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Forum
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RE: MPG SRW Compair to Dually
I did it on an F350 diesel. Lost 2 mpg with the duallys. The mechanic who did some engine work for me told me to expect that and he was right.
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dontay
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09/16/08 01:21pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: E40D Ford Transmission Overheating Problems and Cures
In addition to the 2nd remote cooler I added to mine (the largest cooler offerred by B&M Racing) I also put on an aluminum trans pan (also from B&M.) Finally, I used exhaust wrapping tape from a speed shop to wrap the crossover pipe that went under my trans just behind the torque converter. (I figured an 1100 deg pipe (diesel) only inches from the trans wasn't helping.)
These resulted in flat road hot Fla. day trans temps of 170 deg instead of 190.
We had exactly the same experience with boiling out fluid from the vent tube on the torque converter housing. Fortunately we took our F350 to a good shop in Fairbanks and they put fluid in and tested it to make sure it was okay. The mechanic there gave me the same explanation as above regarding the failure.
Always carry extra fluid for the E4OD in case you boil some out and the trans stops working. Let it cool some, top off the fluid, and see if the problem is solved. Our failure happened in 1999 and we sold the truck in 2003 without any more problems.
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dontay
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09/09/08 12:26pm |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Just about ready for the maiden voyage, car trailer
I would not tie down to anything above the axles again. I broke a chain on two occasions on our last trip out with the trailer due to the Jeep bouncing on some really bumpy streets. Actually, I broke the tie-downs as the chains are very heavy.
Also, please consider using rear jacks on the trailer when loading and unloading the Jeep. It puts a huge strain on the tongue lock and if you ever see one break loose and then crash into the back of the MH it will convince you. I am using a couple of small bottle jacks now but plan to add fold-down jacks to the trailer asap.
I relocated the tag and light to the rear of the trailer just at the top of the bobtail between the two bobtail ramps. It is fully visible from the back and is the same height as the floor of the trailer.
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dontay
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07/29/08 05:11am |
Dinghy Towing
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RE: Just about ready for the maiden voyage, car trailer
I have a similar trailer. If your tail lights are on the bobtail part of the trailer and have open bottoms on the plastic lenses (mine are same as would be found on a boat trailer) you should put some 1/8" to 1/4" galvanized fencing material over them to protect the bulbs from gravel.
And watch out for the bobtail dragging on some rough cg roads.
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dontay
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07/26/08 05:38am |
Dinghy Towing
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RE: I don't "get' Hyder.....
I really liked the bear viewing platform. Once when we were there a mother and cub came to fish. It was so funny watching the cub screw up every attempt by the mother to catch fish. And she was so patient with the cub.
The drive up to Salmon glacier was a lot of fun and the abandoned mining buildings were neat. It was great standing just inside the door of the mine and feeling the ice cold air blowing out on a hot day.
We had met some nice people from Victoria at the Bus the night before and ran into them again at the mine. They had a book about the mining activity there with pictures of what everything looked like before. Very impressive.
And the main street was bad. I popped a hold-down chain on my trailer because the Jeep started bouncing. And I was going very slow. But a town anywhere is what ever the locals want it to be and I just look around and don't make judgements.
I did tell the lady who was pumping gas into our truck in Stewart that I didn't know of another gas station anywhere where you look up at a glagier as you fill up. I didn't find the Canadian border guards pompous at all. In fact when we left I put my transmission in 1st gear (granny low) and let the truck idle all the way up main street. It must have taken a full 5 minutes to get to the guard station and the gurad was standing watching us the whole time. When I stopped he just looked back at Hyder and said, "I see they fixed that street!"
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dontay
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07/14/08 06:04am |
RVing in Canada and Alaska
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RE: Chrysler Town & Country Van On Trailer
If you get on a bumpy road and have the car tied down to the body above the suspension you have to slow to a crawl. If tied down to below the suspension you are okay. I use chains for the Jeep when we haul it on the trailer and I popped one like a twig going into Hyder, Alaska as I went slowly down the main street. When the car starts bouncing up and down it generates a lot of force. I was using my Blue Ox baseplate to hook one end of the chain and tightened it with a chain binder.
Now I will use straps wrapped to the front axle instead even though they will be more difficult to put on.
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dontay
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07/10/08 05:27am |
Dinghy Towing
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RE: XM Radio Antennae
james0930,
If your coach came with Sirius it probably has a roof antenna on or just behind the front cap. The Sirius antenna it will work with XM once you get the cable connector to match. That is what I did on my Tiffin which came with Sirius.
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dontay
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05/28/08 09:01am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Filling Cdn Prescriptions in the US?
While self-paying for prescriptions my wife and I used to get ours from CanadianDrugstore.com to save money. Look them up on line and then call or email to see if they will fill yours while out of the country. Maybe they or some other Canadian online drug store can help you.
Filling prescriptions here would be a shock after paying Canadian prices. You would be astonished at what we pay.
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dontay
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05/24/08 06:56am |
RVing in Canada and Alaska
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RE: Wire Size Help
Good grief!! The wire gages quoted above are over the top even for the internet. An electrical contractor ran our 240V service from the house 220' to the workshop panel with #4 cable. It has 60 amp breakers at the house and is used to power our well, MH with 50 amp service, washer, dryer, small water heater, small freezer, as well as my shop tools. Obviously, we do not run all this stuff at once (like my wife does laundry early before A/C's have to be turned on, etc.)
From the w/s I ran 110' of #6 wire for the 50 amp service in the MH garage. Sitting in the garage my voltmeters show 115V on each leg when the A/C's are running. If the electric MH water heater cuts on the voltage drops by 5 volts on that leg.
Because we don't like living in the garage we park on the apron and plug in through a 35' 50 amp extention cord. That is in addition to the 25' cord on the MH. (both #6) When doing that the voltage shows 110V but turning the microwave on caused the voltage on that leg to drop to 105 so we shut off the front A/C if the uwave is to be used.
I will surely be glad when the house is finished but electricity is not a concern.
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dontay
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05/19/08 06:34pm |
Tech Issues
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RE: Secluded and with fish, Sierras?
We were just up the hill from Bishop when the truck from the hatchery came. I didn't know any better and had always thought they stocked with little minnow sized fish. Boy, was I wrong. They were all sizes.
Saw quite a few in the stream at a cg on the road up from Lee Vining to Yosemite near the top. It is at the beginning of a road up to a lake on the edge of Hoover Wilderness. (Hope I have that name correct.) I would think that lake would have some but I don't know that for sure.
Only trout fished while backpacking in Utah. Always carried a can of tuna but never had to use it.
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dontay
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05/12/08 01:32pm |
Public Lands, Boondocking and Dry Camping
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RE: Flight Planes/Fishing Charters/Kayaking.recommendations?
We had a great flightseeing trip out of Haines over Glacier Bay. Highly recommend it.
As for kayaking, B.C. is a paradise. There are so many places it could stretch your trip out for years!! Get some detailed maps and look carefully in the Milepost.
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dontay
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05/04/08 06:33pm |
RVing in Canada and Alaska
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RE: Sizing the neutral for 50A service
I agree that the #2 wire is way overkill and over-expensive. I used #4 from the house 220' to the workshop for 60 amp 240 V service. From the workshop to the RV garage I used 110' of #6 for the 50 amp service.
We are living in the MH while building a new house so we are at the end of a 65' 30 amp extention cord since we don't want to be in the garage except during storms. (Waiting delivery of a 50 amp extention cord.) But even with all that length the AC Volt meters I installed in the MH (see pictures on webshots) never drop below 110 Volts with one a/c running. One time it droped down to 100 V when I turned on the a/c but switching the water heater from 110 V to gas made the voltage rise back to 110 V.
50 amp service is really two 50 amp lines wired to 240 V. I do not know if any MH's have 240 V appliances. Ours does not. In fact, the generator puts out 120 V on each leg that in in phase with the other. That is if you measure across the legs with a meter you get 0 V. But each is 120 V to neutral.
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dontay
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04/20/08 07:32am |
Tech Issues
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RE: Rear Radiator on Gas UFO - less problem then DP?
With a rear radiator you loose the thermostatically controlled fan on the engine. Either run the fan direct (all the time) or use hydraulic or electric fan as on a side radiator. I do not know if you could use a flex fan with a rear radiator. Probably not. I put a flex fan on my old IH Scout in the 70's and quickly found that when pulling a steep mountain grade in low gear a flex fan was bad news.
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dontay
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04/20/08 07:10am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: Haines Alaska, Worth the Drive or Not??
There are nice Canadian parks along the road. We are kayakers so we like them a lot. The Haines Jct. to Haines road has always given us the most bear sightings. We only drove the whole road to Haines and back once but have stayed at parks along the road and done day trips to see wildlife several times. The mountain pass along the road is very spectacular if there is snow and the story behind the road is interesting (the way they used to do the checkpoints.) Going south after the pass is not great but Haines is one of our favorite towns and we like to go there although not always by road.
Taking a flightseeing trip out of Haines up to Glacier Bay is an Alaska trip highlight.
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dontay
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04/17/08 07:05am |
RVing in Canada and Alaska
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RE: Magnetic Tow Lights
I bought magnet lights in 2000 as temporary measure and am still using them. On the Cherokee I ran a wire (trailer wire set from hardware store) from the front bumper to the tailgate. That wire stays in place. Now I place the lights on the roof, open the tailgate and plug in the lights (with shortened lead wire), close the tailgate and stuff the wires down into the opening between the body and tailgate. At the front I plug in the wire that is tied to the towbar and plug the other end into the trailer hitch recepticle.
The roof is scratched a little but not much. If it were the trunk of a car that would not be acceptable. I always meant to put lights and diodes into the Cherokee but dropped the idea as not worth the trouble since I have the magnet lights.
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dontay
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04/14/08 06:46am |
Dinghy Towing
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RE: Battery for a Lance TC
The GP 31 size gives you a little more amp hours. I had a 31 in our last Lance. It was just one I got at the local RV supply house. Nothing special. I'm not sure you get anything extra when you go with "the best" battery. They are all just lead, sulphuric acid and plastic made from recycled scrap.
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dontay
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04/13/08 09:25am |
Tech Issues
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RE: Blue Ox Towing Bar
Don't forget to look for dealers on ebay. Just search for "blue ox tow bar." Why pay more?
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dontay
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04/13/08 09:12am |
Dinghy Towing
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RE: 5.9 cummins VS 7.2 cat question
The Cat 7.2 and Cummins 8.3 probably had something like 800 lb ft of torque whereas the Cummins 5.9 will be around 600. For a same size MH this would be a huge difference.
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dontay
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04/13/08 09:06am |
Class A Motorhomes
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RE: PD9245 Converter with Honda 1000i
Never let it be said that these discussions are not beneficial even if you disagree with what is being said!! Since we got our MH I have been mad at how the Freedom inverter/charger boils the water out of my batteries during storage. In thinking about this thread last night I realized that if I parallel in a PD9145 with Charge Wizard I could plug that in during storage and not plug in the regular 50 amp plug. That would provide a steady 13.2 V to my batteries like it did in our Lance camper and as an extra benefit I could carry the Honda 1000 as a backup genset.
Thanks.
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dontay
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04/10/08 09:54am |
Tech Issues
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RE: Ford V 10 reliability
The V-10 is a very good engine. 05 is the year Ford went to the 3-valve model and improved power and torque a lot. Very important if you can find out if the MH has the 3-valve version. But even more important is whether it has the 5-spd TorkShift transmission. Previous Ford trans were sad.
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dontay
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04/09/08 07:13am |
Class A Motorhomes
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