Mike H

2 minutes ago, Jonbrooks said:

Yeah I had to drill the rivets out to get at the gears. So unfortunately no way to prevent this. It was from non-use I think that ended causing this dry caked gear box. It took all night of soaking to even get it to budge. After working loose it slowly came to life. 

Glad to know.  Now I won't be trying to fix something that's not broke and leave well enough alone 🙂   Looking forward to seeing your finished project.

37 minutes ago, Jonbrooks said:

Got real lucky here. Big thanks by the way to Monacoers member Mike H. For helping me with the sew file to embroid the Monaco emblem into the seats. Decided to tackle the foot rest not responding thing while waiting for the panels to be embossed. Took the worm gear apart expecting to find the dreaded nylon worm gear stripped. Well the gears were all metal but the grease had dried to a lock up situation. After cleaning over night and a good lube  it working again. Wife will be so excited. 

Interesting and thanks for posting the photo Jon.  I haven't given mine any thought.  It's working but does seem to make a little 'groaning' noise and I was wondering if there was anything in the linkage that should be lightly lubricated.  Is there a grease fitting on it or does it just require disassembling and 'repacking' it with grease.  Maybe I should take the approach that it isn't broke so don't fix it! Huh? 😉

20 hours ago, Jonbrooks said:

I have to recreate that sew file. Would they be will to email that sew file. You paid for the digitization and really own that file. We could work something out?

Jon,  I can email you the digitized vector files I sent to her.  I'll see if I can figure out how to send you a PM from here.

19 hours ago, Jonbrooks said:

Got the seat material off the hog ringed frame. The only part I will do is replace the sitting plate. The rest of the seats are great. These are seats with all the bells and whistles. The black pad is a heat pad.

Meanwhile to move the coach around. Kind a like tag axle warning. Do not exceed 5 MPH

Sure glad I'm not the only crazy person around LOL.  I'm having to do the same thing.  I don't want to leave out coach sitting at the upholstery shop for a week so I'll be driving it about 5 - 7 miles back to our storage facility that way.  Hope I don't get pulled over for not wearing a seat belt 😉

On 4/20/2021 at 10:59 PM, JDCrow said:

Awesome! Where did you get the material? We are in same boat, need to upgrade 

Well, as long as there seems to be reupholstery work in the air I’ll pass along our project.  We decided our 2005 seats and sofa were starting to show their age.  I was having a difficult time trying to find material that would match the carpet etc in the coach.  I had first contacted WADE RV in Tampa and then a local upholstery shop in Melbourne but really wanted a better color match.  I also wanted to be sure that the material that was being put on was of good quality and going to hold up so I contacted Bradd and Hall.  They told me to go with Ultraleather so I picked out a bunch of colors and they sent me samples to see what would best match what we had.  Our capt chairs have a slightly darker color insert in them so we had to pick out two different colors (Doe and Pelican).  I decided to go with A&E Upholstery in Melbourne and they told me how much material I needed to order which was 12 yds for our ‘J’ Sofa and 11 yds for both Capt chairs of the Doe color (23 yds total) and 2 yds of the Pelican color for the Capt chair inserts.  That came out to 25 yds total at $85/yd ($2,125).  The labor is going to be $3,145 and take a week to complete so that will be $5,250 for the complete project.  This is just for info for anyone else looking at getting their seats or sofa done.

I also wanted to have the Monaco logo embroidered back into the headrest of the two chairs.  I was told it was going to be around $150 to just get the artwork created.  Not wanting to go that route I got a copy of the Monaco logo off line and had it digitized and then contacted another shop locally about the embroidery work.  They quoted me $15 each to embroidery the logos.  The upholstery shop cut me two pieces of the Doe material and I dropped it off with STARGAZER EMBROIDERY in Cocoa, Florida.  They now have the Monaco logo on file in case anyone wants to have it embroidered onto anything.  The owner is Nancy Dahike and she can be reached at (321) 576-2793.  The original logo was approx 3” but we decided to increase it to 4”.  She said she can resize it larger or smaller and can be done in pretty much any color you want.  She even made up a small patch with one of the material samples from B&H with several color samples for us to choose from.  If you have a jacket, hat, shirt or whatever you can send it to her to have the embroidery work done.  She does have some shirts and hats in stock that she could make up for you.  Having the artwork digitized for the sewing machines seems to be a big deal for some strange reason but now it’s been done and she has it in file.

42 minutes ago, rpasetto said:

I can find the mate & lock connectors, pins and sockets online but not the pre-made cable ends like that.  What is the URL where you found that?

https://pdxrvwholesale.com/products/vip-sm209-sm210-smartwheel-controller-j12-plug-harness

It was ridiculously priced at $39 but couldn't find it anywhere else.  It appears they have other connectors as well.

I could see where the connector on the other end of the cable assy had a hot pin but appeared ok so I reused it.  You just need to splice the new cable assy into the old assy before it splits off.

On 4/15/2021 at 1:06 AM, StephenW said:

Hello all, 

I went out for my first trip of the year and after using the wipers for a short time lost all function in the smart wheel.  I replaced the controller last fall and everything worked well.  Going through the troubleshooting guide it looks like the control module needs to be replaced again.  I was wondering if there is a way to remove control of the headlights from this controller?  Going without cruise is ok and luckily got by without the wipers but No headlights was stressful. If possible I would like to control the headlights from the switch on the dash.  Thanks for any help on this problem.  This is on a 2001 Dynasty.

 

I lost all functions in the steering wheel of my '05 Exec when I was leaving Carlsbad, NM and drove all the way back to Florida without Cruise, Wipers, Horn or the ability to flash my lights.  The headlight switch on the dash still worked though and I could use it to 'flash' if I needed to.  I discovered that hitting the wipers once will turn the headlights on and they pulled enough current to melt the connection to the VIP Control Module.  When I replaced it I upgraded to a heavier gauge wired connector that you can find on line and it has worked fine since.

6 minutes ago, Dennis H said:

I added a 45 degree fitting to the rigid black plumbing to relieve the stress on that flex hose when it moves back and forth. Made a quick note to go on a diet while I was working in there. It does make it a lot easier to remove the drawers below the cooktop for access....Dennis

I had to do the same when we returned from our trip out west last year.  Fortunately I had the help from the expert who had replaced it previously.  We had to remove the small cabinet under the cooktop also in order to be able to get in there.  You need to be sure you put in the same length hose as to short, OR to long, will cause you problems.  It's very stiff 1-1/2" or 1-1/4" Spa hose that has to be glued in place and the hose is about 3 ft long.

The headlights on my '05 Exec are from a 2002 - 2005 Dodge Ram pickup and the tail lights are from a Lincoln Navigator.  I have thought about getting a set of projection headlights as there are some aftermarket ones available but have been concerned about compatibility issues.

I just sent you a PM.

22 hours ago, Paul Busch said:

A semi clipped my passenger mirror and I had to replace both mirrors with Ramco mirrors. I have the 3 mirror Velvac mirror for sale with the intec camera and arm. I painted the arm but mirror is chromed and in nice shape. All 3 mirrors remote and heat work and intec side camera works. I also have the passenger side arm if anyone needs it. Can email pictures if anyone wants.

Make me an offer I can’t refuse😊

paul

Paul,  What condition are your Valvac mirrors in?  Could you post a photo of what you have?  If they are the same as my 3-stack mirrors then I may be interested to have for a spare.  Having a truck hit one of my mirrors has always been a concern of mine.  My guess is that he never even slowed down either.

On 1/18/2021 at 8:23 PM, Bob Priest said:

I was wondering if any one could recommend a app or web site that would help find camp sites along route on a trip

Thanks

Bob Priest 

Bob,

I have been using RV Trip Wizard for several years and in my opinion it is the best service available and worth every penny for the annual subscription.  It is now incorporated with RV Life and is continually being improved with new features.  They offer a free trial of it to try.  You can also Google it and find quite a few YouTube Videos about how to use it.  After you establish your route it will identify every campground available, park or whatever, that you set as your desired criteria.  You can then pull up reviews, costs, photos, their website, etc. for which campground you may be interested in.  It will even show elevation changes along your route, which may be handy if you're heading over the Continental Divide with an air mattress 🙂 .   Also, based on your fuel tank size and MPG it will let you know when you'll be needing to stop for fuel so you can be prepared ahead of time.   I honestly don't know how I could plan a trip without it.  With it now being incorporated with the RV Life app you can track yourself on your phone, or tablet, in real time just like with a GPS.  I'm certainly not recommending you not having a good RV GPS though.

On 1/9/2021 at 9:07 AM, pwhittle said:

The side cameras are BOYO VTK230HD’s.

Our original rear camera is working quite well for now so I a done any research into a replacement.

Paul

What I notice with the rear camera is that it's hard to see things in bright sunlight due to glare, and maybe the exposure control for the camera.  On overcast days it works quite well.  Some sort of sun shade may be a great improvement.

Very informative video.  Many thanks for posting it Darren.  As he says, the door should have an access to the adjuster nuts.  This almost wants me to go out and drill holes in the top and bottom of the door and seal them up with rubber plugs.  Either that or get rid of the screen door but I don't think I want to go that far.  If this ever happens to me at least I now know what I'll have to deal with.

If you have a Glendinning hose reel there aren't many easy options.  I had about 15 ft of my hose that had aged and gotten brittle from exposure.  I called them to see about replacing the hose and they will only sell you a complete spool assembly ($132 as of today).  At the time I didn't want to deal with the hassle of tearing out the old one so I just cut the bad section off and re-terminated it with the original end fitting they had on it.  It appears they have some sort of proprietary hose connection inside of the spool, or it takes maybe a special tool to terminate it there.  Splicing in a new hose at that point, or anywhere in between, makes for a very cumbersome ordeal winding the hose back up.  I have never had a problem of not having enough hose to reach and campground connection but I do carry extra hose with me, just in case.

4 hours ago, granvillebarker said:

I used to run campgroundreviews.com, you can search the site for big-rig friendly, or whatever amenities you want.   They also have an app RVLife that will show you the reviews as well.

I would say it’s really hard for one persons list of favorite campgrounds to satisfy another.   We usually travel with kids, so a playground and full hookups are important to me, but probably not others.   
 

Anyway the website is a good resource to help find a campground to meet your individual needs.   You can click on a reviewer to see all his reviews and find his favorite campgrounds.  
 

—

Granville Barker

05 Dynasty 

RV Trip Wizard is now part of RV Life and you can get it all bundled together.  I take photos of every campsite we've stayed at, annotate them with the name and date, and upload them to a digital photo frame we have in our coach just for that and also upload them to Campground Reviews.  Seeing some of those old photos brings up memories of the places we've been ................... sometimes I even get surprised 🙂 .

27 minutes ago, Xlr8ting1 said:

That's an extensive list Mike, Thank-you, I appreciate that.

There's a book you can buy called Big Rig Best Bets that lists the really nice campgrounds/resorts around the US.

https://www.big-rigs-rv.com/Home.html

I've found our campsites using RV Trip Wizard.  It lets you filter out what you want for a campsite and you can even pull up photos and reviews for them.  It's web based and costs like #39/yr but in my opinion well worth every penny, and then some.

On 12/31/2020 at 11:39 AM, Xlr8ting1 said:

  So we're thinking about another big trip across the states sometime in the near future.  We have nothing definite as far as destination or places along the way. On previous trips we encountered some phenomenal campsites that stood far above the norm. Places that you would just spend a couple nights and make day trips from. What comes to mind are places like the KOA in Petoskey in Michigan or Pacific Shores in Newport Oregon.  Our coach is not a good boon docker, and craves 50 amps and fresh water like an addict, so seriously off the beaten path places won't work without resources.  I'm looking for suggestions from the group on campsites from your travels that really stood out in your mind. Thanks in advance.

Theo,  We travel the same way although I really need to make use of the Harvest Host membership we have had for 3 years now (need to replace all 8 of our house batteries first).  Here is a list of 20 of the nicest campgrounds we have stayed at.  They all have nice paved and landscaped sites.  We have stayed at many other campgrounds with level FHU sites that were very nice, mostly KOA's.  I think 5 nights is the most we have ever stayed at any campsite as we have been mostly on the move traveling to see as many magnificent sights our wonderful country has to offer.  In the 2-1/2 years we have been traveling we have yet to make use of ANY of the campground amenities.

Here is a list of some of my favorite campgrounds we have visited over the years (not in any particular order):

1.       Dakotah Meadows RV Park, Prior Lake, MN.

2.       Oasis RV Resort, Amarillo, TX.

3.       Wanderlust Crossing RV Park, Weatherford, OK.

4.       Coastal Georgia RV Resort, Brunswick, GA.

5.       Belle Parc RV Resort, Brooksville, FL.

6.       Two Rivers Landing RV Resort, Sevierville, TN.

7.       Tanglewood Park Campground, Clemmons, NC.

8.       Compass RV Park, St. Augustine, FL.

9.       Bluewater Key RV Resort, Key west, FL.

10.   Denver West/Central City KOA, Central City, CO.

11.   Portal RV Resort and Campground, Moab, UT.

12.   WillowWind RV Park, Hurricane, UT.

13.   Wahweap RV and Campground, Page, AZ.

14.   Grand Canyon Railway RV Park, Williams, AZ.

15.   Casino del Sol, Tucson, AZ.

16.   Alsatian Resort & Golf Club, Castroville, TX.  (my #1 favorite)

17.   Elite Resorts at Citrus Valley, Clermont, FL.

18.   River Ranch RV Resort, Lake Wales, FL.

19.   Manchester KOA, Manchester, TN.

20.   Rockahock Campground, Lanexa, VA.

13 hours ago, Steven P said:

I agree about the $179 not being a bad $.   I pulled my battery tray out yesterday and am getting the rust gone and repainting.  I'm not in a big hurry as we cannot go anywhere now so I'm gonna see if they go on sale after Jan 1

  

I'm doing the same thing Steven.  Yesterday I discovered I may have a refrigerator problem so that's something else I need to look into.

On 12/26/2020 at 6:16 PM, Steven P said:

@CapnDean, when we bought ours 2.5 years ago it had 2 12V marine batteries for the house. The PO had passed away and his wife knew nothing about the coach, so I couldn't get any answers about it from her.  We haven't boondocked pretty much any since we got it bc I haven't felt like we could stay somewhere long enough on those 2 batteries.  Just a few hours at the storage facility off shore power and no genny running would bring them down.  Fast forward to now and they are bad (3 years old and I kept the water filled).  So now, I'm gonna put 4 6V batteries back and see what that is like.  I'm hoping the Duracell GC2 AGMs go on sale at Sam's soon.  The coach is in storage, so I can wait a bit.  @Jim Andrews, those AGMs are running $180 each now and the FLAs are about $90 ea.  

I have been waiting a full year for Sam's Club to put those batteries on sale again and was really disappointed that they didn't put them on sale for Christmas again.  I need 8 of them and with the $20 off sale that would give me a 'free' battery 🙂  Actually the $179 isn't to bad of a price, especially over the Interstate batteries.  I'm going to go with the AGM's so I don't have to continually maintain them every month.  Not looking forward though to having to wrestle those 70lb batteries into where they have to go.

John, where did you get your stressless lounger from?  Is it an Ekornes or a Lafer Gaga ?

I'm about to do the same thing.  Just curious, do you change your AGM setting before or after you change the batteries or does it even make a difference?  I've been waiting for SAM's Club to put their Duracell's on sale for Christmas again so I'm standing by.

4 hours ago, Steven P said:

@Dr4Film, I have not heard of these.  Do you put on one battery at a time, have one for each battery, or wire so it works on all batteries at a time?   Any issues with having an Amp L Start hooked up?

One across each house battery bank and another one on the chassis batteries.  They're only around $35 - $40.

5 minutes ago, Dennis H said:

Mike, I'm simply installing the stock headlamps. I rarely, read never, drive at night so illumination isn't a 'thing' for me. Nights are for reading books. Just sayin. Safe travels my friend....Dennis

 

I'm with you.  I HAVE had to drive at night only twice in the 3 years since we've owned the coach and I must say I DID NOT LIKE IT AT ALL !!!

1 hour ago, Dennis H said:

Personally I wouldn't cut and paste headlamps that do not fit. Much much easier to simply replace them with OEM. I replace mine every few years as I'm not about to spend my weekend polishing the lens when new headlamps are $150 bucks/pair. Mine are Dodge Ram. Taillamps are Lincoln Navigator. Do a search....Dennis

Dennis, are you installing just the 'stock' Dodge Ram headlights or are you also upgrading them in the process.  BTW, we should be coming through your area in about 10 days.  Will be picking up the taillights from our friend.  Thanks again.

1 hour ago, rpasetto said:

The first thing I tried was shorting one end of cable while using Ohm meter to check other end.  with one of the two it showed non-zero; I later tried using a cable tester like the one Mike H had recommended earlier.  The other cable-end in front cabinet never had continuity with the rear one, or with any other cable-end I tried; same with the cable end in rear cabinet.   

But for sure, one pair of cable ends which did check out good are now failing the test using the cable tester.  More checking to follow.

.. Rick P 05 Sig Conquest

Make sure there are no splitters in the circuit or that will give you false readings.