What did you do to your coach today.

Topic: What did you do to your coach today. (Read 49715 times) previous topic - next topic

Re: What did you do to your coach today.

Reply #525 – September 01, 2012, 08:43:39 am

CAC= Charge Air Cooler= After-cooler= Inter-cooler. Takes hot intake air from the turbo and cools it down to close to ambient temperature.

Radiator takes hot coolant from engine and cools it down. Thermostat determines amount of coolant sent to the radiator, and therefore has a big influence on temperature in the radiator.

CAC is in FRONT OF the radiator, so air flows through the CAC, and then the radiator.

Re: What did you do to your coach today.

Reply #526 – September 01, 2012, 06:15:38 pm

Got tired of the rattle from the decorative glass (plastic) every time we close the doors above the small counter by the dining booth. Removed the clips on the back of the doors and adjusted them to be tighter. Simple to do and sounds a lot better now.

Re: What did you do to your coach today.

Reply #527 – September 01, 2012, 08:04:51 pm

We're parked close to Elkhart, IN waiting for Isaac to pass by on our way home to FL so we went to a local RV furniture re-sale place (Welcome to RV Parts Nation your #1 source for all RV Parts and RV Accessories. ) and bought a recliner to replace our aging Euro chair. Normally $600, it was on sale for $200. It's really sad to drive around this area and see all the places that have closed since the hey-days of 2002-2006. Newmar is still open and so is Thor, but there are tons of support businesses that have closed everywhere. Sad sights so common in most of our travels now.

Re: What did you do to your coach today.

Reply #528 – September 01, 2012, 10:29:15 pm

I grew up in Elkhart in the 60s. This isn't the first time this has happened.

Re: What did you do to your coach today.

Reply #529 – September 02, 2012, 04:26:42 pm

Doing a bit of sorting out and had decided to put a couple of things below the fuel tank filler. So in the picture I have my additives then below a couple of chocks and alongside the 4-11" steel safety supports. All fit together nicely and no rattling around.
John H

Re: What did you do to your coach today.

Reply #530 – September 02, 2012, 04:44:13 pm

Quote from: John Haygarth – September 02, 2012, 04:26:42 pm

Doing a bit of sorting out and had decided to put a couple of things below the fuel tank filler. So in the picture I have my additives
John H

John glad to see you have that can of OFF to keep the bugs out of the fuel.

Re: What did you do to your coach today.

Reply #531 – September 15, 2012, 11:57:16 am

Replaced all the belts with new Gates Fleetrunner V-belts. Pretty easy to change out. Saved the old belts for backup.

Dean

Re: What did you do to your coach today.

Reply #532 – September 15, 2012, 02:58:17 pm

D & D, actually if you give the fuel a shot of it, once you start engine you are "off and running"!!!
John H

Re: What did you do to your coach today.

Reply #533 – September 16, 2012, 09:15:54 pm

Finally finished the installation of the new Trimetric TM-2025-RV battery monitor system. In the photo you can see it mounted just below the AC monitor (with a broken meter that I'm going to repair next). While the drawers are out I'm also going to see if I can't fix the doorbell system which has never worked on our watch. It's a nifty design in which two hammers strike a sounding plate. I had thought it would be all digital. Nice to see that it's old school.

The Trimetric monitor will monitor both the house and starting batteries but will give us more detailed information about power use and battery condition. The solar panels are in the shop along with the combiner box, the MPPT controller and the wiring ready for me to recover from this job and get at the next.

Earlier I bought a Progressive Industries 50A EMS voltage protection device. I cannot really take credit for "installing" it as all I did was plug it into my shop's 50A circuit and then plug the coach's 50A power cord into that. It seemed like the simplest solution for the U225 which I like to keep as simple as possible but still comfortable.

Craig

Re: What did you do to your coach today.

Reply #534 – September 16, 2012, 11:17:05 pm

Mounted a 12V pump behind the front bumper, driver's side. Sucked RV Antifreeze into fresh water holding tank by adding a "Y' fitting on the overflow. Can add a lot of fresh water from jugs real fast when boondocking!! Intake fitting for intake hose is easily reached right below the bumper and above the fiberglas thingee below the bumper. Just remove a cap and then screw on the intake hose. I used 5/8 ID x 7/8 OD clear hose for the intake and 5/8 x 3/4 OD going to the tank. The heavy wall clear tubing does not collapse under load. Added a toggle switch to turn pump on & off. Also a bayonet connector so switch is totally inoperable unless connectors are engaged.

Finished winterizing today (whimper, sobs, sighs, a few tears) DW has surgery tomorrow--removing Gall Bladder. Next month surgery on right knee. In between--- followups with doctors.

Re: What did you do to your coach today.

Reply #535 – September 17, 2012, 01:49:49 pm

I gave up on trying to replace my 1st entry step myself. No place to work and not the right tools. I'm taking it to a body shop and having them do everything from carpet cleaning to step repair to oil changes. Just call me when it's done!

Re: What did you do to your coach today.

Reply #536 – September 18, 2012, 11:46:51 pm

New chassis batteries. The moral of this story is save your receipts. A year and a half into the life of three year batteries and I had a problem. Brought the old batteries to an authorised dealer and got them replaced for free!

Re: What did you do to your coach today.

Reply #537 – September 22, 2012, 12:11:11 am

I bit the bullet today and finally installed my version of the overflow bypass system originally proposed (I think) by Barry and Cindy. While doing so I removed the carpeted partition in front of the grey and black tanks, and I presumed, the manibloc. To my surprise, my '92 U-280 doesn't have one, just the sensors for the two tanks. When did they start using maniblocs in Unihomes? I guess that's one less system I have to worry about. After triple-measuring the location to cut the hole in the floor, it took less than 20 seconds to go through the layers. I lucked out and didn't hit any frame members. I am including a few pics of the progress.

Re: What did you do to your coach today.

Reply #538 – September 22, 2012, 10:07:31 pm

Today I finally got my furnaces working, cleaned the contacts, set the new thermostat to 0.4 instead of 1.2. Cleaned them too. Installed an 6" LED step/entry light. Converted the outside door light to four water-proof LED strips. Now that is a great change. Great because it is cheaper than bulbs and changing the ballast. Total for four strips is about $25.00. Lasts longer too. Tomorrow I will tackle finding out why my ice maker isn't making ice, then building insulated covers for my A/C units. Then, find out why I have a reeaaalll slow drip from my water to my sink. Then. . . . .

Curtis

Re: What did you do to your coach today.

Reply #539 – September 23, 2012, 05:56:42 pm

Costco in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho had Samsug HDTV/Monitor for $169 so I picked one up plus a mount. Fits perfectly in the bedroom. Too bad we have zero tv here. Lol

Edit: Regarding the replacement of old-style television sets with new LED HDTV sets: If you haven't done it yet, you should! Prices are low and because these sets are so slender and light the installation itself is pretty easy.

My first replacement was the old front TV. Because our coach has the two cupboards on either side of where the original CRT television was installed, I had to buy a unit that measured less than about 19" from side-to-side. This ended up being a 19" LED HDTV which, even though it's small by 2012 standards, is huge when compared to the TV sets that originally were installed on these $200k (plus!) motor homes back in the 1990s. I did shift the hinges over a bit so that the doors did not overlap the opening as much. I put the BluRay player in the passenger side cupboard and both the TV and since both the BluRay use less than 40 watts of power I run them from a $24 inverter (modified-sine-wave) that plugs right into the DC cigarette lighter plug behing the TV.

The bedroom offered me a little more versatility because there was more room. Someone had already drilled holes in the bulkhead above the bureau so I could use a couple of them for the mount installation. The mount is multi-position so we can pull the TV out and move it around. I plan to use a bungee cord to keep the TV secured when underway.

The front TV is only 720P while the back TV is 1040P and 22" (versus only 19" in the front). The extra screen size does make quite a difference.

My plan is to pull the bat-wing antenna off the roof completely and install a "Jack" antenna. This frees up some roof-top room for one of the 24VDC 240-watt solar planels.

Craig

Re: What did you do to your coach today.

Reply #540 – September 23, 2012, 06:07:00 pm

We pulled in the back yard Friday after a 6 month trip. So today was the start of putting the RV on a diet program. (Mike likens it to Liposuction) Yes over the years we have discovered that the RV gets a little "fluffy" around the edges as we travel. It has been a while and was over due but the process has started and may take a week or so to complete before we put the RV back in the barn.
Pamela & Mike

Re: What did you do to your coach today.

Reply #541 – September 27, 2012, 09:55:11 pm

I replaced the norgren valve for the step slide cover with a mac valve which works just fine. We have been home for about 3 weeks now and I still have a few other things to fix. We have put on 15,000 miles since Nov 2011. We needed to get back home so that I can keep up all the maintenance on the coach and also yard work. I am ready to leave again, but DW wants to spend some time at home, so will haave to wait until next May, can't wait to get back on the road

Re: What did you do to your coach today.

Reply #542 – September 27, 2012, 10:49:29 pm

Added extension hoses (5/8 inside dia) to the drain outlets under the couch so I could catch the RV antifreeze in jugs rather than let it run on the ground and kill the grass. The outlets barely stuck thru the floor so I had to use rubber hose and adhesive sealant along with a jury-rigged hose holder down near the angle iron that supports the generator.
Bought a bunch of snaps and a roll of aluminized bubble wrap. The male halves of the snaps are the ones with short screws built in. Mounted the males on the walls up inside the valances where they are not visible. Cut the bubble wrap to fit each window. Put one female snap near an end and then snapped the bubble wrap in place so I could determine where to put the other female snap. I can now put all six window covers in place in less than five minutes!! DW labeled each cover so there is no guessing as to where each sheet goes.
The coach now stays cooler inside and I can close the blinds and not worry about UV rays ruining anything.

Re: What did you do to your coach today.

Reply #543 – September 29, 2012, 12:49:00 pm

It wasn't today - it was last Saturday. It wasn't me, it was Roger Berke.
When we bought the coach last May, Aquahot wasn't working on diesel. Met Rudy Legett, he replaced bearings in the Webasto, found a leak in a copper elbow in the engine preheat line, got me in to MOT for this repair and others. MOT couldn't/wouldn't replace the elbow but did put in a bypass to stop the leak. Rudy was visiting here last month, let me know Roger is staying nearby on the Oregon coast.
Called Roger who said it is a horrible job but he would do it. He did. He also found and removed a check valve which has caused problems in this model Aquahot, repaired cracked fuel lines at the filter and the Aquahot, and replaced the tempering valve which was sending us 100 degree water.
We now have a fully functioning Aquahot with engine preheat and a supply of 120 degree hot water.
Many thanks to Rudy and Roger.

Re: What did you do to your coach today.

Reply #544 – October 10, 2012, 07:52:01 pm

Replaced Air dryer filter and eng. coolant filter.
Plan on replacinhg coach batteries this weekend.

Re: What did you do to your coach today.

Reply #545 – October 10, 2012, 09:55:57 pm

We bought a cabinet to go above the drivers side window in the bedroom from a fire damaged foretravel in Ky. My wife sanded all the bad finish and smoke from it and refinished it to like new condition and today I hung it on the wall. Looks really great and the extra storage is very welcome. She is a great helper.

Re: What did you do to your coach today.

Reply #546 – October 11, 2012, 09:25:33 am

We have the old vinyl ceiling with the vinyl covered board and buttons running down the middle. The foam backing had crumbled and the ceiling sagged, the center strip looked terrible with the buttons sunk in. I took down the center strip, removed the staples down the center that held the ceiling vinyl up, pulled the vinyl tight, restapled it, put new foam behind the center piece, ran a new wire for a new rear camera, installed a new rear camera that has night vision and a microphone. Ceiling looks a lot better now, as we got tired of looking at that center strip with the sagged look to it.

Re: What did you do to your coach today.

Reply #547 – October 12, 2012, 05:59:41 pm

Todayi drained, flushed, and replaced the coolant on the generator. Nice to have that done. Also adjusted the belt, which looked in good condition.

Re: What did you do to your coach today.

Reply #548 – October 12, 2012, 06:14:28 pm

Ordered a whole bunch of STUFF; backup monitor and camera, new radio to replace the Sony cassette player, new three stage converter, Trimetric battery monitor, 1000 watt True Sine wave inverter (stayed with Xantrex on this one, hope I'm not sorry) with remote switch. Guess I'm in for a lot of "puttering" when it all comes in.

Roland

Re: What did you do to your coach today.

Reply #549 – October 12, 2012, 11:37:59 pm

Roland,

When you install the Zantrex inverter, be very careful not to short either the positive or negative cable to the case while the opposite one is already installed. It blows some internal components...don't ask me how I know.

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