jimkate

In today's world, not all standard transmission vehicles can be towed. My owner's manual for our 1995 Honda Pilot has very detailed, specific instructions for preparing the transmission for towing. It does not say to run the vehicle with the transmission in Drive for 3 minutes. What it does say is to start the vehicle in Park, shift to neutral, then shift through all forward gears, then shift back to neutral, then let the vehicle idle with transmission in neutral for 3 minutes before shutting off the engine.

I installed the Steer Safe, was easy to install. Then we went on a 2000 mile trip. Improved handling immensely. The first thing I noticed was that it was windy, and I didn't even know it! Then I noticed that the coach didn't sway and handle poorly when big trucks were passing me. Then I got nervy and began passing them! Even in wind! I don't know about the other steering stabilizers, but I am pleased with what I have. Jim & Kate Sanderson 1995 Monaco Dynasty 36' Canada, eh?

Our original furniture was manufactured by Villa. The upholstery was worn out. In our situation, we could have had our furniture reupholstered, or bought replacements from Villa. Flexsteel also had product that would have been O.K. We were attracted by the professionalism of the website, and the prices. Believing that the difference in price was because of their direct marketing strategy, we gave our business to Discount Van and RV. Next time, we will utilize one of the other options. I have since been informed that Villa will work with you to supply what you would like. Jim Sanderson

I'm sorry to hear that you had a bad experience with Discount Van and RV, because last year we also had a bad experience with them, and have been trying to get the word out to everyone not to deal with the people at Discount Van and RV. Our experience began in July when I phoned Linda to ask how much lead time they needed to provide us with new furniture. She said they needed four weeks. I explained to her that we were traveling through the states in October, stopping at our son's in San Jose, CA for one week. Discount Van and RV are about 80 miles from my son's door. I made arrangements with her to ship the new furniture to our son's place by a specified date in October. This specified date was actually the date that we expected to arrive at our son's place. When we began our trip, we phoned Discount Van and RV to confirm that the order was going to be delivered. They sounded very uncertain about things on the phone. My wife said she wondered if we were going to get our furniture on time. When we arrived at our son's place, there was no furniture. The phone calls began to Discount Van and RV, and each time they responded as if it was the first call we had ever made to them regarding checking the status of the furniture. Finally, on the day before we had to leave our son's place, we informed Discount Van and RV that we were going to have the credit card reversed, and they could cancel the order. Immediately they informed us that if we wanted to drive an hour to a truck loading dock, we could pick up our furniture! We picked it up. Installation was not smooth, because the base of one of the captain's chairs was wrong. The massage that we had special ordered worked for a short time, then burnt out, blew the fuse, never to work again. Can't be fixed without tearing the entire chair apart. The electric control switch for fore and aft positioning of the one captain's chair popped right out of the chair and flew apart. Turned out that switch had been broken on installation, and someone jiggled it back together and jammed it back into the chair. The armrests on the captains chairs are mounted so ridiculously high that they are useless. The drawer underneath the sofa is installed incorrectly, and we have yet to tear the sofa apart and rebuild it with the drawer installed correctly. And the colors weren't anywhere near what they displayed on their website. This is all so unfortunate, because I do believe that the materials used are very good. It's obvious that they have assembly issues, but more importantly, customer relations issues. We will never, ever deal with Discount Van and RV ever again, under any circumstances. We're not so poor that we expect to be treated like that. We'll do business with reputable people next time. Jim & Kate Sanderson 1995 Monaco Dynasty 36' Canada, eh?

Well, I don't know which steering stabilizer is the 'best'. I do know that a while ago I decided I wanted to have one. So, I phoned the folks at Steer Safe to find out if they had a unit for my coach. They asked me for the make and model# of my front axle. When I gave them that information, they replied that my axle was common for coaches and large trucks, and yes, they had a unit. I bought it. I haven't installed it yet. But, based on what the manufacturer told me, I don't know why I shouldn't.

Yes, we do have the owner's manual, but that info is not in it. In fact, in that section, it simply says to go to a qualified alignment facility for proper adjustments. I'll try that website, see if there's any help there. Thanks a lot!

Thanks Brett, I agree 100% with every comment you have listed here. We bought a 1995 Monaco Dynasty 36' last year, and 'fixed it up', including alignment work and new ride height valves installed with ride height adjustment. NO ONE could find alignment or ride height specs, so the work was done using 'best guess'. I'm not very happy about it, and I'm not convinced that things are set up right. However, any of my attempts to find specifications have been fruitless. If anyone can help in this regard, I'd sure appreciate it. Jim of JimKate

I could sure use some insight here. My Goodyear dealer told me that there is no difference between RV tire and truck tire. He also told me that an H Load Rating tire is overkill for my Monaco with a GVW of 29,500 lb., and will cause a rough ride. He said that if I went to a G Load Rating Tire, with a softer more open tread, the ride and handling would be much improved. He said the H tire is 16 ply, and intended for big trucks carrying a tremendous weight. The G tire is 14 ply, made to carry a maximum of 6175 lb per tire, which exceeds the GVW of the RV. He said that some of the new RV's are coming out now with G Load Rate Tires. He suggests using Dunlop tires, because they are the same tires as Goodyear tires, but less expensive because they have a shorter mileage warranty, which I'd never use on an RV anyway. Well, I sat down and thought about this a little bit. My front axle is GVW 10,000 lb. Two G tires used as singles are 6175lb X 2 = 12,350 lb. My rear axle is GVW 19,500 lb. Four G tires used as duals are 5675lb X 2 = 22,700 lb. The GVW of my RV is 29,500 lb. The GVW of the tires is 35,050 lb. What he says seems to make sense. ????????????????????????

A quick note to any Canadians out there regarding this topic. I'm Canadian, and new to the RV world. I started out searching for a converted Prevost bus, or equivalent. Found out that we cannot import converted buses into Canada. We can only import buses that are in the condition as originally manufactured. Once imported, we can convert them to be whatever we want them to be. I didn't want the work of converting a bus, and I couldn't find an already converted used bus in Canada for sale, so I bought a 1995 Monaco Dynasty, and worked it up a little to be what we wanted it to be.