hayesfamily

Onan Generators For those of us who happen to have Onan generators in their coaches there's something I found out about the starters specifically that I just want to pass on. The other day I posted my starter failure and what I did to remove it. Today I took it to a reputable place in Baltimore that does Starter Alternator carburetor type repairs. In the process of the repair they called me to inform me that the starter is not repairable and I need to replace it. The parts and that starter are starting to become discontinued. The brush holder in my case melted and that has been discontinued as well. The only thing we are left with at this point are a lot of the starters made in China but the good news is they appear to be decent quality. A lot of them come with a 1 year warranty and the guy at my local shop says he very rarely sees them come back. He also informed me that the OEM stuff is also being manufactured in China so do not be tricked into thinking you're getting a better product by buying OEM because it's the same product in a different wrapping. I will post a picture of the new starter compared to the old one when I get it in the morning.

Went to hit the generator Sunday after church and it didn't start. Thought to myself this can't be good and indeed it is not. Figured I would post this in the event someone else experiences what I'm about to go through and maybe can give experiances, encouragement or help. I have to replace the starter on this generator because time corrosion and heat got the best of it and the bolt on the starter motor that carries the 12 volts melted and is no longer usable. The wire going from the solenoid to the starter seems to be fine except it needs a new end nevertheless the starter has to come out. The generator is mounted on the driver side rear of a 99 Fleetwood Bounder. The generator is not in a slide section and though it seems like the generator has to come out to access the starter it does not. Little back story ... I shot an email to someone asking Had he ever pulled out a generator to access the starter or is there another way to do it without pulling the entire generator out. I am not interested in giving Cummins $700 to do it for a $30 starter. Never-the-less he said no so I'm thinking I have to pay somebody to do this. After a few minutes of oh God why me something just told me to see if I could physically touch the starter. Once I realized I could physically touch it the rest kind of progressed easy ... just make sure you disconnect whatever source of power you have so you don't mistakenly electrocute yourself. 1. If there's clearance above the starter where you can lift it above the generator or bring it to the side, stick a ratchet an appropriate sized socket on the top bolt and loosen the bolt but be careful not to drop the nut on the other side. 2. From the bottom you should be able to see the bottom bolt. In my case there were two access holes where I could put a 14-inch extension on the appropriate socket and loosen that Bolt. 3. Once the bottom bolt was ready to come out I made sure that I caught the nut and remove that bolt setting it to the side. 4. Next I went back to the top of the generator and remove the top bolt catching that nut. At this point the starter is going to drop into your hand 5. At that point I gently brought the starter around to the side of the generator and it was out. 6. That wire that corroded is attached to the solenoid that sits right behind the Run Stop button. Take that panel off and the solenoid sits right there. One side is marked battery the other side is marked starter. CAUTION if you have to change the 12 volt wire going to the starter my suggestion is to bolt it to the starter first and melt the starter because it is easier to mount that wire to the starter while it's in your hand then it is to do it while it's attached to the generator. If you do not have to change the wire then you may be able to get away with leaving it attach to the Phil annoyed but if it becomes a headache a problem or a hassle or if there's any corrosion that will prevent it from being removed then you may have to disconnect that wire at the solenoid. Hope this helps.

I appreciate the greater clarification

Hello and welcome to the form I am also curious to find out what code is coming up when you connect the coach to a computer. I'm not sure if you are saying that the guy can not pull a code but they're absolutely has to be a code if he is able to turn the check engine light off because in order to turn it off you have to clear the code. When a check engine light comes a code of sorts and may or may not be followed up with a physical symptom. In other words 90% of the time your car will throw a check engine code but you may not have any real symptoms such as the car cutting off or sluggish shifting. If the check engine light is flashing then that indicates something severe such as failing to fire on two or more cylinders thus signifying potential engine damage if you continue to Drive. When you start tracing wires in a harness that typically means you have a general idea where to start in other words you have a code that will point you in the right direction. If you cannot get to the Ford dealership my suggestion is to find any reputable dealership that can read the code and tell you what it is. Once you get the code you can determine whether or not that part or sensor or whatever has been replaced. Also keep in mind that it is not uncommon for your car to throw a code for one thing but in reality there is something else creating a situation to cause the code. This is when you need decent troubleshooting.

Actually I ended up veering away from the Through Glass Mount antenna simply because I could not get a decent standing wave ratio at all. The best I was able to get was 1.8:1 up in the 155 megahertz range Instead I came up with and idea of a ground plane and bought this contraption made by train. It has for radios that I'm able to bend down under a quarter wave antenna and my standing wave ratio is 1.1 :1 smack in the middle of the 2 meter portion. I was also able to mount an hf mount down below the antenna and with grounding wire to the chassis I'm able to get all of my HF bands in the phone portion bellow 3:1. 40 and 75 meter is very narrow and those bands I'm only 1.5:1 in the important segments where I have Nets. The entire bandwidth on 40 I'm under 3 and 80 meters I am under three from 3898 up to about 3950. Not to shabby. 20 15 and 10 I am 1.5 ish across the entire band.

A simple to meter half wave antenna off the ladder will do you find in an RV park when you looking to get into local repeaters. A simple radio such as a Yaesu 2900 will do just fine. Going down the road gets a little bit more tricky because once you get too much over 2 meters the antennas get too big to actually go down the road. The other thing is a lot of RVers may not be hams so 146.52 may not necessarily be monitored on the highway. Sometimes it's going to be monitored by local folk that you'll be talking to which may be cool until you have a traffic jam and you're trying to get around and you don't know what's going on. Your technician license will get you here all day everyday. If that pretty much satisfies your need I would say this is as far as you need to go. I have a 99 Fleetwood Bounder and on the back of my ladder I have to antenna mounts installed. One is an antenna mount that is for using a mobile antenna as a base station and has a ground plane. With that I'm able to put a quarter wave antenna up that is short enough for me to travel down the highway legally. I also have an HF antenna mount that I will typically put up Hustler resonators when I'm in campgrounds for HF stuff. If I find myself in a situation where I got some trees it's nothing for me to throw a dipole up. I do keep in ft-450 and the coach for HF but never use it while in motion. I am however going to try a hustler 20-meter resonator in motion because that antenna should be short enough that I stay legal and it should be fun working folks as I go down the road. I would never really try to get on the air if there was heavy traffic but on a beautiful evening and light traffic I probably could pull it off. I would then switch to a mobile radio that has HF capabilities. De ke3hay

I'm not sure if this makes a difference and not for us but there is a sign on there that clearly says no trucks over 7,000 pounds. The question is are we consider trucks in that instance because I don't think any because in this post alone I'm probably the lightest coach coming in at 21,000 gross vehicle weight

So after doing a little bit of research I found out that a lot of new motorhomes that are not necessarily inspected the way used Motor Vehicles are inspected have been classified wrong. When they get purchased used typically the registration and title gets corrected but that is an MVA or Motor Vehicle Administration issue. After taking the time to talk to another FMCA member that is a part of the capital chapter here in Maryland I was informed that indeed my vehicle is registered properly even though I'm paying a lot more money than people who have the same or similar motorhomes with the same gross vehicle weight. It turns out because I'm over 10,000 gross my registration per year is calculated at $11.75 for every thousand pounds and I have to pay a surcharge of $17 to the state of Maryland period at $263 a year that's not bad compared to what I've been seen from other states. If I live in the state of Virginia it would probably be two and a half to three times more so this is where I stop talking and I'm thankful the good Lord sees fit so let me enjoy this time with my family and chalk my registration fees up to the cost of doing business in the state of Maryland.

Carl ... I didn't mean to rehash another post out. My goal was to get some true accurate information from somebody that actually experienced the parkway so I could make a decision if I ever wanted to run it again. I think you kind of boils down to you have to do what's comfortable for you but it's hard to do that without information. Some people are not comfortable driving class 8 so they prefer to drive a Class C or vice versa. It's all about preference and we got a lot of Road in this country to pick from.

I understand that we are supposed to know the height of bridges when we decide to select routes for us to travel. Based on everything that I've heard and everything that I've read here so far I personally would avoid the Garden State Parkway like it has the plague. That is the reason I jumped off of it when I did because I wasn't exactly sure if the issue was the height of bridges or whether or not the road itself was not wide enough to accommodate a vehicle of that weight. What I can tell you is that the toll Booth was about as narrow as a red ant in a wild hens butt. All it takes is for an incident to happen and they shut down the center lane and I'm potentially stuck. In fact from the measurements that we're talking a lot of people including 5th wheel travel trailers would be stuck. This question isn't to fall out of the box because in the event we have to travel one of those extreme lanes for emergency purposes what are we going to do? In other words there is never a problem until there is a problem and then you have a great big problem. I am exactly 12 feet tall and if they did not remeasure that bridge the last time they laid some asphalt I could potentially be in some trouble.

A few months ago I started a thread that talked about the Garden State Thruway and my experience when I brought our coach home the first time. To refresh people's minds I got on the Garden State Parkway with our coach and immediately started seeing signs that said no vehicles over 7000 pounds gross vehicle weight. I assumed that meant Only commercial vehicles and some of the folks here have confirmed my assumption. Nevertheless to prevent a $500 fine and or 30 days in jail I decided to hop off and take the long way around. I had an opportunity to talk to a gentleman who experienced a serious problem on the New Jersey Garden State Parkway above I believe exit 105 and he was not only pulled over and given a Stern talking-to he was actually ticketed in excess of $500 for several violations one being overweight on the parkway. This gentleman was pulling a trailer with an F-350 but because the combined vehicle weight of the two vehicles exceeded 10,000 pounds he was cited. He then turns me on to this particular website which explains and a little bit better detail the law in the state of New Jersey when it comes to the Garden State Parkway. Powerfully none of us get into an issue with the state of New Jersey as it pertains to the parkway but I just wanted to post this for some general discussion. And also perplexes me how the interpretation of the law can be different depending on volunteer and even with judge you end up standing in front of. Here we go Trucks with a gross weight over 10,000 pounds are prohibited from the Parkway north of Exit 105 (Trucks are defined as??????) http://www.nj.com/articles/19084660/what_trucks_are_allowed_on_the_garden_state_parkway_and_where.amp I have attached a copy of the link where this came from and after reading it I would love somebody to tell me what sense any of it makes because it does not give any type of specifics. A whole lot of ambiguity but no specifics.

I am Keon KE3HAY and I have a few question for you What are you interested in doing Amateur radio wise? Are you looking for an in motion solution or a stationary? Are you looking for APRS or anything like that? What License class are you and Whats you call sign? de KE3HAY

Thank you so much for your input I will stop complaining

When we purchased our Bounder in October we assumed that people who works for various state agencies would understand the various laws and see structures when it came to recreational vehicles specifically non trailer motorhomes. Our journey began when I tried to transfer the title over to Maryland from New York. The title in New York had a shipping weight of 16640 pounds period Maryland interpreted that as greater than 3700 pounds and less than ten thousand pounds. I tried to get the vehicle inspected after paying the appropriate fees and the inspection station refuse to inspect it because the vehicle was in the wrong class. So I tried to take the motorhome to a place that inspected cars which I was politely told they don't even have a lift that can get it off the ground much less get in their garage so back to the DMV I go. After spending 12 hours and the motor vehicle administration talking to six supervisors I came to the conclusion that absolutely nobody in the entire State knew what they were talking about. After figuring out that the gross vehicle weight should be close to 21,000 Pounds and finally finding someone that would inspect it because of the weight I ended up being in the EPO class for large trucks. So apparently Pop pop has been driving a motorhome that apparently has been under the wrong class for the last 12 years and it has never been caught or challenged. Needless to say now my title reflects my gross vehicle weight at 21,000 lbs and I was able to get the appropriate inspection done and returned to the motor vehicle administration. I knew there was going to be a little bit more money when it came to registration but what I was not aware was how much. Maryland for a multi-purpose vehicle greater than 3700 pounds is $187 for two years. Once you go over 10001 gross you pay $11.75 per thousand pounds plus the $17 fee period but I was unaware of is that yearly not biannual so I pay in excess of $265 a YEAR for registration. Am I the only person paying over $500 every two years? If I am can somebody please tell me what in the world I am doing wrong and how do I correct it

you know the sad part is you can't go anywhere these days and have clean on the sun without a knucklehead or two potentially ruining a good thing. The DW and I were talking and I was just sharing with her that even though I have a Maryland carry permit and I also have a Utah carrying permit to cover me and some other states who wants to sit there packing on the beach when you're supposed to just have on some Speedos. Who really wants to worry about how fast they can get to the shotgun under the bed when you're trying to have a wonderful time with the family. I think it's kind of crazy to have to keep everything under lock and key and a campground but then again Common Sense has to Prevail it sometime and if the place looks smells or seems sketchy of course you protect your belongings. I think that's one of the reasons why I did not go out and buy $150 hose for the Poo, I found an expensive water hoses and things like that, quality butt if somebody really wanted it that bad they can have it. I have a cheap $50 Grill vs $190 one that I wanted because that aggravation of losing it would probably hurt more then guess replacing a $50 Grill. Everyone on here that I have talked to have been doing the camping thing much longer than me so I assured her that we would take the proper precautions but inevitably if something is going to happen it's going to happen and there is nothing that we can do about it. I am a life member of the NRA so I'm going to order a placard and put it on the coach and I'm also going to buy a locking hitch pin. The only problem with those locking pins is rust comma I left one on my Durango one time and had to take an air chisel to it. If there is a specific brand out there that is stainless steel please let me know because I need to get that one. I just thought it was a little strange that people would have this much of a problem in a campground. Most of the ones that I've been to you in this area seem pretty secure like they have dated access and are pretty much off the beaten path. The few that I looked at in Florida were kind of wide open, I just drove in and started looking around and nobody really ask too many questions. I guess because I was there offseason it wasn't that much of a risk but they still had security gates and things of that nature and it was Florida. Doing the wrong thing at the wrong time will get you the right Whammy shell if you're not careful

Since I have owned a coach and it's been visible in my yard I'm starting to run into more and more people who are campers. Not all of them have Coach but never the less they frequent campgrounds. One guy tells me that while in a campground in Florida that someone put a lock on the fifth wheel pin ... so he was unable to back the truck up and move the trailer. Another guy I ran into at the Travel Center of America shared with me that while camping outside of Las Vegas someone came into the campground and stole his tow bar. And the stories continue to get more ridiculous as the next gentleman I ran into says that he was at a campground and the area outside of Myrtle Beach and someone's used a siphon to suck gas out of his coach to the tune of 60 gallons. So should I just chalk this up to Tall Tales and bad juju or does this stuff really happen? I believe there is a correlation between seeing Maryland tags and pretty much being assured that a gun doesn't live on board because I have friends that live in Texas and I have friends that are from Pennsylvania and Florida and even Virginia that said they have never ever ever had problems. I would love to hear what the masses has to say and please tell me if there are places that I probably should not go.

I came across these lights in my coach that the previous owner left for me. The light seemed to be able to connect at one end and continuously string out for however before the voltage ridiculously drops. Can somebody tell me if the DW is right and these are Christmas lights or are these some type of party lights? Where and how do I hang them up if they are for outside the coach?

OK ... how are are yall from Chambersburg?

Look back and November 8, someone mentioned the wobble issue with some jeeps, This issue isnt the same issue as "Jeeps" because Jeeps also have suspension issues that cause their issues.

So what yall are telling me is: 1. Imma hate Florida Laws 2. I am slightly paranoid (I live in MD, you have to be) 3. OJ really did do it 4. We should just drive like we have sense and things should pan out ok. #Gotcha

Interesting you point that out because I am going to show you where Maryland contradicts itself and causes many people undo issues and wasted time. I dont mean to sound like a jerk about this and Ill explain my frustration and why in a second. There is a Key word here I want to point out that keeps appearing in all the material I have read thus far - COMMERCIAL According to http://www.roads.maryland.gov/index.aspx?PageId=546 The Motor Carrier Division (MCD), in cooperation with the Maryland State Police (MSP) Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Division (CVED), the Maryland Transportation Authority Police (MdTAP) Commercial Vehicle Safety Unit (CVSU) and allied law enforcement agencies certified to enforce motor carrier law is responsible for the safe movement of (Here comes that word) commercial motor vehicles (CMV) along Maryland highways. It then goes on to say, "The MSP and MdTAP operate 13 TWIS (Truck Weight and Insoection Stations) with permanent scales and 4 additional Stations that utilize portable scales to check CMV's (HERE WE GO ... Commercial again) for compliance with state and federal safety as well as size and weight requirements. Seven (7) of these sites utilize weigh-in-motion (WIM) devices to pre-screen for weight violations. Additional electronic screening for CMV credentialing (e.g. fuel tax, safety rating, etc.) is being deployed for increased efficiency and effectiveness in maintaining CMV safety. So ... here is where the state really needs make sense because they create a loop hole and use it when they see fit. LETS look at what happens in the very next paragraph: Based upon Maryland statistical data, 1,800,000 trucks (--- WHAT KIND OF TRUCKS --- ) and commercial vehicles are weighed and 95,000 vehicles are inspected each year. Now all of a sudden that word commercial disappears giving these Agencies Probable Cause to mess with a coach NOT DISPLAYING commercial signage. So, Keon called MSP and MdTAP and YOU GUESSED IT ... I got 4 different answers 1. No, Motorcoaches and Motorhomes not displaying commercial signs do not have to stop according to MSP 2. According to an officers in the Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Division, we dont have to stop BUT if an officer feels it is necessary (At this point I hung up because that is entrapment as far as I am concerned.) 3 and 4 kind of mirror - No we arent required to stop unless there is a check point and an officer will direct us from there. And yall wonder why I am trying to move to Florida.

Yea I always say there is a first for everything. Poor fella ... P.S. I still say he knew better than to put that number 2 Red stuff in his tank. It would be the equivalent of me mistakenly putting kerosene in my car. They are just some things that you pay attention to and you know better

Bill I did not even know that they sold off road diesel at the pump like that. I was under the impression that you had to have the truck bring it to your personal phone or your personal tank on a construction site or something like that. What puzzled me was how he was pulled over anyway. I know that they stick tanks of commercial vehicles but what did he do to give the dot reason to even pull him much less stick his gas tank

I think we should be careful because we're talking about two different issues here. The issue that you're talking about it's not quite the same issue that is experienced in the Jeep Wrangler type suspensions where you have a solid front axle. The reason for the death wobble in those cases it's because you have steering components. Now I'm not exactly sure what's going on in the Jeep Cherokee because the death wobble in a Jeep Wrangler is not cured by any type of electrical means. It's only cured by making sure that the suspension is in the right tolerance so that the harmonics do not create a vibration that is uncontrollable. No matter what situation it does not make for a pleasurable driving experience but I just wanted to add that tidbit for people are chasing issues that really don't exist in this situation

Carowinds in Charlotte NC has a Campground. Will be staying there in October so no real review of it yet https://www.carowinds.com/places-to-stay/camp-wilderness-rv-sites Bush Gardens Williamsburg --- this doesn't count but the Camp Grounds are "Close enough" and they offer a shuttle