Category: RV Maintenance
Bittersweet Moment
October 26, 2012 by Canadianladybug · 6 Comments
This past week-end, my six year old son Jérémy came to me while I was working in my office to ask me a question… Mommy, when are we going to go to the RV? I lift my eyes on what I was doing and saw him standing near the entrance of my office at home, looking at me with his big hazel eyes. I couldn’t believe my ears. You’ve got to be kidding me right? No he was very serious with his question even if he knew that the RV was closed for the rest of the year. Of all the questions he could have asked me, I didn’t expect that one. You see my husband and my two oldest boys went to winterize the RV the week before Canadian Thanksgiving in early October. It is a time of the year when it is bittersweet because we have so many memories with our children when going to the RV or travelling with it. We usually go altogether to winterize it but this year we had to do it this way because of too many things to bring back at the trailer. Besides after numerous weeks camping in... [Read more...]
RV Dumping: The Unfortunate Learning Curve
July 17, 2012 by Dalin Brinkman · 4 Comments
Even as an RV newbie, I was well aware of the fact that dumping was one of those things you don’t get wrong. The unfortunate consequences of such failure could (and did end up being…well lets just say we can’t use that term). This task was delegated to me by my wife. She has handled most of the RV maintenance, but somehow, this task was mine to do. I thought about complaining about getting all the dirty jobs, but I figured it might be smart of me just to keep my mouth shut (and probably my nose). I noticed that there was all sorts of different types of dump hoses around the campground. Some people had hoses with stilts that looked like caterpillars snaking across the ground. Others had glass openings in them. Why anyone would WANT to see that stuff was beyond me. Then there was that rock. An RV friend told me in passing that it was extremely important to have a rock. I had no idea why. All I knew was that every dump station I had seen had a nice big rock next to it. RV Dumping Education So... [Read more...]
Where Cavemen Store Their RV’s
June 28, 2012 by Dalin Brinkman · 1 Comment
Winterizing your RV is a lot of work with zero payoff. Basically, you are just spending time “preventing” problems from. Realizing that I was going to be buried in RV related activities for the rest of the week, I longed to get away and jumped at the chance to go zip lining and hiking through caves for a couple of hours at night. I looked forward to a lot of fun and a chance to cool off from the 95 degree weather I was experiencing at 5 p.m. in the evening. I wasn’t expecting to walk past RVs 50 feet underground. happening. Chalk that up with brushing your teeth, taking out the trash and other completely non-exciting things we do to make sure things don’t go bad. It’s not something most people long to do. So I couldn’t help but be fascinated by the non-winterizing option I saw while I was at the Rally in Louisville this week: Storing Your RV in a Cave. Sure enough, as I walked into the entrance of the cave to the Louisville Underground, I was passed by RV’s driving out.... [Read more...]
Deadly RV Crash Result of Tire Blow Out
June 23, 2012 by Rex Vogel · 4 Comments
A deadly crash that involved several people in a recreational vehicle resulted from a tire blow out. Keeping tires properly inflated doesn’t just eliminate the practice of checking a tire’s air pressure and finding a tire pump and gauge that works. (Credit: thefuntimesguide.com) Seven people were inside the motorhome when the tire blew. The driver was killed and three children were injured. The RV was traveling west on Loop 202 in Phoenix (Arizona) when the front left tire apparently blew out, causing the driver Lee T. Holt to lose control. Holt, 36, was ejected from the RV when it slammed into light poles and hit the median, according to Bart Graves, spokesman for the Arizona Department of Public Safety. A 9-year-old passenger, Hayden Holt, was in serious condition and may require surgery for internal injuries, said Jane Walton of Phoenix Children’s Hospital. Five other passengers suffered non-life-threatening injuries, Graves said. Holt was taken to the Maricopa Medical... [Read more...]
WE ARE CHEATERS!
June 7, 2012 by Professor95 · 7 Comments
Yes, I admit it. We are CHEATERS! No, we don’t cheat on our income taxes or in a card game. Like thousands of other RV owners, we cheat on what is perceived as conventional camping. For the past week, we have been camping at Big Meadows off of the Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah National Park. We have a beautiful pull thru site about 100’ long – more than enough space to accommodate our “big rig”. There is only one problem with our site – we have no hook-ups for electricity, water, or sewage. This, of course, translates to using our own on-board resources of water, battery power, and wastewater holding. It is easy to get by with no hook-up for a night or two, but if you have a conventional RV with a refrigerator, water pump, and lights, you will quickly learn that the small battery packs that come with your RV will not sustain your needs. The amount of water you can store and the capacity of your waste holding tanks will determine just how often you flush the... [Read more...]
DO NOT LET THIS HAPPEN TO YOU!
May 22, 2012 by Professor95 · 6 Comments
Kevin and Debbie Clark own a 2011 Chevy 2500 pick-up with a full-length bed. The truck is used to tow their 2009 Cardinal fifth wheel trailer. Kevin is extremely proud of his metallic silver truck and is meticulous about how he connects to his trailer. The fifth wheel hitch is a Reese 22K set on bed rails bolted to the bed and frame of the truck. The set-up is strong and easily handles the trailer in both braking and hard pulling maneuvers. . Kevin’s checklist includes: ● opening the tailgate ● chocking the trailer wheels ● setting the trailer kingpin to the height of the hitch jaws ● releasing the handle to close the hitch jaws ● carefully backing into the trailer kingpin while watching for the actuation of the jaw handle to move out and then back in indicating that the jaws have latched tightly around the kingpin. ● Push the jaw locking lever down on the release handle ● Raise the front landing jacks about an inch off the... [Read more...]
AN ELEPHANT ON ROLLER SKATES – Taking care of E-Z Lube Wheel Bearings on Your Towable.
April 7, 2012 by Professor95 · 6 Comments
Can you imagine an Elephant on Roller Skates? Besides being able to actually stand-up and skate, the sheer weight of an elephant on the small axles, bearings, and wheels of roller skates brings images of frequently broken parts to my mind (Elephant on Roller Skates sketch by James Suhr) . Realistically, a large towable riding on a conventional spindle and bearing system isn’t much different than putting an elephant on roller skates. That is a lot of weight for such small parts to handle. Specially designed parts to handle the weight and suspension abuse our fast deteriorating highways inflict on our RV towables is a must. But, without proper maintenance, those parts will fail. Wheel bearings are constantly being exposed to water, dirt and heat – all enemies of even the best engineering designs. A ritual that is performed at least on an annual basis with our towable is inspecting and repacking the wheel bearings. Thankfully, two newer wheel-bearing styles used in the RV industry... [Read more...]
WHEN BAD THINGS HAPPEN – IT IS GOOD TO HAVE FRIENDS AROUND
March 30, 2012 by Professor95 · 4 Comments
Somewhere between Little Rock, AR and Carrabelle, FL two cross members that support the frame rails on our fifth wheel broke. Initially, I could not tell there was something wrong because the plastic belly panels covered the problem area making it impossible to notice the broken welds. Our first indication that there was a problem occurred when we attempted to open the curbside living room slide and it would not extend. My inspection of the problem resulted in a major shock – the axles under the camper had moved at least 3” toward the left side and the drive rod for the slide-out had been bent by the tire. The tire was ruined and all six spring hangers had bent to approximately a 75 degree angle – they should be 90 degrees to the frame rails. In case you haven’t caught on yet, this is a MAJOR problem that could easily result in many thousands of dollars for repairs and the loss of use of the camper for “who knows how long”. One thing for sure – we were not going to be... [Read more...]
DO I REALLY NEED TO TAKE THAT? Must have tools and parts for RV Camping
March 17, 2012 by Professor95 · 4 Comments
Packing or stocking your RV for an extended camping trip can sometimes be more like a game of chance than a science. The problem is that when you are 90 miles from nowhere at 10 p.m. on a Sunday night and the need for a specific tool or part arises you are up that proverbial creek without a paddle – that is, unless you stock for every imaginable need. Well, let me share with you one of my most inner, deep, dark secrets – this is one of those secrets that only my closest friends and family know. I have an extremely vivid imagination. Couple that with a guy who is an admitted tool junkie and president of his local Tools Anonymous help group along with my passion to fix anything and everything that “might” go wrong and you end up with a big, big box of tools and RV parts that could serve as initial inventory for a new Camping World Store. Anyway, to get to the point, these are the items packed away in that big, dark warehouse of parts, tools and accessories that DID prove... [Read more...]
Tailgater–RV TV made Easy
February 21, 2012 by Guest Blogger · 1 Comment
So I like to go RV-ing. Don’t we all? Even more, when I’m trying to get cozy after a long day out on the open road in my RV, one of my favorite things to do is watch a good movie with the family. There is nothing quite better than kicking your feet up, turning on the TV in your RV’s living area and enjoying a great flick before hitting the hay. Perhaps the greatest drawback to enjoying such an experience–it’s not exactly inexpensive to set up a quality entertainment center in your RV. And if you’re like me, one of the things which driven me nuts when it comes to the RV lifestyle is how expensive RV satellites are. With that said, if you’re like me then you like to do everything you can to save a buck or two. Even more, I would have never guessed I would actually be able to cut costs when it comes to RV satellites. I recently had the opportunity to attend the National RV Show in Louisville. As I was walking through the vendors’ area, I happened to stumble upon a booth... [Read more...]
