rpelatt

We have neighbors that have a summer home in this area. Now I see why. https://weather.com/weather/tenday/l/Petoskey+MI+49770:4:US http://www.petoskeyarea.com/things-to-do-10/ http://www.petoskeyarea.com/attractions-20/ https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g42590-Activities-Petoskey_Emmet_County_Michigan.html

We visited both Glacier and Yellowstone Parks last fall. We visited just after Labor Day and the traffic was not bad at all. We stayed on the west side of Glacier at the KOA, which was absolutely one of the most beautiful RV Parks we have ever seen. Well worth the extra few dollars. Also, it is less that a 10 minute drive to the park entrance, as well as they have Park shuttle bus pickup service that will pick you up at the park office and take you to various sites. For Yellowstone Park we stayed just outside in West Yellowstone at the Grizzly RV Park & Cabins. Again it rivaled the KOA in West Glacier for cleanliness, great landscaping, and extreme customer care at the front desk by way of giving information and pointers. One thing we learned in Yellowstone is that even though it was mid Sept. the crowds were still large enough that virtually all attractions other than the obvious big ones like Old Faithful, were next to impossible to find parking for our toad. So, if you want to visit some of the smaller exhibits I would suggest you book a park tour as when we drove through various parking lots looking (in vain) for a place to park, there was always room for tour buses to park. Enjoy your trip. Bob

I would suggest I-90 west to Butte, then I-15 North to Great Falls. IIRC it is about 70 miles further but probably less time in an RV due to the slowing for towns and livestock. There is a shorter route by going north from Billings on Rte3 to Lavina, then west on Rte12 to Harlowton, then north on 191 to Rte 87 which will take you into Great Falls. But this way is all 2 lane, lots of slowing for small towns and lots of open grazing areas, meaning livestock is free to roam right on to the highway. Either way is scenic. Enjoy the views. Bob

Just as Herman said above, I just replaced my 295's and went with 315's mainly because they are far more readily available, and even though they are the next size up, they were actually $60.00 ea. cheaper...through the FMCA Michelin program. Bob

X2 on the Good Sam planner. Bob

Our 2009 HR Navigator has the ISX650. There has been a lot of discussion of this engine on the IRV2 site. It seems this engine first came out around 2005 and ran up to 2010 in this form. Ours has 27K miles and is a total pleasure to drive. The power is nothing short of awesome. However, I do not push it too hard; I back off if the temp starts to rise while pulling long grades. For those that do suck a valve the cost seems to run $22K and up to $28K if it takes out the turbo. It appears that Cummins will pay around 50% of the repair cost. I stopped by our local Cummins shop a few months ago to pick up a spare fuel filter, and asked if they had any info as in bulletins regarding this engine and got a very emphatic "No". It would appear they still do not want to publicly acknowledge this ongoing problem. Also de-rating the engine to a safer HP does not appear to have any real bearing as to longevity, as the problem is really in the design of the head.This is just one of those designs that were not fully field tested before production started as all engine builders were under the gun to reduce emissions by a certain date. This was in the era where Cat just simply walked away from the on-highway engine market. We did buy an exclusionary warranty policy for our coach shortly after purchase so later when we started hearing of this problem we were comforted in thinking that if we experience a major failure that most if not all the cost will be covered by insurance. Good Luck in your decision...Bob On edit: Don't know what happened but I have posted several times on this thread alone as bpelatt (see post 18 & 23) Now my name got changed ?????

Yes, I have the exact same problem. We bought the Jeep used about a year ago, and even took it into a Jeep dealer. They had one of their techs come out and he said as long as it rolls free don't worry about it. I must say we have towed it over 7,000 miles with no issues. Bob

I assume you would be going into the Park and then exiting down the Beartooth Hwy. According to the Mountain Directory of The West for Truckers, RV, and Motorhome Drivers it says (in part) that the descent from the west summit is 22 miles of 6-8% grade The road is narrow and there are few places to pull off if need be. There are numerous 15, 20, 25 mph hairpin turns, many of which are unmarked. It goes on to mention other difficulties including a narrow bridge. I suggest you buy a copy of this book which has certainly saved us a lot of worry. They also offer an "East" version. Bob

I have a 1996 Lexus LX450 (same as the Landcruiser). It has a lift and large tires. I will be flat towing it this summer. In researching if that is doable I spent a lot of time on various off-road forums. I have learned that both the LandRover and the Toyota transmissions are similar in that they do not self-lube while being towed. The same goes for the T-Cases. I spoke with the owner of a well-known off road shop specializing in Toyotas and he has towed his 1996 LandCruiser upwards of 50,000 miles with no ill-effects. He did say that he disconnects at most overnight stops and drives it a little to be sure the internals are getting some lubrication but other than that he does not treat it any differently. He tows with the tranny in PARK and the T-Case in Neutral, the same way that Jeep recommends towing their full time 4x4's. In my case I have been able to modify the Blue OX brackets that were on my '06 GMC Pickup to fit the Lexus. I have spoken with Air-Force1 and they assure me their brake kit will also fit on my Lexus, so will be ordering one shortly.

Harold, Very glad to see you're happy with the results. I am very happy with ours as well but slightly nervous every time we take a trip wondering if this is when it's going to fail. Bob

here are a couple links to the ISX-650 problems: http://www.irv2.com/forums/f123/isx-650-dropped-a-valve-for-the-second-time-238170.html http://www.irv2.com/forums/f123/isx-650-cummins-137856.html

After reading this series of posts and a few others on other forums, I cannot imagine anyone wanting to get repairs at any CW. I for one, have not nor will ever deal with them for repairs. It seems to me that whether it's a franchise or Corp. owned there should be some accountability at the corp. end, and it appears they simply don't care. Bob

I just had one installed and the installer mounted mine on the dash. I questioned this and he said he'd done "hundreds" this way. Well, needless to say, when heading north we had very poor to no reception at all. When returning south, the reception was great. In checking, I have learned that if you have a fiberglass roof, you should be OK to mount the antennae up against the roof in one of the forward cabinets. Am waiting for a call back from the installer to re-locate mine right now.

I would suggest you join this forum: http://prevostcommunity.com/forum/default.asp There is a wealth of info there as well as the likelihood of someone that will know of the coach you are looking at.There are not that many Prevosts out there compared to other brands. Bob

On other forums these guys are considered to have good quality http://www.m4products.com/

Most saddle tanks have built in equalizers, but generally only one return line for unused fuel. Your return line probably is in the tank that measured the fullest. Try measuring them again after shutting the engine down and waiting a while. It should level out. Bob

When I was considering a mini for a toad, I got on Blue Ox's site and found they only make a base plate for certain model years of the Mini. As to installation, most any RV repair shop can install them. Bob

One of my bedroom windows as well as the bathroom window are egress style. Merely lift the red handles and the window swings out to allow escape. I'm pretty sure all RV's (or at least class A's) are required to have these.

Another thing to consider if you go with the Mont. LLC is you had better license your toad there as well, since having a Mont. tagged RV and an Az tagged toad would be a dead giveaway. This was one of the reasons we licensed in AZ. Another was the insurance issue. We have all our cars and home with the same carrier. They were not willing to insure any of our vehicles if they were licensed in another state. Bob

I too am interested in buying/towing a Mini. I stopped by the Mini dealer and was told Mini expressly states their AWD (any year) and either with an Automatic or a manual transmission, cannot be flat towed. Bob

Try lodging a complaint with the BBB in the state they reside in. Also, many States have consumer protection laws. You might look into that. Bob

When I had mine down to clean the air return there were small screws that I assumed were to hold the mirror frame in place. Not needing to remove it, I did not pay too much attention. I have had great luck in calling Monaco customer service with similar questions and they have been really helpful in e-mailing schematics. Bob

That appears to be very similar to my Holiday Rambler Navigator. If it is, then there are 3 bolts (one on each end, and one in the middle). the opposite (long) side is hinged. Unscrew the 3 bolts while someone is supporting the weight and it drops down with the hinge now carrying the weight. The mirror comes out the back. Any glass shop can replace it. While you have it down clean the return air screens for the AC units. (Edit) I should have mentioned, the bolts are located in the cavity between the mirror which is below the actual ceiling, and the ceiling itself. On mine, it was helpful to extend the front slides a little. The bolts are parallel to the ceiling. Hope this helps.

I wait until full pressure is reached and the buzzer has turned off before hitting the button for "automatic"

Isn't the 650 the same as the 600 but larger injectors and an ECM adjustment?