NWJeeper

Our newer Ford F53 chassis has them standard and it does make a difference. On our '94 Fleewood that we used to own on the P30 chassis I installed the Ride Rite air bags in the rear and it made a huge difference in reducing the swaying. I was so impressed that I plan to install them on our new rig despite the fact that it has swaybars too. I would go for the air bags first in your shoes.

Thanks Nbounder. I will be making the call later today to order a converter and the PD is the one I was leaning towards because of the CW. I appreciate your input.

I'm very close now to changing out the Parallax Converter/charger that came in our rig which is only a 2 stage charger with a WFCO or PDI/charge wizard converter/charger. Both seem to get good praise. Anyone here have one of these? How do you like them. We do a lot of dry camping and have a 6-6V deep cycle battery bank (Trojan T125s) and 260W solar charging capacity. Input for either of these units would be appreciated. Thanks guys.

Ours is a metal rack with trays on both sides of the frame that slides on rails top and bottom. It has a catch at the bottom to keep it in a locked position while traveling. I really don't think Forest River built this. It has to be available somewhere out there to buy.

Our '09 Georgetown came with one as we have the same kind of pantry so I know they are out there just don't know exactly where to tell you to go. Try PPL Motorhomes.

Except for those trying to make money off you, the research I have seen on the net proves that it doesn't work. You're just throwing money away on this modern day version of "snake oil"

I found when trying to manually tune satellites that even though you have your tripod level and the azimuth seems right, the elevation being just a hair off can keep you from getting any signal. Remember that even though your tripod may seem to be level, just a few degrees off in elevation can screw up the whole thing. With your azimuth figured out, adjust your elevation a bit on the low side and scan 10 degrees either side of your azimuth, then adjust the elevation up a degree and do it again, continue to raise your elevation till you find it. I found this to be a great method and usually found sattelites fairly quickly this way. I am on Dish Network and have really had no problems with it at home or in the rig. Their customer service is excellent and when I have had problems with my receivers they replace them almost overnight, and I own my own equipment. On another note, some have said they get lower signal strength on Dish Network than with Direct. I used to get between 90 and 105% signal strength however Dish Network changed the signal meter about a year and a half ago and those same birds will now show between 70 and 80%. I was assured by Dish Network and by an independant satellite technician that the signal is the same as it has always been it's just the display on the receiver that has changed.

SEAJAY, Bass fishin' isn't much cheaper. In the last year I have spent: $17,000, '98 Skeeter bass boat $200 Kistler rod $200 assorted reels $300 at a minimum for more baits and lures. $180 life jackets for boat And probably more that I have selectively erased from my memory to lessen the pain. (kinda like when I gas up the motorhome each time). The worst thing is when my wife lost 3 of my best lures to the cost of about $60 AND out-fished me at one lake last summer. HUMPF!!! It sure is fun though!

LOL, I have experience with 2 of the 3. My dad always used to say that horses were good for putting money in one end and getting poop out the other, can't tell you here what he used to refer to them as. I agree with your assesment though. All new motorhomes are going to have problems, once corected they usually become quite reliable. It's for this reason that I always advice first timers to buy a used motorhome as the problems have been worked out and they can learn the ways of and RV without the hassle of fixing these things. If you like your floorplan and your RV, keep it and work through the issues.

Depending on what you drive now the answers could be different. If what you are driving now is 38' then the extra 2 feet might not be a big issue for you. For us we went from a 30' to a 37' and it was quite an adjustment for us. We usually tow a Jeep Wrangler behind us and just this last year we bought a bass boat. That was a completely different kind of adjustment as it's a long combination. The bigger you get the more you limit your choices. You start to think a little more about your fuel stops and the campgrounds you choose. Ultimately you should be picking a rig that has the floorplan you want. If you are willing to adjust to the RV then length should be of lesser concern to you. If you are moving up from a vastly shorter rig then it will be a shock until you get used to how to maneuver it.

Adding acid to them is contrary to everything I have read on battery maintenance. Go directly to some of the battery manufacturers sites and read what they have to say on the subject but everything I have ever seen says NEVER add acid, only distilled water.

Does it look like one of these?

I have seen some Fleetwoods converted this way before so there must be a need for it. Sure wouldn't want to give up the RV lifestyle if I ended up in a wheelchair. Thankfully I'm not there yet.

Yeah we traveled that whole route in September of '08 and it was just horid, wouldn't do it again with our RV, maybe in a car to get to Chinle otherwise I would avoid it. The worst of is was that exact section too. I guess if someone really wants to see Canyon De Chelly then there is no choice but I have seen so many beautiful areas down there especially in and around Moab that I can do with out seing that to save my rig. I just kept wondering how many bolts I was loosing every time we hit a bump and hole.

We traveld the length of 191 from Wilcox AZ up to Moab in September of '08 with our rig when it was new. The entire streach in AZ was rougher than a corn cob, really beat us up. I wouldn't take it again. As soon as we crossed the state line into Utah it got much better. The worst was around Canyon D'chelley (SP?), really bad! BTW, Hwy 191 does not go to Cortez, that is 160 and or 491

Sorry Haven't been that direction in years. Try and get to Devils Tower if you can. It's been years since I have been there but I remember it as a great place to explore. When planning a trip I like to use RV Park Reviews.com to check on and plan our campground stays. These are reviews from other RVrs like us, not paid advertising or the web sites agenda. If you plan on coming northwest instead I can be of more help.

Hwy 191 in Utah is fine, Hwy 191 in Arizona is horrible and rough. If you travel 191 in Arizona you won't have any fillings left by the end of the day. We have never traveled 160 before but it can't be worse than 191 in AZ. Plenty of diesel available in the area. Moab is a very popular tourist destination and you will see lots of big rigs there. If you haven't been to Moab before make reservations early and I mean months early. May and June things will be getting hot so campgrounds with shade are a premium in Moab. We prefer Canyonlands RV Park in town as it has lots of shade trees. The interior roads are a bit tight but the campground is loaded with big rigs so it's not unmanageable. We love that area down there and look forward to spending more time there when we can. Be sure to visit Mesa Verde outside Cortez if you can. Have a great trip.

I think you are more apt to find them on the West coast than the East. Things are much more wide open out here. The west has hundreds of places to camp on BLM and Forest Service land. We frequently head over a nearby mountain pass to a spot within 1.5 hours of our home that is a beautiful place next to a rushing river in a beautiful meadow with lots of tall pines all around, and completely free. This particular area is loaded with what we know as "dispersed camping" which is areas where you can park that aren't an organized "campground" located on FS or BLM land. Frequently these areas have newer pit toilets available too. We have found great places to camp on BLM land from our home here in Washington to Utah, Oregon and Idaho. You might also find Free Campsites.net useful too.

Try RV Park Reviews. It's usually my first stop when planning a trip and looking for a place to stay. They have user submitted reviews for campgrounds and although you have to take some of them with a grain of salt they are usually pretty good.

If you can afford to do so, replace some of your most common used lights with either flourescent fixtures or LED bulbs. Although the cost is high for Flourescent and a bit higher for the LED it is worth it for dry camping. We are slowly making the switch to all LED in our rig a few lights at a time. I suggest replacing the bulbs in one light fixture in the bedroom, bathroom and living area to start with, more if you can afford it. The current draw of LED bulbs over incandescent is a lot less. Do some looking around there are lots of possibilites out there. We just recieved some LED panels that replace the 198 wedge base bulbs in our overhead lights today from an Ebay seller. The panels are just under $10 each, free shipping and come from Hong Kong. Several guys on another forum group I frequent have used them and like them plus the price is about half what they are from other online vendors. I will be trying them out today when I get home from work.

You can do what I do for cleaning off the underside of my Jeep after wheelin' in the mud. Put an oscillating sprinkler under the rig and let it go. Run it in one spot for 5 to 10 minutes then go out and move it down a bit until you have covered the entire thing.

Our first rig was a '94 Fleetwood Flair 30H. While we enjoyed this rig and didn't have too many issues with it other than normal it is not what I consider to be a real quality rig. It is an entry level RV and I would keep an eye out for water intrusion and delamination, poor caulking, the rubber roof condition, etc. Our entry door rotted from the inside out as it was just an internal wood frame that can wick up water if not sealed corectly. I ended up completely taking it apart and using thin wall 1" square steel tube to weld a new frame for it and put it back together. That door was as solid as anything you could find on a $2M dollar rig! As suggested above, do a search for "Fleetwood Flair Review" and look through all the forums where people might be talking about them. I have no direct experience with GB, however our friends have had two of them and my uncle owned one back in the 80's and I am not personally impressed with them. One thing my friend really doesn't like about his two is that they tend to be "low riders" compared to other rigs so they can drag the rear end much worse leaving driveways and parking lots with any dip in them. Good luck on your search.

All good info and X2 for me. In many cases like this in other vehicles it usually turns out to be the switch. For the amount of use the motor gets over a period of time compared to a daily driven car I would guess it isn't the motor brushes but I wouldn't rule it out either. Good luck.

Hi Thom, Sounds like your doing just fine. We too keep a space heater or our electric fireplace going in our rig during the winter. As we don't usually see more than a few weeks at or below freezing we don't winterize much but keep heat in the areas where needed. Does your rig have tank heaters? If so you don't need to worry much about water in the holding tanks as they will keep them from freezing (or should). If temps drop below freezing for us we turn on the tank heaters and I have strung a set of normal rope lights around in the plumbing compartment outside the rig to insure that those pipes have heat. As we use our rig year round as the urge hits us we don't use anti-freeze in the lines but instead will blow them free using compressed air if I really feel it needs to be done. I can't stand the anti-freeze in the lines for the pain in the butt it presents to flush it all clear when you want to use your rig again. However a little down the drains is just fine. I think if it were me though I would plan to start my full timing career in Arizona where it was warm and slowly move north as things warm up hitting MN in the later part of summer after the snows are gone and the bugs have diminished. Have a great time and take care....

Since you seem to have caught it quickly I don't see that you should have to be to worried about mold having formed. We had the same thing happen in our rig one time. A pinhole leak developed in the brass check valve on the back of the water heater and soaked the floor. On another rig we had a fitting pop off the cold water side of the bathroom sink faucet. We have learned to turn the pump off or turn the water supply off if connected in a park when we leave the rig for an extended time. Actually was thinking of installing an electric solenoid valve on the city water inlet with a switch near our door so that when we leave the rig we can flip the switch and turn off the water supply, would also be a good emergency shut off if a leak occurs during the evening.