Dennis H

The tech was going to torque the mounting bolts in the morning but the driver picked up the coach before he came into work.... 🙄 I know that's trite, but it appears to be a brand new coach, he driver was alone, so I would guess he picked up the coach from the mfg and was transporting it elsewhere to a dealer. Fortunately, no one was hurt. Imagine if the rig had been sold...ouch....Dennis

NW RV Supply ...Dennis

Supposedly he drifted across the road and hit a berm. The coach separated from the chassis and continued down the road on it's side with the driver secure with his seat belt. There were no injuries, only to the coach.. That's ONE ride you can share with your grandkids. Keep the pictures as proof as no one will believe you.......Dennis

This is just my opinion. YMMV. Suing for bad repairs is an exercise in futility and only pays for the lawyer's Mercedes and I realize I'm painting with a very broad brush. There are other avenues you might consider pursuing. Obviously if there are circumstances where something was not done where it's specifically spelled out in your CONTRACT then you might have an opportunity to collect some of your money back, less attorney fees. Finally, the lawsuit will be filed in the offending state so there will be travel expenses for you. Your attorney will have to be licensed in the State where the offense was committed and if your State's attorney is licensed in the State of occurrence, then there will be travel expenses for him/her also. You should consider many factors before going this route. First, any alledged grievance must be shown to be contrary to what is WRITTEN in the CONTRACT SIGNED by BOTH PARTIES. Simply your word against theirs won't fly in court. Second, you'll have to decide whether the "cost vs result" is worth it to you. Will you pay more in out of pocket costs vs what you hope to recoup from the service agency less your attorney fees. Thirdly, explore other avenues. I had a dealer in Sacramento overcharge me for a repair. I dropped the coach off at their facility first thing in the morning with a promise it'd be finished that afternoon. As we are full timers, we dropped the coach off, went for coffee and with nothing else to do, sat in their parking lot while repairs were done. They worked on the coach for two hours and charged me five hours labor. If we hadn't been in the lot there's no way we would have known that, but we did. After arguing with the service manager he lopped off one hour but I was still not satisfied and told him so. You wouldn't believe his 'reasoning' for the extra hours. He simply shrugged it off and sent me on my way. I filed a complaint with the State's Bureau of Automotive Repair and after their investigation, I received a check from the service dealer for the remaining two hours labor. I feel I acomplished two things, first I got my money back but more importantly, that 'offense' goes on their record and hopefully they will investigate their practices and maybe the next traveler won't get gouged. Best of luck....Dennis

Dick, I totally agree. With most things, we fix them ourselves. I've beat on mine more times than I'd like to admit. Even removed the arm in the past and beat on it in a vise. Problem is, that "fix" won't last more than a year at the outside. Then it has to be beat on again. Also, the arm is never as tight and useful as it was when it was new. I got tired of having the door 'just ok' so I finally replaced it. It made a world of difference and my wife is pleased....so it's all good.....Dennis

I simply replaced mine for $130. Figure it'll last another 10 years. That comes out to about 3 cents a day......Dennis

Does it appear to be a recent break in the part or something that's been there for awhile. It does appear to be a bushing of some sort. Depending on your knowledge of stuff, I'd take it to a suspension shop and have them go over all the suspension on the coach. If that all checks out, I'd suspect the explorer or just some junk left on the ground. If the Explorer breaks down, it's much easier to deal with than the motorhome....Dennis

I got tired of the factory installed GPS unit. It was discontinued, so no map upgrades, no product support available, used CDs for maps and weighed over 12 POUNDS. So I began a search for a replacement. Garmin released the RV 890 in June and it has an 8" screen, displays time and temperature, connects via bluetooth to cell phones, touch screen etc. etc. and it weighs a mere 13 OUNCES. I posted the full build out on my blog, listed below but here are the before and after pictures......Dennis

Jim, while maybe not pertinent, it's wise to note that some, notice I said some, applications use the mount for a ground so you won't have that extra wire. Monaco used white wires almost exclusively for their grounds.....Dennis Tom, my post had nothing to do with politics. Buying local means if it doesn't work/fit/whatever means you can take it back to your LOCAL store and exchange/return it. It usually also means you don't have to wait for someone to deliver it to your home and hope some thief doesn't need it more than you do. Yes, I would prefer to buy American as our products usually have more quality control than do other countries but keep in mind we have become a 'throw away' society instead of the 'fix it and keep it forever' society of yesteryear so we tend to buy by cost not quality......safe travels....Dennis

I'd buy local if possible, but that's just me. Some businesses I won't patronize......Dennis Klein Tools Crimper

We enjoyed our grandkids every summer as they would call and ask where we were when they got out of school. Parents would fly them to us and they'd travel their summer vacation all over the country. (they've been to 42 States.) We would usually let them choose what they wanted to do. One year they wanted to swim in all the Great Lakes so we did the circle tour. Another time they wanted to see civil war sites so we went from Vicksburg to Gettysburg. But, my best story comes from Florida. They wanted to see a rocket launch so we went to Jetty Park at Cape Canaveral. For those who've never been there, Jetty park sits on the Florida side of the bay with Georgia on the other side. One morning we heard a loud siren and saw these pontoon type boats running up and down the bay. Curious, we went to see why. Kings Bay, Georgia is a nuclear sub base and they were bringing a submarine. The Navy closes the bay while they escort it into port. These were Navy pontoon boats and up front sits a sailor manning a 50 caliber machine gun in full gear. My grandson, who was 12 at the time thought that was sooooo cool.....fast forward to 2020. My grandson is now 21 years old, in the Navy, stationed at Kings Bay Ga. and guess what he's doing??? Yep, he's the gunner....things that impress our young people in our travels.....Dennis

I thought that's why we have grand and great grandchildren. Mine sure keep me on my toes physically and mentally. :) ......Dennis

Your picture is of a common circuit breaker which do go bad. Make sure your replacement is the same size etc. They also come without the screw holes so be sure to get one with them or you'll be using a zip tie to keep it secured. I'd spray that connection liberally with PB Blaster and let it sit for a day, then blast it again. Those bolts will most likely spin off when you attempt to remove the nuts. They're pretty corroded. Also, the yellow connector in the foreground appears to be burnt unless that's just the picture. You may have lots of other things going on besides your alternator, but it does sound like your 'mechanic' might have steered you in the wrong direction on your replacement.....Dennis

Thanks for the comments, Steve. I use Southwest WaterJet in Phoenix. Link below. For those not familiar with the process, your design is transferred to their computer using a CAD drawing program. That in turn is fed into the water jet processing machine where the design is cut into the metal giving you exact measurements via water cutting. To me, the difference is perfect cuts with no rough/sharp/incorrect edges. They can cut almost any metal and thickness. It's a pretty amazing process. Since they've moved into a larger space in Phoenix, they used to be in Mesa, they've raised their prices a bit but I still feel like they're fair. I paid an $80 set up/CAD fee and $50 to have it cut. That said, I simply took the pieces to them and asked them to do the work. For the left console, I traced that onto paper and they cut it from my drawing which saved me some money. They can cut almost anything you can draw up too. There are cutters nationwide but I usually go back to someone who's provided me with excellent service/results. Since we normally winter in Arizona, I chose them last time and went back again. (We're stuck in this heat this year, ugh) Anyway, HERE is the link.....Dennis

Ok, since we are back on fixing consoles and parking brakes, I'm going to chime in again with some info for everyone who has a broken dash part and wants to fix them properly. Rob Harper, I'll answer yours first. You'll find the brake will be easier to set and will give you a firmer "pop" when you set it. That said, the plastic bezel is very fragile as there is nothing underneath for support. If you find yours feels that way, since you're disassembling it anyway you might as well fix it better. I got a piece of .80 ga aluminum and had it waterjetted. I then glued the aluminum to the back of the plastic bezel. This gives all the support needed when you apply the brake. I could have cut the holes etc. for the switches with a dremel but for $75 it was done professionally and fit perfectly. The aluminum piece was $3.28. I cannot find the pictures when I did that project, but I'm in the middle of a new one and just got the parts back today. Below is a picture of my middle dash piece. I removed the factory GPS and am going to be installing a new Garmin once it's received. However, I got the aluminum piece back today. The folks at Water Jet made two for me in case I messed one up somehow. :) . Take a look. If you look closely at the middle bottom hole, you'll see the plastic is broken. It's broken at the top too. I'll glue the missing piece which I have once I've attached the aluminum to the dash piece......Ask questions if you have any.....Dennis

Just be prepared for a shock at the difference once it's replaced. Then slap yourself in the head for not replacing it sooner. Ask me how I know....:)....Dennis

Bob, you might want to check this one out. It's supposed to be an exact replacement, but I'd check the precise size of yours against theirs. The good thing is it's from Amazon so it can be returned if it doesn't fit.....Dennis Third Brake Light Replacement

LOL @ Tom. I did the same. We gotta quit 'saving' things. 😁 My shed is getting full. It's sure a shame that it's cheaper to simply replace things rather than rebuild. Paul, the impeller is the only thing really that goes south as it takes the brunt of everything that's pushed through the unit. It also dries out when not in use for awhile so any crud that adheres to it, even hard water etc. can cause it to adhere to the housing. Then when you do use it, it takes off some or a lot of the rubber. FWIW, I take mine apart at least once a year, usually during my annual inspection/service, to clean the chopper blades of hair and any gunk that's there. I also replace the clear hoses that attach it to the drain at that time.......Dennis

Tom, mine was PLASTIC. 😁 That said, when Debi dropped one of the toilet bowl wand ends down the toilet, I simply used the stinky slinky until it passed then I was good. I've rebuilt my macerator twice due to the impeller failing. It's one of those things we never think about if it's in storage for a bit. That impeller dries on the side of the unit until we use it again. I've taken to adding a bottle of mineral oil to the tank during the last flush out before storage and it seemed to have helped. ..Dennis

I doubt you'll find a replacement due to liability issues. i.e. incorrect installation and electricity = possible fire hazard. That said, replacing the entire unit is neither difficult nor overly expensive. I'd simply pull it out and replace it. Make sure the coach is unplugged and disconnect both battery banks.....Dennis

Greg, First off, welcome to the forum. I've posted a bunch of stuff for your year coach. Here is the link. FYI, click on BROWSE, then DOWNLOADS, for tons of manuals and info....Dennis

While not Monaco specific, the attached link is for service manuals for much of the added equipment in our coaches. These manuals are in .pdf format and can be downloaded free....Dennis SERVICE MANUALS

rvservicereviews.com Leave a positive review. Lots of RVrs use that for recommendations.....Dennis

Looks like they put the same things in lots but there's only about 6 different items. Also, my resellers permit is no longer valid so I couldn't bid anyway. The auction is limited to resellers only. Bummer....Dennis

Perfect example of why it's imperative to use a meter to check the fuses. Short story: In high school, I had a 57 Chevy and the heater wouldn't work. I simply direct wired it to get it to work. Yeah, remember when we did whatever it took to keep things running as we couldn't afford much. Anyway, years later when I actually had a job, I was tinkering around with it on another issue and found the fuse which I had checked. I put a meter on it and found it wasn't as good as it looked. Changed the fuse, rewired it and viola...blower worked like new! I went probably 10 years without that blower being fused when all I had to do was check it properly.......Dennis