RE: Lance vs Arctic Fox
Some years back, before we got our first TC, I did a lot of data collecting on TC's. Mostly from the mfg's sites. At the time, and I suspect still, a slide added about 300 pounds to the weight of a TC. And another note, most of those co.'s are no longer in business.
RE: 2 Stage Furnace
Waldospa and Jamm3r,
There is a vented catalyc heater being made. Sleepy bot one. And CEWillis has a link to it. You may want to search on Cewillis and catalytic. But I don't know how it would work with little fingers.
Kurt
RE: Tires longevity question
Hi Reddog,
Govermental departments can make rules/laws within their area of administration. It is called "administrative law". They usually get the power to do so in the legislative act that creates the dept.
Kurt
Kurt
RE: DIY camper?
Hi,
In addition to looking at more or less abandoned old pop up campers in folks' back yards, you may want to look at using a used boat trailer. Most are much sturdier than the HF trailer. Good Luck! Go for it!
Kurt
RE: Toyota Tundra - camper options?
Hi Blue Coyote,
Welcome to the forum. You may want to look at Capri camper's Rodeo Deluxe. Less than 1200 pounds, porti potty and a real shower. WWW.capricamper.com. They are designed for rodeo folks, so some used ones should be available in your neck of the woods. You also might check out Six-Pack campers.
Kurt
RE: Queen mattress
Most truck campers take a full sized queen. They are 60 X 80. But be sure and measure first. Bumper pulls have "RV Queens". A few TC's have 60 X 74 mattresses. I don't know of a single TC that has a 60 X 79 or a 60 X 72.
Kurt
RE: Happijack or Torklift tie downs??
I have HJ front and TL rear. The HJ front are bolted to the bed with "L" brackets supplied by HJ. This set-up has worked well for both a "minimal" TC and a "maximal" TC (see sig). Gas filler hole on truck fully accessable with no tie-down removal or adjustment necessary.
The back tie-downs are another story. I first had the HJ set-up that tied the TC to the rear bumper. Worked OK with the "minimal" TC but not the "Maximal" TC. Bent two bumpers with the big TC. Went to TL mounts attached to the SuperHitch. Works fine, although I have twisted the TL mounts on both sides thanks to the expansion joints in concrete highways.
Kurt
RE: Instruction needed
Hi DGrid39,
It depends on how old the TC is. Older ones have a pilot light which must be lit. Newer ones are DSI, "direct self ignition". In any case the first thing to do is to open the valve on the propane tank. Open it slowly and completely. If you get a strong smell of propane, close it up and have someone who knows what they are doing check it. Assuming all is well so far, then go to the stove and turn on the burners and run them until enough gas comes thru the pipe such that you can light them all. Since you don't know how well the stuff in the camper works, use one of those butane bbq lighters to light the burners. Let the burners burn for 15 seconds or so to get all the air out of the propane line. Then you can turn them off. Now, look at the range hood. If you see a row of switches there and one is labeled "water heater", turn it on. You should here a "pop" and the sound of a strong propane flame. The water heater is working. I assume that there is water in the tank! If there is no switch on the range hood, then the water heater is most likely a pilot light type and you will have to light the pilot. To do this, go outside the TC and find the water heater. It is behind one of the removable grills that are along one side of the TC. One grill is for the furnace, one for the fridge, and one for the water heater. Once you find the water heater, you will see that there is(are) a gas line(s) running under/into the apparatus. This is the gas line feed to the pilot and the burner. This gas line will come from a control valve "box". There will be a control valve on the top of the box that has three positions; OFF, PILOT, and ON. There will also be a button that can be pressed on the box. The control valve will probably be pointing to OFF. In any case it doesn't matter. Turn the valve to PILOT. Now, using the same butane bbq lighter as before, you will light the pilot. To do this, press the button down on the control box with the control valve pointing to PILOT. Keep the button depressed. Push the lighted bbq lighter alongside the pipes going into the water heater apparatus. Keep sliding the butane flame in, along the pipe, until you get the flame to the end of the pipe. The pilot should light. It may take a few seconds for the gas to clear all the air out of the pipe before the pilot lights. Keep holding the button down after the pilot lights for 10 to 15 seconds, otherwise it won't stay lit. Now, assuming that the pilot is lit and staying lit without the button being pressed down, turn the valve on the box to ON. The water heater will go WHOOSH, scaring you, and starting to heat the water in it. Replace the water heater grill, being careful to not get burned.
Now the furnace. If the water heater was self igniting (DSI). chances are that the funace is too. To find out, go to the wall thermostat, turn the switch to HEAT, then turn the thermostat to say 90 degrees or so to see if the furnace lights. If the fan starts to blow and you hear a whoosh, you are all set. If not, turn the thermostat way down, and go outside the TC, remove the grill over the furnace, and do the pilot light thing again for the furnace. Now, the reason you turned the thermostat way down in the TC is so you can light the furnace pilot, turn the furnace gas valve to ON, and replace the furnace grill without having the furnace go whoosh on you as the water heater did. Now go back into the TC and set the thermostat on some high temperature. The fan should come on, and the furnace should light. If this does not happen, you need to get someone with experience to look at it. Could be plugged up with mud daubers, for instance.
Same as above for the fridge.
Good luck,
Kurt
RE: Sub-Floor hanging out?
Hi.
I would open the step above the tank so that I could see the situation from above. Probably four screws. You may not see anything doing this or you may get an "Ah-Ha!" I'm guessing that someone at the factory forgot to fasten the floor to the appropriate support. Since you have an aluminum frame, I would look before I started screwing. Good luck.
Kurt
RE: First Trip Out, Shakedown 1990 Vacationeer "Pictures"
Hans,
Hi. Beautiful rebuild and scenery. Thanks for the pictures. A suggestion, replace those tiedown chains with either torqlift or happijack tiedowns that have some give in them for when you end up on a washboard road or an interstate with raised expansion strips. They absorb some of the roadshock and make it a little easier on your TC mounts.
Kurt
RE: Alpenlite manual
WOW!, I'm impressed. I stand corrected. That is a fantastic manual! Thanks Johnny for asking for it. And thanks Msiminoff for providing it. The manuals for my Fleetwood and my Lance just don't compare.
Kurt
RE: Learning a Lesson ... Jack Conversions
Some time back I happened to get to talk to a Rep from Reico-Titan. IIRC, he told me that the R-T jacks were designed for a load of 5000#, tested at 3000#, and "rated" at 2500#. Anyway. those are the ones I would choose, hands down, were I to buy a set of jacks. In my experience, Happijack stuff tends to be built on the light side. I have a set of Atwoods on my Fleetwood and they are fine and have given me no trouble. But. if I were buying new, I'd do R-T.
BTW have you considered the "Hula Hoop" style jack? I can't remember the proper name for it, sorry.
Kurt
