tbutler

We drove 287 in the summer of 2004, there were no low bridge problems along the route. We particularly enjoyed a stop at the interpretative center related to the Lake Hebgen Earthquake. If you have any interest in geology/earth history, this site is very interesting. We stopped at Missouri River Headwaters State Park for a day visit. We parked the rig at the visitors center and then rode bikes and hiked around the park. Doing this we were able to get in and out without unhooking. We also greatly enjoyed the Great Falls area with its biking and walking trail along the waterfalls on the Missouri River.

Not really an answer to your question but I saw Palo Duro Canyon and had to check out the posting. We had a great day visit there in 2003. We did a day hike to the "Lighthouse" with our daughter and grandchildren. It is certainly a beautiful part of northern Texas and a place we would visit again in the future.

If the question is simply how best to cut off the shore power, I would recommend building a simple switch box with plug and outlet on either end to be inserted between the power at the post and the cord from the motor home. Rather than cutting the coach power cord and inserting a switch that may not always be necessary, use the plug in switch box when needed and when the campground post has a breaker switch you can use that to cut off shore power.

So what's the story? Who kicked the cord and pulled the plug out of the outlet? Actually, I would love to hear the back story on the outage. I am guessing that the long time to fix the problem was related to some of the key staff being in Redmond. At any rate it is good to have the site back up and running.

I worked tires in a service station in my high school days. I leave that work to the experts these days. As Delta Donnie said, you are dealing with a very heavy vehicle. I would only tackle this project after doing quite a bit of reading and learning about proper blocking and jacking procedures. One slip up could cost you quite a bit of money or even more valuable assets - like an arm and a leg! When it comes to torque for lug nuts, I've had aluminum wheels cracked by over tightening. Check with the motor home manufacturer for proper torque for your wheels. You will need a torque wrench for the range of torque required.

Times are off until you select your time zone... At the top of this page below the two FMCA (brown) menus is a menu of your options. Click on My Controls and it takes you to a page where you can set a variety of functions. On the left side of the My Controls page is a long menu. Near the bottom of the menu is a heading "Board Settings." Click Board Settings and the top of that page will have the time zone settings. That should correct your settings - I'm set for central time but it doesn't compensate for daylight saving time (yes I have selected the DST option) so the -6 hours from Greenwich Mean Time gives me the correct time for the Mountain Time Zone where we are now! I figure I'm close with the Central Time Zone wherever I go and don't worry about changing it for an hour or two.

We haven't stayed at Wolf Creek Run but have traveled US 160 across southern Colorado and can tell you that if you get to the area and Wolf Creek Run doesn't suit you, you will find no shortage of campgrounds. This high valley area is a summer retreat for many hundreds of RV'ers. In fact if you get to Alamosa, you will be near the headwaters of the Rio Grande River. Elevations along US 160 in the area are between 7000 and 9000 feet above sea level and you will generally find mild temperatures. There are many RV parks in a variety of settings, something like the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. We are currently in Denver where the daytime temperatures are in the mid 80's to low 90's. This summer it has been fairly wet here. We are getting some afternoon showers, a few thundershowers, but not really heavy rains for the most part. Evenings the temperature is dropping into the low 70's or 60's. So this might be a good destination if you would like some big city camping. We're staying at a park in Golden, CO at rates of about $30 per night depending on your electric, water and sewer connections. We have all with 50A electric.

Thanks DEERICH and jimpat for alerting us to this lawsuit. Having the links to the news articles was really helpful in understanding the full nature of this lawsuit. This is a serious assault on our Wal-Mart parking privileges. It is hard enough to find a place to park 65 feet of motor home and toad for the night without facing the complication of liability for security. If a property owner is going to be held responsible for our security then there will be no more parking allowed on private property. The harm done by a lawsuit like this one is far greater for the motor homing community than any gain the individuals bringing the lawsuit might possibly receive. Even if they receive no monetary payment, harm has been done to the RV'ing community. Every retailer will be looking at an RV parked on their parking lot as a potential law suit. To the individuals bringing this law suit I would say, "Please drop this lawsuit immediately and publicly apologize to Wal-Mart. To do anything less will be extremely harmful to the rest of us who travel in RV's. Denying your responsibility in this confrontation and blaming others for what happened will not bring you any peace or dignity. Owning up to your own poor decisions is the first step in recovering from this unfortunate incident." It is hard to imagine this lawsuit is really being brought by FMCA members. If that is the case, I think it would be useful if the officers of FMCA contacted these individuals and discussed this issue in depth with them. Perhaps FMCA should even file a petition or brief with the Utah court in support of Wal-Mart.

We looked at property along the northern Maine coast and would have bought a place to park the motor home during the summer on the spot - but our family is in the midwest and west. We decided they might think we were determined to get away from them permanently if we did that! Still, it is a great place to spend some time in the summer! Enjoy your trip west. We're in Denver right now, highs in the 80's, afternoon showers, lows in the 60's. Safe travels!

Was the company guy from the company that installed the tires? Did they install new valve stems or check them? Seems like this would be their responsibility if they did the work. Is this a new unit? How many miles on the motor home? We've had metal valve stems and extensions on our motor home which is now approaching seven years old and never had a problem. I recently had metal valve stems installed on our car, 20,000 miles or so since then with no problems. For motor home tires at pressures near 100 psi you have to use metal stems with metal caps to ensure they hold pressure but they should be checked after install to be sure they are holding pressure. A little spittle around the base of the stem and also on the top of the valve to check for loose valve stem will let you know if they are leaking. Daily checks of tire pressure before driving will let you know if a tire has a slow leak. A tire monitoring system will let you know before a tire reaches zero pressure and it generally costs less than what you just spent on a replacement tire! To my knowledge there is no torque specification for valve stems. Check for leaks with soapy water or a little saliva once the tires are at running pressure.

These are pretty much buyer beware as far as I am concerned. I started this route with GS and had a small claim shortly after. Their response raised a red flag for me. In calling to file the claim before work started they were challenging the claim based on how long I had been under contract (they chose not to do an initial inspection). At that point I canceled the policy and haven't considered one since.

About 12 years ago Louise and I set out from St. Louis, Missouri along the Great River Road, one of our National Scenic Byways, to Minneapolis. We were riding a motorcycle and enjoyed the wonderful scenery while traveling the road. Much of that road is quite easy to travel in a motor home (don't know what kind or size motor home you have?). I would not hesitate to take this trip in our 40' class A with toad. Along the way you will be treated to wonderful views of the river (It is now full or over full, many flooded fields - wouldn't you like to know where all that rain that falls in Minneapolis goes?). We made it our policy to cross the river every chance we had and crossed about 20 bridges between St. Louis and Minneapolis. We went on to the headwaters at Lake Itaska but I'm sure you have already been there. On our return trip we crossed every bridge again so we traveled the entire route on both sides of the river. Along the way, we stopped at several locks and dams to watch the barges traveling up and down the river through the locks. As of a week ago they were still going through the locks. We enjoyed eating at local restaurants in small river towns along the way. There are river museums at several dams along the way and a military museum at the Rock Island Arsenal (Quad Cities area). Of course Hannibal, MO has the Mark Twain home and museum as well as the Mark Twain Cave which figured in his stories. You'll find artist colonies, antique shops, beautiful farm fields, fantastic overlooks and inspiring bluffs. There are all kinds of things to be explored along this route and I highly recommend it if you have the time to enjoy it - even if only for the drive and scenery. From St. Louis, I-44 takes you to Springfield where you can pick up Missouri Hwy. 65 S to Branson.

I would have auxiliary brakes on anything I towed. We started with a tow dolly and a Pontiac Gran Prix. I made sure that tow dolly had a braking system. No matter how light the toad, an auxiliary braking system will stop you in less distance. It is a simple matter of physics, the greater braking power you have, the faster you will stop. There are factors other than brakes, tire condition and surface area in contact with the road also affect your braking ability. Both of these are enhanced with an auxiliary braking system. You will have four more tires in contact with the road and helping you stop. The surface area in contact with the road will be increased by the contact area of those four tires. Finally there are factors that you can not control that affect braking, When the road is wet and slick, when the slope is steep and/or the traffic around the curve ahead is slowed or stopped, you will be thankful that you have all the braking power you can get.

So, we're talking college in 4, 7 and 8 years. The 14 year old will be driving in two years and start working a job to support a car so now you are just sleeping 4. You get the idea. We waited until the kids were out of college and we were retired before we took the big plunge. At that point our finances were much more stable and predictable. "It's a great little motor home." You know your finances, consider what you want and what you need. Keep the Greyhawk, move to a gas class A or go all in for a diesel class A.

Wingfoot Commercial Tire is a nationwide Goodyear tire dealership. I've purchased tires through them four times. Three times I've been quite impressed with their knowledge and professionalism. At the fourth shop, I felt like I had to train them in how to mount a steer tire, they wouldn't have checked for round or corrected an out of round tire unless I told them what to do next. Don't go to Wingfoot in St. Paul, MN! I've gone to a shop (TDS) recommended by Cummins in Denver - results weren't good. They cracked one of my aluminum rims (ouch) by over-tightening it. The vibrations in the steer tires were not resolved because they didn't check the roundness of the tires. Both these were pointed out at a Freightliner shop in Phoenix. Later a Wingfoot shop explained why the tires were so out of round and it related to the method of mounting them TDS used. The long and short of this is that I'd have a hard time recommending a shop. A key person may have left or retired and the knowledge is very hit and miss. Good tire people are hard to find. The Wingfoot shop in Kansas City, MO did a fine job for me. The Wingfoot Shop in Fresno, CA gave me some good tips on mounting steer tires. I'd recommend either of these.

I'm not familiar with the 2000 Beaver and the water tank system. A flanged fitting sounds like there might be a nut on the other side. Likely a soft seal of some kind that has dried out and hardened during a long period of storage. Replacing the seal and/or tightening the nut may solve the problem. Fortunately, Monaco was purchased out of bankruptcy by Navistar and now operates as Monaco RV, LLC. The parts department is up and operating so you can get parts for older coaches if needed. I recently purchased some parts with a phone call. The number is 877-466-6226. They are on the west coast so call after 8:00 PDT.

The heat of the hot water will melt a plastic plug. You need a nylon plug to withstand the heat. For a melted plug you should get a removal tool which is basically an easy-out for pipe. You will find them in the irrigation section at Lowe's or Home Depot.

Find a friend with a good set of socket wrenches. If necessary you may need to use an extension to reach far enough into the compartment to allow turning the ratchet handle. I consider a good set of socket wrenches an absolute necessity for doing any mechanical work. You might take a look at those available at Sears/Home Depot/Lowe's or other hardware stores. You can get a size like a 1" socket individually to match the rest of your set. A 1/2 inch drive set would be you most useful set, longer handle, better leverage and easier to get to larger sizes. I have 1/4 inch drive, 3/8 inch drive and 1/2 inch drive sets to cover the whole range of applications. I consider buying the right tool for the job to be a money saver. It might cost me as much as taking the job to a shop the first time but after that everything I use them for is free!

Mike, When you say the clearances are fine, have you considered the spacing between the rear duals? Tires that are wider will reduce the space between the rear duals. This space is critical to the tire function. The heat shared between the rear duals is the reason that they are rated at a lower weight carrying capacity than an individual front tire. If the space is less than required it can increase heat and result in tire failure. In a worst case situation, the rear duals can rub or scrape against each other causing guaranteed failure. This scrubbing happens as the tires make road contact and bulge slightly. An increase in width of 0.7" on two tires reduces the spacing between the tires by 0.7" which might seem small but there isn't that much distance to begin with. Running at a lower pressure may increase the bulge and further increase problems. I'd consider this change very carefully. Get some good advice from a tire expert and/or your manufacturer before making the change.

Besides the weight issue which is as Brett pointed out can significantly affect the load on the rear and front axles, there are cautions when maneuvering. The Bounder typically has a larger than average overhang behind the rear axle. That larger overhang will exaggerate the effect of the weight on the receiver. Since the Swivelwheel doesn't pivot at the trailer hitch, the entire unit swings with the coach. That means that you need to watch the rear of the coach/Swivelwheel combination carefully as you make sharp turns. I clipped a poorly placed power post when exiting a campsite one time. After that, I watch carefully as the rear of the coach swings in tight turns.

I just kind of assumed the toad is how you would carry them. I failed to mention trunk mounts as a possibility. If you have a car without a receiver, a trunk mount would be an alternative to the roof rack. There are possibilities for mounting on the receiver of the motor home but with a tow bar, there isn't really much flexibility in how you mount the bikes there. If your toad is a pickup truck then there are mounts for the bed of the truck to keep them secure. Lots of possibilities.

Just ordered a bunch of supplies from Monaco, they are very helpful and have all the records on older coaches. Give them your coach number and tell them what you need. Their phone number: 877-466-6226.

The following is a response I gave to a query about bicycle racks in the "introduce yourself" thread on the FORUM. I decided to post it here so it is more visible in a category that would be useful for others looking for information on bicycle racks. Regarding bicycle racks, I would look for one that can be folded down to allow access to the rear of the toad (assuming you are putting the bike rack on the rear of the toad). We got a bike rack for the ladder on our motor home to carry our grandson's bicycles last summer and it was quite unsatisfactory. I wouldn't recommend that route for anyone. Traveling with a Pontiac for the first two years full time we used a set of Thule roof racks which worked fine. When we went to the Chevrolet Trailblazer it had a 2" receiver and I searched and found a rack that would accommodate our Bike-E recumbent bicycles. Our Bike-E's were difficult enough to put on the roof of the Pontiac, I wasn't going to wrestle them onto the roof of the SUV. The rack I found was marketed under the name Draftmaster. The original company has since sold the product to Atoc, Inc.. That is a really cool rack which lowers the bikes to the pavement for access to the rear of the toad or for unloading the bicycles. It swivels back up with a lift from you when you are packing up to go. I have found it possible to remove the rack including the bicycles from the receiver so I can take them off the toad without having to unload each bicycle. This is useful when we need the toad but won't be using the bicycles. The down side of the Draftmaster is that it requires removal of the front wheel as did our Thule roof racks. Now I am seeing many bike racks that store the bicycles with both wheels attached. Some are made to clamp onto the frame of the bike (won't work with our box frame Bike-E's). Others have some kind of platform for each wheel or sometimes just a solid platform. Camping World sells one that works well. Yesterday I was directed to a trailer supply shop that has a web outlet. In fact, I think the web business is their primary business. Anyway, their lobby was filled with bicycle racks of all sorts. You might take a look at their web site etrailer.com for an extensive selection of bicycle racks. They carry Thule and Yakima and other major manufacturers racks and their selection is the most comprehensive I've ever seen. I didn't see the Draftmaster though! I found it easier to shop the web for bicycle racks as most bicycle shops only carry a limited variety. Once you have identified a few possibilities then you can shop bicycle shops (or outdoor shops like REI) to look at the actual rack and assess its quality and suitability.

Welcome Laura and Mike, We started green in RV's with a used motor home. I had done extensive tent camping, Louise had limited tenting. We jumped right into the motor home thing in 2001. Not only that, we packed it up, sold the house and went full time on the road. You have found the right place to get answers and help with your questions. Don't hesitate to ask for help with just about anything. Regarding bicycle racks, I would look for one that can be folded down to allow access to the rear of the toad (assuming you are putting the bike rack on the rear of the toad). We got a bike rack for the ladder on our motor home to carry our grandson's bicycles last summer and it was quite unsatisfactory. I wouldn't recommend that route for anyone. Traveling with a Pontiac for the first two years full time we used a set of Thule roof racks which worked fine. When we went to the Chevrolet Trailblazer it had a 2" receiver and I searched and found a rack that would accommodate our Bike-E recumbent bicycles. Our Bike-E's were difficult enough to put on the roof of the Pontiac, I wasn't going to wrestle them onto the roof of the SUV. The rack I found was marketed under the name Draftmaster. The original company has since sold the product to Atoc, Inc.. That is a really cool rack which lowers the bikes to the pavement for access to the rear of the toad or for unloading the bicycles. It swivels back up with a lift from you when you are packing up to go. I have found it possible to remove the rack including the bicycles from the receiver so I can take them off the toad without having to unload each bicycle. This is useful when we need the toad but won't be using the bicycles. The down side of the Draftmaster is that it requires removal of the front wheel as did our Thule roof racks. Now I am seeing many bike racks that store the bicycles with both wheels attached. Some are made to clamp onto the frame of the bike (won't work with our box frame Bike-E's). Others have some kind of platform for each wheel or sometimes just a solid platform. Camping World sells one that works well. Yesterday I was directed to a trailer supply shop that has a web outlet. In fact, I think the web business is their primary business. Anyway, their lobby was filled with bicycle racks of all sorts. You might take a look at their web site etrailer.com for an extensive selection of bicycle racks. They carry Thule and Yakima and other major manufacturers racks and their selection is the most comprehensive I've ever seen. I didn't see the Draftmaster though! I found it easier to shop the web for bicycle racks as most bicycle shops only carry a limited variety. Once you have identified a few possibilities then you can shop bicycle shops (or outdoor shops like REI) to look at the actual rack and assess its quality and suitability.

Welcome to the forum Jim and Sherry, We're in MO right now visiting with family. I'm a MO lifer until we went full time in the motor home. Louise was "imported" from Denver (our next stop) when she got her first teaching job in the St. Louis area. We make our way south to the Great State of Texas each winter ending up at Sandpipers Resort in Edinburg, Texas. Perhaps we'll see you somewhere in the RGV!