Dish Network And King-Dome 9702-LP

[Dish Network And King-Dome 9702-LP]

Thanks Bill, just what I needed to know

[Dish Network And King-Dome 9702-LP]

Has anyone used this "Tailgater" from Dish? Would it have the moisture & rain problems of other dome units that I see complaints about. I am looking at going with Dish at home and tiring to learn what to use on the RV.

[How To Access Slide Out Gear/Motor]

I will try to give you some ideas. First under the slide where you see paneling will the panel come out easily? Sometime the "works" is under a trim panel. Then also with the slide open even slightly, hold open the rubber seals and see if their are any wheels or rollers, if so lube with silicone spray with teflon. On my unit the rear slide is not a full wall slide and is moving only on nylon glides, these will wear out, but spray helped a bunch. I also read on another post to wax the outside walls of the slides with Carnuba brand wax. Not sure what helped the most but the spray and carnuba stopped the squeal.

Let me know what you find.

[Change Your Own Oil]

I love all the commits on changing the oil. On my Ford V10 I found my oil filter on so tight i needed to borrow a Jaws Of life just to loosen it. I broke a plastic filter wrench, then bent the filter with a strap wrench. With the borrowed wrench i turned it a full turn using all the strength i had . I think they used an impact wrench to put it on. I will also buy a after market drain plug to keep the oil off the cross member. I wonder why Ford would design this into the chassis?

Also thanks for the grease point locations but do not forget to check the U-joints for grease.

This site is great for a newbie like me.

Don

[Change Your Own Oil]

Yes, I have changed my own oils and filters this year. I'm in my early 50s so I'm still sort of flexible ... I have also twisted wrenches on helicopters since '75, so I'm interested and have some expertise. Money is an issue as well. 22 quarts of Shell Rotella T and a Fleetguard filter for my Cummings 315 ISC is a total of $105.. The last oil change was done by the previous owner during the safety inspection in June when we bought this coach and the truck repair centre charged $320 for parts and labour. My wife and I are doing ok financially, but I have many other things to spend $200 on. As many of you have written, an RV makes many demands on the wallet.

Besides the money, I wanted to do at least this round of maintenance myself. First to see how and where, second to ensure it was done right before starting our adventures with this house on wheels. Sure enough, I discovered several issues while looking around. The worst of these was finding original filters on the coach that were only changed on paper by a service centre.

The coolant filter/additive spin-on cartridge was original, 6 years old. I could tell because the undercoating was still covering the filter. The service documentation said it was changed three years ago. Fortunately the coolant itself was in pretty good shape, but I changed it out to the Cummins approved ELC coolant with the non-additive filter. Should be good for the rated 500,000 miles or three years before adding the coolant additive ...

I found a grease fitting that was not greased in the spring, same truck depot that did the oil change. If I have someone do it for me in the future I intend to use Brett Wolfe's idea of giving a throw away copy of the service guide locations. I already printed some copies for this purpose.

The truck depot in the spring did not tighten the engine oil filter properly. When I removed it, it took around 50 inch/pounds to spin off. To put it in perspective, my wife could have removed it with a twist of her wrist. I was startled. To put the new one on to the proper torque or one full turn after contact was a two handed affair by me. It was close to coming loose and leaking with the horror show that would entail on an interstate ...

My fuel filters, both primary and secondary, were the same Wix part number. The service centre that changed them last must have run out of the proper type and stuck on anything that would fit. Fortunately they were both 10 micron filters and there had been no issue with the fuel system, so there was no damage to the injectors and such. There should have been a 30 micron primary and a 2 micron secondary. However, I also discovered that the water sensor wire connection to the one filter was not connected and was tucked up behind the starter. The filter they put on had a drain but no water sensor. I bought two sets of filters and got everything back to the proper setup. By the way, we went on our first trip before I discovered the fuel filters were incorrect and received my first indication something was wrong when the "water in fuel" light came on in a rain storm!

Lastly the air dryer desiccant filter was also supposedly changed/inspected a few years ago; I found undercoating on it as well.

The service centers where the errors were made are all over the map. This spring the depot was in Toronto; the other errors were made by centers in Florida and Tennessee a few years ago.

The point I'm making is we need to verify when someone is doing work for us, at least as much as possible. Filters and oil are easy to check, or you could have someone do it for you. Get the depot to show you what they putting on your coach and read your literature for the proper part numbers or oil specifications. I will request the Fleetguard filters first(Cummins) or an appropriate alternative. Using the Internet, I found the Wix, Baldwin and Fleetguard cross referenced numbers. Better yet, buy the filters yourself and hand them over to the service center. That will eliminate them scrambling around trying to find a part when they have aready dumped your oil.

I have also marked the oil filters in the past to ensure they were actually changed, after I discovered at a car dealership that I was charged but the filter had not been changed.

Sorry to sound paranoid, but I have experienced the same sort of stories I have read here on the FMCA forums of poor work being done.

By the way, one tip I have about spin on filters; after installing it properly and checking for leaks, take a permanent marker and draw an arrow on the bottom pointing to the front of the coach. You could scratch the paint the same way. This way you can look at it quick and see if for some odd reason it is coming loose.

Another little identifying scratch somewhere on the paint of the filter will tell if it was replaced after service.

Cheers

[Old tires]

Don,

Welcome to the FMCA Forum.

In a word, YES. 11 year old tires are well past replacement!

Then, after loading the coach the way you will be driving down the road, get all wheel positions weighted (best) or axles weighed (easier, but ASSUMES perfect side to side weight distribution) and go to your tire manufacturer's PSI/load chart for your tire to determine correct MINIMUM PSI. If using wheel position weights, use heavier side on each axle to go to the chart. Add 5 PSI to the minimum for safety cushion. If you only have axle weights, add 10 PSI (as long as it doesn't exceed tire or wheel maximum) for safety reserve AND side to side imbalance.

Unlike car tires, large vehicle tires correct pressure is VERY load dependent and can cover a RANGE of 40 or so PSI.

And when purchasing the new ones, be sure to get ones that are no more than 3 months old, as you will likely be replacing them based on time, not tread wear.

Brett Wolfe

[Old tires]

RE: DOT code dating. This is great info for a newbe like me. i just bought a 99 Winnebago with 49,000 miles on it. My DOT is 368. As i understand it that is the 36th week of 1998. So they are the original Goodyear tires on the coach. I am in discussion with the dealer to get some help on replacing the tires as someone should have seen this and not sold the coach with old tires. I like the idea of replacing two tires per year but i wonder if in this case i should replace all of them?

great info guys. thanks