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Subject |
Author |
Date Posted |
Forum
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RE: Doom and Gloom!
Don't worry about Californie, once this storm goes through it will be 80 degrees again and wonderful fall camping weather!
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vern kelly
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10/04/08 08:44pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Tow Vehicle Nightmare- First Long Distance Trip
That's the spirit! Enjoy the beautiful summer there in Saskatchewan. Long live Canada!
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vern kelly
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07/19/08 10:52pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Tow Vehicle Nightmare- First Long Distance Trip
Lorainejohn,
That is an amazing story, and most of us have all had something go wrong mechanically on a trip. Those that haven't eventually will! I always tell myself at least its only money and I can make more! I had my truck break down once at the beginning of the Labor Day weekend and the day of our anniversary. When I saw what caused the brake line to the rear of the truck fail I got hotter than the Arizona Sun. I cussed for about two hours straight! Firestone airbag bracket mounting nut on the inside of the frame had pinched the stainless steel brake line and it had finally cracked! This magic was performed by the Lance Camper dealer! Brakes went out on the decent out of the mountains toward Santa Cruz highway 17.
Since it was the beginning of the Holiday weekend no shops could work on it until the following Tuesday. Instead of being at a "high class" RV resort in Carmel, Californie, I stayed in my camper on the street at a city park in Santa Cruz. We made the best of it and finally got the truck towed to the Dodge dealer and I stayed in my Lance Camper on the Dodge lot two nights for free! We had bikes so I got to know Santa Cruz real well. We got the brake line replaced and finally got to the fancy RV resort in Carmel. But my real memories are what I did in Santa Cruz including my outdoor shower on the Dodge lot, BQing hot dogs, and drinking beer in my lounge chair after the workers and customers went home! :)
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vern kelly
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07/19/08 10:00pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: CA DMV is raping me on my Tow Vehicle
My, My the Californie bashing is getting a little intense. It is true that registration fees are high in Californie because when a vehicle is new, a good portion of those fees are property tax. This portion goes down over time. A ten year old car bottoms out at ~65 dollars American. The weight fees are another significant portion that come into play on trucks with commercial plates. Think of these high fees as a "good weather tax" and you will feel better. We know the fees do not go toward road improvement!
One tax you save on in Californie compared to most other states is "home property tax" thanks to prop 13 in 1978 (Howard Jarvis bless his soul). The assessment price is based on the price the year you bought the house (~1%)and can only go up slightly each year until the property is sold. This can be a significant savings compared to other states. If you stay in the same house!
And the nicest thing about Californie is year round camping in the most geographically diverse place in the US, if not the world! I love it here!
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vern kelly
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07/05/08 12:00am |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: 10% ethanol
Here in Californie we were the first to ban MTBE ~3 years ago. Ethanol was proposed to be added in its place as an oxygenate to help it burn cleaner. There was much argument about this and some studies claimed modern day cars with catalytic converters and computer controls did not need any oxygenate.
The politicians, environmentalists and the oil companies all made a deal to use ethanol. The deal was done, (no vote) and fuel prices have been rising quickly ever since. Since Californie started it we pay the most, even though we have more cars than anywhere in the world. I do not notice much if any mileage difference on my four cars, but my old chebies (66 and 67) ping with mid grade now after the 10% ethanol. I have to run premium to keep them from pinging on long freeway grades in the afternoon. Better to do this than sacrifice mileage by retarding the timing. Modern cars probably automatically adjust for this by retarding the timing and therefore loosing a little mileage. Amazing that the difference in price of grades is the same as 25 years ago (10 cents). What can you get for 10 cents these days?:(
One good thing about gas with ethanol, it does not pollute water wells. Many water wells in Californie have been shut down do to MTBE contamination from seeping gas station tanks indefinitely. At least the farmers are making money!:)
By the way MTBE was a waste product from the oil companies and they had complete control over it. Only after finding it polluted and did not break down was it banned. They argued about this for many years before it was banned.About a year ago the FEDs ruled the oil companies could be held liable for contaminated water wells! Many law suits are in the courts!
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vern kelly
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07/01/08 09:49pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: Valve Stems
I've had two of these OEM type valve stems fail over the last few years and just had metal valve stems put in on all five rims. Fortunately both failures were in the driveway. My old cars (66 and 67 Chebies) have had metal valve stems and I never had one fail.
The rubber ones fail by cracking right where they go through the rim like you saw. Everytime you check your air pressure and air up you flex those valve stems and the pivit point is the rim. The hot and cold cycles take a toll on the rubber ones. Go metal!
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vern kelly
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06/29/08 09:54pm |
Truck Campers
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RE: Fuel Rants & Raves - Post 'Em Here!
Stations in LA now common at 4.60 to 4.77 dollars American. Remember we in Californie get "special prices" because of the weather. Diesel at 5.12 dollars American! HOLY MOLEY! Only bright spot is improved traffic on the way home now. At least 10 to 15 percent of the cars are off the road by my crude estimates. Lightest traffic on the northbound 5 through downtown in the eleven years I've been driving this way. If this keeps up the worst is surely to come as people on the edge run out of money as time goes on.
I'm sure this is happening across the USA so obviously USA demand has nothing to do with it. All stations have gas and you can buy all you want. I talked to a tanker driver at the gas station today. He is an independent driver and said a load in his truck was worth 35,000 dollars American and may need armored escort soon! That's the report from LA.
It is amazing how the Dollar just ain't worth a dollar no more. Tomorrow God willing I'll wake up and go to make some more of those dollars!:)
My prediction is changes are already happening and the almighty dollar will force more changes down the road!
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vern kelly
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06/18/08 09:24pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: GM to close 4 Truck/SUV North American Plants
I hate when I'm stuck on the pot! The USA is a little slow to respond, but will eventually get off the POT!
We are drilling more in beautiful Californie,(the weather was awsome today) over a 100 new operational wells in the last year in Los Angeles county alone. 1000 potential wells to reopen. I suspect this is going on all over as I saw new ones next to the 5 and 99 freeways in Kern County in the San Joaquin Valley. This will continue as the prices have made drilling very lucrative again. Ethanol, Small diesels, Hybrids, and Displacement on demand are a few examples of the auto industries intententions. Money will drive the changes.
Have patience and faith fellow RVers. Use the Holy Water! Splash it on Uncle Sam's face! He will get off the pot!
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vern kelly
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06/07/08 08:33pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Dodge V-10 performance
Mine is a 98 2 wheel drive 3.55 rear end auto and I get 10 to 12 MPG with just my camper (10 ft Lance ~3000 lbs). Camper and towing boat ~3000 lbs I get 8 to 10. This mileage includes unloading/ loading the camper and launching and pulling the boat out each day. Only time I drove it empty on a trip I got 14 MPG.
The trick with the big boy Dodge is to use overdrive when you can above 50 mph with the 3.55 rear end. 50 mph is where the torque converter locks up in OD. The majic of this engine is that it is a high torque low RPM engine. 450 lbs peak at only 2400 RPM. It has a real flat torque curve. At 55 MPH in OD it is only turning 1600 RPM and torque is over 400 lbs. I manually turn off OD on hills before it automatically downshifts.
A 4.10 rear end will get worse mileage but will pull great. Keep your RPMs and speed low and mileage will improve. I love this truck and it has been flawless.
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vern kelly
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06/07/08 07:58pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: You know fuel prices are high when . . .
Holy Moley, hitting 4.59 dollars American here in Beautiful East LA this morning. Filled the truck just after Memorial day at 4.29 dollars American. That's a 7% gain in less than two weeks on my investment. I may give up Lottery, Indian gaming, and Vegas. Who needs diversification! Can't play if I don't win!
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vern kelly
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06/06/08 11:52am |
RV Lifestyle
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RE: Mileage decrease on mandated 10% Ethanol.
One good thing about the high price of oil is it will force change. There has actually been more innovation with hybrid technology, displacement on demand and flex fuel ethanol in the last 5 years due to the high price of oil. Alternate energy cannot happen without it being economically feasible. This will happen, but will take time and there will be pain.
The contamination of water wells nation wide from MTBE sealed the investment into ethanol. Many of the richest people in the world including Bill "Winders" Gates invested heavily into ethanol years ago. The oil companies have also since MTBE was phased out. This event was a catalyst for change.
Do not underestimate the USA for coming up with solutions. We may be a little slow to move, but history shows what this country is capable of when change is forced on it. Have confidence fellow RVers, and enjoy Memorial Day Weekend. Remember what this Holiday is for!
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vern kelly
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05/23/08 10:16am |
Truck Campers
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RE: Windows xp sp3 update
We trust you Bill Gates,
Lead us to the promised land!
You have really got to wonder if "nervous pack 3" is worth it!
What blasphemy I dare to speak!:R
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vern kelly
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05/15/08 08:59am |
Technology Corner
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RE: Windows xp sp3 update
I had a few problems with my Winders Nervous Pack 3. After ~40 fun filled minutes of installing I though I was all done and success had been acheived! Only thing I forgot to do was turn off my spybot tea timer so it detected registry changes ect. Since I stayed in front of the puter I clicked "allow" as they came up.
I went to clean my Winders up with Disk Defrag and Oh No:E, Defrag hangs at 5% during analyze even after 1 hour. Never did this before. Check Disk for errors also does not work. Everything else checks good. Research troubleshooting for broken Winders. Try safe mode to no avail. Finally try system restore to earlier date and it performs "check disk" and fixes some files. Does not perform the restore and preserves my Nervous Pack 3. Reboot and now everything works.:B
I have my Winders Updates set to notify but don't automatically download. This way I know if Updates breaks my Winders. One time they turned off my sound card with updates just fer fun. They had another Winders Update to fix what they broke, but I had to find it on Winders site. Sometimes I long for my Winders 95 machine. Still running after 12 years without any updates!:C
It's moments like these why I don't take a puter camping or fishing with me!:M
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vern kelly
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05/14/08 08:44pm |
Technology Corner
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RE: Windows XP SP3 ?
PopBeavers,
Yea the Spy bot "tea timer" will detect and block registry changes ect. I forgot to turn mine off so I had to click "allow" each time it detected something. About 5 times. Since I was in front of the puter I noticed this as it happened. May have contributed to my problems. Don't break your "Winders".
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vern kelly
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05/08/08 01:46pm |
Technology Corner
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RE: Windows XP SP3 ?
Leave it to me to have some problems with the Winders Nervous Pack 3. My defrag would not run after a supposedly successful install after ~40 fun filled minutes! All other application were OK. Would stall during "analyze" portion of defrag at 5%. Checking for disc errors also would not run. Went through all the troubleshooting including "safe mode" and closing out all running programs to no avail. Finally decided to bite the bullet and perform system restore. The Puter ran "check disk" and fixed some "file errors" and did not do the restore which left my "nervous pack 3" version of Winders intact. No broken Winders!
That fixed the wonderful "Winders" defrag application. Was it luck or the Holy Water?
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vern kelly
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05/07/08 09:29pm |
Technology Corner
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RE: You know fuel prices are high when . . .
You brag about your new investment strategy. You gassed the motorhome up yesterday and parked it.You then check the gas station price each day of the week to see how much it has gone up! You think about diversifying with multiple vehicles!
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vern kelly
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04/11/08 12:44pm |
RV Lifestyle
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RE: opinions on running the refrigerator while driving
I like the Idea Kajtec1 is doing. I set up my Dad's class C this way because back in the 70's he had a bad experience of sheering off the LPG pipe near the tank on his van camper. People motioned to him on the road that he had a problem, when he pulled over he had a propane leak that was sizable and scary.
I also remember seeing a motorhome in a gas station go up in flames. The pumps blowing up one by one were spectacular. I have no idea what caused the fire. I believe it is the law to turn off all open flame while in a gas station and some tunnels. All motor home manuals should have that written somewhere. My Lance manual does. My fridge is threeway and I use the DC mode while traveling and switch to gas/AC once to my destination (Lance Camper).
Three way fridges are not that common anymore because if you don't remember to manually switch to gas/AC after reaching your destination you will kill your coach batteries within a few hours on a hot day and requires a stout 8 gage wire from the engine compartment back to the coach battery to provide good charging current to the coach battery while under way with a circuit breaker at the engine compartment end (40 amp) in case of a short on this wire.
When you precool your Fridge before the trip a day ahead of time, then whether it is on gas or electricity it does not have to operate that often while in transit anyway. Many people just put frozen blue ice packs in the fridge to keep things cool under way and turn the fridge off. All these methods work!
The Fridge is the greatest appliance that RV's have. I remember when I was a kid my dad always had to worry about ice blocks and my mom complaining there was no room for the food because my dad put so much ice in there!
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vern kelly
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04/11/08 12:10pm |
General RVing Issues
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RE: Gas Tow Vehicle Big Block Chevy vs Dodge V10
Surveyorip,
Good to see your Dodge still going strong. The 360 is a great motor and can be easily rebuilt. Too bad Dodge dropped the V10 because for me the truck is very economical. Out the door price was only $28500. The extra $4K at the time for the diesel did not make sense to me. If I were to buy a new one it would be the Ford with the V10. One thing with a large truck camper is that the gassers have payload advantage over the same model with a diesel.
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vern kelly
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01/27/08 08:34pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Gas Tow Vehicle Big Block Chevy vs Dodge V10
Oldbrown,
I've had my Dodge since it was new (1998). I have the 3.55 rear end on mine and am quite happy with the gas mileage. 10 to 12 with the camper and 8 to 10 camper and boat. I seldom drive empty. I looked at all three trucks in 1998 and bought the Dodge because it was the best truck. 10 years later I know I made the right decision. Other than premature tire failures, the only real maintenance item out of normal was replacing the neutral/safety backup lamp switch. The backup lamp part of the switch failed. This was only a 20 dollars (American) part I got at autozombie and did it myself!
The Chevy 8.1 is nice too. I don't think you could go wrong with either one. These are true truck engines with iron heads and iron block. Low end torque is also superior to any other gassers including the Ford V10. Though I like the Ford also! The new "hemi" is a weak replacement for the V10.
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vern kelly
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01/25/08 04:43pm |
Tow Vehicles
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RE: Idling More Than Five Minutes In Calif. Is Against The Law
Yes Sir,
Californie is a great place to stay away from, especially if you hate winter camping! It is a little different here you know, just like the weather! High 60s right now and sunny!
I believe this was put in place to help pollution in and around the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. They plan to do the same to ships in the ports as well. Look for more on this!
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vern kelly
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01/18/08 02:15pm |
Tow Vehicles
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