| |
Subject |
Author |
Date Posted |
Forum
|
 |
RE: MH used newer or older
X2 on what Chum Lee stated, do as much research on the various powertrains available for class A rigs and get out and view/drive as many coaches as you can get your hands on. We took our time and looked at coaches in surrounding states eventually driving nearly 1K miles to purchase our 40' class A.
These type of queries will get responses in favor of the rigs currently owned by responders, just good ole human nature and our need to feel superior. Not to mention some of the blanket statements that are simply farcical, best to take responses with a grain of salt, don't rush and enjoy the experience.
|
Sandia Man
|
02/23/23 11:57am |
Class A Motorhomes
|
|
RE: 1/2 Inch Drive Corded or Battery Impact Wrench
X2 on cordless 1/2 inch impact wrench, Santa brought me a Rigid last Christmas and already tackled a few projects on our class A with astounding ease. Sure gave my right arm quite a work out as it is pretty heavy, but removing bolts that would have required serious muscle, literally in seconds, don't know why I did not get one sooner. Tried the electric AC driven 1/2 inch and it just did not have the torque, probably why I didn't pull the trigger on the 20 volt version sooner thinking they have similar power. These newer batteries hold power for long periods of time, more than likely you will still have plenty of power remaining in the battery when called into service.
|
Sandia Man
|
02/11/23 01:03pm |
General RVing Issues
|
|
RE: Slides out or autolevelers down first?
Although our Monaco owner's manual states slides should be deployed first, I go by how out of level our coach is at the site we are currently in. If we are somewhat level I may deploy slides first, but more often than not, we level rig first. Once level our slides go out smoothly without drama from slide motors. When unlevel slides still move in and out fine, but our longer, heavier living/dining slide sure lets us know that being out of level is not ideal circumstances for drive motor.
On our rig slides can not be manipulated when engine is running, thereby they are normally deployed off house batteries which is an easy task with our 4 GC2 6 volt jars. Our power gear levelers however can be manipulated with or without motor running as long as auto park brake is set. Occasionally after we have leveled upon arrival, levelers may dig in and lose initial level after a couple of days. Again, with slides already deployed, we hear that the larger slides in main cabin don't appreciate the movement of the levelers while raising/lowering coach.
What does all that say, we do what we think is best for our rig depending on the scenario we are currently experiencing. Coming from an engineering/technical background, and working with various leading edge OEMS, you cannot simply duplicate every environment in which your equipment can be used. Also spent a few years writing both owners and service manuals, believe me not everything stated in a manual is rigorously tested for every imaginable scenario. I imagine RV engineers do their best, RV mfgs just to cheap to employ better designs.
|
Sandia Man
|
02/11/23 12:37pm |
Class A Motorhomes
|
|
RE: snap pads
The process was easier than we expected, a bit of liquid dish soap and a helper to engage levelers while I set snap pads in place. One of the very first mods we did when getting our class A a couple of years ago, we have been 20K miles since their install and they have stayed on without issue. They are a bit pricey, but as we are getting up in years, having to to place leveling pads upon arrival and retrieve them when departing was a hassle we no longer deal with.
|
Sandia Man
|
12/30/22 11:03am |
Class A Motorhomes
|
|
RE: No LP to the stove top.
Appliances that utilize propane are at times difficult to fire up, particularly when propane supply has been turned off for extended periods of time. Under this scenario in many cases air needs to be purged from LP supply lines before appliances will ignite. After turning on propane at tank, I turn burners on let air in lines purge lighting stove when I detect propane coming from burners, doesn't take long.
|
Sandia Man
|
11/04/22 09:47am |
Class C Motorhomes
|
|
RE: Traveling to California
Going down I-10 will have less issues with mountains and higher elevations compared to I-40, although I-40 is not by any means difficult to travel unless their happens to be a storm moving through AZ or NM. From Austin I would more than likely utilize I-10 for most of this rather long trek, lots to see on the way if you have time, happy travels.
|
Sandia Man
|
11/04/22 09:35am |
Roads and Routes
|
|
RE: My generator may not be repairable, what do I do?
Even if you find this part, older Onan gennies can be troublesome, particularly if they have not been used much. It could be quite tasking to get it to run smoothly since their carbs tend to gum up easily, some have luck cleaning them, most times a new one has to be ordered.
Portable gennies is another route to take, inverter versions run quieter, provide cleaner power, and are more fuel efficient. We have a Champion 3K watt inverter genny with electric and remote start, easily powers our single AC unit and most 120Vac items on our 30 amp rig at the same time.
Being new to RVing do you plan to have power hookups most of the time, or is your preferred method primarily off the power grid? Two (or 4) house batteries will better serve your needs for off grid camping, we use 6 volt GC2 batteries from Samsclub, a single 12 volt can work if mostly using electric sites.
Our last 3 RVs have had onboard gennies, our first 2 TT/5er did not and we did not purchase a portable genny, that was 2 decades ago & did not realize their benefits when RVing off the power grid. Although we have solar we quickly learned that our Onan provided 100% self-containment at a touch of a button.
|
Sandia Man
|
10/24/22 04:11pm |
Class C Motorhomes
|
|
RE: Ordered new Goodyear Endurance & New GC battery install
Single axle and a spare, 3 new tires does the trick. Going with GC2 batteries will certainly increase furnace run time, we do lots off RVing off the grid and made the switch from original dealer provided battery early on.
|
Sandia Man
|
10/06/22 09:15am |
Travel Trailers
|
|
RE: Michelin vs Toyo tires
We have only been in the class A world for a few years after 3 decades of towing TTs, 5ers, and toyhaulers. Every time we got new tires for our tow vehicle, regardless of brand, whatever we were towing was swaying all over the road, found we had to break them in as LT tires are made of very hard rubber. To alleviate this issue we ended up buying 2 tires at a time and putting them on front axle for a few months to break them in, then went back and got the second set and rotated the now broken in front tires to the rear. No more issues with sway or rear traction with broken in tires, our HD truck was dedicated to towing our rigs and just sat in garage when we were not out RVing.
The class A we purchased a couple of years ago had a set of Toyos roughly 10 years old although they showed very little wear, private seller dropped price $3K and we drove our new to us rig back home nearly 1K miles through blistering record setting TX heat. It drove great, tires being well broken in and scorching heat kept us glued to the road, got home and replaced with the same Toyos M154.
First time out on highway were were all over the place, checked pressure and tire store had them at max psi, prior Toyos only had roughly 85/90 psi. Dropped psi in new Toyo tires to around 90 and drivability improved dramatically, after a couple of in-state trips they are now broken in and riding marvelously.
|
Sandia Man
|
09/27/22 12:58pm |
Class A Motorhomes
|
|
