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Congratulations!! I just retired last year after 36 years working in the oil industry. We sold our home in Sterling, Alaska and have been enjoying living full time in our Beaver for the last 3 years. You're going to love it!!

Hello Phil503, I just purchased a 2015 Acadia and am planning on towing it behind our Beaver. I was wondering what things you have discovered needs to be done to flat tow this car besides the basic pulling of fuses mentioned in the owners manual? Any feedback would be appreciated. Also I am wondering if I really need to install a braking system? I currently have the Air Force One installed in our 2003 Yukon and I have been happy with it. The Acadia is lighter and I am wondering if I really need to have a brake system on that vehicle. Thank you!!

Pacific Shores is now under new management. From what I understand the lot owners now own the resort. I have heard they are making some big improvements and things are looking up.

Using Direct TV and love it. I even get most of my channels when traveling in Alaska. For the RV we use my mother in laws address in California since that is the area we usually hang out at in the winter. So far no problem...

Not sure about Arizona, but I did pull up to a pump at a Flying J in Nevada and it was as stated above, fuel only for vehicles not used on the highway, farm tractors, etc. I did not realize it until the attendant informed me I was at the wrong pump and needed to move to a low sulfur diesel pump. I too thought they were all the same up to that point.

I sent RSH photos of the new damage created by their bracket. I'm not sure if I mentioned this earlier but the owner Will told me they are making these brackets for Monaco RV for their parts inventory. They said Navistar Monaco sent them all the drawings and schematics for these brackets so they could make them up for them. I also know Beaver Coach Sales gets their brackets from them since that is where ours was ordered from. I have been in contact with BCS also about all of this and e-mailed them photos. They are concerned about this considering I am probably not the only one who has one of these badly designed brackets on their coach. The CAT shop sent me photos of the bracket they designed. They ended up using the center, motor bolt up portion of the bracket from RSH but redesigned the rest saying the one that RSH supplied for me was junk. The CAT designed bracket looks very different but well made. They used boxed 1/8" steel for all the supporting arms instead of channel iron. They are also putting gussets on all the corner welded joints to give more support to that area. They removed the shroud also and fitted it all together on the bench. It does look like a much better design than the brackets from RSH. Now they are only waiting for the fan to arrive tomorrow to finish it all up.

Well, not enough KB left to post anymore pics.

I hear you, the CAT shop manager said they would stand behind the new reworked bracket which they are making themselves. They have their own in house fabricator. I don't have anything in writing so maybe I should ask for that. It was Radiator Supply House in Sweet Home Oregon who made both brackets. Once the CAT shop had removed the bracket, fan, & motor they realized the cooling fan was already badly damaged. It had been hitting the bolts on the CAC mounting bracket and the hub had been rubbing against it also. I ordered another fan from Beaver Coach Sales today. I will try to post pictures of the damaged fan that was just installed in June. Thank God it was caught before it became a catastrophic failure. I have been in contact with Radiator Supply House but they have not offered to pay for any of this.

Took the coach back to the shop that installed the upgraded fan bracket to inspect it. The mechanic thought it would be ok. I then decided to drive it over to NC CAT in Anchorage. After their service tech and a mechanic inspected it they agreed that the installation was not alright. Not only were the fan blades much to close to hitting the support arms but the placement of the fan within the shroud was wrong. They decided to fix it all correctly they had to remove the bracket and shroud so they could rework the bracket for a correct fit on the bench. Bottom line, it will all be done correctly and I will be out an estimated additional 3,200 dollars. I'm now into this total repair of the cooling system over 16,000 dollars!! Anyway they assured me it will all be corrected and it will be warrantied so CAT will stand behind it. Hopefully this will be the end of this problem. I told my wife to beware, I will probably break into a dance singing HALLELUJAH when we pick it up tomorrow.

Well I ended up having to replace the cooling fan bracket that was installed to replace the one that broke. Just picked up the coach today with the upgraded replacement bracket installed. When I got home I was checking the newer bracket out and noticed the fan blades are only clearing the bracket arms by about 1/8 of an inch! Is this normal? It's making me very concerned, I really don't want to lose another fan and radiator.

Yes I did Brett. Three of the blades were 1-3/8" to the edge of the shroud, the rest were 1-1/2" to the edge. I tried to make sure I was at the leading edge on each blade and at the same point on the shroud. It looks a little more exaggerated with the eye while the engine was running, but that is what the measurement was when I checked each blade with a tape measure. This was from the leading edge of each blade horizontally to the shroud, not length clearance, but side clearance. Hope I didn't make this reply too confusing.

Thanks so much for the suggestions. I measured each blade from the end to the edge of the shroud. Three of the blades were 1/8" different from the rest. There doesn't appear to be any vibration, It flows along pretty smoothly. Nothing is rubbing, do you think 1/8" is enough to worry about? Thanks again!!

Well, I was checking out the repair on our Beaver with the engine running and I noticed the cooling fan appears to wobble just a little. I was wondering if this is normal with the plastic fan or if this could be an issue. The repair shop sent the hydraulic motor to a shop to check it out and it checked out great, no bad seals and the shaft proved true. Any thoughts would be appreciated. The fan is new.

Well the Thunder is repaired. Looks like the final bill will be a little over $10,000, so beware, check those cooling fans!!

No worries, I just figured it was a glitch from cyber land. The twilight zone is right...it amazes me with all the information flying around out there that this kind of thing doesn't happen more often.