Cubflyer

The "book" ... does that mean 110 and 100 were from the chart for the brand and size of the tire based on the weight on that axle? My coach rode very hard when I first got it... tires were inflated to 100 plus psi, ran it across some CAT scales, got the front and rear axle weights, seems the tire pressure chart said for those weights I could run as low as 85 psi... I run 90 and the ride is much better. I do not believe the rubber in the air bag gets hard with age and makes the ride rough.... JMHO. Ken

JD, There has got to be something really loose/wrong with your coach...... when I was out west this summer, (No TOAD), on those 75-80 mph roads with the trucks running at least 70, I had no problem passing them at 70 plus....even on a curve. I can not imagine that your shorter wheel base is making that much difference.... Hope you get to the bottom of this...! Ken

Looks like they are relatively small holes and they are sandwiching the frame between two plates which should spread the stress out. Use a step drill and or ream and debur the holes if you are really concerned.... Ken

JD, You now have the same set-up, (watts link, sway bar in the front and cross bars in the rear) as I have on my coach which is a 40' (vs 34').... The only difference is your steering box... mine is not adjustable and quite loose. You also have said that you adjusted your steering box..... could you have gotten it too tight? and sensitive? With the watts and the cross bars, tires shocks and sway bar in front, my coach runs true down the road even with wind and passing trucks.... seems like yours should be pretty solid too. How many miles do you have on the chassis? I'm just over 70k... and a couple of years younger.... maybe your drag and pan hard bushings are soft..?? Ken

JD, Yes the angles do look pretty good, almost like your sway bar 'arms' are a little longer than the arms on the one I installed, I'll have to look, but I do not think my links are as close to the H frame as yours.... if the bolts that were too long were the fwd bushing bolts, I think I put mine in with the heads on the axle side (put in place before I mounted the thick plate), but again, I'll have to look. Same deal on the upper mounts on the link mounting (fwd) end.. head down, nut on top..... Hope you notice an improvement, I believe you will... look forward to your report. Ken oh, and did it seem like you were bench pressing that sway bar when you put it up in place?

I always fill my tires to cold pressures when my tires are cold, usually in the morning so sun has not been shining on them. Last summer I started my trip at about 200' above sea level.... traveled to Denver... about 5000' above sea level, on to SLC, again even higher..... and also the temps were warmer. I monitored my tire pressures with that cheapo TPS and never added or removed any air.... I did use a mechanical TP gauge (dial type) once on the 6 week trip, just to confirm my cheapo TPS... (the TPS is not super accurate, but is a good 'reference' and does show temperatures too, gives audio warnings for high or low pressure and at least high temps...) My tires have never 'gained' pressure except for by the heat generated while going down the road...... at least not enough for me to notice... I'm not 'super sensitive' .... more of a horse shoe and hand grenades when it comes to tire pressure.

>>>>>>>>>I run 95 front and 105 rear based on the weights from the scales. When I left Yuma a week ago, it was hit outside and all the tires were at 110 psi, so o dropped them to my normal “cold” pressure. Was this a mistake? It’s the first time for me in the heat with tires and got to thinking maybe my wandering was amplified with my air pressure. Any advise on what I should have done?<<<<<<<<< That tire iron photo looks like all kinds of fun!!... The weights on my axles (Front and Rear) work out to where my rear axle has about twice the weight as the front, so the two fronts pressure should be about 85-90psi and the same for the rear (based on the weight/tire pressure chart for my tires... Brand/model/size....) each tire carrying approx 4500 lbs of weight (9k front, 18k back axle weights) I have experienced 'wandering/squirrely' driving vehicles when the tires were over-inflated, lowered the pressure and they tracked better... I have a tire pressure monitor system and have found the tp's go up between 10-15 psi when driving, so if you start high they get higher..... before I had the axle weights and was inflating the tires to 100-110 psi I was getting "over pressure warnings on my monitoring system. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07R6H6T37/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Ken

Not sure what others experiences are here, but as DavidL said... a bad outlet/plug with a loose connection can overheat and look just like what your photos show... the appliance may have nothing wrong with it. I would replace the plug and see what kind of amps the unit is drawing before I replaced the 'big' part (microwave) Ken

yes behind the axle and a 4 post leveling, unlike your single front jack post.

JD, This photo shows my modified mounting of the upper sway bar link brackets. Since the sway bar was installed first, the watts link that I put on later is not in the photo. Up in the photo is aft on the coach. The added angle iron piece is the lower (forward) piece. It brings the mount point forward and the links to a 90 degree angle to the sway bar at normal ride height. Maybe my coach was unique but the as designed mounting was terrible.

Have you thought about a wrap? I have, but have not looked into it... only so many hours in a day..... Saw a Motorhome that had a wrap supporting a business at a campground in Denver last summer.. looked good far away and up close.

JD, When I mounted my front sway bar, per the instructions, the way the upper (frame) mounts were designed to go around the frame cross member (using long bolts and a top plate) it made the links angle/lean to the rear, not be straight up and down. I added (by welding) a piece of 3" x 1" x 3/16" angle iron across between the main frames just forward of the original cross member and mounted the bracket with one bolt through each cross member. This made the links vertical and used short bolts instead of long bolts. The cross member has cut outs for wiring and such and really can not support the clamping action of those long bolts. I will send photos when I get back near my coach....next week. Ken

JD,.... and Van, Am I seeing shims where your axle mounts to the H frame in this photo? or is it an optical illusion? and it looks thicker in the front than the rear....?? Wouldn't that stand the kingpin more vertical? and take some caster out?... again, it might be an optical illusion.... the more positive or negative caster from perpendicular (to the ground) the harder it is to make the wheel take a new direction.... zero caster angle will be pretty squirrelly.... Something to check. JD your last driving report, seemed to me to indicate that the coach did not want to go straight even without and 'outside' influences... ie: wind, passing trucks, rough terrain..... I would not expect a sway bar to help if the coach will not track straight (without steering input). Van I totally agree that the watts link is best mounted opposite the axle from the panhard rod... unfortunately the one I bought was not designed to fit in the front of the front axle and I mounted it to the rear, it still did wonders for my wondering coach. I was considering installing it on the front, but like you said, it takes some modifications to make it fit up there.

Driving ease is all about keeping the wheels going straight down the road 'naturally' not by the driver (with the steering wheel).... alignment is first, getting it right and keeping that alignment (not having the suspension 'shifting' under you) is next. That is what the x-bars and watts link do (because a single panhard rod on a H frame on long drag links will NOT). The sway bar helps keep the wheels going straight down the road because it reduces body roll which 'inputs' steering due to the fact the steering wheel and box are mounted to the frame and the tie rod is on the H frame (suspension). Sounds to me like you need to assure your caster and toe in/out are correct and add a sway bar (to the front) and see if that helps... My experience is that I installed tires, shocks and the front sway bar..... helped a lot but the coach still 'wandered'. Installed the front watts and the rear cross bars and the coach drives great...... not without some 'looseness', not quite 'on rails' but darn close and darn good compared to before. My steering box is loose, but since the coach runs straight and is little bothered by passing trucks and uneven road surfaces it's no big deal. Last summer, driving across the country I encountered areas where the road was being resurfaced, where one lane is an inch or two higher than the other... I crossed over between them without any fear..... I have been tossed around worse doing that in cars and SUV's.... Ken

Your story makes me feel really good about spending about $700.00 and many hours to install a F.A.S.S. filter and pump system to replace my primary filter and bypass the stock lift pump. I had black diesel fuel when I got my coach last spring, between the filters and the full time running lift pump with a pressure gauge to tell me the pressure between the primary and secondary filter (condition of my primary filter and pump) and biocide, my engine has run flawlessly for 3000+ miles. Not sure I could walk with fuel cans like you..... Ken

JD, Is your front watts link mounted forward or aft of the 'H' frame? The only thing I have that you do not have is the front sway bar. I did not have much problem with the strong and gusty winds last summer in NE and WY and I have a 40' bread box..... Prior to adding the watts link and rear crossbars and front sway bar my coach was all over the road, any bump, any seam, overpass seams, passing cars and trucks sent it is any direction..... As Van W suggested, check your suspension for looseness. If ok, I would suggest you add the front sway bar. It should tame the side to side rocking (I used to have a bad case of that) which should help a lot in crosswinds. I would not spend a lot of time and energy trying to 'tighten up' your steering box.... that steering wheel thing is to guide the coach to go where you want it to go, not keep it going straight and steady on the road, that's the suspension's job...... JMHO

JD When I bought the front bar kit, the rear was not available.... I was trying to buy both..... now I'm just not sure if the rear watts or the rear sway bar is the most 'bang for my buck'... as the cross bars my be enough to hold the rear "H" frame in alinement (which is what the watts link does), and I just need a sway bar to hold the body from rolling around.... or is the "H" frame still a bit unstable, and the sway bar will not really help....

JD, I have what sounds like the same setup on my RR8R chassis, with the exception of the steering stabilizer and 'fancy' tight steering box and 'fancy' Bilstein shocks. My steering box is an original, non adjustable and somewhat sloppy, I have no problem with that as my driving preference is to have a coach that drives straight without me having to drive it straight. That said, I could not stand the effort required to drive my 40' monster before I installed the front Watts link and the rear cross bars. They made it drive without changing lanes with every dip or bump in the road. I have standard Monroe gas shocks and new tires inflated to the recommended pressure based on axle weight (weighted on CAT scales). One item I have that you don't is a Source Engineering Front sway bar, and I think the combination of that and the watts link is why I have very little 'push' from passing trucks. We drove across NE and WY twice last summer encountering wind warning signs of >40mph and except for having to hold some 'crab' and adjust for the gusts it was quite drivable. Having a tire go off the edge of the pavement is no longer a 'heart attack' moment. I recommendation to you: ditch the steering stabilizer, add the front sway bar (mine required some modification to get the links to connect perpendicular to the chassis), adjust TP (I run my tires at about 95psi cold all around) and drive that. You might be happy with that, I'm considering adding the rear watts link or the rear sway bar or both because I still feel that the rear is still a bit 'loose' and the coach would ride like it was on 'rails' with the back tightened up. No, the link, when coach a normal ride height should be at an angle, I think my link had marks on the bracket to line the link up with.

Original 03 vintage units or have they been replaced before? Evaporator fan means inside fan, right? I think it matters or maybe it doesn't . Yes, I believe original units, inside fan, on same motor as the 'outside' fan, and they are different from inside or outside.

My evaporator plastic squirrel cage fan is cracked, blades missing. Anyone have an old unit around with a good fan in it you want to part with?

So true! Not only do you need to buy a new 'top unit' but it will not 'play' with other (old) unit or thermostat without an 'adapter board' (@ $200 and no stock). At this point (in my experience) I think if I really HAD to replace the unit, I would put a 'stand alone' unit up there..... and K.I.S.S. it.

Things worked out great! Pressure held, pulled a vacuum, let it set for days. Meanwhile I added a brace to stop the stress on the area of the tubing that cracked. Insulated and sealed up the area of the evaporator coil and cleaned all coils. I "boxed in" the condenser coil area so that the cover is no longer needed to form that plenum. Placed the unit back up on the roof and connected the controls, serviced the unit with R22 and it is now blowing cold air again! (Happy Me!) Now I will complete the repair by insulating and sealing up the air distribution system. I'm planning to fabricate a spacer to place between the plastic grill and the base plate to create a gap to eliminate the electric junction box from clogging the filter. (a problem with both units so I will make two..) P.S. Rik W.... I did crack a beer with my a/c guy buddy with cold air blowing.... and about $1500 still in my pocket...☺️🍻 https://photos.google.com/search/_tra_/photo/AF1QipOI3pgGabJbUESBdEa7Mq1VD_aVFQPlJLX312gv

Grampy OG-Ken, If you have not figured it out already..... a "step drill" bit does a great job of opening up the large but not large enough wire terminals so they fit the ML-ACR terminal posts. Ken

If you can find "Kroil" or ACF50, soak it overnight and try some more.... maybe some heat also... Automatic transmission fluid and acetone if you cant find Kroil... or ACF50

My generator had a habit of not starting due to lack of fuel caused by a dirty fuel filter, coded 3-6 after failed start... might be your crank but no start problem. https://www.rvandplaya.com/onan-generator-fault-code-36/ Moving blankets on flooring and beds and couches before taking it to them would be a good plan..... just saying...