RE: Thanks Champion Generator posters
I have a champion generator (I already posted once in this thread..that's OK right? ;) ) and it does seem to be one of the quietest "chinese" or "contractor" grade gennys I have ever seen. That being said, the Honda or Yamaha or other such brands are quieter. I don't see how you can argue that. While in TR Nat. Park this summer I kept seeing a guy walk out of his 5er and mess with something under the steps. He would come out and mess with whatever it was then go back in for and hour or so then come back out and mess with it again. After seeing this go on for a few days I finally walked over (he was in the site right beside me) to see if there was something wrong. When I got close enough I could see he was starting up his little Honda genny.:S You could not hear it at all from our campsite. When he turned around and saw me I explained what I was doing in his campsite and we both had a good laugh. I then mentioned that even though it was quiet it still produced carbon monoxide and he may not want it sitting under his camper. He said he had never thought about that!:E So...my 2 cents...the "Honda and friends" generators are quieter (and lighter) but to my taste too expensive for no more often than I would use them. That is why I bought the Champion. I could not justify the expense for the amount of use it would get. And yes, I paid a lot for my 5er but I use it a lot. If I wasn't going to use it a lot I would have bought an inexpensive one.
Chuck
Chuck,
You give a rational honest response here. Plus, you make sense. I'm not bashing the Champs. They work period. But for the one poster who said he's seen "a few" or (whatever) that were LOUDER than a Champion, I say Brown Sugar!
The Honda EU3000's by the way have an optional electric start kit that one can also hardwire them into the RV for "push of the button" start/stops. It has the same motor as the EU2000. Just a bigger inverter.
RE: Thanks Champion Generator posters
I have heard a few 2000`s off eco mode and really made my champion sound quite.
Pure nonsense! Very inaccurate statement! What, so now you claim that you've heard "a few" 2000's that were louder than other 2000's when not in eco mode? Come on! Obviously a made up statement! What, some Honda EU2000's sound louder than others? You mean to tell me that they are that much out of synch from the factory??? You've actually heard "a few" Hondas louder than others? Boy, for the money spent on them, you're telling me that Honda has no quality control?
Just where and when did you suppossedly "hear" all of "louder" running Honda 2000s? Please Don't make things up. Gimme a break. Clinton called that type of statement an "untruth."
RE: Thanks Champion Generator posters
I think that the Champion is perfect for what the origianl poster uses it for. Home emergencies like major power failures etc...
Just like your Honda... perfect for power outages.
Leave it at home, and your camping neighbors will be happier.
Obviously from a guy that can't afford the Honda, so you bash it. NICE.
RE: New Duramax/Allison
Well, we did it and bought an new Duramax/Allison Crew Cab Short bed, and will install a Pullrite Superglide.
I'm looking for advice - what do I need to know about my truck that either the owner's manual does not say, or what am I likely to ignore in the owner's manual that I should not ignore?
One thing and one thing only: When changing the oil, make darn sure that wherever you have it done, the oil you use is "CJ-4" API rated!
If you use motor oil that IS NOT the new "CJ-4" rated oil, YOU WILL damage your DPF (diesel particulate filter) in the exhause system. It costs around $2,000.00 to replace and YOU WILL VOID YOUR WARRANTY if you don't use the correct oil.
If you don't already know how to tell if the motor oil you're going to use is "CJ-4" rated, it's easy to tell. Grab a quart of your favorite 15w-40 diesel engine oil (Although 5w-40 diesel engine oil is all around better) and read the back label.
Look for the round circular emblem that's about as big as a 50cent piece. Within that emblem it will say something like: "...CJ-4 certified." It will probalbly also say, "CI-Plus" or "CII" etc.... You don't care about those ratings. ONLY THE "CJ-4" classification.
Reason being is the way the new diesel engine oil is formulated. It has less sulfer and as a result during combustion, it produces less byproducts that WILL damage your DPF.
Mobil-1 Turbo Diesel Truck oil (5w-40), Castrol, Delo, Delvac, and SOME Rotella (Shell) formulations all are now switching to the "CJ-4" rating. Just read the label to make sure.
Other than that, the Duramax/Allison combo is idiot proof. It's a dream to tow with.
RE: Thanks Champion Generator posters
Thanks, I've been using mine for a year; I'll be using it the next 6 weekends in the woods.
Glad you are OK.
I think that the Champion is perfect for what the origianl poster uses it for. Home emergencies like major power failures etc...
But, when one is out "in the woods" camping, having a loud generator really sucks. Especially for anyone that may be around you. I'd hate to be camping anywhere near you with that loud obnoxious machine.
No offense, it just sucks. All that noise when trying to escape to "peace and quiet."
RE: cheap generators
If you can afford it (If you "R-VEE", you CAN afford it), get the Honda or yamaha. Your camping neighbors will thank you for it! It's just darn right "courtesy" for your neighbors.
Plus, in the event you're camping on a hot summer's night, you'll want the luxory of a/c at night. Trust me again, you'll thank yourself for sleeping in realatively quieter conditions with the nice Honda/Yamaha generator. The noise of your a/c is loud enough. No sense in resonating louder noise of a cheapy gennerator that sounds like a noisy leaf-blower just outside your bedroom window!
RE: Water did not work while dry camping?
There may be an opening in the system taking in air. If the water system doesn't prime, the pump can't pull water through.
This is likely the culprit...I had the same issue...sometimes opening and closing the hot-water faucet can trigger a slight pressure/draw for primeing the pump.
I used to disconnect my output valve at the water pump to get the water-pump pumping then quickly connect it again.
BINGO! This is exactly what happened to us on our 2nd trip out with the new trailer! I paniced and called the dealer right away. He walked me through the exact same proceedure that "Diabs" just described.
I'll add that my dealer said to make sure water was in the tank. Turn the pump on with a faucet on too. Next, while listening to the pump motor working, yet no water coming out, loosen the output valve.
Yes, you'll get some water leakage out on the carpet of your trailer, but as soon as you loosen the hose, it allows the air pocket to immediately escape and you'll hear a DRASTIC change in sound with the pump. That's because the pump is now PRIMED! Trust Diabs and me on this one. The suggestions above do work.
As far as water squirting out of your pump/hose fitting when you loosen it: It will only be a couple tea spoons worth! Also, just in case you're wondering, your pump runs on 12volts DC. You won't get electrocuted!
RE: Snowbird question about generators??
You only need to run the generator for 20 minutes once per month. As someone else pointed out, if you live in a humid climate, run the genny once every other week for 20minutes as well. Have the oil changed every 50 hours OR once per year, whatever comes first.
RE: Change oil at 3K miles or by veh. computer ? Revised page 7
When you burn gasoline, or diesel, you will get water among other things. When everything is hot enough it is steam. When it isn't that hot you see it dribble out of the exhaust.
...and when it's a short trip and continues to only be "warm" the water can't escape and it produces RUST! Yuk!
RE: Change oil at 3K miles or by veh. computer ? Revised page 7
I'm now driving my '99 Mercedes-Benz turbodiesel auto just 3,800 miles a year or so. I'm running Mobil One full synthetic. I decided to change the oil every 5 years or so. I plan to drive this car that I bought new in 1999, 20 years or so. Do you think I am hurting the engine, and how often do you think I should change the oil and or oil filter?
YES, YOU ARE DEFINATELY HURTING THE DIESEL ENGINE! Here's the "Cliff's Notes" version of why:
Engine oil accumulates moisture amoung other things. Oil that's only getting 3,800 miles per year X's 5 years is heavily contaminated with moisture (water). You think that by not driving your vehicle that much, you're actually helping preserve the engine forever, right? Wrong. It is perfectly okay for you to only put a few miles on the engine every year to make it last. However, you must change the oil at LEAST once per year! Twice would be better under your conditions.
Reason being, oil accumulates moisture (as a result of combustion AND insufficient burn off due to short periods of engine use) and acid and carbon, while not being completely heated for any extended period of time. For instance, driving on the freeway for at least 30 minutes is a long enough period to burn off moisture that has accumulated inside the crankcase. The engine has had sufficient time to warm up to normal operating temps AND continues to keep the RPM's at "freeway" speeds, allowing the moisture to evaporate properly. The water in simple terms, is burned up through combustion/ignition. Short driving trips don't allow the engine to warm up all the way which results in imporper moisture burn off from the crankcase. The water remains contaminated in with the oil. Water = rust. Yes, many people are surprised the learn that the inside of an engine's crankcase can and does indeed rust! All that oil settles to the bottom of the oil pan, leaving exposed crank shaft, pistons, rings, cylinderwalls etc... open to rust!
Driving too long a period (excessivly high mileage between oil changes)without changing the oil regulary and driving short trips (3,800 miles/yr x 5 years) are both really bad scenarios for your engine.
If I were you, I'd change your oil at least twice per year. You don't want to let that moisture sit inside you crankcase for long periods of time (more than a week) without running the engine up to normal temps for at least 30 minutes. In your case, low mileage per year times 5 years is a long time for the crank case to accumulate lots of water which will hurt your internal components.
RE: Change oil at 3K miles or by veh. computer ? Revised page 7
I spent $30K on my rig and I don't mind changing my own oil for less than 20 bucks a shot. Money well spent in my mind.
I paid $50K on mine and I don't want to help out the oil industry by just "donating" money to them for no reason.
Changing oil at 3K is just a "feel good" superstition. But now you're paying them "20 bucks a shot" for that superstition. To each his own. :)
RE: Change oil at 3K miles or by veh. computer ? Revised page 7
Then, the mechanics at many places like this dealership are still going by the old rule of a few years ago. So, I wonder how much damage is going to result from their lack of this information, or from just not being properly informed in this and many other shops around the country.
Tim, Actually you're right on. Here's an example of what happened to me. About two weeks ago, I went to my Chevy dealer to inquire about the oil used on the New Chevy Diesels. I about fell out of my chair when the parts clerk did fully acknowledge the fact that the new diesels need the new enviro friendly oil (CJ-4). Okay, that was point #1. The dealer knew about the new requirement. Point #2 is what really surprised me. He told me that GM DID NOT have, nor ever carry this new CJ-4 rated oil for their new diesels. I asked him what brand of diesel engine oil was GM using currently. (Here comes the shock portion...) He said, GM used FORD CJ-4 diesel engine oil!!! I said, "FORD!" He said yup, that's all we carry per quart for CHEVY/GMC diesels at the moment.
Anyway, at least GM knows what type of oil to use and isn't affraid to use a competitor's manufactured oil until they get on line with their own "AC Delco" brand of diesel engine oil.
Here comes a really scary situation, on the lines of what you had just said: Last week I went to a Mercedes Benz dealership. I did this because I was looking for the new Mobil-1 "CJ-4" rated 5w-40 (diesel engine oil). On Mobil's Delvac website, they say that one can find the special "Mobil DELVAC-1 5W-40" oil at any MBZ dealership.
So, I go into the parts department and ask them for this oil. They come back and tell me that they are using a "CI-PLUS" rated Mobil-1 CJ-4 stuff. I explained to the guy that on Mobil's "Delvac-1" web site it specifically says to purchase the stuff at any MBZ dealership.
The parts assistant manager tells me, "yeah we know, but that stuff is hard to get, so we just get the Mobil-1 0w-40 CI-PLUS stuff."
I said, "isn't it bad to use CI-Plus on new diesels?" He hyms and haws, tells me, "uhhhh, well.....uh, you can use it." He winked at me as if to tell me, "yeah we know it's not good to use the CI-Plus stuff on new diesels, but we'll never admit it to the public."
As I was walking out, he told me, "we're waiting for a shipment of the CJ-4 oil, check back with me next week."
Sure I will. So, it goes to show you that some dealers don't even know what type of oil they're suppossed to use for the new diesels. OR.... they know, but the choose not to use the new oil type for whatever reason. In the mean time, that particular dealership is using the wrong oil in the new MBZ diesels and over time, it's damaging the diesel particulate filters on the exhaust system. I equate this with putting "leaded" fuel into a car that only uses "unleaded fuel." Your catalytic converter would be shot in about one or two tankfulls.
Nothing surprises me anymore. At lease GM admists in their owner's manual for the Duramax Diesels that failure to use CJ-4 rated oil will damage your vehicle's emissions equipment and VOID the factory warranty. Ford claims the same in their owner's manuals. I'm sure MBZ does too, but service techs don't seem to follow the rules of their own company.
RE: Change oil at 3K miles or by veh. computer ? Revised page 7
Now, here is another thing they said. Mine is gas, which doesn't have the kind of heat transfer a diesel does. But, diesel fuel has a higher concentration of oil within it.
Actually Tim, being a former professional diesel mechanic myself, diesel engine oil suffers much worse punishment while inside the crankcase. It used to be that diesel engine oil needed to be changed SOONER than gasoline oils did. When diesel engine oil was only rated by the API as "CC," the oil began to show very high concentrations of zinc and magnesium, along with acid formations as a result of combustion. It didn't have the detergent qualities of today's diesel engine oils.
Then what happened over the past 20 years, diesel engine oil became better. Detergents were added, multi viscosity oils were finally accepted for diesels and overall, they performed much better.
Sadly, due to "enviro-whackos," the fact that today's diesel fuel (ULSD) contains 85% LESS sulfer which actually helped the lubricating qualities of the fuel, the diesel oil characteristics have fallen back to "yesteryear" due to emissions standards. With today's Ultra Low Sulfer Fuels, and the newer lubricating oil standard for diesels (API "CJ-4"), the oil life has again gone back into remission. They tried to fix the high sulfer in diesel fuel, which forced the oil chemists to compensate with a less quality engine oil. So, we're almost back to square-1 again with diesel engine oil life. Where diesel oil was evolving into some really good stuff, in goes the diesel fuel change requirements. End result was that the "new diesel oils" of "today" had to change along with the new fuel requirements for emissions requirements. That's why new oils with the API label of "CJ-4" kinda sucks.
The older stuff which is being replaced was API CI-Plus. That was good diesel engine oil which allowed longer periods in between oil changes. Now we're getting the CJ-4 garbage and oil changes must be more frequent for diesels again. Just like 20 and 30 years ago with the old single viscosity diesel engine oils.
An example of this poor modern day performance diesel engine oil is that Caterpillar had a 1 million mile engine warranty with the older oil rating (CI and CI-Plus). Now, since oil makers are being forced to make the CJ-4 diesel stuff, Caterpillar dropped the 1 million mile warranty on their new tractor engines. It's because the new diesel engine oil of today has hit a set-back in technology all to compensate for the fuel compatability & emissions requirements. :(
Also, they told me that changing to a synthetic oil isn't as much better as some think.
Well your statement WAS correct. For the past 20 years, diesel engine oil was superp! Now with "CJ-4" rated garbage, it's much better to use a pure synthetic than dino diesel engine oil. At least with the pure synthetic "CJ-4" rated stuff, it holds better qualities for thermal viscosity break down and disperses the ash in the oil better than the dino stuff does.
And, just to add this....oil does NOT wear out...it only loses it's detergents and additives and gets dirty.
You're absolutely correct. Oil does not wear out. But, it does suffer "thermal VISCOSITY molecular breakdown." Which causes amoung other things, sludge, varnish and acid formations much sooner than full synthetics do. Also, contrary to what people think, the color of oil has nothing to do with the "performance" of an oil as far as viscosity goes.
In fact, many people believe that just because their oil "looks like honey," they think it's working perfectly and/or keeping their engines "clean." Totally false. In fact, an oil that still looks like amber or honey after several thousand miles is not doing it's job. It's not dispercing or suspending the dirt, ash, carbon, and sludge away from the surface of the metals like it's suppossed to do. An engine produces all kinds of nasty things internally. Like acid, water, sludge, various metals, all in microscopic form. Where a good oil is working properly is when it actually suspends oil and ash (looks dirty) and keeps it off of critical engine parts.
RE: Crossing Safety Chains
Larry, I think you are the one who needs to go back and re-read the posts. No where in my post did I say a one piece chain was one end connected to the TT and the other end connected to the TV. I even put that in caps to emphasize that point! The way my trailer, a 2005 Prowler Regal, and the trailer parked right next to me now, a 2009 FunfinderX, as well as other peoples on this thread, is set up is as follows. Try to pay attention. One piece of chain about 2-3 feet long, each end has a hook. Each hook is attached to my class III hitch in the holes on each side of the reciever. In the middle of the chain, i.e. halfway between each hook, a link is attached to the TT by a pin or stud or whatever you want to call it. It is welded in and can't be easily removed. It goes through one link of the chain. It runs crossways right behind the hitch and in front of the jack ( the thing that raises the trailer up and down when un-attached to a TV) . Now the hard part Larry, when you "cross" this chain only three links of this chain is involved. The one that is attached to the pin on the traler, it can move side to side about two inches each way and the one on each side of it. Crossing them does absolutely nothing but twist the chain.
This whole conversation is, IMO, worthless. All that is required is for the chain to be a enough strength and at a length that prevents the trailer from hitting the ground in the event of a disconnect.
How can you accuse me of putting out bad info, when you are not aware of the design I was talking about? IMO if you don't know what you are talking about ( and just because you haven't seen it is not a excuse ) then maybe you should keep it to yourself.
FULLAUTODAVE:
You're just asking for an argument with good 'ol Larry on this one. :)
RE: Crossing Safety Chains
Larry, I noticed that you just like to argue for arguing's sake. Just because you haven't "seen" something before, doesn't mean it doesn't exist.
I think you're wrong on a lot of facts regarding this topic of chains. But I'm not going to stress about it and type up rebutals in "red" color.
It's just not that serious.
RE: Change oil at 3K miles or by veh. computer ? Revised page 7
I agree, Fram sucks. I too cut a Fram "Extra Guard" filter open with an aviation filter opener tool. I was surprised at how the paper element filter inside was turned to a mushy pulp at 4,000 miles.
Since then, I've done much research myself and found that Mobil-1 "Extended Performance" filters work much better. First off, they don't have paper filter media inside them. They have a synthetic material that won't degrade under hot temperatures and standard oil pressure conditons. They also have roughly 30% more filtering capacity than the paper element filters do.
Yeah, the Mobil-1 synthetic filters cost a few dollars more. So does their oil. But hey, you get what you pay for.
If you want an engine that has no sludge, varnish and pretty much runs clean, go with the Mobil-1 synthetic products. You'll be happy and so will your engines.
I plan on keeping my 2008 diesel for at least 300,000 miles and I'll do it with Mobil-1 products. My last diesel truck got 310,000 miles on it and I never had a compression problem or even a serious engine malfunction. I finally got rid of the truck to a teenager that wanted it. The truck got t-boned and suffered damage to the passenger side doors. The teen didn't care, he wanted the truck. Otherwise, I'd say the Mobil-1 really took care of the engine. I could have gotten more miles out of that old oil-burner.
Here's another secret I did: I only changed the oil in that truck once per year. I averaged about 16,000 miles on it per year too! How's that for an oil lasting a long long time? Again, thanks to Mobil-1 filters and fully synthetic diesel engine oil. (Mobile DELVAC-1).
RE: CB Radio
Only problem is, the odds of me finding someone on ham 146.52 (or any other freq.) that can tell me the traffic/road conditions where I am are pretty slim.
Both CB and Ham have their place, but neither can replace the other.
Romer, yeah, I'll give you that one. Don't get me wrong. Yes, CB may have it's place. You make a valid point. However, out here in the west, finding a 2 meter or 70cm repeater is very easy to do. Even out in the Mojave desert, death valley, owen's valley, out toward Reno NV, Sparks NV, etc...... Now, actually finding someone that's monitoring those repeaters 24/7 is another story.
But you're right, there's always the XXX rated "ch.19." I guess it could come in handy if cell phones and ham radio were out of the question. I'd just be worreid that if I was seeking help on CB, that I'd recruit an axe murderer. Hi hi...
:)
