Next Trip is New Orleans for Jazz Fest 2017

Morning everyone,

We are off to Jazz Fest 2017 on Thursday morning of this week. Going with close friends and we will be all going in our coach without a toad. It'll be interesting how all of this shakes out. Two of our friends will be staying off site at a hotel, Two on our fold out bed and one on the floor.

We are sharing the expenses of camping between five of us and fuel between the seven of us. It should be a real cluster _ _ _k.

The coach interior is finished until we return. I will be taking out the sleeper couch at that time. Once out, we will be placing our Euro Recliners in that space.  Why? We've decided to place our TV that is currently residing in the stix n brix house into the kitchen slide once the Euro Recliners are relocated.

This will entail routing power and coaxial cable into that slide. I have power in the basement of the coach just under the slide and I have a coaxial cable port on the passenger side of the coach just in front of the rear wheel. I will just route the coax forward in the basement ceiling to the slide.

I will have to drill at least one hole to bring the coax and power wiring into the living space but overall it should be straight forward. My only concern is that if I want to utilize our surround sound system I will have to extend the wiring from its current location above the drivers position, down through the "A" pillar on the drivers side and through the basement to the kitchen slide. The old Sony switch box will remain in place and I will eventually get a Blu Ray player and new reciever to go in the cabinet we will put in the kitchen slide.

After all of this is done we will be removing the head knocker TV cabinet at the front of the coach and having a cabinet maker fabricate a low profile replacement that can be utilized as a cabinet.

Ambitious at best, but, I think it will make the coach more usable for us.

Once we've returned from Jazz Fest I will be posting photos of the Fest, New Orleans and our campground.  Have a great week.

Bedroom TV Removal - Furniture Changes - TV Cabinet Re-Purposing (With Photos)

Bedroom TV Removal

Martha and I have never liked having TV in the bedroom and we now had one in the Newmar. If you are a full timer you space is at a premium so we thought we would remove the bedroom TV and give the cabinet it was housed in a new purpose.  The cabinet itself measures 30"X 38" not a big space but we have lots of med's and things that are not used everyday and this removal would provide the space for those things. The trouble was that once the TV was removed I had to build a cabinet door.

I set to work on this last Thursday removing the flat screen that replaced an old tube type TV by the previous owners. His carpentry skills were/are abysmal.  Removing the flat screen left all kinds of holes where he had ran piano hinges, ugh.

The purchase of a sold laminated peace of white pine was made at Home Depot and I cut it to length and width and rounded over the edges with a router.  Next, Martha and I wen to a Joann's Fabric shop and purchased a piece of left over linen to be used to cover the door. Yes, fabric instead of stain and finish. Why?  Well Martha wanted a way to show off a photograph taken by a professional photographer friend of hers.  This fit in with with our endeavor to make our coach more homey and more our style. I have to say this turned out better than I thought it would.

This was taken after fitting the door, hinges, door pull and door latch. I had not yet rounded the edges or applied fabric.  

This after I had finished the cabinet door. I think it turned out pretty well.

Other Changes in The Works

We are also in the midst of making furniture changes in the RV. We have removed the couch on the left side of this photo because it was immensely uncomfortable. We made a barter deal for two almost new Euro Recliners that we thought would work well where this couch had been. It turns out that once we removed the couch the slide out floor didn't protrude out far enough for the recliners to fit properly.  

This problem led us to the inevitable decision of getting rid of the other couch (on the right) and placing the recliners there instead. We haven't done this yet but it's in the works. Then we will use the left side of the slide in front of the kitchen for  placement of a TV component cabinet and place a televator on the wall behind it so we can still utilize the window and be able to raise the tv and watch it when we want to. Both of these couches are 12 years old and uncomfortable. This solution allows us to kill to birds with one stone. A bonus is that we can take our 42" TV from the house and put it on the televator.

All of this has and will continue to cause me extra work as we need to bring coax, cable coax, speaker wires, power and surround sound wires into the kitchen slide. These all are currently housed at the center of our cabinets above the dashboard.   We will eventually be removing the overhead TV and having a cabinet made to fill the gap.  At that time all of the audio/visual components should be housed in the entertainment cabinet on the kitchen slide. 

Stay tuned as we continue to work toward these changes. By the way, we are now 38 days until we depart for full time RVing.

Do you know the height of your RV?  Do you know the height of the bridge just ahead? Would you like to know that your proposed route has low clearances?   LowClearances.com

The Smoke Test Part Two - Lake Ft. Smith State Park (With Photos)

Smoke Test Camp Out Part Two

It was time to re-test the RV and all of the repairs that have just been made. We arrived Lake Ft. Smith on Easter Sunday. 

Engine And Chassis Repairs

The trip down was uneventful. Having the fan on the engine fixed really made quite a difference in the sound levels in the coach.  It's much quieter now.  I'm guessing that when an out balance fan wobbles around it makes noises (Well, duh...). 

The engine ran and sounded good again. It also had more power probably due to the air filter change.  I'm hoping that also equates to seeing an increase in fuel economy. As for the chassis sway bar bushing repair. Wow, I immediately noticed that handling was very much improved. Having bushings back in the sway bar fixed most of my steering wander issues. It was very easy to drive this time even in the wind.

Slide out Repair

The living room room slide out moved out and back in flawlessly (this time). I think it may actually be fixed this time.

Set Up Like A Newbie

We're still newbies at setting this beast up.  When I arrived I set the leveling jacks and did a quick walk around before I deployed the rooms. It's a good thing I did  because the living room slide would have hit the power pedestal. Take two,  I retracted the jacks moved forward six inches, got out and checked again, success.

Leveling System

This coaches leveling control pad is not a reliable means of making the coach level.  When you turn on the leveling keypad there are yellow lights surrounding an icon of the coach. If a yellow is showing on any corner it is supposed to be low. However, if you run the jacks down to get the lights to turn off (theoretically level) the coach is no where near level.

I've read that there is a balancing/leveling sensor located on the chassis that can be set to correct the problem.  I guess I'll have to do some research and see if i can adjust it closer to correct tolerances.

Pictures From The Weekend  

Lake Fort Smith is a really nice campground with some pull through sites, back in sites, FHU sites and electric and water only sites. If you want to book this campground you can check "HERE". If you really want to stay here during warm weather you better get your spot booked now as there are only 30 sites.

 Martha Relaxing

Chuck Relaxing (are you sensing a theme?)

Our Site was a pull through. 

 Our Northern Star

Site 10 is one of only four pull through sites. No unhooking required with 70' of space

We have begun planning our initial trip. We will be going to Iowa first to visit family, then to the Wisconsin Dells and then to Oconto Wisconsin to visit friends of Martha's family.  After that a trip to Chicago and the start of route 66 from Chicago to Santa Monica Beach.

Jake approves of camping

But, he's not to sure about the photographer.

More of our camping site

This park is very well done. If you have kids they have a pool that opens on Labor Day. They allow power boating and fishing on the lake but no jet skis, skiing, wake boarding or swimming.

Jake in his natural pose.

Warren Hollow Trail 

First glimpse of the lake. Martha took this hike while I stayed behind.

Our good friend Jim Dehner paying us a visit on his motorcycle.

Nothing better than a campfire after dinner.

Jake still on duty

Our next adventure in the coach before going full time is a trip to Jazz Fest in New Orleans. We are taking the coach and four friends with us and meeting one who is flying into New Orleans to meet us. We can easily sleep three extra people but two of our friends will be staying in a hotel and meeting us at Jazz Fest for the day. It should be a lot of fun. 

The Coach is Done - No, Really It Is - Fan Bearing Problems with photos.

Periodic inspections and preventative maintenance isn't something the previous owners of my RV knew anything about. Arkansas Diesel found this (pictures below) when I had the coach in for annual pm (oil, oil filter, fuel filters, lubrication of the chassis).  The bad part is that you cannot see any of these parts from the engine compartment because the fan, fan clutch and serpentine belt are inside a fan shroud without inspection holes. It now has inspection holes in it (wink).  Without this fix our trip to New Orleans and Jazz Fest (first week of May) would have ended badly. 

The coach was also missing (as in gone, not there, vanished) all eight of the front sway bar bushings, this created considerable slop in the steering wheel and was one of the things I wanted checked during the annual maintenance. We still haven't figured out why or how they had gone missing.  Anyway, it is now safe to drive and shouldn't be as wonky in the wind as it was.

I had them use full synthetic oil in the coach and that gives me 15,000 miles on an oil change. The air filter was another shocker. When they pulled it they found that it had been last serviced at the Speedco (truck oil change shop) in Dallas. It was dated 1/27/11. Yeah, maintenance wasn't something the PO was good at. The service tech turned the air filter over and it immediately deposited a pile of silt on the floor.  Fortunately the end of the filter that was at the supercharger end was very clean.

Based on the fan bearings I had another oil analysis done on the engine and it all came back pristine. That's a relief.

Fan Bearings (what's left of them)

Fan bearing and clutch block front assembly

Parts from the fan 

The Coach is Done - Part 2

Well the bushings have been delivered to the shop and can be installed. That's a good thing right?

But, since I am trying to rehabilitate a twelve year old coach I thought it would be prudent to ask Arkansas Diesel to check the serpentine belt and all hoses to insure good condition. However, as this saga seems to go, there is always a "but."  During this inspection the mechanic noticed powdered metal on the belt.  Upon investigation, they found a bearing on the fan assembly was going bad and slowly shredding itself.  Leaving this in disrepair would cause eventual failure and lead to overheating and other possible problems down the road. So, you guessed it. The coach will not be done again today.

Arkansas diesel is running down parts at the moment and the job is reportedly a half a day of labor to affect a full repair. Yeesh....I am thinking of going all Jesse James to get the money I need to repair this stuff.

One could argue bad luck, but I choose to look at this as a necessary repair that was caught during normal preventative maintenance. We purchased the coach at bargain basement prices and knowing it's age we assumed the liability of the associated repairs that would required to get it back into prime condition for the road. If we can't laugh this off as due diligence we might as well stay home.

As for how I feel about further delay? Well I am not a good "waiter."  Ugh.

The Coach Is Done - It's Not - The Coach is Done - Wait...It's Not

No Parts, Wrong Parts, Some Parts - In These Parts

We were promised our coach would be back on the last Sunday. It is now Tuesday morning and we don't have our coach back.  The coach sits on a Freightliner XC chassis. This is a very common chassis that luxury RV's are built on. But, there is a caveat. It has three frame rail configurations. The rail on my RV is an XCR rail with an I-beam front axle with independent suspension. I have an inkling that this is why our parts came in and were wrong.

The parts delay started with a late day order of parts last Friday the 7th. Apparently the order was received at the Springdale, Arkansas Freightliner dealer in time before they closed for business that day. However, from what I understand they discovered an inventory error and were only able to ship two of the eight sway bar bushings. These arrived on Sunday at Arkansas Diesel and Repair (my shop). When the crew came in on Monday of course they knew the order was short. So, Sprindale Freightliner scrambled to get the remainder of the parts (which still weren't at my shop as of 6pm yesterday (Monday).  So, Arkansas Diesel hedged their bet and ordered six more bushings from six different suppliers to insure delivery today.

I can't say enough good about the efforts on behalf of Arkansas Diesel to get us back on the road. They have gone above and beyond.  I was informed by their marketing manager Brian that they felt bad about the delay so while the coach was in the service bay, they washed it. I was going to have to do that anyway. So, kudos ...so far.

So, we sit. Waiting in anticipation of completion.  Hopefully it will be done today. Brian and Jacob (the owner) said they tought it would be completed by noon today. We'll see. 

The Fix - A Late Evening Call From Our RV Tech

Late Evening Phone Call

Last evening I got a late phone call (22:30) from the RV tech working on my coach. He said that the living room slide works now. (I've heard that before).

The Fix 

When I pressured to find out what he found I received an extensive run down of the diagnostics. He found two things. First, he found what he called a "good/bad 20 amp fuse" in the bathroom blade fuse panel. This in turn was allowing the circuit to complete/activate but voltages at the slide motor side of the fuse were low (more on that when I find out more). He said that the fuse looked as if it had been dipped in water then plugged into the board because the interior of the plastic fuse was green an looked corroded. He put a new one in. 

If I remember correctly, that's supposed to be a 10 AMP fuse instead of 20amps, I will consult the schematics to confirm that.

Secondly, he found "a wire" that goes from the controller to the motor (had to be a ground or the positive wire, that's all there is at the motor itself) that was skinned back a bit but not broken. He said it appeared that my tool box top came into contact with it and damaged it. He cut it and soldered the wires back together and used shrink tubing over the repair. The problem with this theory is that the top of my tool box is rounded and smooth on all sides.

The motor winding's are good as checked for continuity by and ohm meter. He said to confirm proper controller operation he used the three remaining boards each in turn to run the living room slide. He said the other three operated it fine. He then used the questionable board in the other three slides and it worked there. So it was not the board. His conclusion was the wire that was skinned may have been touching my tool box lid but more than likely it was the bad fuse.

There Is Always Something Else

Now for the real shockers. I had the coaches annual PM done while it was in there. I only had oil the oil and oil filter and fuel filters changed at my first service on the coach last November. My intent was to bring it back in mid May for a complete service before we departed full time. 

While greasing the steering linkages he said he had a double take. The steering stabilizer rack was missing all of its rubber bushings. Four in total. This created a steering lag of about three quarters of an inch in the side to side steering wheel turning (steering slop). This revelation certainly explains the steering wander I was experiencing. I am grateful he was on his game as this one could have been a wreck in the making. New bushings come in today or Monday. We should have the coach back tonight or before noon tomorrow (Sunday) or if the bushings are delayed we will get the coach on Monday. 

Dirty Rotten Filter

When I bought the coach the P.O. told me it had been about a year since the last change. That was last November. When the mechanic pulled the old air filter, they found a date of service and installation written on the old filter. The date was 1/6/2011. Yes, it had been 6 years on the same air filter. It was absolutely loaded, he tapped it on the shop floor and piles of dust fell out. Not good but he said the manifold where it attached was very clean, at least the clogged filter kept dirt out (along with free flowing air). Maybe I will get slightly better fuel economy?

It appears the coach will be home tomorrow so I can proceed with some furniture removal and re-installation. We camp next weekend at a nearby state park, Lake Fort Smith. It's a pretty place and we're looking forward to being there and testing all of the "fixes" and our new furniture. 

Waiting For The Coach To Be Repaired - Again

We are still stuck waiting for the coach to be repaired. Same slide won't work, similar symptoms. I hate waiting. I'm not good at it.

In the mean time we are waiting for the arrival of two new dining room chairs. They are scheduled to be delivered today. We've been slowly accumulating new things that will need to go into the coach to redecorate. Martha found some turquoise pillows that will help put some color in the coach, and we bought a two foot wide, eight foot long carpet runner to put down to hide the old ugly carpet until we can purchase flooring.

We've dedicated a place in the corner of our leased stix n brix kitchen to place things we need to put into the coach. I also have a small amount of hardware stuff that needs to go into the basement of the coach.  We are nearing what will be our full time load I hope.

When Martha retires (master massage therapist) on May 22nd she was going to need to sell a massage table, some art and other items or bring them all home so we can include them in a garage sale.  Instead we decided to ask the owner of the spa if she would consider a barter. The owner gets the massage equipment and in turn we get two nice Euro Chairs that recline, rock and swivel that are located at the spa where she works and not used often.  These will go into the coach where the incredibly uncomfortable kitchen slide couch is located. This is yet another project we need to do in the next 55 days but is worth it to get some comfortable seating. My only worry is getting the couch out.

In the mean time I have sold just about everything that needed to go from my garage. What is left is just small stuff that will be easy to sell.

While we wait on the coach to get finished so we can load it, we've been working on sorting, organizing and deciding what papers, photos, certificates ect. will get stored or saved. The rest will be shredded, recycled or thrown away. Our gigantic photo collection is another issue. We've been creating a "save" box of photos and the rest are getting scanned and placed into the cloud for storage and I intend to do a backup on an external hard drive. I estimate that I have scanned somewhere in the neighborhood of 2500 photos now. But we are now on the downhill side of the project.

That's all for now, as soon as I find out what is going on with the slide out problem I will post up and let everyone know.

Keep on, keepin on.