do DEF Heads used by Freightliner have the same failure rate as DEF Heads used by Spartan? 2) Should a DEF Head be proactively changed at some mileage / age frequency? 3) Should a new, spare DEF Head be part of the "critical spare parts" inventory I keep (at the moment I only have spare fuel filters and spare slide-out controller)? 4) Do I need to worry about my DEF Head failing during a journey this weekend to San Antonio (wife and I are taking two of our younger grandkids to Sea World to give their parent some time alone)? Thanks for your thoughts and guidance!

Dcrawf -- If I interpret your last post correctly, you live in the great state of Michigan -- correct? Presuming the answer is "yes" I did a quick search on RVTrader.com for 2005-2008 diesel pushers within a 250 mile radius of Lansing and found 52 coaches in those model years for sale --> 48917 - Used 2005-2008 Class A Motorhomes For Sale - RV Trader From that listing, one coach that caught my eye is a 2007 Damon Astoria Pacific Edition 3774 for sale in Brownstown, MI --> 2007 Damon Astoria Pacific Edition 3774 For Sale in Brownstown, MI - RV Trader The Damon brand of coaches for some reason is not often mentioned probably because is an entry to mid-level diesel pusher coach in terms of amenities (Damon is much better know for their gasoline engine coaches). Damon merged with Four Winds some 20 years ago to form what is Thor today. A Damon Astoria is a great "starter" coach for first time motorhome buyers who, after some time, may love or hate the coach and RV life style. The build quality is not much different than that of current Thors (e.g. mid-level quality) but comes with a lower price tag than high-end coaches such as Newmar, Tiffin, etc. My first coach was a 2007 Damon Astoria 3774 (base model not the upgraded Pacifica Edition) that I would likely still own today if not for the vinyl graphics on that Astoria cracking and looking really ugly (the Pacifica Edition has full body paint!). My Astoria had very few problems and the beauty of a 2007 year model is that is the last year of no DEF / elaborate exhaust treatment systems ! Good luck in your pursuit of a new-to-you coach. Let the forum know what you decide to purchase!