jrwitt

That will be quite an undertaking. If you are going to attempt it then you might check out RV salvage yards for used ones. I remember seeing a motorhome online a couple of years ago that had an optional room that could be setup as a study, a small bedroom or a walkin closet. Wish I could remember the company, but maybe you can google some of those features and find it. Or maybe someone here will remember it and post the name. I never saw one, only online pics so it may have just been a prototype or something. Good luck! Jack

I have no experience with the 4-runner so hopefully someone with more knowledge will reply. However, I have read about the driveshaft disconnect. Remco used to make and sell this product. They sold that part of the business. Not sure if Remco still manufactures it or if they sold the license to manufacture to the new company. The new website is remcodsc.com. There is an application chart on that site that lists Toyota 4-runners. They also have a "Locate Dealer" tab that might help you out. Good luck and be sure and post whatever you find out. It may help someone else down the road. Jack

Cheyenne Mountain State Park is an excellent place. It is fairly new and is part of the Colorado State Park system. It is built on the side of Cheyenne Mountain where NORAD used to be located. At night, you can see the city lights of Colorado Springs below from many of the campsites. It is on the same mountain as the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo which is a good place to visit. Other possible places to visit in the area are the US Air Force Academy, the US Olympic Training Center and the beautiful Garden of the Gods park. The KOA is ok, but is right next to I-25 and fairly barren land (no trees). I have never stayed there, but have passed it several times. I don't know anything about the park in Manitou Springs. Didn't even know there was one.

For Colorado Springs, I recommend Cheyenne Mountain State Park. It is a beautiful new state park built on the side of Cheyenne Mountain which is where the old NORAD facility was located. Many of the campsites have an incredible view of the city lights at night. While visiting the Colorado Springs area, don't miss Garden of the Gods (beautiful city park with giant red rock formations), the US Olympic Training Center, the US Air Force Academy visitor's center and the interesting shops in old-town Manitou Springs. The Pikes Peak Cog Railway leaves from Manitou Springs. And if you like deep dish pizza, Bambino's the best I have ever eaten. It is at the SE corner of Circle and Platt. The Cheyenne Mountain Zoo (on the same mountain as the campground) is great and has an old restored carousel. The low-stakes gambling town of Cripple Creek is in the mountains west of Colorado Springs. Colorado Springs & Manitou Springs are very tourist oriented. You could visit there for a week and not see everything. Stop at the Chamber of Commerce to pick up brochures about sites in the area.

I agree! Think the vinyl stickon signs would be a great option for FMCA to promote.

Teflon sheets? Where do you get those? Is the material thin so they can be rolled for storage or thick/solid?

Not a real answer to your question, but something you could check out. If you are going to be at one park for several months at a time, you might be able to have a land line installed by the local phone company. I would start by asking the campground if they know if this is possible. Just a thought, but worth looking into. If the phone was used exclusively for the business computer, the monthly fee and install costs would (I think) be deductable as a business expense.

Right Rich. I think that's called Murphy's law!!! lol

Air is over 75% nitrogen anyway. If you want the convience of topping off with your compressor, there is no harm in doing that. Since air is already mostly nitrogen, there is absolutely no problem with filling nitrogen-inflated tires with air. You will of course loose the advantage of having pure nitrogen. There is no need to remove the old nitrogen to convert back to air. I haven't heard the claim about running cooler with nitrogen, but many claim that your tires won't loose pressure as fast with nitrogen since the nitrogen atoms are larger than the other atoms/molecules that make up free air. Maybe the "running cooler" claim is based on the tires being more likely to be at the correct pressure. Low tire pressure definately leads to heat buildup. I guess the answer to your problem is to decide if it is worth the inconvience of having to find a nitrogen supplier to top off your tires vs. having to top off more often if you just run air. Hopefully, you will get replies from folks who due run pure nitrogen that can comment on how easy it is to find nitrogen suppliers. Good luck! Jack

This probably isn't going to help much, but I do remember about 8-10 years ago a company advertised a product that disconnected the speedometer when the power cord was connected to the motorhome. I have no personal experience with it and haven't heard anything about it in recent years so it probably was discontiuned. I remember thinking at the time that it sounded like it would violate the laws about not messing with the speedometer readings, but that was just a guess. Maybe someone out there will read this and will remember who made the product. If someone could provide the company name, maybe you could track it down. Or just try googling "speedometer disconnect." Good luck! Jack

This was posted on this forum several months ago. Several concerns with this device. First ... since most vehicles would weigh at least 3000 lbs, that would mean that somewhere close to 1500 lbs or more would be supported by the motorhomes receiver. This would exceed the allowable hitch weight of nearly all motorhome receivers. Second ... that kind of weight that far back on the motorhome would likely reduce the weight on the front wheels making the front end very light. This could seriously affect the steering/handling. If you are considering one of these things, I would contact the company and ask a lot of questions about how/if these problems have been addressed. Jack

Charles10, I live in the Denver area. I assume the toll road you are talking about is either E-470 or NW Parkway. No other toll roads that I know of in this area. A couple of years ago, they took out all of their toll booths to save costs. Now there are just signs that you are passing an automatic toll collection spot. If you have a transponder on your vehicle, then the toll will be charged to your account. If you do not, they record your license number and bill you for the toll to the address of record for the license plate. Since you were on the road, it took awhile for it to catch up with you. You call or write to the address on the bill and explain the situation, they should adjust the amount due for you. They really do have a very good customer service department and they are not trying to overcharge you. It is just that they get a lot of drivers who just ignore the bills sent out so they automatically increase the bill until it is finally paid to try to stop unauthorized use of the toll road. Anyway, contact them and see what they say. If you need a contact phone number or address, let me know and I will get it for you. Jack

I have no personal experience with them, but Winnebago Journey & Itascsa Meridian offer a 34Y model DP that is 34'6" long. Both come standard with a 60"x80" Queen bed and offer the option of a 72"x80" king. The two brands are both built by Winnebago and are virtually identical with just cosmetic differences as far as I can tell. I have seen this floor plan at an RV show and was very impressed. Sorry, but I have never owned or driven one so can't speak to performance or quality. Good luck!

Was itn Phish?

I think the simplest solution would be to buy a 7-pin plug that will plug into the MH connector and then cut the 4-pin round plug off the toad wiring and wire in the new 7-pin plug. It doesn't matter that you won't be using the other pins. There are wiring diagrams on the Internet that show the pinout for the 7-pin. Roadmaster should be able to provide pinout for the toad wiring. Really easy fix and pretty inexpensive if you do it yourself. If you don't want to do it, any RV repair facility should be able to do it easily. Cmarq gave good advice about the cable marking the car's finish. When you are towing the car, the wind will whip an unsecured cable which can damage the paint. You could run it under the car, but you would need to secure it so that it can't drag on the ground if it stretches a little. Hope this helps.

I am not well-versed on this topic, but I have been reading this thread for some time and I have seen all the problems people are having witht he Ford line. However, if you like Fords, have you considered the Escape Hybrid? From what I have read on the Ford website, the Hybrid has a completely different type of transmission. Anybody out there tried to tow the Escape hybrid? Had any transmission problems? Any other problems?

Fascinating product, but ... with the car lifted up this way it appears that you have about 1/2 the weight of the towed vehicle hanging on the motorhome's receiver. This has got to exceed the tongue weight allowed on the motorhome. Wouldn't that much weight on the receiver also make the front end of the motorhome very light and affect the steering? Am I missing something?

Here in Colorado, we have King Soopers which is another Kroger/City Market brand. Same points-for-fuel plan. Not sure about the senior discount, but I sure will check.

Not exactly sure what you want, but I think this will work. If you car has blade-type fuses, check in the fuse box for a fuse that is on a circuit that is only on when the key is on (not ACC). A good possibliity is the fuse for the electric fuel pump if your car has one. You can go online and find piggy back fuse devices that you can plug into the slot in the fuse box where the original fuse was plugged in. Then you put the new fuse into the piggy back device. This will give you another slot where you can put a second fuse and that fuse slot has a wire pigtail that can then go to the device you want to power. Radio Shack might be a source for this item, although it shouldn't be hard to find one. Even auto parts stores might have them. The fuel pump fuse (or whatever circuit you use) remains separate from the new circuit so they don't have to be the same size. Both fuses will be installed after the device. If you can't find one, let me know and I will try to find a website for you. I use this on a car that I pull a travel trailer with to provide 12V to rhe trailer for battery charging. The seat heater power source might work too. Check with a meter and see if it is hot when ignition is on. Be sure the new device you are powering does not draw more power than the heater circuit or the wire size might not be adequate. Hope this helps.

The reason you may or may not see the problem in other forums is dependent on how the various forums work. Some forums will log you off if you log onto their forum from a different computer. They only allow you to be logged in from one system at a time. Others may time you out if you don't view the forum at least once in a given time period. They set the time period. For example, a forum may say if you don't view the forum at least once a day, you get forced off and have to sign in again. It could be set for hours, days or weeks. Also, your browser settings can determine what you stay logged into. I had the same problem with Facebook and fixed it by unchecking the setting in Internet Explorer that said "Delete browsing history on exit" or something similar to that. A similar problem with my bank was fixed by searching the settings in IE and selecting in two different areas an option that said something like "Reset Internet Explorer to default settings." As others have stated, your virus software could be the one forcing you to sign in each time. Have no idea where you would go to fix that one. I use Norton (provided by my ISP) and it doesn't seem to cause me any probelms. Btw ... I use the IE 9.0 browser. I have never had the problem with FMCA other than maybe once every few weeks I find I have to log in again. That hasn't been frequent enough to bother to look for a solution. I have two computers at home and one at work that I use to log onto FMCA. I wish I had better info for you, but hopefully someone will figure it out and post the solution here. Good luck!

You mentioned that Equal comes with a special valve core and a tag to put on the stem. Is this valve core still compatible with the various tire pressure monitoring systems? Why does the Equal need a special valve core? Thanks, Jack

Some friends and I spent a week in the Tuscon area last Fall. We stayed in a vacation home so can't comment on place to stay. However, I do remember a few cool places to visit. There is a Titan Missle Silo museum on the south side of town that was very interesting. Lot's of stairs to go down and then back up, but if you call ahead they will arrange it so you can use the elevator. Near the Air Force base is the Pima Air & Space Museum. It is one of the largest in the world and has all kinds of aircraft on display both indoors and out. And one of the most interesting places we visited was the Sonora Desert Museum. It is a combination of a zoo with many kinds of desert animals plus all kinds of cactus and other desert plant life. They even have a large enclosure with dozens of hummingbirds. You can go in and walk around and get within a few feet of all different types/colors of hummingbirds. Some will sit on the branches of the trees close enough you could almost reach out and touch them. And if you like Mexican food, there are Mexican restaurants on nearly every corner. We were only there a week so didn't have time to visit any of the surrounding areas. Oh, yeah ... there were hundreds of the Seguaro cactus (the tall ones with the long arms). Very interesting place. South of Tucson about 20 miles I think, was a community of artists. Many shops with hundreds of southwestern items. Can't remember the name of the place, but it is pretty well known so you can ask around and probably find out where it is. This was my first visit to AZ since I was a kid, so everything was new to me. Really an interesting place to visit. We saw lots on RVs on the highway so there must be many RV parks around. Hope this helps. Jack

I hear you. Used to be a software developer for a major company. We had a favorite saying: "Why is there never enough time to do it right, but there is always enough time to do it over?" Later I bought one of the first Blackberry Storm cell phones. Same issue. Wasn't ready for the market. One of the worst electronic devices I have ever purchased. I heard the 2nd edition was great, but Blackberry lost me as a customer because of the poor quality of the first one. Will never buy anything else from them because of the poor support. It wasn't that they weren't willing to support it. There were just so many bugs and there were no solutions. Must of had at least 4 or 5 major software supgrades in the two years I had it and still it was junk. As for the Garmin, there was some discussion on this forum a few months ago. I remember a couple of people saying there is a trucker's GPS that worked really well for RVers. They said it had more practical applications for motorhomes than the Garmin. Maybe you can search the forums and find the discussion. Jack

I think Tom is refering to Remco for the towing disconnects. They also have lube pumps for some vehicles. Their web address is remcotowing.com. There website has an application chart that shows what cars they make kits for. There might be other companies, but Remco seems to be the major player. I have never used there products. Jack

I live in Colorado and stay at many of the state parks here. All of them have coin operated showers. You get about 4 mins for $1. Don't believe I have ever seen a private campground in Colorado or anywhere else that had coin operated showers but I don't stay at many private campgrounds. I think the state parks here are very good which is why I use them. The overnight prices are very reasonable and I don't mind paying for the showers.