windsorbill06

11 minutes ago, CLIFF918 said:

I cut it out with the saws all. Did not have an effect on stability of side wall.

11 minutes ago, CLIFF918 said:

I cut it out with the saws all. Did not have an effect on stability of side wall.

I had mis-read your post.  I thought you left the stud in place.   I'm leaning towards cutting the stud  out as well.  The 3/4" plywood sheer wall makes the wall very stout.  I'll likely add a couple of self tapping screws through the plywood into the stud, just above and below where I cut it out.

4 hours ago, CLIFF918 said:

One of the first things I did in my 2002 Diplomat was vent the Microwave outside!

I ran into the vertical metal stud right in the center of the hole I need to create. I started with a 3" hole saw so I could see what I was getting into and discovered the vertical stud, you can see it in the center of the hole picture. I saw that there were more studs to the left and right of the area I need to cut out so I went ahead and removed the obstruction and installed the vent duct and replaced the microwave back in it's place. That was in 2002 and have had no problems and no smelly coach.

 Cliff

 

I wish my stud was in the center of the 2 holes.  But mine will be blocking about 1/2 of the right side.(total of 25% total blockage).   Definitely not idea. 

37 minutes ago, Dr4Film said:

The cutout for the 02 Windsor I had done did not have anything that interfered with the exhaust opening.

I took photos on a chilly morning where the condensation showed exactly where the metal supports were located.

Have you done that?

yes.  I also have taking pictures showing the framing.   I triple measure from the inside.    I have a stud running right down the middle of where the vent would go.  I then dropped the oven down and drilled a pilot hole from inside the cabinet.    Hit the metal stud.

I was expecting just luan covering the metal stud, but I had to drill  through 3/4" plywood that has the wallpaper attached.  Really quite stout.   I assume this plywood continues across the whole wall and the  upper cabinets attach to it.  

You guys that did this project, and ran into a wall stud in middle of the vent, what is the consensus?   Cut it out and don't worry about it?  Or abandon the project and leave things alone?

22 minutes ago, Gweedo said:

Isn't Julian west of Ocotillo?   i'm coming from AZ, which shows the 87 south form Blythe goes through Bawley I think,  

 

Your correct.  Julian is WEST of Ocotillo.  That won't effect you.  78 (not the 87) goes right through Glamis.  Many 45' coaches with stacker trailers, large 5'ver toy boxes,  and everything else you can imagine, have Glamis as their destination.  It's a sand dune mecca for off roaders and some say the largest sand dunes for recreational use in the country.  (not sure about that claim, however)    It's been a couple years since I was last there, but the 78 is  a narrow, 2 lane road, but doable.   All reasonably flat.  

31 minutes ago, Doug and Nicki said:

Push them inward or outward?

The black rubber that holds the light in,  was quite pliable when new.  It could be as hard as a rock and/or very brittle now and need to be cut  enough to release the light from it's grip.  I'd be inclined to work from inside as to minimize chances of scratching the outside of coach. 

21 minutes ago, 96 EVO said:

Strange!

I always thought they used the last letter for the number of slides, but apparently even that isn't always the case!

Me too.   

Thanks Tom, for sharing that.     Maybe the guy that designed the brochure had dyslexia ?  

Kidding, of course.  But makes me wonder what they were thinking.  

1 minute ago, 96 EVO said:

Ha!

You must remember the long thread we had on this topic several years ago on IRV, and, every time we thought we had figured out that middle letter, someone came along to blow that theory!

Yea I do.   I think it's a mystery that went down with the ship when Monaco closed up.  

5 minutes ago, 96 EVO said:

Bill, my toilet room is on the passenger side 🙂.

See, that didn't take long to blow out my theory  lol.

Any now that I think about it, maybe Bill R's toilet is same.   

Is your fridge on drivers side?

11 hours ago, 96 EVO said:

I think my PDQ model is Private bath and Quad slides.

Not sure what the 'D' stands for.

Ben, @96 EVO  

here's my take on your PDQ coach.  Someone will prove me wrong, I know.

@Bill R and I have very similar coaches.  Same year, color scheme, and when we compare placement of different electronics, nearly identical.   The only difference I can figure is the center of the coach (kitchen and bathroom) is reversed.   He has the PDQ.    I have a PEQ.   I think the 'D' means the private toilet in on the drivers side.  My 'E' has the toilet on the passenger side.  What the E stands for, IDK.  Maybe "Entrance"?

But monaco wasn't consistent over all models and years. Seems like the only thing they were consistent on was the # of slides and corresponding "D, T, or Q.  (double, triple, or Quad) 

My neighbor just bought a new 2023 Tiffin in september. Hasn't used it 1 time for camping.        It's been in shop since mid October, and still no end in sight.  Up till now, he would joke and say only tools he carried is a credit card.   He's starting to rethink that strategy.  

10 hours ago, Rob Monda said:

Would anyone know the correct part number for an Transmission Oil Dipstick for my 06 Dynasty with the ISL 400. Just took a look and mine is missing

Rob,

My transmission fill from the back of the coach doesn't have a dipstick.  Just a label/tag with "Transdyne".   But if I open the floor compartment in the bedroom, there is a dipstick there.

That being said, I prefer to use the keypad to check the level.

13 hours ago, FLynes said:

Ours is starting to do the exact same thing on our LaPalma. It’s now at the point where wiggling the switch gets it to turn on, after pushing it. The trick is now to find a new switch, preferably one that isn’t made of plastic.

I found this work pretty well for my bedroom sconces.  Still plastic,  but seems to be holding up.  I've seen them in both gold or black finish push button.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008OAFBO8/?coliid=I1RE2X22FCZJ7S&colid=3KUASJ0BUDMPD&psc=1&ref_=list_c_wl_lv_ov_lig_dp_it_im

Any chance you bumped the rear engine compartment remote start button?  

@Bill R That drip channel  was OEM on my coach.      I'm 99% sure my leak was coming from the outside of door at the bottom, where the shoe wraps around the outside painted surface.  It was poorly caulked/sealed using black pure silicone. 

3 hours ago, Donflem said:

I noticed my bathroom wall under the window needs to be recaulked what caulk do you guys recommend for the inside of my motorhome?

Thanks Don

For the "inside" of the motorhome?    Normally you will caulk the outside  only.  If you have water running down the inside, I'd start by checking to be sure the outside weep holes are not plugged up.

@Bill R  Ivan'door was made by PTL, I believe.  Ours, monaco made in-house. I'm not sure what structural differences there are.   The PTL came with weep holes.  Easy enough to add to ours, however.

Well, I guess I'm not alone!

This door problem reminds me of the slide bottoms rotting out.  Maybe not as expensive if ignored, but sure would be a PITA.

Monaco used black silicone to seal the aluminum door sweep to the painted outside surface. Tiny, thin bead that was pretty much useless.    Looks good when new, but didn't seal much.

@Bill R, did you use anything special when you resealed?  

@Ivan K Thanks Ivan.  I will be drilling a couple holes in bottom.  Hopefully won't be needed if I get it sealed up nicely.

@diplomat don Got it!

I was doing some PM on my entrance door latch/lock and I took the bottom aluminum door shoe  off. (have to drill out 5 rivets on bottom of door)  When I took that off, quite a bit of rust fell down.   I see where the door frame is steel and pretty rusty.  Obviously, water is getting in, collecting on the inside of the bottom aluminum shoe and causing the damage.   I'm sure it's from the way Monaco sealed the outside painted door panel to the aluminum shoe that's on the bottom of the door.  (I don't think the leak is from higher up on the door and dripping down--no water staining, no rust)   I'm sanding, cleaning the rusty metal then a couple good coats of primer, then, reassemble and adding a good sealant.

Left unchecked, I could see where this could become an expensive problem.   

I'm tempted to drill small holes in the bottom of the aluminum door shoe to allow any water to escape in the future.

Anyone else run into this?

@Steven P got me to finally get after this project after having those flood lights in my amazon 'shopping' for nearly a year.  With free priming shipping, Amazon was just slightly less than Summit, after I added shipping to my address.  Overall, a pretty simple project but really a good improvement to night driving visibility.  As @Steven P mentioned, I didn't see a DOT stamp on the old fog lights.  The new ones are easily adjusted up, down or you can swing them after they are installed.   

However, at least on my coach, it's not a 'plug and play' swap out.

The originally bracket holding the old fog lights is just screwed to the reinforcement plate at an angle and just looks  installed 'half hearted' by the original installer.  This picture happens to be on the drivers side, looking in from extended generator slide.  I could not just bolt the new fog lights onto that bracket as the angle wouldn't allow to adjust.

I made up an angled board using a 2x4, cut and ran through my table saw and jointer.  Then primed and painted it black and glued/screwed it to the original backing that is fiberglassed to the inside of the front cap.   This allowed the new light to be mounted and easily adjusted within it's limits.  This new (completed) picture was taken on the passenger side.  The bolts that came with the new fog light aren't  long enough, so I had a few laying around, otherwise HD or lowes.  I needed to use extra nuts and washer to have the fog light mounted well below the angle bracket in picture so the lights were centered in the fog light housing of the front cap.   I took the old plug off the old light and reinstalled it on the new light, then crimped and sealed the connection.  The new lights are polarity sensitive, so verify it's working correctly before you connect everything.    

Mike,   You will be a great asset to this forum.  I'm surprised you haven't been here for years.

There is a member on this forum (it's not Mike) that is also a member over on IRV2.  He has helped me many times and is very knowledgeable.    He became a IRV2 moderator for a very brief period of time, then back to a regular member. I honestly don't know what happened.   Maybe one day around the campfire we will hear the whole story.

I think your biggest challenge is to intercept the circuits downstream of the main panel. I guess I don't understand how you're going to do that.    I don't even know if they are in the basement or not.  I could be wrong, but I think one circuit that is not inverter fed is in the ceiling.  

If you can't find it in the basement, a sub panel up by the main breaker box is an easy alternative, then run 2 circuits from inverter to it.  The romex behind the main box is long enough to easily switch.

It hasn't been mentioned, but I'd consider upgrading the inverter to PSW since your in the basement doing all this work.    I was originally going to do that during Covid (2020-2021) but the magnums were backordered indefinitely.     

9 minutes ago, cbr046 said:

Re-wiring the panel is easy . . . . if you've got a wire stretcher.

Just thinking out loud, but my concern would be balance.  My understanding is the side that supplies the bedroom also supplies one (or both) roof AC's.  If the microwave was added to that side it might overload it.  Or not, just a hunch.  If you were to flip one AC wiring with the microwave that would keep the balance.  Hopefully having the 2 (or 3) roof AC's on different phases isn't an issue. 

I blew up my electric blanket by running an extension cord to the bathroom then running that off the inverter.  Literally smoked the controller!  Still trying to figure that out.

- bob

 

Do you have a MSW inverter?   My dad smoked 2 electric blanket controllers before he realized those 2 don't play well together.

3 minutes ago, 96 EVO said:

I can't see a reason.

Think they run the bedside outlets on their own breaker for folks that use heated bedspreads. Apparently they use a fair bit of power, and don't like MSW power.

My drivers side outlets all run on inverted power.

my 06, as best I can remember, the inverter ran the fridge ice maker, microwave, a couple outlets in the kitchen and bathroom and the front/rear TV's.  If you wanted to run an electric blanket,  you'd have to run it to the bathroom, but with the MSW inverter, you'd probably ruin it before it got warm

Is your inverter the original magnum MSW?  Mine made my microwave hum like crazy.  Seemed like it got worse as everything got older.  I replaced the inverter, but went a totally different direction.  

As you know, you power goes from your ATS to the breaker panel in rear closet, then back  down to the inverter.  There it splits off and goes to 2 circuits (microwave and a few outlets--breakers on inverter).

If your going to run all the plugs from the inverter, your going to need to run 2 circuits (maybe 3) back from the inverter to the panel to pick up those other outlet circuits and then deal with how to power the microwave---you may need to set a junction box in the basement..  You might consider setting a sub panel just for the inverter fed outlets in the rear closet.

Lots of ways to do it.  We just got back from a boondocking trip.  Ran the microwave  or the convection oven between 30-90 minutes each day on inverter power alone--we didn't start generator for 4 days.  I don't think we could do without the micro/convection connected to the inverter, but that's us.