Category: Motorhome Projects

Cottonwood CG Navajo Dam, NM – Thursday September 19, 2019

Slept in this morning and did not get to the river until after 10:00.

Got 9 fish, things have really slowed down. 

In the afternoon I did some coach things:

Used the $9.99 Harbor Freight angle grinder plus $1.99 grinding wheel to get a lock off the solar panel. The locks I bought for this panel can get the combination changed really easy when the lock is open. This is the second time this has happened. The first time I figured out the new combination. This time I got new locks and a grinder to get the lock off the panel.  We will be using the solar panel while at the Balloon Fiesta and I did not want to leave it out unsecured. 

At 3:00 when I start to go fishing a large thunderstorm was building to the south. I decided to set and watch it come to us and it did, we have now had three storms blow though. The second one had at least 40 mph winds with it and was raising the large slide topper up a foot.  

Richland, WA – Tuesday May 14, 2019

Big house coach projects:

Cleaned the carpet, I used rug cleaner, scub brush and a shop vacuum. It worked really good and I got a lot of dirt out of the carpet.

Moved the inverter so it is easier to get to in order to reach the rest button and more air can get around it for cooling.

This is the original position.

Hard to reach around the end to got the reset button pushed all the way in.

Replaced the transfer switch and added a plugin that now comes straight off the generator. I am still having trouble with the generator power. I think the delay relay in the back of the power panel is not working. When I plug into shore power the coach has 110 power. When I got the new transfer switch installed I had 110 power when the generator was running, however a week later I was not getting 110 out of the generator. Generator power was going into the transfer switch and coming out toward the power panel but not coming out of the panel. Since we are going to be in Richland for a month in July and the shore power is working I decided to leave this alone until August. I think their is delay relay attached to the back of the main power panel, I will find out when I start taking it apart.

While we are in Montana I will use the plugin coming straight off the generator to charge the batteries ( if needed ) and the limited usage of the microwave.

Painted the windshield wiper blade.

Wanted to add an inductor light to the inverter switch so I don’t forget to turn it off after watching TV. I worked one afternoon for 4 hours trying to figure out To get an LED light attached to the power switch but nothing would work. The answer I came up with is a power polarity tester plugged into the power plug. This will shine in the cabinet next to the TV and easy to see.

One of these.

Put a switch on the water pump I made to add water to the coach.

Put loctite on the pickup tow bar.

Plus a bunch of other stuff.

Fishing was pretty good, I smoked 51 trout last Saturday one was 15 inches 2 lbs 2 oz. I got 2 more fish over 1.5 lbs and 2 over 1.25 lbs. Not may people on the lake this year, many mornings I was the only boat.

Productive time at the big house, oh yea I also got a new fly rod and reel.

Goodyear, AZ – Wednesday March 20, 2019

Today we got a new awning and slide topper rollers.

We replaced the awning before it failed. It was starting to some small wear point holes but what I was really concerned about was the small area between the coach and the awning’s metal cover. It was a place where moss would grow on the awning material and the fabric would eventually fail.

Brian and I replaced the slide toppers this winter and on the way down here last month I noticed the rollers were not rolling round.

Here is why, the caps are made of a rather soft metal the once round hole is now an oval. I found replacements on EBay for $140.00 a slide. The awning folks would replace them for $250.00 a slide, I decided it was worth the $100.00 each to have it done. It even seemed like a better deal when one of the spring loaded end caps got away from one of the installers and just nicked a finger.

Miss you Hank,

Big House – Coach Repairs – Friday August 24, 2018

Home projects for the motor home.

The storage drawer under Jean’s dinette seat quit rolling on the aluminum track runner.  It wasn’t the drawer we open the most so I ask Jean if we could wait until we got home and I had more of my tools.

The aluminum has stretched and rolled down.

I had some angled aluminum so cut a piece and pop riveted it onto the original track.

After I finished the first side I checked the other drawer and it had the same problem it just hadn’t bent all the way down.  I fixed this side with a piece of word to support the bottom of the runner.

 

Couch springs

At Christmas time I put new springs into one end of the couch.  During this trip the springs I put in at Christmas moved and created some holes in the sitting area. 

I added some screws and more hog rings, hopefully the springs will stop moving.

Steps

After we got home the support arm coming off the step gear box broke.  I found a replacement gearbox which used steel rather than then pot metal the original gearbox had on it. 

 

 

Pot metal is steel which is cast in a mold and when done quickly often has weak structure in it and is not as strong as rolled or stamped steel.

 

Custer State Park, SD – Thursday May 24, 2018

Today’s drive

We are at Custer State Park, Game Lodge Campground site 16E.

The challenge with this site is it’s on a HILL.  We have had this coach since 2005 and this is the first time I needed wheel blocks to get it level.  The LevelMate-Pro said the rear was 4.25 inches low on the passenger side. The front driver’s side is 5.5 inches and the front passenger’s side is 10.0 inches low.  We went into the town of Custer and got six 2 X 4’s and a pound of 2 1/2 inch screws.   I was sure glad I had a $16.99 Harbor Freight cordless drill and set of drill bits.  Took some time and I got the coach within 0.25 inches of level.  We are here for 11 days so it was worth the time and efforts.  I was tired when I was done.  I was also glad I had my hiking bow saw.

Hesperia, CA – Wednesday February 14, 2018

This morning when I went out to check on our front end oil leak, it was back.  I called the people who did the brakes and they were not at all interested in our problem.   They did give me a name of shop in southern Cal.  This shop could not look at the coach for 4 weeks, however they gave me the name and number of a shop in Hesperia, Ca (right next to Victorville, Ca).  Range RV said he could at least look at the coach on Friday and there is a empty lot across the street from them where we could spend the night.  We headed out on the 47 miles to Hesperia, Ca and Range RV (I really really like my GPS).

When we got to Hesperia we pulled into the empty lot and I went across the street to see Brian at Range RV to let him know we were there and be in his shop in a matter of minutes.  I went back to the coach to unhook the pickup, I pickup’s transmission would not re-engage.  So we where off the Victorville Ford dealership.  Ford spent a lot of time trying to get a trouble code out of the transmission.  They finally got the transmission engaged however now the system is working so no trouble codes.  They would not take any payment for the time they had spent working on the truck.  I went through the steps to disengage the transmission, the light on the Neutral Tow switch blink as it did it’s test procedure, the transmission dis-engaged and then went out, it is supposed to stay on.  At this point the tech’s at the dealership hooked up another computer and got a test code for “Neutral Safety Switch” in the transmission.  Again they would not take any payment for the time they had spent.  Larry the service writing said at this point they could not look at the pickup until next week and any dealership I went to would change me for trouble shooting because they are not going to believe the last dealership.  It is really to bad that one dealership can not talk to another and believe each other.  Oh well, we can now tow the pickup to Goodyear and see about getting it fixed.

We drove back to Range RV, unhooked the pickup and settled in for a couple of days.

Orland, CA – Monday February 12, 2018

Yes we are still at the same rest stop as last night.

Sunday evening when I want out to check the engine oil level I saw brake fluid on the inside of the front tires.  The driver’s side had more than the passenger side but the both had fluid on the tire and a small line running down on the rotors.
I looked on the internet for truck / RV repair places and didn’t come up with any place that really stood out.  I did find that both Orland and Corning have Les Schwab stores.  This morning we drove to the Les Schwab in Corning to have the brakes look at.

The calipers and brake fittings are not leaking, couldn’t find a place where any was coming out.  It looks like the guy who did the brake job at Christmas got a lot of brake fluid on the inside of the wheel rim and with the brakes warming up coming down out of the Siskiyou’s this fluid flowed down onto the tire and onto the rotor.

We spent the afternoon at a rest stop north of Corning and are now back at the rest stop south of Corning.  Tomorrow (Tuesday 2/13/2018) we will drive to Boron, Ca.

While we were in Corning we did stop at the Olive Pit and purchased a few olives.  The Washington delivery will not be made until the end of April, sorry for the delay.
Short travels today.
Campsite.

 

Heading South For Baseball and Sun – Thursday February 8, 2018

Our current plan is to leave Saturday for the trip south to Peoria and a month of Mariner’s baseball.   This year we were able to get Spring Training Season Tickets and saved almost $300.00 in the ticket price.

I got a lot of things done to the motor home during our time at the big house.

Coach got:
A radiator flush, all new hoses and belts, spark plugs and wires.
New brakes and rotors all around.
Fixed the furnace again, this time I replaced the burner.
Restrung the window blind over the couch.
Couch got 3 new springs on the end we set on the most.
New sink faucet.
New show faucet.
Changed out the batteries, added two 6 volt batteries for a total four 6 volt AGM batteries, 440 amp hours of storage.
New battery charger with remote panel.
Replaced the XM antenna after the slide out broke the antenna wire.
Changed the oil and filter.
Changed the transmission filter.
Changed the oil in the generator.
Made a bracket so I can put the wind sock pole the rear ladder.
Replaced the plug on the 30 amp 110 power cable.

Anyway looking forward to 85 degree weather and some sun.

Big House Projects – Wednesday August 2, 2017

Here are the big house motorhome projects I have completed:

Wash coach
Wax coach
Empty Dust Buster vacuum cleaner and clean out motor area
Clean BBQ base, grease build up.
Restring two window blinds
Change battery in LevelPro
Add 12 volt expansion plug to pickup, need more 12 volt plugin in the pickup when using cellphone and laptop in pickup
Design and install bracket for 12 volt power gauge in the pickup, use when towing pickup to ensure battery is staying charged.
Clean carpet, in motorhome and house (long day)
Design and install a bracket in front of the WeBoost roof antenna, so tree limbs don’t knock it off.
Look into adding 2 – 6 volt AGM batteries, will need to purchase 4 new AGM batteries, decided to wait.
Add third fan to catalytic heater.
Fix cabinet door support over the sink.
Captains chairs squeak when turned, fix.
Locate better place for the satellite TV antenna switch.
Fix fishing wading pole, does not lock when extended.
Vacuum all the dust out of the pickup engine compartment.
Install new larger water filtering system.
Fix furnace, installed new PC board and electrode, have sail switch to install before we leave, furnace starts on first or second cycle.
Design and install a bracket to support the broken plastic wheel cover on right rear dual tires.
Change oil.
Lube chassis.
Clean ceiling fan blades and inside of both A/C units.
Get new flexible water hose.