amphi_sc

Your dash is definitely different. I would peek behind what looks like your center dash heat panel and also behind the door switches. When I was running my extra wires down the pillar and across the dash I was able to reach in and guide the wires. I wasn't looking to find stuff there, just feed new wires through, so your mileage may vary as to what you can see / manipulate. My dash heater and switches are swapped with yours plus I have another monitor available to assign video to. Although I've never tried, I would think removing the dash isn't that easy.

I guess your '06 is vastly different from my '07 built 09/06. Here's what I find under the access panel by the steering wheel ... The Alladin,Kenwood, GPS, door/bay locks, etc

I kept the 45D with 600+ watts, may be close to 675 as I got test panels they (USA Solar) randomly pulled off the line for quality control and they tested at least 225. With the flat angle, etc, the Alladin might show close to 30 amps on a good day. Used original 8 ga wiring as with the full wall slide & res fridge it wasn't going to be easy pulling new wire. Yes it's inefficient but with the bay freezer and I watch some TV, I'd have to run the Genny some anyway every day or two as my roof is too crowded for much more & leaving walk space... I've debated about adding another 200+. On the other hand, if the bay freezer is unplugged and we are sightseeing most days and don't watch a movie the panels keep up pretty well on good days.

On my '07 Patriot Thunder (built 09/06), except for the CD changer, it is all on a wooden shelf accessed by the removable dash panel by the steering wheel. BTW, I added some extra RCA cables to route the rear cam & and Sony sound system to the 2nd monitor on the right of the steering wheel, thus by pressing the source button on that monitor I can switch between GPS, rear camera, and Sony Theater USB music. I also routed the Sony Theater audio as another audio source to the Kenwood system on the left of the steering wheel. Thus I can route the Sony to the Kenwood speakers in addition to the Theater speakers. That also gives be the ability to route the Sony sound to the bedroom speakers independent of the front.

As a follow-up, I did order one Illinois I-pass transponder per this groups experiences. I figure it is either in the coach towing the toad, or we are parked and I can move it to the toad should the case ever arise. Thanks all.

This old thread is relevant to my up coming trip to the NE where I will have to cross the Hudson over the Beacon bridge in NY. It used to be so easy to just pay a bunch of cash at the booth but I guess that option is gone now and I guess I'll need some type of toll tag account as we won't be home or able to get toll by mail for 5 months. Looking at E-Z pass application it seems to imply rv's MHM plan but 7000 lbs??? Reading the NC and CFX links is also very confusing as what to order to pay this one toll. So what is current that works well to get the RV and toad across this bridge. Should I unhook the toad and a transponder for each vehicle or stay connected and get hit for 5 axles? Or what? Last time I was there in 2018 I paid a human at the booth and he billed me for 3 axles and then a regular car rate....much better than 5 axles. Thanks for your experiences and suggestions.

Thanks for the pictures, Scotty. I'm glad to see what Carey's (Idoc57) print file looks like on the back side. I also want to thank Carey and his grandkids again for doing this print work for us to have an available source for these. I don't have a 3D printer, nor would I know how to use it or what materials to use.

I was just examining some of original weep hole covers that hadn't been lost, and see they are hollow. Is that so they can still drain? It's unclear to me if the new ones are solid or still allow draining anything that might find it's way to the weep hole. Thanks

So the rear monitor shadows the front fine and both joysticks control the Aladdin ok. Is your front monitor a flip up Kenwood with the touch screen? Mine appeared dead once when an "unnamed cleaning person" dusted/wiped the monitor and in the process the touch screen switched video sources during the cleaning process. Got it switched back to the correct inputs and other settings by using the buttons below the screen. Other times I've come to find a nice "clean" dash and the monitor has switched to zoom mode from full screen... Just saying... could be it got "wiped" ... like with a cloth ... When by bedroom monitor lost it's sync and scrolled or skewed uncontrollably (likely bad caps in the power circuit), I just replaced it with a common aftermarket headrest DVD monitor. FWIW

Check the 12v fuse in the roof top unit's control board.

One reason I carry rubber already mounted on a new white steel rim is it can quickly get somebody rolling again regardless of tag, inner/outer drive, or steer position. I have had some tire shops refuse to work on my steers because they have Tyron bands. My hope is it is wasted effort to carry it as I plan to never need it, but it is there if I or a travel buddy have a need. Later, under less stress, I can get a new tire I want mounted back on hopefully the still serviceable original rim thus putting the spare back on the carrier.

We carry a spare but I welded up my own receiver mounted carrier. I looked at the roadmaster but it wouldn't work with our clearances, so made my own. It hinges side to side and locks upright like the roadmaster. It cost more to powder coat than to buy the steel. I carry it under the theory that a part I carry I'll never need, but if I do, I won't be waiting side the road for days finding an off brand tire I would not normally purchase. All my tires are 295s.

We have a residential inside (factory install) and added an Engle on the basement tray. When the Engle is running as a freezer, it about doubles our boondocking electric load. The Engle is used to carry a lot of frozen meat for when we cook several meals for a large group.

Using very simple math I tell people that ask me as I'm filling up that on a long trip I'll average 25 mpg. They look stunned in disbelief. I'll go on and explain "yeah, I drive a hybrid, sometimes I'll average a little more, sometimes a little less". Really they say, that's just amazing! I conclude with "yeah, the coach gets 6, to the hybrid toad gets 44 so that averages out to 25....😁. Often more if I'm camped for a while using the car a lot to sightsee."

Yes, mine started to drop too a few years ago. Can't remember exactly the "glue" I used but probably some sort of liquid nails, and used a couple of bottle jacks ( available 3 ton and 20 ton!!) to press it back up, then after overnight curing time, screwed in some wooden blocks to help hold it up long term and removed the jacks. Been okay now for a few (3-4????) years now. Perhaps a different glue would have been better to use but when on the road I used what ever HD or Lowes had available. 20 ton jack was definitely overkill but available... It was definitely a shocking scramble at the time.

Yes, left unit functions usual ... Cameras automatically follow turn signals and reverse gear, or are manually selectable as are the other Aladdin pages ( Engine, water, electric, clock pages, etc ) on the left monitor. Right monitor is rear camera (split feed to both) or gps or sound system independent of left monitor with one minor thing being the Aladdin must be powered up to supply power to rear camera. And naturally bed room monitor is unaffected as it is a slave to the front (left) Aladdin monitor. The box in the dash has a lot of video/audio inputs and outputs and is under utilized. You can select what input you want to output on the output RCA connectors. I believe if I had more feeds of something useful to display the hardware could easily handle the switching. I'm reading between your lines and it sounds like a previous owner might have just moved the rear camera feed to the right monitor rather that splitting it to both? Are your other cameras still on the left? Anyway, best wishes as you customize things to your individual likings.

Your '09 is very similar to my '07, and I did my version of mods: I typically drive with the Aladdin showing the engine page and have the rear camera displaying on the other screen so I can watch the toad. Pressing the source button I can toggle to the GPS screen as necessary. I also have my Sony Home Theater feeding that monitor too so another push of source and I can toggle to select music from the USB stick on the Sony. The Aladdin monitor can toggle to a CD changer but I have much more music available via the USB in the Home Theater (and it sounds better) so I haven't used CDs in years. I ran the A/V cables over door and tucked in behind the windshield pillar trim into the dash and across for Video and Audio (audio into the Aladdin side box so I could route front Dish TV audio to rear bedroom speakers for music when I'm working in the rear office (Winchester III layout with desk over the dog house). I put a simple A/V Y cable on the rear camera feed to split to both monitors. Aladdin monitor still functions as original, just used the additional source inputs on both boxes. Pictures are probably worth a thousand words...

Since the thread has gone from "adding a mechanical guage" to propane filling locations in Albuquerque, perhaps I can ask about how to get the Aladdin level to match the level on the supposedly float gauge on the end of the horizontal tank. Situation is 100 lb horizontal tank filled about two years ago only used for cooking and outside Bar-B-Que & fire pit 🔥. Dial Gauge on the tank reads about 1/2 full now (which could be reasonable, and it has consistently & slowly gone down with usage over the two years) while Aladdin has said 88% or up to 92% full pretty much for all two years. Aladdin does change % a little once in awhile ... sometimes down a tad, other times up a tad, but used to work years ago. It appears to be somewhat electrically "stuck". The dial guage on tank has a wire coming from the center which is where I assume Aladdin is getting the reading so I GUESS a mechanical ???? float is somewhat correctly driving the dial but electrically something is screwed up. Something measuring resistance at the float???? I'm guessing the tank would have to be empty to screw in another replacement dial guage with the wire feed coming out of the tank for the Aladdin? The dial guage is on the center of the tank opposite the fill and regulator side.

I also have a (2006) Coachstep. Over the years, I've replaced the motor with a lifetime guaranteed Ford Taurus window motor easily found at AutoZone, O'Reilly, NAPA, etc. The teeth on the gear developed severe wear but a call to Lippert and a new gear was obtained for a reasonable cost. Control board started acting iffy ... sometimes steps would move sometimes not ... thought it was the switch but wasn't ... replaced control module with Lippert part via eBay and all well again. Got a set of heavy duty glides to put on sometime as original ones showing a lot of wear but still working for now so holding off on that for now. BTW, if the step in/out operation was backwards wouldn't just reversing the red/yellow motor wires work too? Or just disassemble the motor and reverse it? I made a reassembly mistake once when checking the internal plastic gears and operation got reversed so had to take it apart again and re-reverse the motor field. I think the Coachstep is readily repairable as long as it isn't damaged by a major collision. BTW, I got a free salvage magnetic switch from a shop that was replacing everything due to a front end collision on another coach. The plastic on mine was getting shot and hard to hold in place. FWIW, YMMV

Now that you are home and have time to look at things on a more relaxed schedule, I'd suggest carefully examining the routing of hoses in the engine bay for chaffing trouble spots. I.e how the heater hoses hang and vibrate on the way to the front heat exchanger and also aqua hot engine loop. I know of at two PT's where they rubbed.together causing an antifreeze leak at an inconvenient highway location. Also check the routing of the air compressor discharge hose to the air dryer as it probably loops around itself by the tranny and could also rub itself a hole. Again I know of at least 2 PT's where this happened and that 3/4 inch braided airline can be difficult to source, but can be fabricated with the appropriate significant leak to your wallet. Likewise with the hydraulic hoses by the fan. Make sure everything has proper standoff adel clamps and protection from abrasive rubbing. My dash A/C line also got a rub leak... From personal experience in 145,000+ miles with our '07 PT, I'd say hose routing was most irritating issue as the factory could have done a better job. Most frustrating repair was kitchen slide push/pull chain repair. Most frequent problem has been the abs plastic cabinet/drawer spring latches break the plastic hook piece ... buy a dozen spares from eBay. Easiest upgrade was led lighting for all those high intensity halogen puck lights...lower energy consumption, more reliable, and way less heat. BTW, learn where hidden house multiplex modules are located, such as window awning fuses behind the wood trim crown molding of the front cap, etc. Best wishes on experiencing all the great miles and adventures she'll bring you. We still wouldn't trade off for anything else.

If it runs for a couple seconds vs 20-25 seconds I'm thinking check valve and pressure switch in wrong order. i.e. compressor, switch, check valve, ping tank thus leak in compressor drops pressure on short line turning compressor on which quickly repressurizes line and pump turns off. If pressure switch between ping tank and check valve then ping tank needs to drop and takes longer to rebuild pressure. Just guessing. One more thought for a very short run time could be bad brushes in the motor. Another thing I did was to install a 30 amp relay and upgraded wire gauge direct electric source to the pump to avoid voltage drop that is hard on the pump brushes. Original circuit just energizes the relay now. BTW, be careful with leveling control pad and moisture from driver's open window. It doesn't like getting damp at all. I have a '07 built 9/06 PT Winchester III

Solid colors, white, or animation controlled via a raspberry Pi in front run box using 12V to regulated 5V DC power supply. Picture is before I ran the wire through the bay ceiling so that is why you see the test cable hanging down in this old picture. Switched 12V power by new Carling added to blank spot where porch, step, etc switches are by the door. Use phone or any browser to access Pi to change defaults. Presently powers up to white at about 30% intensity. Gives a hidden background light appearance versus trying to read a book. Being low, plenty of light to walk around with and not be too offensive to neighbors nor light up the inside of the coach.

We also just got back into Washington last week going essentially the same places. Banff, Fairmont Hot Springs, Snow Coach at the ice fields, Jasper/Hinton had the most wildlife, soaked in Laird, left a sign at Watson Lake, just ahead of the washouts and fires going to Dawson City, Top of World Hwy was smooth enough to cruise in 5th - Taylor Hwy different story, watched the Meares glacier calve into the water, beautiful mountains going past Glennallen,, Resurrection Bay fogged in, caught Halibut limit at Homer, Denali was clear - best views about 7-10 miles self drive into park and then again clear on hwy pullout going North to Fairbanks, Tok to Destruction Bay worse than in many years, Haines - Juneau fast passenger ferry for a day - one day passenger ferry over to Skagway for the White Pass RR, great bears in Hyder and the Salmon glacier is our favorite. Fuel is what it is ... highest was about $7.20 equivalent gallon but now $4.55 back in Washington. We're enjoying the cool Pacific weather for a spell before hitting the heat in California valley. At lower 48 border, declared my remaining eggs from Tok causing a pull over for Ag to examine the fridge. Spent about 5 minutes inside and then told to go on...with my eggs

Interesting thread as the symptoms of cycling dash gauges similar to a problem I and several techs chased for 18 months before finding it. Major difference is your engine runs implying the ecm is working whereas mine wouldn't. Mine ended up being an intermittent relay that sometimes wouldn't close cleanly or would vibrate open just enough. Have you tried thumping all the relays to see if it could be a bad wiper? Something not getting powered up drawing the bus down? On the other hand, you've had 16+ years of use and technology has advanced a lot so maybe it's just time to buy something new. Summer sales are on.

Question:. Are the above O Rings and solenoid tool the same if one has the Valid Power Gear air leveling system vs HWH? i.e. Same 6 pack valves for either system?