Who, What, When, Where or Just Lets Talk

[wildebill308]

Well it was  kind of a short trip West. Left on 03/02 and got back on the first. Made it  all the way to Fresno CA. then backdown to San Diageo. for a AIM rally then to Tucson for the FMCA rally.

Bill

[rayin]

Today was a bummer. I pulled into an unmanned truck filling station, spotted many potholes in the parking lot, all full of water. I avoided as many as possible until I came upon a  wide pothole -so wide I couldn't drive around  or straddle. I slowly eased my front tires into the water-filled pothole, when suddenly the front dropped like a rock. Busted the bottom half of my front cap all across, the pothole was actually  a foot deep and wide enough for my 22.5 tires to go to the bottom and allow my front cap to drop onto the gravel on the other side. I've got to have it repaired, it's too old to obtain a new cap. Aah the joys of traveling_. Now I find out how good Progressive handles claims.

Edited April 4, 2022 by rayin

[wildebill308]

Call NIRVC they can do a good job fixing it and do insurance work.

Bill

[wayne77590]

Sorry to hear that Ray. Such a shame that they could not put out orange cones or something to warn drivers.

[richard5933]

Why is your insurance company handling this? Shouldn't the truck stop's insurance be on the hook here? 

[rayin]

On 4/4/2022 at 7:38 PM, richard5933 said:

Why is your insurance company handling this? Shouldn't the truck stop's insurance be on the hook here? 

That was an unmanned filling station, no contact information was available. I'll let Progressive sort it out. The entire front cap below the windshield is cracked and torn in places.. I was told that since no front cap is available they might total the MH as it would be too expensive to fabricate a new one by copying the old one, we'll see.

We arrived home today, along the way every RV park where we stopped gave our MH a disapproving look with the genset in full view.

Oddly enough, without the center-half of the front cap I thought the MH handled better and got better mileage-seat of the pants feeling though. When the MH bottomed-out on the jacks it was a sudden solid jar. All the way home dirt was blowing out of the foam central air conditioning ceiling ducts. Tough way to clean them though.

[wayne77590]

Sorry to hear all that Ray. I hope progressive does you well.

[wildebill308]

That is more damage than I thought you had. Did you keep the part that came off? 

Bill

[rayin]

10 hours ago, wildebill308 said:

That is more damage than I thought you had. Did you keep the part that came off? 

Bill

Yup, the two intact center sections and the small part of the section that mounts inf front of the genset. I think it can all be repaired by a good glass man. I'm having the repairs done at Indiana Body Works in Evansville, IN., look up their website. The severe jolt even damaged my Xantrex RS2000 inverter, it will not pass-through 120VAC until I manually clear the fault that says " internal fatal error", and reset the main breaker in the inverter panel..

[wildebill308]

So they are going to fix it and not total it. If  that is the case lets see some before and after pictures.

Bill

Edited April 7, 2022 by wildebill308

[rayin]

22 hours ago, wildebill308 said:

So they are going to fix it and not total it. If  that is the case lets see some before and after pictures.

Bill

I don't know yet. I take the MH to IBW next week for evaluation in advance of an estimate, and inspection by a Progressive adjuster. I think they might go with buying a used front cap from visionrv.com and repainting it to match my MH. Both sides must be repaired or replaced too.

[wildebill308]

I don't know but that looks like just the door/cover that is part of the generator slide came off. If you have them it shouldn't be that hard to re install them. We shall see.

Bill

[elkhartjim]

As you're probably aware, Ray, its not going to take much to total a 22 year old motorhome especially when you include the Xantrex and I would be concerned with some structural damage since you mentioned the foam blowing out of the rood vents. Good luck!

[rayin]

1 hour ago, elkhartjim said:

As you're probably aware, Ray, its not going to take much to total a 22 year old motorhome especially when you include the Xantrex and I would be concerned with some structural damage since you mentioned the foam blowing out of the rood vents. Good luck!

It''s not foam, just black/brown dirt, and only from the starboard side vent. I agree Jim, Progressive might choose to total the MH. A new Xantrex 2000W inverter costs approx. $3k; add in the cost of repairing or replacing the body parts, then labor, whew.

wildbill, both sides (containing headlights) are also damaged in addition to the genset panel and door panel.

[wayne77590]

Ray, I don't know what your insurance policy says, but when my MH got totaled by Harvey, page 26 stated they (Progressive) would pay me what I paid for it. My son, a lawyer, said, "No dad, they will depreciate it."  Nope! They paid me what I paid for it 10 years earlier.  Look it over, and I hope that is the case. Premiums are not cheap, but it was worth it.

[rayin]

On 4/8/2022 at 3:08 PM, wayne77590 said:

Ray, I don't know what your insurance policy says, but when my MH got totaled by Harvey, page 26 stated they (Progressive) would pay me what I paid for it. My son, a lawyer, said, "No dad, they will depreciate it."  Nope! They paid me what I paid for it 10 years earlier.  Look it over, and I hope that is the case. Premiums are not cheap, but it was worth it.

Thank you for that information Wayne! That would  be great for us. Everything below the windshields must be repaired/replaced. I've not found any damage to the windshields or gaskets - yet.

The Allison cast aluminum pan also struck that concrete apron while getting across the water-filled pothole. There is no ATF leakage or motor oil leakage, hopefully that remains the same. The pothole couldn't have been too deep or the rear wheels would''ve lost traction in the mud.

[rayin]

Now is a waiting game, the body shop and adjuster are searching for good used cap sections and panels for our MH. Adjuster said my front cap was too smashed to repair. It makes the search more difficult when the Winnebago Ultimate Freedom was only made from 1999.5-2004.5, Between the Ultimate Freedom and Ultimate Advantage only 428 were produced. I'm about sick over this, I had nearly everything in tip top shape. I sure hope Wayne's experience repeats with me.

[wayne77590]

Ray, read the policy. My policy stated the full payment.

[rayin]

After the pothole incident a minor problem appeared. the air-powered step cover would extend but not retract. Today I deduced the retract 12V solenoid on the 3-way valve was not clicking. Drat, was it a bad solenoid on the valve? Then the KISS principle took over, I removed the rocker switch that controlled the cover and sure enough the retract wire had been disconnected by the jar. I pushed the wire connection back on and the step operates normally both directions.

KISS hard at work_again, that took me 12 minutes.

[jleamont]

On 4/21/2022 at 2:48 PM, rayin said:

After the pothole incident a minor problem appeared. the air-powered step cover would extend but not retract. Today I deduced the retract 12V solenoid on the 3-way valve was not clicking. Drat, was it a bad solenoid on the valve? Then the KISS principle took over, I removed the rocker switch that controlled the cover and sure enough the retract wire had been disconnected by the jar. I pushed the wire connection back on and the step operates normally both directions.

KISS hard at work_again, that took me 12 minutes.

Good thing you thought it through!

[dbenoit]

Getting ready for our longest road trip so far to FL. Still have 9 more days but very excited.

Taking "some" of the grand kids to that Disney place, they won't know that until we pull into the parking lot.

They will also be in another vehicle for the trip there and back.

I don't know why but staying at a KOA after last seasons nightmare. Funny but they never

sent the electric bill and we were there the entire season with AC blaring.

[jleamont]

11 hours ago, dbenoit said:

Getting ready for our longest road trip so far to FL. Still have 9 more days but very excited.

Taking "some" of the grand kids to that Disney place, they won't know that until we pull into the parking lot.

They will also be in another vehicle for the trip there and back.

I don't know why but staying at a KOA after last seasons nightmare. Funny but they never

sent the electric bill and we were there the entire season with AC blaring.

The KOA in Kissimmee is very nice! Stayed there many times.

[wayne77590]

DB, besides the MH, Kids, and family, bring a lot of money. Disney World is expensive, as are the campgrounds.

[hermanmullins]

DB, All you need is your Credit Card, which doesn't hurt too bad while you and the family are having the time of their life's 😀 and

your Nitroglycerin Pill to help ward off the heart attack you may have when your get the Credit Card Statement. 😒😲

Herman

[rayin]

DB get read for very heavy traffic in FL. When we came home it took me 7 hrs. to drive 250 miles on I 75.