Category: Repairs

Buckeye, AZ Friday February 25, 2022

Going to Discount Tire today to get the new tires installed.

Getting tires at Discount Tire has not worked out to well. Discount did not have the equipment to change the tires on a motorhome. They only had a 3/4 inch air gun which is not big enough to even get the lug nuts off the coach. After trying for a hour they decided they could not get the tires off and at this point I’m not sure they could even mount the tires on the rims.

The store manager called several places and final found a TravelCenter America Truck Stop 16 miles up he road who said they could mount the new tires. The Discount Tire manager wanted me to put the six new tires inside our coach and go the the TA Truck Stop. I said we didn’t have room, I didn’t want new tire rubber all over the inside our coach on the furniture and carpet. One minute before I asked for a complete refund he decided one of his people would take the tires the TA Truck Stop.

When we got to the truck stop the person who said they would mount the tires was gone for the day. I lady at the counter said she would call me when they were ready to do the tires. I went out to the coach, unhooked the pickup and we waited. At 5:00 (45 minutes later) I went back into the shop office to find out if we should eat dinner or were they going to call right after we started to eat. And amazingly all of a sudden she had someone available to mount the tires.

It took the guy 3 hours to mount the tires. They didn’t have the correct equipment to get the tires off the rims so he had to do it by hand. We were the only vehicle in the shop and the other tire guy working was not about to help. He work pretty hard to get to old tires off the rims.

We left the park at 1:30 and got back to 9:15, long day for just tires.

Anyway, we have new tires.

Buckeye, AZ Tuesday February 15, 2022

Got to go buy all new tires today. The tires have 45,000 miles on them and the coach has 140,653 miles on it. I have to get at least two front tires because it is hard on the king pins to have tires of different sizes. When you think about how many times the tires rotate a little difference adds up over time. If I get front tires I will need to get rear tires in 15,000 miles or just over a year from now. A year from now I may get tires with a different tread design and then that makes it difficult to rotate the tires from place to place on the coach. So anyway we will have all new tires.

Cottonwood CG Navajo Dam, NM – Monday September 16, 2019

We went into Farmington early this morning and we are now proud owns of a brand new generator carburetor. It has not been running very well when it first starts since we were in Montana this spring. A couple of times I was not sure it was going to start and stay running. After couple of minutes when it warmed up it would run fine. I changed the spark plugs while we were at the big house and it started right up and ran fine. Our first stop after leaving the big house was at Salmon Cove just off a Chinook Pass. It had trouble starting and ran rich and stumbled for several minutes just like in Montana. The problem has continued so we are going to the Cummins/Onan Service facility in Farmington. The service manager said they called Onan and Onan said to check the electric chock. The chock is supposed recover after 2 ½ minutes and ours was over 5 minutes also the altitude adjustment is not working.  The chock Spring is not available by itself thus we have a new carburetor. 

It was a challenge to get to Farmington.  Last night’s thunderstorm left the two miles of dirt road from the state park to the main highway a bit iffy. We got up at 6:00 and I drive two blocks to just outside of the campground area to check out a flash flood area. It was still dark and all I could see was water and mud.  I had decided I couldn’t tell how deep the water was and we would miss our appointment to check out the generator. Then a pickup came into the park and showed the water was not very deep. I drove the pickup the two miles out to the main road and the hills were not too slippery. 

Cottonwood CG Navajo Dam, NM – Wednesday September 11, 2019

On the road at 6:30

We had a stiff side wind for an hour then turned left and it turned into tail wind. The road surface was not level tipping the coach side to side most of the day, made for a long day of travel. 338 miles.

Stopped at Cummins in Farmington and got an appointment for 8:00 on Monday September 16 for their generator guy to look at the coach. The service manager said he would actually look at the generator at 8:00 to figure out what is wrong. It ran great at home after I changed the spark plugs but when we get up in the mountains it started acting up again. Runs on one cylinder and rich for 1 to 2 minutes before smoothing out and then runs good the rest of the time. 

Stopped at Walmart for grocery shopping and in Aztec for laundry. 

Got to Cottonwood Campground at 6:30, by the time I got the car unhooked, dumped and settled into site 5 it was 7:30. This is the same site we had last year.

Getting ready for 2 weeks of fishing.

Sand Hollow State Park, – St. George, Utah – Tuesday September 3, 2019

It is hot today 102 here and tomorrow 105 is the current forecast. The plan is to go to Lees Ferry / Marble Canyon for a couple of days than on to state park north of monument valley.

I think we may try to get into Jacob Lake FS Campground on the north side of the Grand Canyon. The elevation is 5000 plus. They always have some drop in sites and we will try for an open one.

Today’s drive 118 miles

In site 12, pull through on far side of the hill from the cell towers, did not get internet until sun was almost down.

We also got a new battery for the pickup. When we got here the battery voltage was 11.9. It is only 4 years old but I don’t want to take a chance. I put a voltage meter in the pickup so I would know if was having any voltage leaks. If the battery goes dead while it is in tow mode it has to go to a Ford dealership to reprogram the transmission. At 102 degrees in the shade I decided to go to Interstate Battery and have them put it in. When we got back to the Campground after running a bunch of errand the voltage was at 12.6 right where it belongs.

Organ Pipe Cactus National, AZ – Sunday October 21, 2018

Worked on leaking heater hose this morning.

I taped a line to my $29.17 NAPA 5/16th wrench in case I dropped it while tightening the hose clamp. Without this line the wrench would have fallen into the engine several times.

Tightened the clamp nut about 30 degrees of a full turn. Run the engine up to full temperature and no leak. After the engine cools down I will see if I can get a little more of turn on the nut, after I get the wrench on the nut i have just my finger tips as turning leverage.

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, AZ – October 17, 2018

Wonderful sunny and warm day, 82.

This morning I noticed some antifreeze under the coach. It took a while but I found the source

Down inside that dark hole is heater hose with a leaking hose clamp.

You can see the shining clamp just above the middle. The clamp’s nut is on the far side, this could be a challenge, oh well at least I know where the problem is.

Winslow, AZ – Homolivi State Park – Saturday September 15, 2018

Jason asked us to be at his shop at 12:30, we got there at 12:00 I told him I don’t want him waiting for us.  NAPA is supposed to make their Saturday parts delivery at 1:00.  They decided it would work best for them if they made the 1:00 p.m. delivery at 3:00 today.  Jason installed the ignition switch and we were out of RV Country by 3:45. 

We drove of Winslow, AZ and decided to stay at Homolivi State Park (site 30) it would be quieter than staying at the local I-40 rest stop. 
Did a Walmart stop this evening.

Today’s drive

 

 

No campsite picture

Flagstaff, AZ – Black Bart RV Park & Steak House – Friday September 14, 2018

When I talked to the service manager at Evert’s RV Country on Thursday he said he would be able to work us in on Friday.  At 2:15 p.m. Jason (the Service Manager) came up the of overflow sales lot and started looking for our problem.  He thought the problem was an overheated/melted power distribution box at the end of the steering column.  Oops, we didn’t have this power distribution box.   However, it only took him 25 minutes total to figure out the problem is in the ignition switch. 

The second wire up from the bottom should have battery voltage when the ignition switch is turned to start and it only has one volt.  He had a tester which he could apply 12 volts to this wire and the engine started.  He was able to find a new ignition switch in L.A. Napa warehouse and they could have it delivered to the shop by 1:00 on Saturday afternoon.  Jason usually goes home at noon on Saturday but he said he’d wait and instill the park for us on Saturday.

He took the switch apart and cleaned all the contact points inside the switch and it would and start the coach every time, things are looking up. 

For the night he suggested Greer’s RV Park a mile and a half up the street.  Note this is late Friday evening.  When we got to Greer’s they were full however this really nice guy who said he was the owner set out on the porch of his Registration Office the started calling other RV Parks.  He had a list a maybe 10 parks and when he called the last park on the list they had one site for one night.  The park was just on the other side of town, Black Bart’s RV Park, Steak House, Saloon and Musical Revue.  These are some really nice people here in Flagstaff, the town is noted for being RV unfriendly however RV the businesses are going out of their way to help people.

Drive to RV Park in Flagstaff.

Campsite picture

Sign for the park.