Rikadoo

Hello Jay, so yes i too did the tropicool roof paint. I read abt the paint, and all the benifits, its been everthing i wanted, for me i took off ALL the dicore and i used eterna bond tape on everything, as you see in the pic, be sure to reseal around the roof line, once its set then paint right over it. After washing the entire roof , i sealed the roof line, i then used 3m cleaner to wipe off the entire roof, when that dried i used the paint to cut in around everthing, 2 times, after that the rest of the roof. Like i said before its awsome, however the one issue i have is that when i climb up on the roof to clean it you have to be VERY CAREFULL, cause its silicone… when it get soap an water on it, it is VERY SLIPPERY! Its been like a few years an holding very well… FYI not shown in the pic are the ac covers, they had several stress cracks on the inside so on those i used gorilla tape on the stress cracks then on the outside of the covers i painted them too with the paint.

Its funny however earlier this year after replacing the exhaust manifold i swear that my pac brake has become less effective if working at all, i know its working cause i lubed an tested it. I believe the reason is with the leaking manifold everytime i used to turn it on it would whistle, so in my feeble mind i acquainted operation with the noise, so now there is no more noise so as the gray matter is concerned no noise = not working🤪 However i do know it is, due to driving next to a barrier i hear it when braking.

Good morning everyone, last Sunday i left Nor-Cal heading to South Carolina, on the average i drove 350 to 400 miles a day, with the exception of one day only 166 miles do to using one day to sightsee Nashvill Tn. OMG i was tottaly unprepared as to what i would find in that town, we were there on a saturday i have NEVER known anything that i can compare it to, all in all it has been a very easy trip with a few noticable exceptions, like the summit out of Salt lake, its long and steep, also the number of fuel stops on and after that summit, going thru St.Louis some of the road signs were confusing causing me to take surface streets in order to get on the right on ramp. So asside from keeping a writtin ledger of all the fuel stops i also use my phone app to document my MPG Here is the break down, the cost of fuel obviously was cheaper as i treked east. Now i didnt need to run the genny till the last legs of the trip as the humidity coupled with the warmer climate, coupled with the “Pucker” of smaller roads and at that time i had both AC units running. So coming here i took a more northen route utilizing I-80 most the way, on my return trip my plan is a more southern direction. For the nightly stops we tried to stay with getting off the road around 3 to 4 pm, though the purpose was not focused to use KOA, it was easier to use rather than trying to wade thru the others that had less stars of satisfaction from other travlers. On the average we paid $40 to $60 per night, with the exception being Nashville where our cost was $85 for what i will state was a rip off due to the way were handled and the “pull thru” they put us in. (obviously the person that designed that pull through site had never driven an RV pulling a vehicle behind them.) My destination is the “Albino Skunk music festivul” where i will volunteer in setting up for a full bore ticket of chef catered meals, parking on site, getting to reconnect with folks I met in May, coupled with some just good ole fashion fun.

Mine failed in front of my house, crank no start, now i carry a spare… last week when switched to Acc nothing worked, wiggled the key an it all came back on, third world parts🤦‍♂️😡

So Richard i had a pretty good chuckle reading how you rolled up to the pump as it ran out of fuel, not in my rig but in my car i remember as its getting low with no station in sight, first turning off the ac, then dropping the speed coasting down hill then reverting to religion till ya find a station😂😂😂 I find at those moments the “pucker” factor can be pretty strong🙀💩

So my beeper was going off on my jacks which uses the fluid level, looking at the level it was full to the top, i noticed a small sticker that said your sensor has to be straight up an down, mine was more 45 degree, i corrected it an so far its been ok, i will know more after this upcoming trip, a little over 4k miles

So good morning to all, well robert this cyl head sounds like its in very poor shape, just how many miles has this rig have on it? And to what was the reason why you took it off? As for repair or replace, if you bought a new head what kind of warranty comes along with it? When you mention the repair process im reminded of when i found a place to repair my alternator vs new, its all well and good to invest in the shops that rebuild things( i am a mechanic of over 50 years) however… If something WAS to happen on the road, then where is that shop when your in nowhere USA??? Dont get me wrong i will always choose to invest in the trades when at all possable, except when it comes to having to use a shop because of proximity rather than choice that could leave me at the mercy of yet some shop with unknown abilitys. My advise on this repair is to go with the Cummins part, mostly cause Cummins has been in bussiness quite awhile an “for me” i know they build quality parts, the same with other manufactures however especially in todays markets of part availabiltys your never really sure of the quality of parts your getting, much of which are coming from other countrys that dont use the same “specs” though they look identical. I could go on an on, but i will leave it at this, the best machinist in the world could be undermined by one wrong part that he may have to use because of a supply chain issue, an if your engine sucks a valve cause a keeper or a guide failure are they willing to stand behind there repair…

Awsome! So im leaving Sunday for SC, im hoping the front watts link i installed helps with the trucker ruts so i dont have to focus on the road sooo much. Thanks for the update👍

So i text the guy who did the work, he said he used a wooly pad rotary polisher and finished it with a medium foam pad, he also said they offer a 3step kit

So since the day i bought my rig it was obvious that the paint had issues, in that the Gold always looked good an responded well to wax. However the white part was always dull an no amount of elbow grease could change it. I had even tried going to the “chemical guys” which there recomendation was to “clay bar” it then wax it… four clay bars, a quart of there spray for the clay bar netted me a spot 3ft by 3ft… yeah NOT! So where i work there is a detailer that does RVs, he assured me he could “getter done” $18.00 per ft, so i said ok. He had it 10 hrs, he actually burned up one of his buffers an had to go by another, when i picked it up it looked the same. To his credit he said only pay me 1/2 an i will come back an do it again an this time try something different! He came to my house, brought two of his friends, an this time he used a marine style polish. What a major difference, the white now shines like the gold part. Im sure he lost his butt on this job as they were on it this time just about 8hours. He thanked me for giving him a second chance to make it right an said he learned Alot about my style of finish. Now all i have to do is to find a way to get the decals taken care of, as some of the darker colors are faded almost white.

For me when one of my friends says meet me at the lake for fishing, i can meet him there and hang out in my own “appartment” an dont have to suffer, or road trips with my bride and SHE doesnt have to suffer or have me pull over at a rest stop in a hurry😎

Mornin JD, hey im very intrested in your customizing your air bags when you do it. Cause saturday when i went to adjust mine the rear adjusters were maxed out with a air bag heigth of 8.0 inches however my front is at 9 inches, so i know the butt is draging cause my “mud flap” is almost to the metal. The front is a lot higher which makes me believe that may have something to do with my wandering and harsh ride. I have drivin other coaches with same suspension that were alot easier goin down the road, however they were 40 ftrs, mine is a 36ftr. One of the things im looking at is air bag inflation, by that i mean where is the place the lower portion of the rubber of the bag supposed to ride for best position. if you could when you customise yours please give me a update.

Hey Dennis i like the idea of the eye bolts, so did you drill the suspension? Also what type of eye bolt did you use?

Hey JD morning, wow the rear link looks almost identical to the front one i just put on this weekend! And yes the pics were not helpfull AT ALL! I take it you already have the front one, how has that done for you if you have? So where in Az are you headed?

Good morning everyone, so I have a question in which the tittle is self evident. I have been planning a rather long trip from the West coast to the East coast, originally I was planning to bring an ole work buddy in which we would go to the destination and return. Yesterday I was talking with him and now his plans have changed where he now once we get to the destination out east he says now he ending his journey for the trip back in order so he can fly out to visit family then from that plans to fly home. Im ok with all that, however originally I was going to tow my pick up behind the coach using my Dollie, however now that I will be faced with the return trip home by my self I considering NOT bringing my truck for fear if I need to for any reason have to unhook to turn around or ??? I will be doing it all myself which anyone who has used a Dollie knows what that whole operation looks like. I know what traveling on the road with out ground transportation looks like and the idea makes me wanting I wish that I was able to flat tow cause the operation is not that involved compared to using a Dollie. My question is: has anyone traveled with out a toad and how difficult is it trying to get around to get things done. Is it manageable or if you have done that sans toad did you regret it. Its funny how the Universe challenges us to see if we really want to follow our decisions...

I know its difficult to see in that pic, but at the very back of the coach there were two jack stands😎

Also if you are gonna do the job yourself or a nieghbor is gonna do it, take a picture of where all the cables are connected so you reconnect them the way they came off…

Well bill it seems there is a appication for almost every type of lube. If i had to guess every person has there favorite… being in the service industry im finding not one lube does it all. Today i used the graphite spray on a jack screw for a generator slide, i find i really dont want any dirt sticking to it due to the length of time before its opened however i want it to have protection during the year it probably doesnt get reopened, which is something i dont believe a silicon spray could offer. I mearly offered this as yet another tool in our arsenal of tricks to survive the riggors of time😎

So im currently working with a different type of lubricant, im using it on slides, and steps, as well as anything that is around dirt or crud. This works really good on rollor bearings and gears. It is not a substitute for everthing, however like myself others are using it in several applications, it wont wash off when dry, a little spendy. It covers bare metal well an just suggesting it as a alternative to “some” of the other types

I own a 2003 Holiday Rambler 36 ft, i just took off what appeard to be the original shocks🙀 and replaced them with konis, the performance is Amazing. On a car when you replace shocks its kinda “cant really tell the difference” but on these big boys you feel it right away.

Hey bill perhaps its a tire balance issue? My last rig used to be stable, then when i hit a pot hole on highway 99 here in Ca things gradually changed ( it was so big the impact caused major issues inside the veh) and though it didnt happen right away it was shortly there after i started having a balance problem from 45 to 58 mph. I ended up selling the rig for other issues so i never knew for sure if that was indeed the problem, i can tell you i paid 2 different times to get the front tires balanced, the first time it was with beads… they didnt help AT ALL, the second time i had the beads removed an then had wieghts used. The weight balance lasted like 100 miles (maybe) then the vibration came back with a vengeance. That rig used 19.5 tires so road hazards were a bigger issue, but thats not to say it cant be the same for 22.5s. When i worked in the trucking industry rigs came in with tire issues like vibrations, or bouncing, so often we switched out tires for those issues, sometimes it helped other times it did not. For those times swaping tires do not help there may be a issue with whats known about “ rotating mass balance” in which items such as “centromatics”can help manage.

Bill so 350 is too high, the reason it cycles for such a short time is the the trianary switch is stopping the system from having a issue from too much pressure, out west here (less humidity) high side tends to be happiest 225 to 245 psi on the R-134 scale. Thats also with a normally functioning condencer fan, as for the low side i like to get on a system using the H valve style valve (looks like a block of aluminum) with 4 connections and a top or dome looking thing 20 to 30ish psi on the R-134 scale. Thing to know about AC duct temps doesnt matter dash or roof the best running systems will be 25 degree difference from ambient temp to duct temps. *Note, the reason to protect the high side pressure from going too high is that the oil in the system breaks down with high heat, when that happens bad things happen to the compressor which in turn does bad things to the rest of the system. Also if your condencer fan quits that will drive your high side thru the roof, which is another reason for the trianary switch. Still not getting 25 degrees difference at the duct, consider your hot water valve for your heater may be bypassing and allowing hot coolant thru the heater core causing conflict with the ac, try turning off the hot water flow to the heater if the heater hoses are are getting hot (provided the engine is at normal temp), on that note dont use vise grips to chinch off the coolant lines as that can damage old heater hoses internally. One more thing to add, with freon there is a temperature / pressure relationship generally speaking. 1degree pressure then =1 degree temp, if i remember right that changes with higher pressure as it increases, google freon / temp relationships.

Since im planning a trip out east in Sept, i just replaced all 6 of my batteries, 4 of the coach batteries an the 2 chassis batteries, they were not testing bad, however they were 5 years old, so I used the Interstates we sell from my shop. The two chassis batteries were 950 CCA, even when i worked for Ford if the vehicle came with 650 cca, we would replace with the 850 cca, heavy battery with more cca. Manufactures are ALL about saving where they can, there mentality comes from the bean counters, sell a 100k units an you cut $1.00 on each one sold you do the math!!! ya want proof pull the fill plug on EVERY rear differential on EVERY ford truck!!! Right off the carrier there all 3/4 qt low, why? Do the math! They may be low, but they get thru warranty, AND thats why when you take your truck in for service the recomendation is to drain an refiill the rear diff…

Hey brian i bought the hankook ah37 tires your right they are a little harsh. That said, untill i can get my axels weighed im just using the TP stated on the sticker next to the driver. Mine states 115 front an 100 in the rear. Im really wanting to weigh each corner so hopefully be able to know if i need more or less.

Package of 10 fo $15.00 might be worth a looksee, if not worth it sendem back