rickkey2

As I understand when replacing or installing engine insulation in a DP especially in a rear radiator it is recommended to use fasteners and glue not just glue. The reason is that the air gets pulled in engine compartment and blown out the radiator to the rear. If the insulation comes loose it could be sucked into the fan and block the air flow or worse break a fan blade and damage the radiator.

I find that Freightliner is not bad on most parts . Example the air cleaner for my Mercedes 926 ( NAPA $249.99 ) ( Freightliner $111.50 ) also all other filter prices are good.

In our 2007 Charleston 40QS the dash a/c has always worked great, it puts out 50 degrees on high from day one. We used to keep our front 15000 btu unit set at 70 for those hot days when the dash unit would not keep up. We installed the curtain behind the front seats last year and have not needed to use the coach ( roof ) a/c unit. Now as Herman stated driving into the sun will change the situation and I just reach down and hit the generator and all is good. One thing I did do was to check all the ducting in the dash and found three ducts that were flattened with the wire harness laying on them and also kinked in a few spots. I rerouted the flexible ducting so there was no restriction and increased the air flow at least 50%. Now with the fan on high it really blows hard and makes a huge difference. Also makes a big difference when heat is needed and the curtain helps keep the heat in the front area.

Good morning everyone I view FMCA site daily and it is always very informative. I also view the Forest River Forums and find it to be the same, as there is a wealth of information there as well, but it is not just about coaches it includes all RV's and I find many things that relate to my Class A systems. I myself would love to have people with trailers , 5th wheels etc.. to join FMCA. We would get much more input and would boost membership greatly.

Sorry to have strayed off the windy topic was replying to Carl's reply. We have leveling jacks and was told if ever get caught in a high wind situation to keep slides in, dump the air and use the jacks not to lift the coach but to just take the weight to stabilize the unit. If you do not have to remain in the coach don't. But most of all DO NOT try to drive through it,find shelter and wait it out, behind shopping center ect...

When I level I use the two way bubble app in my smart phone and then confirm with bathroom door swing test then check again after I open slides. Large kitchen slide counter top ends up level, no egg on one side of frying pan.

RedandSilver I can understand that your trailer is 8ft tall that changing the camera angle would probably not help. It helped me as I am just looking over the toad but as another poster said I don't think that the majority of the big trucks out there have rear cameras but I could be wrong. I do know in the mid 70s when I got out of the service I drove 48 states for three years and drove trucks local prior to going in and there was no such thing as rear cameras and we went about our driving without any problems. You were supposed to get out and look before backing if you did not have a spotter ,( Imagine that how barbaric ) I think that you are very smart to go the cone and practice route and not be one of the NUTS that have no idea about this and just buy a big coach and pull something big and have no clue. One more thing is last year I ran into a guy at Daytona Speedway and he had a Dutch Star and was towing a 28ft enclosed car trailer that was 12ft 8 in high. What I noticed was that his hitch stuck out about a foot and a half and he told me that because his trailer was about as tall as his coach that with a standard hitch if he drove through a big dip such as a driveway out of a gas station that there is a chance the top of the trailer could hit the top of the coach. Makes sense to me

I think I knew that but I didn't want to sound like if someone doesn't have the same thing that they have a dumb wheel.

I agree, today's truckers seem to just not have the pride as they did years ago, it's just a job. I always flash my lights to signal that it is clear for the truck or RV to pull back in front of me and always flash my coach lights to say thank you when they tell me it's clear to pull in. Most big trucks have a switch for just this purpose. On our Charleston there are two buttons on the Freightliner steering wheel, one to flash the headlights and one to flash the marker and rear lights. They must have skipped that part in driving school. I adjusted my rear camera and I can see behind my toad and can see if I have cleared the vehicle I am passing , also I always put my signal on and wait for three full flashes before making my lane change.I was taught this 40 years ago by an old school trucker that I knew. And yes you need to use your mirrors and most of all common sense But I also have come across many RVers that also have no clue about driving etiquette and to be fair these are the ones that piss off some of the truckers and give us a bad rap. Need an education on both sides.

We got the ADCO covers on Amazon two years ago and are still like new and we live in the FL KEYS intense sun. I agree with Brett and Tireman9 about the light colors. When these start to fail I will definitely reorder the same. Also I have never had them blow off as they have an elastic band on the top third that goes over the top of the tire and I do not use the strap on the bottom because yes it is a PITA. My tires are 275/80 22.5 and I put them on before I dump the bags as the tires go up into the wheel wells when air is dumped. ADCO 3962 Designer Series Tan Tyre Gard Wheel Cover

Bill I think you are absolutely right. We have a much better package with our cell phone packages then we can get from OnStar. What my question is-- does OnStar have a more powerful antenna that (might) get more signal from a cell tower than the small antenna that is in my phone to act as a hot spot? We will test this out on our next trip and see if there is any difference in reception. As we have a one year free OnStar 4g WiFi service we will check it out and report back. And yes OnStar has different data packages. Thanks for the input. Rick

Thanks for the replies about OnStar. So it looks like it becomes a WiFi hotspot that has much more power than the antenna on your phone due to the shark fin antenna on the roof of the car. We have not had any problems in our past travels with my Verizon or my Wife's Sprint although the Verizon has better coverage and we do not need it for work as we are both retired We will try the OnStar on our trip to Maine in June as it came with one year free with the purchase, so they say but I bet you I paid for it somehow. Anyway it comes with 1GB of data per month and if I need to I can buy another GB for 10 dollars . That's just what came with the car but as Herman said it is a little expensive because it would normally be 200 to 300 per year for OnStar and not sure what the data plan would cost, but I'm sure that they have allot of different plans. It also said they use AT&T towers, Anyway we will check it out when we have no service on our phones as we both have unlimited data and hot spot on both our plans. Thanks, Rick

Just purchased a 2017 Chevy Cruze hatchback which is our toad on a dolly. We have WiFi from OnStar in this vehicle and wonder if anyone has used this feature to access the internet while traveling with your RV ? We have a WiFi extender and I have Verizon and my wife has Sprint and do OK most of the time traveling. Just wondering if at a CG such as Palo Duro in Texas we had to drive up out of the canyon to get service to pay bills and check email ect... Would the OnStar WiFi work without needing to go hunt for service? I realize the car needs to be running and I think you need to be within 50 ft so that would work as we have a 40 ft coach. Thirty to sixty minutes of run time and bills paid and emails checked.

Went online and looked up Power Gear Operation and Troubleshooting I found this. LEVELING SYSTEM RETRACTS WHEN KEY IS PUT INTO ACC POSITION PROBABLE CAUSE CORRECTIVE ACTION Improper wiring to 6 pin harness See TIP sheets 195, 196, 197, 199, 200, 204, 205. I am now going to try to find the tip sheets, also I called Power Gear tech support and they told me that Forest River must have wired it that way and he thought they might have done this as a emergency retract if the jack panel failed but he said that was just a guess. I also put a call into Mitch Wirt at Forest River but have not received a reply as of yet. Any thoughts or information on this please respond . Thanks Rick

I will try it tomorrow just to check but as I said I will follow the book and put the key to on and operate as I have done for years. as far as I can tell I do not need ACC for anything. If I want to play my radio with the key off I just need to toggle the radio switch to on and it powers the radio, no key involved. Just was not sure if ACC had anything to do with jacks . It evidently does but I do not know what or why?

Hi Brett it is a Power Gear system and it went to retract as soon as I went to ACC. all the lights on the jack panel were flashing and then stopped when jacks were fully retracted. I looked under the coach and all jacks were fully up. I put them back down and did it the way I normally do ( key to on and turned jack system on hit auto retract button and the wait light stays on until jacks are all the way up then light turns off. But as I said if I go to ACC all the lights on the jack panel flash until jacks are fully retracted. And I did not put jack system to on it just goes straight to retract?

Whenever I extend or retract my jacks I always put my ignition key to on ( one click to the right ). Today I was doing maintenance and had the coach up on the leveling jacks and went inside and for what reason I don`t know but I turned the key switch to ACC ( one click to the left ) and the jacks retracted. I was told and it is in my book to put switch to on to lower and raise the jack. Is this normal for this to happen when ignition switch is put to ACC when jacks are down?

I would much rather tow four wheels down but we use a Acme tow dolly with surge breaks because we lease our cars and cannot modify for towing and it keeps mileage from racking up.

I also hit my tv antenna but stopped as soon as i heard it as I was just pulling out of my site no damage. The very nice guy next to me also saw the near miss and told me that he hangs his ignition keys on the crank handle to remind him that the antenna is up. What a great idea, I do it all the time now and have sat in the drivers seat to start the coach and need to get back up to get the keys and crank down the antenna. Nice

As hermanmullins said if you are comfortable with your coverage that is what matters. I would suggest that you just check with your insurance company to see what they offer. I would have had no idea of the coverage that was included with my coverage with The Hartford if the rep did not explain it to me and read what was covered. To me it was as good or better than what the others were offering and is included in my premium . Take the time and check it out you just might be surprised.

OK it was a settling jack as Brett and others suggested. I jacked up and made coach level after checking my fluid with jacks retracted and slides in as my front slides are both hydraulic and fluid level was approximately 1/2 in below the vent / fill hole. I then did the blue tape thing and as I was doing the right rear jack I noticed the bottom hose fitting was ever so slightly damp with fluid , not wet but damp. I resisted getting a wrench to check tightness and just cleaned the area and treated it with a leak check spray that I had from my aviation days. I checked it the next day about 20 hrs later and the right rear jack had moved about 1/32 of an inch or less and the other three jacks had no movement. The fitting showed signs of fluid like sweating not really wet, so now I could not resist any more and put the wrench to it and backed off on it just a little then back to tight. Cleaned the area again , then I did the whole process over from start, let coach down then level again install new blue tape. It has been six days and no movement and line is dry. ( BY GEORGE I THINK WE GOT IT ) We are not sleeping in the coach so that will be the real test but think it was the right rear jack all along. Thanks for all the input from all of you.

We use the roadside assist that is included with our insurance from AARP The Hartford on our class A. They have the best coverage IMO. We have used the Michelin Advantage with FMCA to purchase new tires and saved 413.00 dollars. Last year had inside flat and called The Hartford and they told me road service would call me right back to get information. They called within 10 min and I told them I carry a spare unmounted. They were there in about 30 min and broke down the flat and mounted my spare and handed me a road service form to sign. I asked what I owe and he told me it was covered 100% by my insurance. I gave the guy a 30 dollar tip and three days later we were at a Michelin tire dealer getting 6 new tires the old ones were from were from 9 of 2011 it was time anyway.

Hi Bill F-111 & B-57 Canberra active duty and F-102 during my reserve time but had to cross train to cargo as they fazed out the F-102 and replaced them with C-130 to work as a air sea rescue .

Thank you I will check fluid level and report back with findings.

Thanks for the reply Carl and Brett. House and chassis batteries were replaced in April of 2016 and yes they are acid. Does not mean one or more could not be defective but I did load test and check water level and all is good. I am very anal about maintenance and specifications as I have spent my working career in the USAF and the aviation industry as a mechanic for 40 years. I think that Brett could be on to something with the settling jack because after a few days at a campground with a paved pad and have heard the knock I am ever so slightly off level on the right side really not enough to worry about but did change. When I level I do not use the auto level because by the time it tells itself its level it is way to high in my opinion. I got the coach level and installed two bubble levels and use the manual level mode. I will put jacks down tomorrow and lift it up to level and do the blue tape thing and watch it for a week and see what happens. I am on a level pad with 50 amp at my home so I can easily keep tabs on it.