tbutler

Here we go, this is an extensive listing. Colaw is located in the central US if you are nearby but there are salvage yards all over the country. These places do ship so you don't have to travel to get parts if a supplier isn't nearby. Another resource for parts, check out this recent posting. If you just need a replacement part for the door, not the entire door you might find what you need here.

Here is the link for the REV Group. You will find Monaco listed on that page and can get to the service center and parts department from there. If you have your owners manual, the phone number listed in the manual still works and will get you directly to the Monaco Switchboard. You will want to know the last six digits of the vehicle serial number, not the VIN. Monaco uses that six digit number to identify all their coaches in their records. There have been numerous discussions and links to salvage yards but I'm unable to locate a link. I'm going to keep looking...

I had to look up RC7, I think we had one before I changed inverters, we now have a newer version but still an Xantrex model. The autostart function worked on the old RC7 and it works on our present model. I had to take it to the factory service center to find someone who could set the programming to get it to work. I tried for quite a time with Xantrex service people and couldn't get it set right. Once the factory got it set, I haven't touched the menu. I love the autostart. The factory service center even set it to automatically exercise itself once a month! We leave it on automatic all the time. If we need to start the generator manually, we use the control panel to start and stop the generator. Using any of the manual switches will cause an error condition that has to be cleared before the autostart will work again. That might be your problem or it could be in the menu settings which as Herman has stated, are written in Greek.

I've stated my position on this issue. We can always complain about how money in an organization is spent. The complaints only have impact if you are an elected official or talking to an elected official. So if you want to complain about FMCA expenditures, get the facts and then talk to those who can make changes. If you want to change the way the organization is run, put your name on the ballot. Membership numbers translate to more dues money, they also relate to the prices for advertising in the magazine or here on the website. Advertisers want to know how many members their advertising will reach. If the numbers are too low, advertisers can't justify spending big dollars. The numbers also impact the costs and revenue from events like the national conventions. If convention attendance drops, fewer vendors will show up at conventions and meetings. All these things impact dues. The less revenue from these other sources, the more that must come from dues. It's that or you start paring the organization back. Some members could pay more for membership while others would not be happy to see their benefits cut back in order to keep dues the same. So as pinch comes to shove, some will pay more in dues while others will drop out because benefits that they see as important are no longer offered or are at a cheaper rate through another organization. My sense is that the industry is in decline due to high costs of ownership, particularly for the most complex RV's, our motor homes. Couple this with fuel prices that were above $4.00 per gallon at times in recent years. The state of the economy following the 2008 collapse compounded the situation. Numerous manufacturers dropped out of the market, some restructured, and those still in the market frequently cut back their production and the number of models they offer. As the industry goes, so goes FMCA. There is a counter to some of the above. As the number of motor homes in service declines the bond between motor home owners becomes stronger. This could be a way of maintaining membership. My favorite example of this effect is meeting someone from you home state when you are in a foreign country. Suddenly you have a connection with someone who in most cases you would never even stop to talk to. Think about it. If you hear someone in your local Walmart says they are from your home state do you break into the conversation to say, so am I? But if you are in France, they are suddenly your new best friend.

I guess they were planning on the tank never leaking or needing any physical maintenance. Words like always and never will make a liar out of anyone eventually...

We returned to our winter residence in Edinburg, Texas, in Mid-April after a three-week trip to Tahiti that included a two-week cruise in French Polynesia. Living the high life agrees with me but all that food seems to find a home somewhere around my waist. Nine days after our return we were headed north in the motor home with friends accompanying us on the trip. The motor home had been in the shop for about six weeks during the winter, some repair, some upgrades and some maintenance. We also had the carpeting replaced. The upshot of this was that for the first time in thirteen years we had emptied the motor home almost completely. So we’re like newbees, having completely re-stocked the motor home we’re finding out what we forgot. The list isn’t short. We travel all summer long, visiting relatives, touring and attending conventions. We didn’t have definite plans for this summer, mostly visiting our children and grandchildren. In early March the bucket list came up and our friends suggested the Kentucky Derby. We gave it about 5 minutes thought and decided we were going to sign up. I had just seen an advertisement for Fantasy Tours Kentucky Derby Tour in the e-mail that morning. I thought it was for 2018, but no, it was for this year. Several spots were available and we signed up. From Edinburg to Louisville is about 1100 miles and we decided to make it a four-day trip. Doing about 300 miles a day would get us there on time. We planned to arrive on Sunday, a day before the tour started. At our first fuel stop our friends said their dash air wasn’t working. Consulting with the manufacturer, they checked the fuse and several other causes and then decided to run the generator and the roof air to try to combat the 90+ degree temperatures of south Texas. Our goal for the first day was to get through Houston before stopping for the night. We pulled into the Houston East RV Park about an hour before sunset. Problem two cropped up at this point, the single slide-out on our friend’s motor home wouldn’t slide out. In the morning, they were on the phone with the manufacturer again. After checking several items, it was decided that if they did get it to work, they may not get it back in so they are going to have to live with this until they could get to a repair shop. Our schedule didn’t allow for a day or two in a repair shop so we continued our journey. On the good side, departing Houston put us in lighter traffic on I-10 for the first hour or two. We stopped in Lake Charles, LA to refuel and it became a lunch stop. Departing I-10 to the north we headed for Hattiesburg, MS. That became our overnight stop, now about 800 miles behind us. In the morning, I followed the GPS and led us on an extended short cut on roads barely wide enough to allow two vehicles to pass. We all laughed about it later and it did cut off quite a few miles. Our trip continued through Nashville, TN and on to Louisville, KY. The problems with the slide out were solved by a careful reading of an on-line version of the owner’s manual. When we parked for the tour their slide operated perfectly. The solution was to hold the activating switch for 10 seconds which re-synchronized the motors. Later we learned that the dash air conditioner failure was due to a loose connection. They are on their way to the east coast and we are with my daughter and her family in Missouri. The Kentucky Derby Tour, that is another story…

And also to the families that stood behind them and supported them in their service and mourned their loss when they died.

Been there, done that. I paid $52.00 and that was in 2010. Small part but mighty important. If you want your clothes back, you've got to have it!

On our coach the freshwater tank is located by the fuel tank, right under the driver's seat. Needless to say, the waste tanks are located in the rear, just in front of the rear axle. So that establishes that there is no rule of thumb where to find anything in a motor home. If you have a water drip, it could be from any source, a low water drain, a leaking connection on the water heater or the water pump. I would start by trying to follow the water. Look above to see what is installed in that location. How you get into those storage areas is always a challenge. Sometimes removing a panel in the basement storage will help. I would suggest that you contact Fleetwood technical support. Fleetwood is now under the management of the REV Group. They have several service centers around the country. The last link has phone numbers for the service centers. You might try talking to someone in technical support for advice. You will also find a listing of dealers, another possible source of help.

I worked in a gas station in high school. Great job, meet lots of people. Those were the days when the station attendant actually pumped gas, for everybody. We washed windshields, checked the oil and tire pressures, etc. We also had two bays for changing tires, oil, belts, even spark plugs and exhaust parts. I did a little of all those things. And, in the spirit of all hot-rod enthusiasts, I did almost everything on my own '55 Chevy. Personally I gave up on most engine maintenance when I bought my first car in the 1980's. It was a matter of time or money, mess or clean, new tech or old. I did pull the alternator to have the brushes replaced a year ago on our motor home. A friend who has raced cars, encouraged me, saying it was simple. It turned out to be about the limit of what I wanted to do. It did save me a bunch of money, I didn't break anything (on the engine or myself) and I learned a little in the process. No way I'm going to mess with multiple gallons of oil doing an oil change or checking the chemistry of the coolant. The engine is way too expensive to be doing amateur quality work on it. That's my personal take on it. The frequency of the work is relatively light. With an oil change every 10,000 miles, it's a once a year even for us. The transmission change is every 60,000 miles. There are more filters than a gas engine and the filters aren't cheap.

Look carefully at the numbers Brett has given above. You see that 30A service gives you just 30% of the energy you get with 50A service. This is because 30A service give you one hot line on a 30A breaker. A 50A service gives you two hot lines, each on a 50A breaker. That means that you will have to compromise. If you are comfortable with taking turns shifting electrical use by shutting off one appliance to allow another to run, then you will do fine. We have functioned plugged in to a 20A outlet for an extended period of time when the weather is moderate. So it can be done, it is just a matter of accepting some inconvenience. We have propane on board and we use it for our water heater, furnace and cooking. At the present time that is the only use for propane in our coach. We do what is necessary to make it work. It is an inconvenience at times but one that we are willing to accept. It means shutting down an air conditioner so we can run the microwave. It means using fans to ventilate while doing the laundry. The big users in our coach are the air conditioners (2), the microwave/convection oven, the washer/dryer. The Intellitec system (energy management system or EMS) manages the air conditioners, the washer/dryer and hot water heater (which we replaced with a propane only model). It will switch these off and on to keep from tripping a breaker. It automatically senses 30A service and can be set for 20A service. We usually manage the electrical loads rather than having the EMS take care of that. It is nice to have as it does once in a while prevent making a run to the power source to reset a tripped breaker. As a practical matter, we seldom find ourselves using a 30A supply for an extended time. Occasionally when traveling we will stay for a night or two with 30A, that is the standard service in Canada. When we started out, we spent time at my mother's house, parked in her driveway, that was the 20A supply. Louise's mother had a 30A RV outlet and we did short visits in Lake Havasu, AZ living on 30A. Those were our most extreme experiences. Your generator will be valuable to you. In figuring the cost of running the generator, you must factor in the cost of routine maintenance and repair. Over the 13 years that we have owned our current coach, the cost for fuel, maintenance and repair averages about $2.50 per hour. We have more than 2100 hours on our generator.

I always specify the oldest date code I will accept. I try for and usually get very close to 3 months or less in age. Letting them know that when you order the tires takes care of any problems when it comes time to pay for them. In fact, if one supplier can't get tires that meet my criteria, I'll go to a different shop. In many applications, two or three year old tires aren't a problem. Put them on an 18 wheeler and they likely are gone in 6 months or less. On a motor home, it is the rare customer that will wear the tread down significantly in 6 or 7 years. We need to insist on fresh tires.

You have already narrowed the search to SUV's. Are you thinking 4WD or do you have another reason to specify SUV? Do you want a 4/5 passenger vehicle or would you prefer a 6/7 seat SUV? Do you plan to haul any equipment in or on your SUV? We tow an SUV that meets our needs but may not be exactly what you would want. Ours has 7 seats, a 2" receiver and roof racks. All things that I wanted. I would have preferred a 4WD but we don't use it that often so it is front wheel drive. With most toads (towed vehicles) there are things that you have to do to tow the vehicle. Permanent things like hitch connections and supplementary brakes are a given. We have to pull a couple of fuses. and run the engine for a short time periodically to circulate the transmission fluid. Our vehicle also has a 65 MPH speed limit when being towed so I have to keep our speed below that while towing. I suggest you continue to narrow your search by considering what else you want in a vehicle and then ask about recommendations on a specific list of vehicles.

Yes, the steering wheel locks when the key is in the off position. With two fuses pulled, the ignition is left in the accessory position and that leaves the steering wheel unlocked. The transmission is left in neutral. We do have to start and run the engine for a short period of time periodically, minimally starting out each day.

It could be that Hassell hasn't resolved the problem yet. This time of year there are many RV's that are coming out of winter hibernation. I agree that it is always polite to let us know what solution was reached. It adds to the value of this forum if we get final results on each problem solved. It isn't so much that we want to know we are right, we are more interested in learning more about problems with motor homes and how they were solved. I don't think it hurts to add comments to an older discussion, it broadens the discussion and may be helpful to others who are looking for a solution for their problem at a later date. In my post above, I point out that a Beaver, built by Monaco in 2007, probably has a different door mechanism than was described in an earlier post. I've never seen any Monaco with a door mechanism like the one pictured in Bills posting.

If you have the cellular (Verizon) service available, I'd use that. If the only thing available is the campground WiFi, I've used it. Years ago, it was often the only option. When you are on the WiFi, you are an unexpected target. Unless someone is constantly looking for an easy target, it is unlikely that anyone will find you and intercept your signal. I figured if I was on and then off again quickly, no one would catch it. I also don't leave my computer on-line when I'm not using it so it. If I'm not in a campground for a long time, it would be hard to catch me. I've been at this for seventeen years now and never had a problem. Check to see what documents are in your shared document folder. I once had neighbors who had a shared document folder with a file that had all their passwords. I periodically check my shared document folder and noticed that there was an unknown folder there. There was enough information there to let me know who it was. I knocked on their door and told them what was happening. They had no idea. They were sharing the folder between themselves and had no idea that meant anyone had access to it. You don't have to be on-line to expose that folder.

I believe your door lock in the Beaver is a different type than Bill described. You might try pushing on the door to relieve pressure on the locking mechanism. If that doesn't work, I would call a locksmith for assistance. You might want to try to get an RV repair shop to come take a look at it, they may have a better approach than a locksmith. Another alternate would be to check if any window hasn't been locked shut. It is possible to push unlocked windows from the outside to slide them open. If that doesn't work, last option, is to break a window. Check prices, go for the cheapest you can fit through! Even that may not help you. Once inside you can disassemble some of the locking mechanism and the inside of the door. That should allow you to release the locking mechanism. We started having locking problems one time. We quit using the latch and used only the deadbolt until we were confident that the latch had been repaired.

We're towing a GMC Acadia, before that a Chevy Trailblazer. Both were six passenger vehicles. For us, a 6 passenger vehicle comes in handy and when not hauling friends, we fold the rear seats down use it as our gym locker. Things like the golf clubs, hiking gear, tennis racquets, bicycle tire and seats, etc. Both had a 2" receiver for a solid bicycle rack. Everyone is different, if a 4 or 5 seater works for you, then that is the best for you. The Trailblazer was a 4WD and I miss that with the current Acadia but we only used it occasionally. The Towing Guide in the January issue of the FMCA Magazine (on line here) has information. Always verify this with the owners manual or with the manufacturer as sometimes they change their mind after a specific vehicle has been towed for a while.

That looks like a Thursday afternoon. I should be able to make this one! I'm looking forward to it.

I've had a Brakemaster system for the entire 17 years and 200,000+ miles on two coaches, two different toads. No complaints, works fine for me. I have their breakaway system installed as well.

If the power source is perfect 120V we can run two air conditioners on 30A but that is all. That put us right at the limit, about 27 or 28 amps. Any more the EMS will cut off one or the other. I suspect it depends on the specific model of air conditioner you have and of course it depends on the charge status of your batteries and any other loads that may affect your usage level. If you can run only one, at a time what Herman recommends will work fine. You can also do the generator thing on the 7 to 11 schedule. Keep the coach cool during the day and night temperatures may allow you to "coast" through the night or even open a few windows. Of course in mid to late July, it could be quite hot and humid during the nights. That's when we break out our Vornado floor fan. The first time we did one of these conventions we learned a lot about the limits of our coach. It made us much more confident for moving off the grid for periods of time. Look at it as a learning experience.

And here I had put the air bags on my don't worry list! Glad to have the information safely filed away. Hope I never have to use it... And by the way, don't call her older, she's a Classic! They don't build them like this anymore!

When we bought our first (used) RV, all the tires were the same date. I replaced the whole set at seven years age. Ouch, that hit the pocket hard. Over time, occasional flat tires, making replacements a few at a time, I arrived at a replacement schedule that works for me. When one tire in a dual set goes flat, the other tire in the set carries almost double the weight it should be carrying. That damages that tire. If you are driving and you can't stop immediately, that tire will likely be damaged beyond safe use. When this happens I replace both tires. But I put the new tires on the front axle and move the tires that were on the front to the rear, replacing the dual set that had the flat and damaged mate. Now, I do this on a regular schedule. Every two years I replace two tires, putting them on the front. I move the used front tires to the rear alternating from one side to the other. My oldest tires should be six years old and they are located in a dual set. My steer tires are always two years or less in age. I had a flat tire on the front one time, I hope I never have that happen again. Fortunately damage was minor but I wasn't able to maintain complete lane control and if a vehicle had been passing me it could have been a disaster. I've purchased tire monitors and watch my tire pressures carefully and have still experienced flat tires. Once on the rear it was a complete surprise, the tire monitor didn't sound an alarm until after the tire blew. Other times I've run over road debris, a cargo hook and just a small screw. In both those cases, the tire alarm allowed me to stop before the tire went completely flat. This pattern of tire replacement reduces the impact on the wallet, two are far cheaper than six. It also keeps relatively new fresh tires on the front, steer axle, where they are a most critical component of safe steering. On the down side, it does require mounting two new tires and remounting the other two tires and balancing all four if you balance your dual tires. It means a visit to the tire shop every two years, never my favorite day. It is working for me.

We do pretty much the same thing as mentioned in previous posts. When we start out on a trip like this, we may decide to alter our route along the way for one reason or another. Sometimes we decide to stay a little longer in one place, other times we may decide to skip a visit to get us to our destination on time. If a location turns out interesting we may contact the office early in the morning and extend our stay, a day or a week. This gives us near total freedom in our travels. We also exercise the option to park overnight with no hookups which can open up more options for stops along the way. It really is a gypsy lifestyle, rolling along, discussing our next stop and what we want to see. Usually sometime after lunch we'll gauge our rate of travel and if we want or need to be in a park for the night we'll pull out our information sources and start looking at RV parks in the vicinity of our planned overnight stop. This way we can adjust for those days when we're just tired of driving and want a little more rest time. At other times, we're close to being able to get to a desired location if we drive a little longer we can spend an extra day there. If there is a location or feature that we definitely want to stay for a while we'll make a reservation ahead of time. That can be a few days ahead as we are getting close or if we know it to be a popular resort location, or a holiday is coming up, we'll reserve weeks ahead. There are occasional compromises with this method of travel. The nicest park in the area may not be available and you may end up in a park which is "substandard" for your tastes but then it is only for a night. We did this at the Grand Canyon last summer. We had no advance reservations, called the day before our arrival and got a park. It turned out to be a real dud, couldn't open slides on one site, no usable electric at another site. So we started looking for another site further from the south rim. The next nice park was full. Still further south, we found a park with a vacancy. It was getting toward sunset and Walmart was beginning to look like our only option for the night. That park turned out to be a real nice find. We had to drive the toad further to get to the Grand Canyon but we extended our stay, spent time in that town, Williams, and toured other features in the area. We even made a stop there on the way back east and spent a day at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff. That turned out to be another highlight of our trip that we hadn't even thought of doing in making our earlier plans. Later on this trip we visited the north rim of the Grand Canyon. We stayed at a US Forest Service campground with no hookups. Following that we booked into a park for a long weekend just to get our laundry washed and get a some rest from several weeks of heavy driving. We made an impromptu visit to Zion Canyon during that stay. Got to experience a thunderstorm while hiking in the canyon (not in a flood zone). There is nothing like thunder in Zion Canyon. Just one more bonus item I didn't even know was on my bucket list. One of Louise's favorite quotes, "Life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving."

I wouldn't say there isn't such a benefit but there is nothing I can find under the benefits tab on the FMCA main page.