We're at the Flamingo Lake RV Park in Jacksonville, FL, getting acquainted with our 2000 U320; the one ducktape was considering last year. Thanks to the excellent information on this forum, we went into this deal eyes wide open. Yes, there is some rear bulkhead issues but nothing I can't handle. Jim, the mechanic at Dick Gore's RV World, and I, made temporary repairs to get us the 1900 miles home, where I'll separate the interface and do the job right. Several other issues to be resolved when we get back home... chassis battery is sulfated, Gel house batteries are toast... still work, but pregnant...writing is on the wall. I look at the latter as an opportunity to go with LiPoFe and some roof mounted PV. Our land based residence of 16 years is off grid; all engineered/installed by yours truly....it works...use it.
Some will ask why we would travel 2000 miles to consider a coach with known issues. The answer is simple (to us). We like the 4000 DGFE floor plan and I wanted the Aquahot and ISM. Cathy really likes a LR slide... OK, I do to. We didn't know a 4010 DGFE was ever made until I took a second look at our current ride. Yeah haw! ...and the purple interior kinda grow on ya... like a fungus? When we're done making this ours, it will be near perfect for our use.
We plan to be in Nac. next Monday/Tues to visit at FOT, MOT, and Extreme... hopefully will find the co-pilot seat required to keep peace in the family ...avoid black eyes and other injury.
Greg
Welcome! Lots of info here and great people!! When your at FOT next week look around in the shop for our 2000 4010, it will be the one with the slide removed....😕
Also we like pics here so offer up some please 🙂. Let's see that purple passion!
Thank you! Looking forward to seeing your rig at FOT. Will y'all be there?
Pictures coming, once we get back home, of our diamond in the rough? LOL
We pulled into Camp FOT a while ago. No major problems getting here. The chassis battery is "waking up" nicely... house batteries still toast, as expected. At least I discovered the reason for trashed house batteries was whomever installed the Magnum inverter had it programmed for FLA...duh! In fact, all the settings were set to the factory defaults. It was installed in 2011, so who knows how many sets of gel batts gave their life for a minute of buffoonery? Since I disconnected the worst of the three, the max charge current has been reduced to squeeze a few more days from the remaining ones. Now we can go a few hours before going into LBCO ::)
Overall, having a great time learning this critter. There's a couple of really sweet GV's here... may go over and say hi, later, after a couple Mount Gay and Cokes... liquid courage
No we are not there, dropped her a week ago and they said it would be 2-3 weeks or so, sorry to have missed y'all!
FLA ??
LBCO ???
Wish I was in the club.....secret codes and all.....
Flood Lead Acid; just a guess!
Mount Gay and Coke is a smooth cocktail. My uncle lived on the island of Grenada from 1950 until 1975. Rum and Coke was very popular down there. He tried all of the available rums, and chose Mount Gay as the best of the bunch. In the old days a rum and coke was 25 cents - 5 cents for the rum and 20 cents for the Coke because it had to be imported!
Yup, flooded lead acid. LBCO= low battery cutout. The purpose of LBCO is to disconnect the inverter from the batteries prior to over discharge, reducing the chance of damaging the batteries.
Same here. Maybe next time. We plan to be at the S Padre KOA over Thanksgiving... an annual meeting with a couple from SC.
For a guy with ways and means to repair things it can be a deal for a unit to need some things as long as the buyer knows of the issues going in and pays accordingly and it sounds like you have a clue. Good fortune and have fun.
@ hdff
We saw your coach this AM... Nice! It's in good hands and the remodel is progressing well. David is like a Foretravel encyclopedia. He came out to have a look-see at our pilot seat, for a match; remembered our coach and the name of the original owner right off. He fixed us up with a serviceable copilot seat: 25 clams (.025 coach bucks?), plus another 200 for a new leg rest gear assembly. Two happy campers, here. She has her seat, with even more gadgetry than the pilots seat. I get to make it home, sans Fred Flintstone lumps on me noggin. :)
@ Dub
Thanks. We're enjoying our "new" coach. I can't think of anything new we would rather own. In fact, I doubt we would even be comfortable in most of the newer high end units; very nice, just not us... and beyond our financial means by a long shot. We're fortunate that things electrical/mechanical have always come easily to me. That's a good thing, since we really can't afford to make this rig ours by paying others to do all the work... and then there's the satisfaction of doing for ourselves and being familiar with the unit.
Greg
Tell you of an observation.. I've spent some time in rv parks and often times there will be a buss nut or two that has a clue. We all like the looks of a new top end buss but the one a buss nut will walk over and look closely at is one with some years on it that is top shelf and squared away. He will appreciate all that the work that has gone into the unit and shows pride in ownership. If I were out to impress anyone and I'm not, it would be the buss nut that has had some grease on his hands and accomplished something at the end of the day vs the ceo who wrote a check for a million and drove off without as much as a spare fuse on hand.. just my way of thinking. Now I can have conversation with the million dollar owner if he knows crap from crab apples and get along just fine but they often don't.
We made it back home Friday morning with little incident. The only alarming issue happened on a desolate state road in Texas when the engine stalled on a long downgrade, just after applying maximum thrust on a long upgrade. Due to the lack of a real shoulder, I pulled over in the grass and appeared to remain calm, so as not to upset Cathy. After a key off, key on and wait, she started right up. Whew! I think it either got a gulp of water in the line during the climb and it took a while for it to get to the filter through the long run of -10 line, or enough air entered the system through the badly aged lines and needed to be purged. Regardless, all new fuel lines and filters acquired for engine, gen, and Aqua Hot, that I'll replace this week.
This thing is a beast. ;D Anyone watching me pull out of the RV park in Jacksonville surely figured me to be a novice :-[ I was. Fact of the matter is, I've never driven a 40' coach before and had to get accustomed to the larger turn radius, after driving a 36' for so many years. Now I that have 2k of seat time in it we're becoming old friends. This coach drives and rides so much better than the last one. And that's saying a lot, especially since I have yet to get her on the scales and am running tire pressures for max GVWR.
@Dub Our coach certainly isn't top shelf: it may never be. It will be squared away with the best of em. I guarantee that... just give me a little time. Grease on my hands....but not whilst working on the interior ;)
I spect you and your coach will fair just fine Greg because you have the right rig and you "aint afraid".
I've been staying busy getting some of the more important issues squared away. Being I'm still at the steep end of the learning curve, been mostly reading here and at Barry's excellent site. Thank you, sir!
The first order of business was to remove the added sectional sofa/sleeper, which, IMO, trashed the floor plan and, more importantly, was where Da Bosses co-pilot seat needed to be. I spent 2 full days cleaning up the CP seat we got at FOT...turned out pretty darned good, Fixed the footrest drive. Installed.
Was going to do the fuel lines but, after looking further into it, knew there was no way I would have that "fun" project done before Memorial day weekend. Instead, I removed the roasted 8D gel batteries (9 months pregnant... had to saw the handles off to get em out), Sent Cathy into town to get a 100AH AGM for the house batt, and we went up to Canyon Speedway in Peoria, AZ for a weekend of sprint car racing. Ran the generator a lot...had a good time. We spent Mem day at Wildhorse Pass Casino. Cathy lost money, I stayed in the coach, worked on small stuff & sipped some Mount Gay.
We got home the following Tuesday. I started working on getting all the new fuel lines pulled, removed and cleaned the filter housings, and all new fuel filters. What a PITA! Thought I had it whipped and discovered the engine prime pump locked up. Took that apart, again, managed to get it running, re-installed, run the primer, and find out the engine fuel Line is pinched. Pull the tank, again, and re-rout the line. OK, it works now. (I'll document line lengths and engine and genny line routing in the Tech forum) About the time I had the engine lines primed, my cobbled primer pump locks up... ordered a new 790R30 from the Racor Store. Not a big deal since the new line is primed and will now hold. While pulling lines, I also discovered the AquaHot filter lines were reversed at the filter. Probably happened when the PO had the steering box replaced. Maybe that's why the burner doesn't work?? Will have to get back to that one, as I can't get the access cover off the AH without rolling out the Joey bed, and that won't come out far enough while she's in the garage ::) .
On to installing new air springs and ride height valves. I started with the rear, since the front holds really well. As suspected, the rear ride height valves have a fair amount of desiccant in them; Rebuilding the Haldex/blowing the tanks was the first thing I did after installing the co-pilot chair. ;) It had to come through the wet, and rear tanks, and six pack, to get there. While I have the springs and valves out, I'm doing a little clean up/Rustoleum satin black in that area. Pulling the tanks for internal cleaning, and cleaning the lines and valve gear will give me something to do while the paint is drying...might as well treat the tanks to a fresh coat of Rustoleum while they're out... no doubt, I can find something to do while they're drying. ;D I'm not complaining. After all the fun with the fuel lines, everything else is a piece O cake.
While going through the owners manual this AM, I found a floor plan drawing. (See attached) Ours is "Special" ^.^d
Greg
So your coach from the factory did not have a copilot seat? That seems rather unusual, or I've just never heard of it reading the Forum.
When you (earlier) mentioned getting a new copilot seat, I thought you were just replacing the old one for some reason.
Congrats on getting the fuel lines done! Haven't had that pleasure........yet.
Didn't we hear stuff like this from Don and Tys a few years ago. Surprised Don hasn't jumped in on this thread. Good luck with the on-going adventure!
Chuck,
Yes, it came with a co-pilots chair from FT. You are correct...I did replace the old one...that we never had. I'm told the PO's were a Gospel/Bluegrass band. They pulled it, the small WTFE style table, and the recliner out and put in the sectional sofa. Removing the sofa and installing a co-pilots chair was THE pre-purchase agreement with Cathy ;D ....peace in the family.
lgshoup,
Having read a lot of post from Don and Tys "adventures", I can say that the sharing of information on this forum had a major bearing on our decision to "dive in". Thanks to all.
Just an observer on this one so far since I haven't seen any questions that could benefit from my contribution... but I am always interested in watching owner generated transformations!
Don
The compressed air system refurb was completed today, except for the front air springs that will be done when I have the front fenders off at a later date. The front six pack was badly corroded but I managed to salvage it with some machine work, and excellent plunger kits from Tom. Will document the corrosion repair in the tech section. It, also, had an open R raise solenoid coil. Fortunately, I ordered 2 from FOT... so much for having a spare ::) The on board compressor will need a rebuild ...runs but pumps zero air. Taking that out tomorrow to see what parts I need to get. I planned for a week on this project ...it took two, but I feel the extra time to do a thorough job will pay off in the long run. Oh, I refurbed the vacuum generator for the dash air ... a chunk of desiccant was blocking the orifice. The air doors now work on the dash air but doesn't cool. A project for another day(s).
Tomorrow I'll check out the HWH for proper function... confidence is high. After that, I'll be moving onto the roof projects. (I need a little break from working on my back, eating dirt). The roof is sound, but filthy... no, make that really filthy. Both roof heat pumps are getting pulled for a thorough cleaning and any other repairs they may need. They'll be placed on new seals, as the originals are shot. I haven't decided, weather or not, to put a drain kit on those ...may just make my own from metal, and plumb it to below the bay floor, via the fridge vent hole, soon to be capped in preparation for a residential unit. Everything on the roof is coming off and getting resealed before I wash, polish, and seal it. Then I'll wash the 2500 miles of grunge offa the ol girl and get a few pics to post.
Last week we picked up 2KW of Sun Power 250W PV panels. I've determined that they, and my converted 1.2M MotoSat FTA dish, will fit up there with enough room to walk, back to front. 8)
Greg
Greg, Nice job of documentation. Thanks for that. By the way, I love the photos of your well sawn sawhorse.
@ Jan & Richard,
:)) Those well sawn saw horses owe me nothing. I used them when I built our AZ home, and for building the shop/coach garage; something I always wanted to do and have now gotten out of my system ::) Now that they've been "refurbished" am using them for coach remodel and photo backdrop.
Well, I've been making some progress. It seems that it takes me longer to get things done nowadays. Maybe cuz I'm more particular than I used to be?
The plan was to get after resealing everything on the roof but I ended up fixing/adjusting the roadside bay doors, first. ...figured an easy fix for the, hard to adjust, narrow doors behind the rear, and in front of the front, wheels. I'll post that in the tech forum. Removed the front fenders and replaced the air springs. Cleaned and painted the area around the springs, plus anything hard to get to with the fenders mounted. I'll get the rest done when the wheels are off for brake inspection. BTW, the brakes on our FT's are excellent. ...had to put em to the test on our way home (Nameless pilot was fiddling with other gadgets, not paying attention to the business at hand... almost missed the red traffic light :facepalm: ) and was impressed (understatement) with how well they hauled the beast down to a full stop; and that was without using the retarder. Fringe benefit of the quick stop (besides the instant lower GI cleansing) was sticky RF caliper pins now freed up. ::) Also have done lots of small things, including: Replace the fuel filter/primer with the new Racor 700. Rebuilt the HWH compressor. ...contributing factor to it's demise just might have been lack of O-ring on filter bowl ::)
We took advantage of the Lowes Independence day discounts and bought a new fridge https://www.lowes.com/pd/Samsung-4-Door-Flex-22-6-cu-ft-4-Door-Counter-Depth-French-Door-Refrigerator-with-Ice-Maker-Stainless-Steel-ENERGY-STAR/50073201 (https://www.lowes.com/pd/Samsung-4-Door-Flex-22-6-cu-ft-4-Door-Counter-Depth-French-Door-Refrigerator-with-Ice-Maker-Stainless-Steel-ENERGY-STAR/50073201)and matching microwave. Removed the old Dometic fridge through the CS window, yesterday, with aid of a friend and bucket forks on the loader. Tried to get it out through the entry door, but that proved futile.
That's the same refer we put in our kitchen during our remodel.
Your coach can take a 36" wide refer.
The earlier coaches had 32" wide opening that the rf-18 fits well.
@ Caflashbob,
Yeah, it had a 36" wide Dometic from FT. We really don't need a 36" wide residential fridge, but I'm a cocktailer, and an ice dispenser on the door is a must have. ...uh, want. Not only for convenience, but for efficiency too. Pulling an ice bucket out of the freezer means opening the door twice for every cocktail. If we could have found a reasonably priced 30" unit with ice on the door we would have gone with that and built a slide out pantry in the 6" of extra space. As it is, our coach has enough pantry storage for our needs.
Greg
The thing we noticed and was mentioned on the Samsung web blog was the icemakers slow and low output and capacity. 110 small cubes. If we have a party I need to bag up ice in advance.
Pull the ice tray out. Tiny.
We hooked up our pristine hydro water system to our refer and removed the internal charcoal filter.
We have been drinking their water for many years and other than all the great tech stuff it tastes fantastic.
LivePristine® by Design - Tools for Total Wellness (https://livepristine.com/)
Great info on the filters. Thanks, Bob.
The ice makers seem to always be the shortcoming on these counter-depth units. We plan to keep some ice in the freezer, just in case. Besides, the ice maker might not keep up, in the event I go on a "binge" :o Getting to be rare... but not outta the question. There's an aftermarket out fit that sells fridge filters at a fraction of the outrageous cost of the factory ones. Might give them a try if we don't install a whole coach filter. I put one in our last rig... simple charcoal filter but it worked OK for us.
600 gallon rating of the oem charcoal filter.
Finally got to working on the roof. The rear 2/3 has been hand scrubbed... will look great after a light polishing and seal. Pulled the front heat pump and discovered the reasons for the poor performance and excessive noise. Someone replaced the fan motor and must have been in a hurry. The evaporator plenum top was bent, causing a large opening to outside air on the intake side. When phred said to check for air leaks, it never occurred to me to check the units, themselves, for leaks. Both units filthy coils are getting a good cleaning. Noisy front unit is due to the compressor tray making contact with the bottom pan (metal on metal noise), and a harmonic vibration in one of the lines (buzzy noise). To be corrected tomorrow. The rear units blower motor isolators are shot. ...parts en-route.
Got a call from Lowe's, last week, to notify of a delay in getting the fridge. We were at Lowe's today for other coach stuff... decided to check on our fridge. Salesman tells us Lowe's is no longer selling that model (as of a few days after we bought it) and the warehouse says they don't have one. Ended up buying the display model (unused, no issues) for 10% off the original reduced price ;D. Due to the delivery delay, I put the fridge opening remodel on hold. I did get the fridge roof vent capped, and installed a roof HVAC condensate drain, and conduit for the roof PV to the basement.
Nice clean looking vent hole cover. Where does the (future) roof HVAC condensate drain deposit the water?
Thanks, Chuck,
It passes through the house floor, into the third bay. From there, it will pass through the third intermediate bulkhead, into the wet bay. I'll add a removable (cleanable) P trap and pass it through the bay floor.
Hope we all get to see some pictures when your finished😁
HMmm... I wonder if a P trap is necessary, or desirable, in this application. A trap is normally used to prevent bad odors from coming up the pipe into a living space. Obviously not a concern here. If the trap stays full of water it will encourage the growth of mold. If it dries out, it won't do anything. Would not a "straight through" drain pipe be simpler and just as effective?
I'm not criticizing your idea or your planned execution - just thinking through the concept for my own enlightenment.
Noted, and will do. I've never been a big picture taker; cuts into time I could be getting something done. Also, I'm notorious for forgetting to bring the camera to the job site.... or up to the computer. :-[
Chuck,
The idea of the P trap is to stop air flow through the drain lines, (hopefully) reducing buildup of dried crud and eliminating air flow counter to the direction of the condensate flow. The drains are on the low pressure side of the evaporator blower; not blow-through, like a typical residential HVAC (which should, also, have a trap).
Most likely would work well without a trap but, IMO, a trap is the right way to do it... and easy enough to eliminate if I'm in err.
Greg
Progress: slow, but steady. ::) Both ACs have been pulled, serviced, and cleaned. The LR unit no longer has the compressor mount rattle and harmonic line vibration, but one of the blower wheels is out of balance ... will have to get Cathy to run it, while I'm on the roof, to get it balanced... (Save what's left of my anatomy, going up/down the ladder) I verified that the air flow through the Roof AC condensate lines does inhibit, to some degree, the flow of condensate. The test was to run the AC and observe the flow. High monsoon humidity made this possible, otherwise I would die of old age waiting for flow. 5 min after running the AC, I had no flow from the line. I "plugged" the line with my thumb, to inhibit reverse air flow, and immediately got some condensate from the line; actually, a lot of it. ^.^d (Billet condensate catches in pic 1) Yeah, I read Michelle's thread about Dometics, short lived, plastic condensate catches, and decided to make ours from aluminum.
I plan to put the residential fridge in the "new" hole on Monday. This turned into a career project, Partly because I was working on roof items, partly because I'm too damned picky, and partly due to finding a better way to do it. The platform for the fridge started off being 3-1/4" above the floor. Version 3 :o has it at 1-1/8" off the floor. The intent of keeping it low is to make it easier for the vertically challenged half of this duo to reach into the back of this cavernous critter. Another obstacle of this install is that the fridge is installed from the 26-1/2" wide aisle (DGFE with LR slide) and could not be placed in position, even with all the doors off... the outrigger feet made it over 27" wide... so I modified them to be flush with the front of the cabinet, and provide a means to secure the unit in place. Access from the rear is limited, so I made a couple of T nuts to attach to the back of the fridge, and slotted cleats, attached to the platform, that will receive the T nuts, and keep the fridge from flopping over in those 1G ;) left handers... OK, 0.8G. The original fridge air intake will be plugged with a flush fitting door (hopefully). We'll see how that goes... I made a jig for the router and plan to cut the mortise tomorrow, AM. The insulated door will attach with a couple of 90 deg, flush fitting, draw latches. I need access to the back of the fridge, so the door is a must have. Otherwise, I would build a plug and glass it in. The goal is to retain the access, but make it as transparent as is practical. I don't know how much worth this install will have to others (unusual floor plan), but I'll document it in more detail, later (and if it works as intended).
Greg
My friend wasn't able to help on Monday, so I had to wait til today to install the fridge. It went in without a hitch. I'll make some walnut trim for the sides, and a slotted walnut vent grill for the top. I also plan to place some open cell foam between the back of the fridge and the back wall, sealing the back from the condenser intake air, with the intent of reducing the recirculating of intake air, pulling most of same from the bottom, and sending most of the exhaust out the top.
I was able to finish the mod to the original fridge intake vent. It went better than expected. Later this week, I'll go to Lowes for a piece of .090" FRP to make the face of the cover.
Greg
"I also plan to place some open cell foam between the back of the fridge and the back wall, sealing the back from the condenser intake air, with the intent of reducing the recirculating of intake air, pulling most of same from the bottom, and sending most of the exhaust out the top."
I know yours is a different model than mine, but what does your pdf install manual show for required rear clearance?
Mine is, and from the pdf: "4. Allow 1" minimum clearance at rear for proper air circulation and water/electrical connections. Allow a 3/8" minimum clearance at sides and top for ease of installation."
I too sealed my top and rear vents two years ago with HVAC metalic tape, and it has worked terrific with 1" clearance on the back. Today was 102 with bright sun on the driver/refrigerator side, with side facing south. Back of refrig did not feel hot.
Jack,
Samsung wants 2" clearance, back and top. In the back, ours has 2-1/2" until above the original intake vent, and 1" above that (Due to 1-1/2" insulation). The exhaust air can also pass through the 3/4" clearance on the left side, to make it out the top. There's about 55 Sq. In. of area for the exhaust to vent.
Great to hear yours works well in hot weather. Hopefully, we'll get similar results.
Greg
Greg, did you check the pdf from Samsung? My install instructions say 3/8" clearance side and top, 1" on back. Even their brochure shows this for mine. (See #4 in brochure).
Greg,
In the first pic of your reply 21there is, what appears to be a Unimog, is that your Towed?
Tim
That's a '79 Pinzgauer 710M. It can be flat towed but, with the cost of parts for the portal axles, I'll trailer it when the time comes. I can do that, now, with the FT... couldn't with the SOB. (had 5K max towing)
Thanks, Jack. That's not the one I saw. I'm confident I have enough airflow with our install. Venting area is multiples of the actual area of the fridge vents...plus, my mods to the flow path should promote convection venting superior to just stuffing it on a hole.
No, I haven't thrown-in the towel. ;) I didn't realize how long it's been since I posted an update. Where did summer go?
Less talk, more pics:
Typical roof condition, before.
Back of fridge vent plug.
Fridge vent plug installed, sans paint.
LiFePo4 house battery, in progress.
824 Ah. Almost finished.
Charge controller. 1 installed, 1 on B/O
Roof, after. Ready for a light polish and seal.
Refurbed, modified, $10 Sensar. Chuck, what's wrong with this picture? ;D
New Zip Dees on order. The Girard, and it's shameful shlocked-on sealant, will have to wait til next year; along with a bunch of other stuff. Speakin of shlocked-on, who gets away doing this kind of work and, more importantly, who would pay to have it done? ::)
Greg
Can you post up the balancer you are using and why did you choose it?
David,
The units I bought are ECPC-238BVB-Lithium-3V-1S, from Electric Car Parts Company: 3V 1S Battery Voltage Balancers for EV Batteries | Electric Car Parts Co. (http://www.electriccarpartscompany.com/3V-1S-Lithium-Battery-Balancers-Equalizers)
My reasons for choosing these are:
Capable of 6A continuous balance current.
10mA idle current. (each)
10mV balance tolerance.
Simple to install.
Good customer reviews.
Reasonable price.
How well do they work? ... I haven't a clue. I manually balanced all cells to about 6mV, so these balancers have yet to do anything, except to continuously draw 40mA from the pack. ;)
They offer some other balancers including one that is similar to these except it has LED status indicators, draws 20mA at idle, and doesn't have as tight a balancing regulation.
Greg
Greg,
Very impressive work. Can you post more details on how you fabricated the fridge vent plug please.
I have the separate packs as you.. mine have the built in BMS basics for over and under charge/Voltage .. I need something to keep them balanced so this will work.. I have been looking for someone that had the same basic setup so I could glean from it.. thanks for the help ^.^d
Thank you. I'll get a vent plug thread going in the tech forum soon. We have a trip coming up in 3 weeks and I'm behind schedule (understatement) on coach repairs/upgrades, so I'll post as time permits.
Greg
Glad the info helps. FYI, I read your posts about your 1200AH DIY pack before we bought our coach. That was helpful to me. Thanks. 8)
Added mine and reinstalled .. should work for my needs..
To those interested in a fridge vent plug thread, I haven't forgotten about that.... just a matter of me getting to it. :-[
Except for a week of goofing-off at the Phoenix NASCAR race, I've been working on our coach, dawn til dusk... and then some. I test ran the generator a few months back, and it worked perfectly. Not so at the races; it wouldn't run for more that 15 min. I wasn't in the right frame of mind to mess with it (burned out), so we bought a 2 kW (mighty optimistic rating) suitcase gennie from Harbor Freight and had a great time anyways. I'll get back to the on-board gennie next year, when I have the time to pull it out. The LiPo house battery worked great; I'm impressed.
Over the last month, I've gotten a lot of things done but most of that is a blur at the moment.
TES 295 Tranny fluid and filters replaced.
One item I wasn't able to repair, due to lack of time, was the AquaHot burner. The blower motor and bearings are shot, so I bought a new burner from RV Hydronic Heater Repair. Roger shipped it to arrive Monday... installed that yesterday PM... Works perfectly. The original burner will get repaired when I get to it... and be saved as a spare.
"Retina burner" LED tail, stop, turn, and BU lamps installed while at the races. I also installed a new entry assist handle while there. The PO had installed a stainless handle between the mounts. I really liked it but it wouldn't play well with the Intellitec; with all that metal the porch light would come on from just walking near the handle. Works like a charm now.
Tomorrow I'll finish the PV mounts and should get half of the panels (1kW) up and wired before we head out to the Western World sprints on Friday. Back home on Monday, to re-stock and work on the coach for a few days, and then it's back to goofin-off as we head out to the KOA in SPI, TX for Thanksgiving, to hang out with a couple of old riding friends from SC. From there we'll be heading to NAC, where the plastic surgeons at Extreme will be giving the ol' girl a beazer job, first week of Dec. (That's the coach's beazer ;). I like Cathy's nose the way it is) At that point, this years coach budget will be mostly depleted :o ...but then, next year is just around the corner. b^.^d
Greg
We had a major set back this weekend. Saturday night, Cathy was hit in the left arm by a header megaphone that was ejected over the fence. It broke both bones in her forearm, and she got a flash burn where it hit. We spent the rest of the night, and a good part of Sunday morning, in the ER. Doc said it was the worst forearm break she had ever seen. Fortunate that she was able set and splint it with out opening it up. Full recovery expected in 10-12 weeks. We got back to the coach around 0500 and were on the road home by 0830... definitely a big deal when Cathy passes up a day at the casino. She has moderate discomfort (Vicodin and ice pack), but notes an improvement from yesterday. Says she still wants to leave for TX this Thursday.... we'll see. I'll be on elevated "yes ma'am" duty for the duration... good opportunity to get even with her for all the times she's patched my worthless arse up.
G
good opportunity to get even with her for all the times she's patched my worthless arse up.
Gary, You better be nice I'm sure you will need her again. LOL!
Chris
Most of yesterday was spent scheduling surgery for Cathy's arm. X-rays from a follow-up visit to a local orthopedic specialist showed one of the bones was not properly aligned and the only way to fix it is to open the arm and add some hardware. She goes in early Fri morning. If all goes well we'll be heading to TX Saturday AM. (Her idea)
Best wishes for a speedy recovery. She's a tough little lady.
@Lynn and Linda,
Thank you. Yes, she is.
The surgery appears to be successful. It took over 2-1/2 hours, due to the surgeon finding an addition break, near the wrist, during the hardware install. She's pretty sore but in good spirits... no more broken bones digging into soft tissue ^.^d We'll be heading for TX tomorrow AM. Might as well be enjoying the scenery in a comfy FT, rather than sitting at home.
Greg
The trip to SPI, TX went without a hitch. We arrived at the KOA, early Monday afternoon... a day later than planned, due to us both being pretty well beat from last weeks "festivities"... only 700 miles on Sunday, plus 2 short days. Cathy's still sore, but noting a little improvement each day ^.^d
Greg
Just curious where is SPI?
Keith
South Padre Island
All things considered, we're having a good time here.
Makes sense now..... have fun, I hope the DW's arm gets better..... Happy Thanksgiving!!
Keith
Cathy's arm is healing well. She still has a 2lb restriction but, hopefully, that will be lifted when she has x-rays in 3 weeks.
The trip to TX went well, and the Xtreme beazer job looks great. Now I can get off the big road at night and actually see where I'm going. Only pic I got of the front end was when I was replacing the fabric on the slide room awning. That turned into another project: While cleaning the top of the slide, I decided to try and get the slide lock pins working. Based on the amount of crud in the upper pin holes, I'll bet they haven't worked in many years. I cleaned the holes, and resealed around them. I also remounted the loose front magnet that triggers the HWH slide in hall sensor. I waited til the next day for everything to cure. When I ran the slide in the pins would begin to lock and then retract. That would go on as long as I held the switch. Long story short, 2 days later I discover the front hall sensor was working intermittently. The replacement arrived and I got that installed today. Yeah haw! The lock pins all engaged. ...confirmed on the input box in the basement. I'm in like Flint! ...well...not so fast. I tried to put the slide out...the pins all retracted but the slide didn't move ...and I'm hearing something that sound's like an air leak. NOT an air leak. The pin retract hydraulic line ruptured, just above the vertical chase, to the left of the pilots seat. The first tell tale was oil running out of the map light, onto the seat. Grrrr! Trying to get the OH cabinet interior out as fast as possible...maybe salvage the cabinet. What a mess. 2hrs cleaning, but I think the cabinet survived? I'll know tomorrow...depends on if I got it wiped up and oil dry on it soon enough to draw most of the oil out of the wood.
So, why did the line fail? ...20 years old and an improper installation. The line has a severe twist kink in it that could have been easily remedied at the time of install. I realize this is probably one of the first few 4010s, and there was a learning curve. That doesn't make me feel better. Hopefully, this is an isolated case, and others weren't done this way. Prolly a good idea to check yours, if it's an early one.
Greg
Greg,
Really sorry to hear of this hydraulic hose failure. "What a mess" is right. Hope you can clean it up successfully.
I think you should consider starting a separate thread in the Foretravel Tech Talk section of the Forum. Some of the 2000 model coach owners may miss this post. Make the title of the thread something like 2000 U320 SLIDE HYDRAULIC HOSE FAILURE. You need to catch the attention of every Forum member who has this same model coach. If they are made aware of what happened to your slide, they could inspect their slide and perhaps avoid the same fate. This Forum is all about helping other members - your LOUD warning would be a perfect example of that goal.
Mornin', Chuck,
Thanks. I think that's a good idea. Will do.
I was pretty aggravated about this incident, but a good nights sleep tends to help that. Now I'm in the fix it, and move on mode.
Greg
Greg
Sorry to hear this. I can't image the fear and anger. Where is the second picture taken? It looks like it is in the upper cabinet but I am not sure.
Thanks
Eric
Eric,
Thanks. No fear, some dismay, lot's of anger, but I'm over it.
Yes, the 2nd and 3rd pic are of inside the cabinet above left of the pilots seat. 3rd pic is after I cut the zip ties, and better exposed the offending line.
I discovered a puddle of oil in front of the RF wheel, yesterday. Fortunately?, most of the oil that ran down the vertical chase got into the split wire looms, and that carried it out through the floor with very little inside the lower left console. The OH cabinet survived; oil dry did it's job and it has zero blems. The carpeted interior parts should clean up with some liquid Tide in the portable Bissell carpet cleaner. If not, I'll make replacements. BTW, the portable Bissell works most excellent for cleaning the ceiling carpet, and window tracks.