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Hello Forum Members, I have a '99-'00 MCI converted coach used initially as a celebrity coach and now a highly functional RV. It has been working well for us until this year's recent annual inspection and the coach now has what might be a significant repair issue. I'm looking for insights, advise and related guidance to accomplish a resolution. My goal is to keep the coach on the road. The repair situation is the lower, 5 o'clock position on the 50DN bracket has developed a crack. Please see attached picture, 50DN w/lower bracket section and bracket crack at the 5 o'clock position. As identified the coach has a Detroit Diesel (DD) series 60, 12.6L engine and the 50DN alternation is attached to the upper right side, when viewing the engine from the rear compartment. I'm interested in anyone's information about repairing this cracked bracket. Can it be welded? replaced? other options? and information related to costs,, risks, success/reliability after repair. Thank you in advance for your insights and suggestions. Regards, Jon

So my Cornerstone Extended Service plan expires in March 2021. I bought it with my '16 HR Vacationer from General RV. It was all they had and I learned Cornerstone is not the greatest. They reject more than the pay for, but I really used it anyway. Went back to General for a quote to extend & had to take a nitro pill to stop my heart attack....$10K for 5 yrs w/$200 deductible. Got a quote from Good Sam for $800/yr w/$1K deductible. American's RV Warranty quoted an exclusionary 5 yr w/$100 deduct @ $4800. Called General RV to ask if they even took American's RV Warranty and they said..."yes, but they are real hard to deal with and reject a lot of claims". So is that true or is General just trying to get me to buy their Cornerstone policy again???? So my questions is...knowing that everyone has different experiences with different companies....Which warranty company can you trust, if any? Or should I say...Which one can you trust the most? If you ask Mr. Google about reviews, you find a lot of articles and sales pitches, but not a lot of real reviews. Hope I am not duplicating someone else's post, but there were so many I simply didn't take the time to go through them all......Thanks to anyone who can offer some advice

As our RV aged and so did we, it got harder to hear each other as we traveled down the road. On this day’s end when we pulled in the engine was very loud. Roger decided it was the manifold. It was 4 o’clock on a Friday and we need a mechanic to access the problem. We found Sauder’s here in Sydney, Nebraska. Chris Sauder, the owner’s son, came out and told us it was a blow gasket on the passenger side. He could not get us in until Tuesday and then parts would need to be ordered. Roger needed to get to Reno (1,100 miles) as his brother was dying. Therefore, Roger went to Reno in the car and I stayed with the dog and cat to get the RV fixed. On Monday Chris called for the vin. number and ordered parts, on Tuesday I was across the street at 8:30. RV was tore down and ready to put back together by 1:30. I spent the night behind the business plunged into their electric. On Wednesday they ran into trouble do to a bolt being broken off. The job was not completed until 4:30. Both the shop and the machine donated time for part of the working on this bolt. During these 2 days Chris came often to the waiting room to bring me up to date on the job, offered me use of a car, and watch my dog while I walked next door for a sandwich. I can’t say enough good things about these people. And if that wasn’t enough the place I stayed was Cabela’s campground at their corporate office. They were so nice and ended up giving us 2 free nights. So if you are in the area these two business while treat you right.

Thanksgiving we were in Baton Rouge for a brief vacation. When we got ready to leave, my slideout pump, HWH brand assembly, stopped working after bringing in one slide. We finally called a mobile mechanic, Leo Johnson, (225) 772-4305, that was recommended by the RV park. Great guy, friendly and informative. This was a Sunday afternoon. He couldn't get any info till Monday, so we stayed another night. Next day, he told us that the replacement assembly was $700 plus shipping and would not be available for a week with expedited shipping. He helped us manually push in the slides and we went home. The pump assembly is located directly behind the door step and is easy to access. At home, I removed the assembly and looked for the pump manufacturer and found it on the internet. Love google. The pump (see pix) was only $97 and could be shipped in 2 days. I had to purchase it through a local distributor since the factory only sold to distributors. I disassembled the pump tank and motor and pulled the pump out. For those of you who are my age, (64+), the drive motor looked like an old starter from a Ford or Chevy, held on by 2 bolts. I removed the motor from the assembly during re-install to remove weight from the assembly. The motor by itself seemed to weight as much as the rest of the assembly. It was not a difficult job. All of the electrical was plug in, so I numbered the wires and took pics with my phone of their locations. Did the same with the hydraulic lines. It took about 3 hours to reassemble the pump, tank, motor AND install it in the RV. It works great and I saved $600 plus labor by doing it myself. Leo did tell me one thing that was interesting. He said that this is only the 2nd pump that he has seen go bad in 25 years of working on RV's. So, HWH builds a good unit, if that's the case. Had a similar experience with an Avion 5th wheel and a broken door handle back around 2003. I couldn't get the part from Fleetwood, so I went to the internet. Bought it direct from the manufacturer. I love google for repairs.