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Forum
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RE: Bad Experience at Little Dealer Service Department
It's been my observations over many years and vehicle purchases that in the industry (both automotive and RV) the Sales Dept and the Service Dept are basically run as two completely different companies. Sales makes a big deal out of their Service Dept to aid in making the sale, but once you've signed the papers and driven off you're forgotten - until you're ready for a new purchase. The Service Dept doesn't care about building a dealership-customer relationship with good timely service that could result in another sale down the road.
Second, the RV industry, unlike the auto industry has a completely different warranty setup. In the auto industry the vehicle you buy is typically covered by two warranty policies, one for the tires and one for everything else. And the "everything else" warranty is backed up the the manufacturer to the point that you can go to virtually any dealer in the country and get prompt warranty work done. The RV industry is completely different here - Sales leads you to believe you're getting a warranty similar to what you get in an auto, but in fact you get a library book full of warranties. When you have a problem it's up to you to find out which warranty applies and find someone who will honor that warranty and do the work in a timely fashion. The RV manufacturers are usually no help in getting their dealers to tow the line either, and often you're forced to try and get warranty work done with the dealer you bought it from - no matter how far that may be from where you are when you need service.
Finally, from what I can tell, Thor is more into building and selling units as fast as they can thru as many dealers as possible. For some of their lines they offer virtually identical floor-plans and options under multiple nameplates. They claim this is to give the buyer more choices, but it seems to me it's a way of undercutting their own dealers. A dealer may think he's got quite a large territory in their dealership agreement only to find that it's be cut in half by another dealer selling the same type of units under a different nameplate right down the street from him.
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bob_nestor
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05/26/23 01:02pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Should be simple WiFi question, but???
Some routers like the Archer use unique names for 2.4 and 5 gHz and distinguish between them by appending a "_5g" to the SSIDs. Others, like some of the ASUS routers, can use a single name for both and when a device tries to connect it automatically selects the correct WiFi. ASUS calls this feature "Smart Connect" and it can be enabled or disabled via the web interface to the router. However, there are some devices which have difficulty connecting if this is enabled in the router. I have both an Archer and an ASUS along with various tablets, phones and such. At least one of my Android tablets can't deal with the auto-select.
The POS my internet provider provided.. Did not have the option to name just one band different. It only had one SSID/PSK
Which is why I got the TP-Link Archer 10
And glad I am I did it. also turns out I was renting the POS and the pay back on the Archer is about 1 year.. I'm double happy with that.
Yeah, renting that equipment doesn't make sense to me either - much cheaper to buy your own and accept the small risk that it may need to be replaced.
I use an ASUS RT-AC3200 for my main router w/WiFi in the house for my small home network, and I have an Archer C50 in my RV barn for WiFi in the workshop and for RV camping guests to use. It is hardwire ethernet connected to the ASUS. Overall I like the ASUS unit much better than the Archer, but both work just fine. When on the road with the RV I have a grandfathered AT&T hotspot ($20/mo unlimited) in the RV that's wired to be always on.
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bob_nestor
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05/24/23 05:31pm |
Technology Corner
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RE: Should be simple WiFi question, but???
Get a new router I had that kind of router(One SSID two bands) and several devices refused to connect to it
My New TP-Link Archer-10 has 3 SSIDs two are the same ..almost.. I set them to the 2.4 GHz SSID to the same as the old router (Saves logging in all the old hardware) likewise the PSK I set the same.. The 5 GHZ band is the same save for the addition of 5GHz to the ssid..making both of the bands Unique The Third SSID (Guest)is optional.
Now my printer works over Wi-Fi. Smart plugs and devices work.. and Raspberry Pi's are very very solid.
Some routers like the Archer use unique names for 2.4 and 5 gHz and distinguish between them by appending a "_5g" to the SSIDs. Others, like some of the ASUS routers, can use a single name for both and when a device tries to connect it automatically selects the correct WiFi. ASUS calls this feature "Smart Connect" and it can be enabled or disabled via the web interface to the router. However, there are some devices which have difficulty connecting if this is enabled in the router. I have both an Archer and an ASUS along with various tablets, phones and such. At least one of my Android tablets can't deal with the auto-select.
The other issue with connection to WiFi has to do with hidden SSIDs. Most devices let you manually enter the SSID and password to connect to an SSID that is hidden or not advertised. Some devices can't do that like a couple of the inexpensive Android tablets I have. At least one of the Androids I have also has an issue trying to reconnect to a previously known (and saved) SSID if that SSID is later hidden which isn't a problem for better engineered devices.
As for hiding SSIDs, some feel it offers some additional level of security, others claim this isn't true. Hiding the SSID at least keeps people who aren't all that tech savy from seeing and trying to connect to your WiFi though.
In short, if the tablet is an inexpensive (cheap) one, it may have a number of small nagging issues trying to connect to, use and reconnect to WiFi. But as others have stated, if the tablet doesn't support 5ghz, it won't see when it's available and therefore can't/won't use it.
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bob_nestor
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05/24/23 11:07am |
Technology Corner
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RE: Where can I find this RV?
You might try searching on this site:
RV Search
It has quite a bit of information for searching, although not always really up-to-date. One nice thing is that if you find something close it will have links to units that are for sale around the country.
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bob_nestor
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05/22/23 06:09am |
Class C Motorhomes
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RE: Observations - Local RV Dealer.
Well if things get bad enough in the RV Industry maybe I can find a manufacturer willing to actually consider making some of the changes I'm looking for in my next RV. Nothing major, but anything that upsets their current manufacturing process seems to be a No-Go at this time.
I keep reminding myself of the old Buddhist Proverb though: "The ox is slow, but the earth is patient"
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bob_nestor
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04/29/23 06:46am |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Jeep exploded ...
I’m not aware of any state, maybe MO based on scoobys post, that doesn’t allow appliances in the garage like furnace and water heater.
I know houses in the area my area will not pass inspection if both sides of walls surrounding the utility room (furnace & water heater) are not finished. And IIRC, had to use thicker sheet-rock than normal inside walls.
The building codes in many areas require outside air and ventilation for any gas fired appliance, thus they get installed in the attic or garage. You'd have to break the air infiltration barriers to install them inside, and that works against trying to make the living areas as energy efficient as possible.
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bob_nestor
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04/26/23 02:09pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Door Won’t Open
Is this a TRI-MARK lock?
What can happen and from what you said it sounds like it is the striker bolt breaks. The highest tress point is the thinnest point on the bolt.
I then took the two parts of the bolt to a metal smith and had him carve me one out of steel instead of the **** tri-mark uses.
I'm on my 3rd one of these darned things. Guess you drilled out the factory rivets to install the new steel bolt? Luckily I've always been able to get inside so I can remove the screws hold the lock mechanism together in the door though.
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bob_nestor
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04/18/23 08:36am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: free streaming video
Amazon Firestick and Roku give you access to many of the streaming sites listed along with a number of others. You only pay for the devices to get them set up and they're fairly inexpensive - there's no continuing charges after that. An added benefit of the Firestick, if one has DishTV at home, is the Dish Anywhere APP which allows you to watch all your Dish channels and local stations over the Internet. (I believe you can install a Roku APP on the Firestick and run it from there as well once you have an account set up, but as I recall you need to set up the account thru an actual Roku first.)
The other thing I've done in my RV for when I'm camping with limited or no Internet is to download a lot of old favorite movies and TV series onto a Neumi Atom 4K device (www.Neumitech.com) that, like the Firestick and Roku, interfaces to the TV (or HDMI switch) via HDMI connection. To download the movies and TV shows I use the StreamFAB application on my home Desktop. It has access to a number of the streaming sites listed and has the ability to remove the ads from anything downloaded as well. I do post-process what I download to get SD, HD and FHD formats that are compressed for the Neumi to save space and get more loaded on the MicroSD card I use, but that's not an absolute requirement for the Neumi.
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bob_nestor
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03/31/23 06:08am |
Technology Corner
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RE: Windows 11 Experts?
Dumb question, but are you sure the file you're trying to "send" to drive H: isn't already on drive H:?
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bob_nestor
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03/26/23 07:46pm |
Technology Corner
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RE: Looking for a TOAD for our New Travato
The Chevy Spark is a nice choice, if the right ones were available. It's about 2300 lbs, but you need one with a manual transmission to be flat towable. Chevy stopped taking orders for them last June and permanently shutdown the factory in South Korea last August. There are still a lot in new inventory, but almost all of them are with automatic transmissions. Dealers are actually selling worn-out used ones (if they can find them) for more money than the new ones with automatic.
I lucked out in my search for one and found a salesperson who went the extra mile to find me one - a new 2022 with manual that's now set up for flat towing.
The car manufacturers have all pretty much stopped any new car production due to government CAFE requirements, opting instead to produce larger less fuel efficient SUVs and trucks as they come under different CAFE requirements. If the march to ban or eliminate ICE vehicles continues I figure my Spark will be worth it's weight in gold in a year of two.
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bob_nestor
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03/05/23 04:29pm |
Class B - Camping Van Conversions
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RE: In Search of Local Repair Shops for Motorhome
DALLAS TEXAS AREA
Looking for a facility to perform standard PM on Motorhome
Cooland Flush, brake line Flush, serpentine inspection etc...
have tried Ford Commerical for Motorhome. Per Ford they have a list of Dealers that will work on MH. Unfortunatly the dealers don't agree with Ford. I have been told NO and the 1 that will has been delaying me for 3 months
Any others with F53 or F450 chassis in the Greater DFW area would appreciate any input
Try The Shop in Denton right up I-35W.
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bob_nestor
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03/05/23 05:59am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: 25% better mpg from current diesels? Too good to be true?
With diesel being about 25 percent higher in cost than regular gas where is the net savings?
Just saying/asking... :hThe price of gas has nothing to do with it. They aren't comparing gas and diesel.
Yeah, people almost always try comparing gas and diesel by the cost per gallon but what you're actually buying is energy content. Diesel has about 13% more energy content than gasoline, and when ethanol is added to gasoline it lowers the energy content even more. All this according to our faithful and honest Government Agency, the EPA.
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bob_nestor
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02/06/23 11:51am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Tax refund scam Canada
Any time I get any email from someone not in my contact list I open the email and click on the the sender’s name or address in the from block. That opens the properties for the sender info and likely as not the “official looking” address is actually something crazy like dvgyhgcfgh;567,;[email protected]$/;,?! .com. I click on Block this contact. And then move it to junk or spam.
Actually it's not difficult to fake the sending address in an e-mail. You need to look a bit deeper into the headers which aren't normally displayed to determine how real the e-mail is. Had a co-worker years ago who maintained the company e-mail system demonstrate that by faking up a message which appeared to come from the President of the US.
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bob_nestor
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01/27/23 06:06am |
Technology Corner
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RE: Dometic ceiling fan inoperable
If the fan only can come on when the vent cover is open, then there is a switch in the vent cover. Use a volt meter and check the vent cover switch. You can also jump/bypass the switch to see if it is malfunctioning. You can jump the 0 - 3 switch also to see if it is malfunctioning.
The switch is just a plunger and you can try tugging on the plunger to see if the fan comes on. When the cover closes it pushes the plunger down which disables the power to the fan. The plunger switch tends to get corroded or stuck with gunk, especially when camped near the seashore. If it is the plunger, a little WD-40 will clean it up and solve the problems.
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bob_nestor
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01/25/23 01:13pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Diesel Chassis service
Coach Specialists, who stores and does work on RVs near me, highly recommended Southwest International Trucks for work they couldn't do on my Sprinter. Southwest International has multiple locations in the DFW area with one in Arlington that might work for you.
If Denton isn't too far from you then you might try The Shop on I-35 just north of Camping World. A small family owned place that handles almost anything RV related. They're right next door to a diesel shop and I think the two businesses work together on issues as well.
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bob_nestor
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01/22/23 07:42pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: lighter weight four down toad?
We tow a 2021 chevy spark manual transmission 4 down behind our class c. A little over2k lbs. And seriously if it were not for the rear camera I would not know it was back there. Had the base plate put on at etrailer. The car is small but gets 40mpg and works perfect for the 2 of us.
Second that! But Sparks went out of production in Aug 2022. There are still boatloads of them being shipped into the US from the South Korea factory lots, but most of them are with automatic. Did finally manage to snag one (a 2022) with a manual and the dealer told me they're scrounging up and selling old ones with manual transmissions for MORE than what a new one with an automatic is going for.
The real problems are you can't order one any longer and GM is allocating remaining inventory to dealers pretty much without letting them know what they're getting or when. So dealers have them show up on the truck unexpectedly. Many dealers are marking them up way over MSRP because of the limited supply, but some dealers are letting them go pretty much at MSRP. And very few salespeople know how to work the GM inventory system to locate what you might be looking for. Luckily I found a salesgal in another State who knew how to work the system, remembered what I was looking for, contacted me when she had one show up and sold it to me at MSRP.
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bob_nestor
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01/17/23 07:01am |
Dinghy Towing
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RE: cheap solar panels
Seriously? Normally $250, on sale for $60? You know what they say: "If it sounds too good to be true...". Looks like one of the ads off Facebook, total scam.
I'd be careful with these - 12 hr cancellation window after placing an order, buyer pays for the return shipping costs, original shipping costs not refunded on a return, shipping via Air or Sea, web site hosted in Germany, 35 day max return window from date of purchase, 7-10 days to process order, shipping could be "delayed" for 20 days, etc, etc.
Web site scam detector validator rates the site as a 48.6 out of 100, which is a moderate score and rates them with a warning of "Doubtful, Perilous. Alert." Web site/domain was created in Nov 2022, rated as a poor design, with fairly high rating for Threat Profile, Phishing Score, Malware Score.
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bob_nestor
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01/07/23 03:17pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: Voltage Drop - NOT Park Problem
I once had a similar problem but I see you stated in your original post that:
"- Checked connections at transfer switch, socket for shore power, junction where old EMS used to be, mains in RV breaker panel. Checked neutrals, grounds and feeds. All tight."
... so I'm not sure if this helps any, but...
The source of my problem was in the main RV breaker panel. Even though all the connections were tight I discovered that someone (at the factory) had cross threaded the screw holding the neutral line in the box. (Things worked for for a few years, then I had power issues.) The screw was tight but hadn't been holding the wire very well and over time the connection degraded with a patina build-up similar to what happens in the contacts in the transfer switch. I had to remove and replace the small bus bar the neutral was attached to and that fixed my problem.
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bob_nestor
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01/05/23 11:14am |
Tech Issues
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RE: Dish TV
I have had Dish TV for some time now and I have to admit up front I don't know anything about the newer "Wally" equipment - wish I did.
However, my receiver is an older VIP-722K that supports two hardwired connections as well as an Ethernet connection. To that I added a Sling device - both the Sling device and the VIP-722K are no longer being offered by Dish but can be found used on Amazon and eBay. With my setup I can access all my Dish and local OTA channels in my RV on the road using a Firestick and DishAnywhere as long as I have Internet access in my RV. For that I have a grandfathered AT&T Mobley with unlimited data (for $20/mo).
My setup works great at home and on the road.
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bob_nestor
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01/05/23 10:55am |
Technology Corner
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RE: solar awning
As I recall, Roadtrek was working with this a few years ago for their all electric Zion that was supposed to be able to run the A/C for 8+ hours off batteries which could then be recharged in 20 minutes with the high output alternator on the Sprinter chassis. Then they sold the company, got spun off the parent company, went bankrupt and eventually came back as a privately owned company when a French family which makes RVs bought the remains.
But it think before that electric Zion made it to market a LOT of the specs were changed to greatly lower expectations. The awning may have disappeared at that time.
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bob_nestor
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12/18/22 12:45pm |
Tech Issues
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