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Date Posted |
Forum
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RE: Traveling from Yellowstone to Black Hills - Best Route?
What's the stuff to stop for in Cody?
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TDInewguy
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10/06/08 10:33pm |
Roads and Routes
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Traveling from Yellowstone to Black Hills - Best Route?
I'm looking for assistance on what route to take heading from Grizzly RV park on the west entrance of Yellowstone to the Black Hills area.
I'd like to take a senic route without stressing myself out with a overly challenging route. I will have a 40' diesel pusher with an exhaust brake.
One person mentioned to head east on 16 > Graybull > Worland > Buffalo...
Are there any other significant stops that are worthwhile making along my way home?
My round trip is starting in Minneapolis, heading west thru ND (staying the first night in Bismark) and making it to Bozeman the next day. Then heading down to Yellowstone and staying there for about 3 days...
then heading back east thru Wyoming and South Dakota.
Thanks in advance for any/all help!
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TDInewguy
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10/06/08 09:27pm |
Roads and Routes
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RE: Why is this 2008 DP so cheap?
Yup it's the Coachman...
I have been to Shorewood RV here in MN and they have a few of them still - and they are looking to MOVE them. (they still have 07 models that they are trying to sell...)
www.shorewoodrv.com
Ask for Anthony and tell him that Stefan sent you if you decide you want to buy one... He and I have been talking for better than 6 months - they are a Tiffin dealer and they have a few coachman products. Tiffin really does better for them than Coachman.
Cheers!
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TDInewguy
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10/05/08 09:10pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: The Youngsters (we've seen the older ladies and gents)
Darnit... I was going to start this post... but I guess I toook toooooooo long...
Ok, so I'm 34 and so is DW. We have a 3yo boy and a 8 mo old boy.
We now own a nice fleetwood popup, and have rented a 37' Holiday Rambler in June to go on the Hot Rod Power Tour - you can see more about my adventures at www.driven-1.com
I'm just about to leave for another trip with a 40' Monaco Windsor DP (rented again for a bargian price!) and we are going to visit Montana!
I'm super excited and have been looking/shopping for the right MH for us.
It seems in the last 6 months prices have kept dropping and dropping. Ive been watching e-bay and repo auctions - the ones that are selling are going for $10K or more under the low NADA retail.
hmm, we'll see how things progress!
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TDInewguy
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10/03/08 11:30am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Ok, who is the oldest active RV'er here? Or maybe
Ok, so let me post here... maybe I should start my own post, but who's the youngest?
I'm 33 and have a 3yo boy and a 8 month old boy...
DW and I rented a 37' class A in June and had an absolute BLAST! We are renting a 40' DP and heading out to Montana next week for 10 days.
So I'm a newbie and been looking to own one, but have really enjoyed renting and discovering what we are looking for in a MH.
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TDInewguy
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10/02/08 09:26pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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Planning a Yellowstone trip for mid october - questions?
Hello all!
I'm planning a 11-12 day trip starting Oct 9th leaving Minnesota and heading out to Montana...
I plan to rent a 40' class A diesel pusher - a nice 2002 Monaco Windsor with 3 slides and the hydro hot heating system.
I will be bringing my wife and two kids - 3 years old and 8 months.
I need some advice and help for trip planning - as I do have a tenative schedule.
My plans are as such:
Day 1
Drive and spend the night in Bismark, ND
Day 2
Spend some time in Bismark in AM for business (required), then head towards MT. Stop and stay the night somewhere in MT. I'm thinking Ameya Preserve (to see it)
Day 3
Get to Bozeman and do work there all day. (Required for trip)
Day 4
Get to Helena and meet with new clients (required)
Day 5
Drive to Yellowstone and have fun
Day 6-8
Yellowstone
Day 9
Head east - make it to ?? (black hills?)
Day 10
Drive - stay in souix falls and meet with clients
day 11
drive home
I may have time to add one more day in there...
so with the schedule I have here - can someone give me some input on what to watch out for? I know I won't be able to see all of Yellowstone, but enough to make me want to go back. what about the Mt Rushmore area? Should I just drive by or spend a day there?
The 1st purpose of the trip is business - as my company installs A/V systems and we recently did a church install in Bozeman that needs some follow up, and there are a few other churches I'd like to meet with while i'm there.
The second purpose is to have a good time with my family!
So a few other questions:
Will I need or want a rental car at yellowstone, as I do not plan to pull a TOAD with a rental RV.
What can I expect the weather to be like in MT/WY in the next 2-3 weeks?
Will I need snow chains or tires? Will the roads be slippery and how does a big diesel pusher handle in wet/snow? I have plenty of experience driving in snow/ice, but not with a DP.
With the time allotted should I skip yellowstone and go somewhere else? say glacier or spend time in the black hills instead?
Should I make reservations?
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TDInewguy
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09/29/08 10:03pm |
Campgrounds, Resorts and Attractions
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RE: High Test gas gets MUCH better MPG
FWIW = my 1966 GTO with a modern LS3 Motor - the 6.2L aluminum corvette motor which is a high compression and high performance motor rips down the road a LOT better with 92 octane than 87.
I drove the GTO on the Hot Rod power tour this year along with a 2006 Holiday Rambler with a 8.1L workhorse. We put almost 3000 miles on in 2 weeks, so I was calculating my fuel usage daily!
The motorhome didn't care all that much for MPG or power, it was a dog any way you look at it - I think most of the time the ECU was in catalyst protect mode, but the GTO was a different story.
I topped out at 25.3MPG and did a general average of 18-20MPG in the GTO. I have gotten as low at 11MPG, but that's driving it silly...
So for the GTO it's premium all the time. When I get a motorhome it's diesel!
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TDInewguy
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09/27/08 11:22pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: 1/2 ton & 32' 5th wheel
Hmm,
Interesting set of posts...
If it were me I'd do it. (given all the data you have)
My biggest concern is the pin weight on the truck.
To put it in perspective for you, I tow a 3200lb popup camper with a 2005 VW Passat station wagon. (it's a diesel 4 banger) and the US rating on the car is something like 2000lbs tow capacity.
The european tow capacity on the car is 3960lbs!!! So I bought the euro hitch for my car and have been very careful with tongue weight (and added air bags to the rear springs to keep the back from sagging too much) and it does a fine job.
It is not something I'd just throw the keys to someone else to let drive, as I've spent a lot of time tweeking the setup and it handles very nice, but you know what i mean.
Be careful, air up your tires to the max sidewall pressure and do whatever you can to keep the pin weight down. Depending on how often you tow it you might want to consider getting air bags. Most silverado's have a cargo capacity of something like 1400-1900lbs on the 1/2 tons...
Cheers! oh, and I do not reccommend that anyone else copy me on what I tow with! (gotta put a disclaimer in there for the weight police.)
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TDInewguy
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09/16/08 11:00pm |
Fifth-Wheels
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RE: What do u do?
I design, sell and install professional sound, video and lighting systems.
My beginnings are when I was 13 years old and started running the sound system at my church youth group, so fast forward to today and now I do it for a living.
My company does work in churches, businesses, casinos, high end homes and the like.
Audio Video Electronicswww.audiovideoelectronics.com
I also have just started a new venture with classic muscle cars - and my first venture was on the Hot Rod Power Tour this summer - we spent 2 weeks in a *ahem* rented *ahem* MH - a 2006 Holiday Rambler 37PCT. Nice MH, but I'm not going to say I loved the gasser - I'm shopping for a DP.
So back to the musclecars... I have a 1966 GTO that is the centerpoint of my new venture. Driven1
Driven1 Websitewww.driven-1.com
So that's what I do! I'm now looking for more cars, more churches that need A/V and a ranch out west, oh and a DP!
Cheers!
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TDInewguy
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09/14/08 09:05pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: audiophiles, electronics experts, opinion please
Audiophile guy here...
As for your system, I have a few questions:
- you are puttin in a home stereo reciever, which is fine, but what do you plan to power the reciever with? a generator? inverter? If you use an inverter, make sure it's more than large enough to power the reciever. I would also suggest that you use a sine wave inverter rather than a modified square wave. (not a must, but some A/V equipment is sensitive and will buzz with MSW inverters.)
- Watts... this is a much debated subject. Let me say that (in general) more watts than you need or your speakers are rated for is better than not enough. The 100watt reciever i'm sure will do just fine with 4 speakers. As for 4 or 8 ohms, this is a relative measurement, as if you were to look at the impedance graph of a given speaker, it would only actually be 4 ohms for a small portion of the frequency range. The key is to not have the total impedance too low for the amplifier. Most home recievers are rated for use with either 4 or 8 ohm speakers, but if you put 2 8 ohm speakers to one channel of the amp, the amp would "see" 4 ohms. (if the speakers are wired in parallel - that means the + of both speakers is wired to the + of the amp and the - of both is wired to the - of the amp.) if you had 2 4 ohm speakers the amp would see 2 ohms, which in many cases is too low. If you have a A/B switch, that would be fine to wire both sets, as long as the switch is impedance matching for the amp.
Please don't flame me, but I'm not a fan of Bose, I much prefer the likes of Klipsch, Tannoy and speakers like that. Bose is fine, but if you did your research on Dr. Bose you would find he has a doctorate in marketing not sound. They do some of the best marketing in the world, and charge a price on their product to support it. Try finding ANY new bose product at a discount - everyone sells their products at the same price, that's the way it is... and that's how they maintain their high margins.
As for the in-dash car stereo's - I have one in my car... it's rated for 50 or 80 watts into 4 channels, but that's really a "going downhill with the wind at your back" rating. The reality is you are really getting about 15-20 watts per channel RMS. RMS is basically the constant power output ability. The 80-watts is the marketing department's number. One place to look at car stereo stuff without the BS is Crutchfield. They are a good company in my opinion and have all the adapters and mounting kits to put stereo's in cars. www.crutchfield.com
The unit I have in my truck is the Pioneer AVIC-Z2 it's a navigation unit, DVD player, hard drive MP3 player, etc. It does have an internal amplifier, but I do not use it - I bought an Pioneer 4 channel amp that puts out a REAL 100W per channel RMS and it sounds great. Keep in mind that 100W is twice at loud as a 10W amp, not a 50W amp. Going from 50W to 100W is a small volume difference... 3db to be exact. Would I rather have a 100W than 50W? sure!
So to sum up a few points - if you like your setup, why change? (to spend money?) or is there something wrong with it?
As for the new in-dash all in wonder units - they are pretty good, unless you buy the really cheap off-name brand units. in my book - you get what you pay for... and to put my money where my mouth is - take a look at my website to see what I do for a living...
www.audiovideoelectronics.com
Hope this helps!
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TDInewguy
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09/09/08 09:22pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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2000 Damon Ultra Sport?
I found a very nice condition Damon Ultra Sport...
I know little about Damons and was looking for some input.
It's a low mile unit - one owner who was "fussy" and it's got new tires.
stored inside when not used for camping...
It's a 275hp cummins with the allison 3060.
do these have raised rail chassis?
any opinons?
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TDInewguy
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09/09/08 12:09am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Can used prices go any lower?
I'm 34 and I'm thinking of buying! :)
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TDInewguy
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09/08/08 10:01pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: 08 Chevrolet Silverado K1500 12v power to the 7 way plug?
It might be something with your camper wiring?? I know on my popup, the 12V circuit charges the deep cycle battery that powers the whole camper...
I also have a converter in the camper that will both charge the battery and run all the 12V stuff...
So maybe you need the battery there to complete the circuit?
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TDInewguy
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08/26/08 04:35pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: HELP! Trailer Tougue snapped off on highway today!
Any other opinions?
I have been in talks with the MFR and my insurance co about this. Bottom line I do not want this trailer back on the road.
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TDInewguy
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08/25/08 11:18pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: 08 Chevrolet Silverado K1500 12v power to the 7 way plug?
If you have the factory wiring for a trailer, then you just need to put the fuse in the fusebox. It's a square goofy looking fuse that goes under the hood in that fusebox. I think it's a 30A.
The fuse should have been taped to the wiring harness you got with the truck (the one you use to hook your brake controller up to the truck.)
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TDInewguy
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08/25/08 11:09am |
Tech Issues
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RE: HELP! Trailer Tougue snapped off on highway today!
Upon another inspection just now of the trailer it looks like the entire roof structure has shifted forward due to the impact when the tongue broke. The side door and the ramp door - they are out of line with the frames and I have seen cracking of welds at the door frames.
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TDInewguy
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08/22/08 03:15pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: HELP! Trailer Tougue snapped off on highway today!
Thanks for the additional replys.
I did have a 1/2 hour long conversation with the president of ALUMA trailers today (AL) and he was friendly and said that I need to get the trailer to Mankato and they will take it from there and have their engineer (DEAN) review the entire trailer.
I told him I have no trust in this trailer and that it needs to be replaced, and he told me it's not their policy to replace trailers under warranty. He did say that they stand behind their products and if they deem it repairable that I should have full confidence that it will be safe. I did sense that there may be a possibility that they will replace it, but he did not want to commit to that over the phone without seeing the trailer.
So I understand that my truck's hitch was not rated for the weight, and I am going to address that, thank you for the heads up on that Ben.
So as for WDH, would this thing need a "V" tongue to be able to do it?
Several of you have said you don't like the tongue configuration, and I would like to understand what you don't like about it (not mine but their new ones.)
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f307/TDInewguy/Aluma%20Trailer/CIMG3194.jpg
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TDInewguy
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08/22/08 03:13pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: HELP! Trailer Tougue snapped off on highway today!
After another close inspection today of the Aluma trailer, there are MANY defective welds on parts of the trailer that would (should) have no bearing on overloading the trailer. The door latch welds are all cracking! See more photos of this thing. I really think there is a serious issue with the build quality of this trailer. (keep in mind that it's a 5 year old trailer)
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f307/TDInewguy/Aluma%20Trailer/p1010072.jpg
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f307/TDInewguy/Aluma%20Trailer/p1010070.jpg
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f307/TDInewguy/Aluma%20Trailer/p1010076.jpg
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f307/TDInewguy/Aluma%20Trailer/p1010080.jpg
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f307/TDInewguy/Aluma%20Trailer/p1010081.jpg
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f307/TDInewguy/Aluma%20Trailer/p1010082.jpg
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f307/TDInewguy/Aluma%20Trailer/p1010085.jpg
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TDInewguy
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08/21/08 08:14am |
Tech Issues
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RE: HELP! Trailer Tougue snapped off on highway today!
These photos don't really do justice to the reality of all the cracks and damage the trailer has sustained.
This damage happened after the tongue was temporarily repaired in order for us to finish a project. Now that the trailer is home it's looking very bad.
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TDInewguy
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08/20/08 10:19am |
Tech Issues
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RE: HELP! Trailer Tougue snapped off on highway today!
Ok, I have some new photos of the trailer and it has begun to fail at many of the welds. I am sending these photos to the MFR and asking them to replace the trailer.
I do not trust this thing at all to hold together, as even if it's taken all apart and put back together, wouldn't there be structural issues with the entire trailer at this point? Many of the welds have failed and even the new welds have failed.
Take a look at the photos and feel free to comment.
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f307/TDInewguy/Aluma%20Trailer/p1010056.jpg
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f307/TDInewguy/Aluma%20Trailer/p1010058.jpg
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f307/TDInewguy/Aluma%20Trailer/p1010059.jpg
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f307/TDInewguy/Aluma%20Trailer/p1010060.jpg
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f307/TDInewguy/Aluma%20Trailer/p1010061.jpg
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f307/TDInewguy/Aluma%20Trailer/p1010062.jpg
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f307/TDInewguy/Aluma%20Trailer/p1010063.jpg
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f307/TDInewguy/Aluma%20Trailer/p1010065.jpg
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f307/TDInewguy/Aluma%20Trailer/p1010066.jpg
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TDInewguy
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08/20/08 10:17am |
Tech Issues
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