throgmartin

Gary: I take it you got the slide in ?

Greg: This is one of the biggest mistakes when adjusting slides - Adjusting them so the stripes match. If I have seen this advice given once I have seen it given a hundred times on all various forums. Worse yet, many techs still prescribe to this wives tale. Those slides may have ran great and the stripes matched when it was new but over time things settle, floors settle, structures flex and bend. This throws the theory of alignment of a slide according to paint stripes out the window. It is a great way to screw a slide up. I can tell you that the proper way to do it is by making small adjustments and then watching and listening to the slide. My Tech, Dustin is one of the best slide guys I have ever come across. Watching him adjust a slide will drive you crazy as he is making small adjustments, listening to the load on the motor, checking the amp draw, watching the mechanism operate, checking clearances, measuring and keeps going until he gets it perfect. This is why I am gun shy on handing out advice on how to adjust slides. To make matters worse, many Monaco coaches came with 3 different slide mechanism types and setups. I am not even going to get into the stupidity of Monaco and how they built their slides and placed their rollers. If you seen some of the slide setups I have seen with roller placements in goofy places that made no sense you would end up doing what I do - shake your head and wonder what Einstein thought of that. The upshot of it all is about money. They did stupid stuff to save a buck. Moe, if you think you have problems be glad you don't have a schwintek slide. They have gotten very popular on RV's and many manufacturers have gone to them. In reality they are the biggest POS you could ever have for a slide mechanism. I lost track of the amount of money our shop has made repairing them. There are 2 kinds of schwintek slide owners - 1.) Those who have had problems 2.) Those whom will have problems. Limit switch issues, out of sync motors, jumping gears and the list goes on. This is a great photo of just how much of a headache they are. Guess the limit switches didn't work.

Moe, your coach is one that has us frustrated. We are always looking for a way to save customers money versus hammering them with outrageous parts bills like this HWH assembly. The cost for that replacement is crazy expensive. We just did this dance in January on a Dynasty and if memory serves me correctly that HWH chain assembly is around $ 2,500. They make you buy the entire thing and wont sell individual parts. Worse yet each one has to be special ordered and custom built and the lead time is around 2 to 3 months. As a kicker, we are an HWH dealer and still cannot motivate them to expedite the process. I am sure Dustin told you not to use the slide. Our Dynasty customer had to call a mobile tech to get his slide closed for him after his rollers broke. They WILL get jammed in the extended position. I am going to call a meeting of the minds among my staff ( Dustin and Jason ) and a close friend of mine Bobby who is one of the best parts designers I have ever met. Jason is an engineer and Bobby designed and manufactured prototype parts for the F-35 fighter jet so hopefully he can find a work around with this chain. There has to be a way to replace these rollers individually without having to buy an entire assembly. Thankfully we have the old HWH assembly from the Dynasty to guide us and experiment with. I would be happier then a pig in mud to hand you a $ 500 parts bill versus a $ 2,500 one. It looks stupid simple to just drill out the carrier pin and replace a roller but it isn't that easy. Give us some time to explore this. The fat lady hasn't sang yet. 🙂 In regards to Josam's, I have full confidence in Barry and his crew. They are the Nations leading experts on Roadmaster chassis' and know our rigs well. I have sent scores of our customers to them and have never had one complain. You are in good hands.

The JC conversion is an option for many Norcold owners. However, there are many things one has to take into consideration before proceeding. Your current Norcold seals should be checked over carefully. If those seals are marginal then you are going to be extremely PO'ed after you spend your money on a JC conversion and then have to purchase new seals. The seals cost over $ 1,000 because you have to buy the entire door. They do not sell just the seals. Other issues are hinges which break. This is one reason why I elected to go the Resi fridge route. Another consideration is size/volume. The Norcold 1200 has 12 cu ft of space versus a residential which has 19 cu ft and up. Doesn't sound like much but in fridge sizes it is a big increase. For people who full time, resi fridge space is a big bonus. Going from 12 cu ft to 19 cu ft when I converted to a resi fridge was a big plus and I appreciate being able to stock the fridge full of food and soft drinks and not have to make extra trips to the grocery store. The coach refrigerator debate is very similar to tires and oil. Every one has their opinions and makes their own choices. I can personally say after hauling my Norcold to the landfill I was really PO'ed at myself. I was mad because I hadn't done it sooner and instead kept pouring money into that norcold. In regards to amp draw, inverter use, etc. My Resi fridge has never been plugged into an inverter. The reason being is that whenever I leave I start the generator before I back out of the driveway and it never gets shut off till I hit my destination. When you live down here in the Swamp ( Florida ) you learn generator use is a must. Not much fun traveling in 90 degree weather without AC. 🙂

I never installed any extra batteries. I run my generator a lot ( it gets hot in Florida ) so no idea on the battery hours. I blocked the vent off on the sidewall of the coach but left the roof vent open. In regards to the doors, most residential fridges have to have door locks. I made a simple strap attach to the sides of each door that snap in place. It has been a great fridge.

Was glad to meet Moe today. Will be heading to the shop tomorrow to look over a slide of his. Thanks for coming in and trusting your baby to my tech's, Dustin and Mike. I think you will be pleased with their work. They may drive you nuts as both are very OCD and perfectionists. Hope that Aussie mate makes it over to see us. It is always a hoot getting the two Aussies together. 🙂

We have a very distinquished member of this group who has attended many Monaco Gatherings. He is a former fighter pilot from the Korean War, a fellow Marine and an amazing person. I have always been honored to call him a very dear friend of mine. I have worked on his coach, helped him troubleshoot issues and we continue to exchange weekly e-mails - mainly about flying. 2 years ago he removed his fuel tank on his diplomat for repair- By himself. I knew better then to scold him as he is in amazing physical condition and also has the Can Do Marine Attitude. Last year he called me and said " Chris, I sold the old Dip ". Thinking he finally was retiring from the road he went on to tell me " I bought myself a Prevost ". I damn near fell over in my tracks. So what is the big deal ? My friend is 92 years old. I have to also give a huge call out to Bill Williard. He too has been a hero of mine for many years. I will never forget when I made all new fabric replacements for his coach. Window, patio and door awnings along with 4 slide toppers. Bill and his wife did the change out by themselves. I was completely floored. In fact, Bill has came to the rescue of many RV'ers over the years helping them with problems. Just goes to show you that hidden within our ranks are some amazing people and RV'ers and some with many, many miles on their coaches as well as their bodies. God bless them all. For some people ............. Age is just a number.

For future reference and in regards to needing a competent tech for your Sig you have 2 choices on the west coast. Elite Repair & Renovation in Harrisburg, Oregon or Executive Motorcoach in Vegas. Both of these places are owned by former Monaco techs from the Coeburg facility. They know Monaco coaches backwards and forwards and are very good techs. The 2006 Sig and up coaches have very complicated electrical systems that far surpass most other Monaco model coaches. The vast majority of techs out there have no clue where to even start troubleshooting a Sig, Executive or Dynasty. When this happens you end up paying the tech while he learns and you pray to God he doesn't impact other electrical systems along the way. I wouldn't let any Tech near a Mux system unless he knew it inside and out. In your case this could simply be a bad breaker. I installed a new GFCI breaker and found it was bad right out of the box. I have also installed several common breakers in the past that failed within a few short months. I would first verify the breaker is not at fault. If it is good then the chase is on. Start with the simplest and work towards the hardest locations looking for a fault. It is like wanting to do open heart surgery for an ingrown toe nail. A lot of times these issues are just stupid simple little things that do not require ripping your coach apart to troubleshoot an issue. Always start with the dumbest simplest thing and then work forward. Best of luck.

Harold: I am not sure if we have any of those left in stock. You can call my company director Amy and ask her - 352-942-2653. We are also the only company in the USA that makes the Omega question mark arms. They are made of a special aluminum alloy and are thicker and heavier and less prone to being bent. They are made on a CNC machine because the bends have to be exact. We also manufacture the locks for the arms. We always have both in stock. Obviously we sell the fabric through our sister company Stone Vos. 10 year warranty on fabric and lifetime on thread.

Owning an RV service center we see customers from every stage of life. Since we are a small service company we get to spend time talking with customers and I can honestly say you are not alone. We get a lot of Husbands who come in for service alone because their wife is working. But we also have a large contingent of retired full timers as well who sold their home, stored their belongings, bought a coach and hit the road. We are also seeing more " young-un's " coming in with a nice coach and both are still working.........Remotely.........From their coach. When they get bored with the scenery they pack up, fire up the bus and head for better scenery. All while working. To say I am not envious of these kid's would be an understatement. Life is all about what you make of it. We are all tuned to different wave lengths in life with different wants and needs and I have never felt that my way or someone else's way is the right way. We all live according to what floats our boats. As for myself I have been a workaholic since I was 12. Many of my adult years included working 2 and 3 jobs at the same time. I retired young in 2000. Went nuts 2 years later and 5 years after that started my first of 2 RV companies. I just retired 18 months ago - again. I went nut's and am back working more then I want to or should. I am not happy unless I am working and a lot of that stems from not pursuing any hobbies. My only hobby is flying airplanes and if you think a coach is expensive try flying. My favorite plane to fly happens to be $ 500 per hour on a wet lease basis. Calculate that one out. I have finally come to the conclusion that I am wired for 440 and have to be energized all the time. In other words I go through life at 100 mph and cannot slow down. A married couple not always agrees on the same trajectory in life. The prize goes to the man and woman who can come together through compromise and move on together happily. The one thing all of us has to remember is that: We only get one shot at life. Make it the happiest - Make it the best. 🙂

I change my air filter every 3 years. I did have one instance where I changed it after a year because of some bad dusty conditions I got into. Changing a filter is straight forward and fairly easy but you have to pay close attention to making sure you get a good seal. My son uses a small amount of Boeshield T-9 to help it slip over the intake housing and promote sealing. Unlike gas engines, a diesel engine sucks massive amounts of air during operation. Because of this you can dust an engine off in a heartbeat if you do not get a good seal. I have had 2 customers who both dusted off their 400 ISL's because of an improperly sealed air filter. Both times were done by a mechanic who got the air filter cocked and not properly sealed in the housing. One of the dust off's occurred after 30 days of use. Dirty air injection in a diesel can ruin it real fast. I might add that an in frame rebuild for a 400 ISL is currently around $ 22,000. It pays to make sure your filter is set correctly and is air tight. Take your time and double check the seating of the filter. I remember a Cummins spokesperson at the Gathering one year discussed air filter changes and said 3 years was max. He also said to get away from annual filter changes and stick to every 2 years. I have a brand new air filter sitting in my workroom I am going to be tossing out. It is 8 years old and for the life of me I cannot remember where I got it. It is still in a bag and in the original box but I am not going to risk using it. I have so many dang parts for my coach laying around I end up forgetting where I got them and worse yet I forget I even have them. Many came off the old Monaco parts truck they used to take to rally's. They used to give amazing deals off the back of that truck. I have 3 brand new air control valves with a receipt for $ 60 for all 3. I have a huge bag of those gold cabinet door spring hinges I got off the parts truck. The receipt said $ 1.50 each. I sure miss that parts truck. 🙂

Almost all of the Super C's are made on Freightliner chassis's with a freightliner truck front end. Many of the C class RV's are on Ford chassis's, typically F-350 or 450's. The Super C's are much bigger. There are some out there that have a to rating much higher then our Monaco coaches. Nexus makes their Ghost model with a tow capacity and hitch rating of 20,000 lbs. Some of the Super C's are very nice inside and I have seen some with luxury interiors that were very well appointed. I believe there are 2 companies that custom build Super C's and the majority of their customers are race teams or horse people. Here is a Nexus Ghost: https://www.nexusrv.com/check-our-rv-coach-motorhome-dealership-motorhomes--ghost

That is one of the benefits of having a good knowledge base in regards to your coach. You may not be able to do the work but by God you can at least watch and see that the work being done is correct. Speaking of knowledge, for us old timers we can think back to when we didn't have the internet, we didn't have resources like this forum and there was no Youtube videos to watch to learn how to complete a task. I am sure we all remember the days when workers, including technicians took pride in their work and when companies lived up to higher standards and really cared about quality and customer service. Now it all centers around the dollar - profit for corporations and pay checks for workers. Everything else including standards, quality and pride have taken a back seat.

George: Sometimes it gets ridiculous. Being on the front lines and owning a service center I see it all. The hundreds of billable hours we have handed out to customers because of clueless tech's is astounding. I think it is a sad commentary when customers drive 1,000's of miles to our shop to have work done the right way. We recently had a customer come in for a popped belt line. It was the fourth time he has had the same beltline repaired. Twice it was repaired at the same service center in Florida by the supposed " Monaco experts ". Each time they used screws and not stainless rivets. I cannot count the number of slides my tech Dustin has adjusted after a previous tech got the slide completely out of whack. Even simple repairs go wrong. 2 weeks ago we had a customer come in to have a water leak fixed. It was a simple repair but the previous tech cross threaded a fitting and the water leak not only caused damage in the wall and floor but destroyed his inverter. We supported our customer when he went back and filed a claim against the previous service center. They claimed it wasn't their problem but settled with him after we provided pictures of the fitting as well as the damage done. My point is this - When you pay for a repair you should get expert and quality work done. Period. Most service centers are now charging $ 150 per hour. You deserve to get your moneys worth and not have to pay again for the same repair. From where I stand I get frustrated and PO'ed at the horrible work being done these days. Not a day goes by that I do not count my blessings that I have 2 of the best techs money can buy. Jim: I have always supported DIY'ers and here is the sad but true fact. I have found that many repairs made by a coach owner turned out better then if they went to a repair center. Dave Pratt and myself have always advocated - Read your manual, research problems, study the issues other have had and the outcome of repairs and try and fix the issue yourself if you are able. Sadly there are only 4 repair facilities who truly are Monaco experts: Elite Repair and Renovation in Oregon, Elkhart Sales and Service in Elkhart, Executive Motorcoach in Vegas and of course our facility in Florida. Guess what 3 of the 4 have in common ? All are run by former Monaco factory techs and supervisors. 2 of these guys were Monaco's " super techs " meaning they were the ones the factory flew to dealerships to handle Monaco coaches that had serious issues no one could diagnose or fix. This is why I advocate owners learn anything and everything about their coaches. This is why Dave Pratt holds the gathering every year and why the 419 group puts on the maintenance session. It is all about educational and networking opportunities for Monaco brand coach owners. The more you know - The better off you are. 🙂

I am going to guess that this entire issue will all center on the pittman arm. They HAVE to be indexed. Hopefully Van Williams will respond. He is our resident Roadmaster guru.

There are many sketchy deals that have been done by dealers in the way of financing. 2 years ago Camping world got caught cooking numbers on contracts. I would like to say that General by accident screwed up this one sales contract. But when numerous people are getting screwed by General RV like this then you have to start looking at their finance department and upper management at the dealers. There are many ways dealers can make money and more profit off the back end of a sale and they typically always center around warranties and financing. Blaming banks and credit unions or even the buyer really is not fair. It was the dealer who played the game and tried to get away with it. You should be able to buy an RV from a dealer who arranges financing all in a simple and straightforward process like it used to be done without having to bring a forensic CPA to the dealer with you. NEVER trust a dealer and always take 24 hours to review the contract before signing. If the dealer will not allow you that time to look over the paperwork then you better be worried. Very worried. I do know some people are able to pay cash and not finance an RV but for most people they are not flush with cash and have to revert to financing. Smart buyers who are flush with cash will still finance a coach at a low interest rate using someone else's money while investing their own money at a higher return. Do you really think Jeff Bezos of Amazon fame really pays cash for yachts and private jets ? Nope. He uses other peoples money at low interest rates, leaves his money invested at a higher return and then writes off the payments on his taxes. When we bought our coach we did a straight finance deal at a set interest rate for a set period of time. The contract was simple and straightforward. We paid it off early, reducing the interest we paid on the loan and never looked back. Unfortunately the way dealers are financing some RV's now days is a cat and mouse game. You have to take the time and really read through the paperwork and look for ways they could be zinging you. This entire fiasco is one more reason I despise RV dealers.

Each set of rollers has an adjustment bolt. Typically a big kitchen slide will have 3 sets of rollers - 2 standard outside rollers and 1 inverted inside roller. I have seen many kitchen slides with 4 sets of rollers and have run into a few that had 5. The inside roller will ride on the floor of the coach and the exterior rollers will roll on the underside of the slide floor. Access to the external rollers which are mounted to the floor of the coach is sometimes through the bottom slide seal and sometimes through a plastic cover found in a fender well or inside a basement door. Inverted rollers mounted to the underside of the slide are always accessed through a false kitchen cabinet floor or under a couch. By turning the adjustment bolt you will raise or lower the slide. NEVER adjust a roller with the full weight of the slide sitting on the rollers. Jack each corner up and take the weight of the slide off the roller then adjust it. If you bust a bolt or roller chances are the slide will have to be removed. Current pricing is $ 3,000 to remove a small bedroom slide and over $ 4,000 to remove a large forward slide. It needs to be said here these adjustments I mentioned do not pertain to flush floor slides. These slides go out, drop and then sit in place. When they come in they tip up towards the ceiling and then level out and come in. I am not going to get into the procedure of adjusting these type slides as you can really screw up these slide mechanisms if you do not know what you are doing. One of the greatest fairy tales told is having someone say " adjust them to where the paint lines line up ". This is a trick tech's use who haven't a clue. Show me a slide adjustment made on an older coach according to paint lines and I will show you our next customer who will be rolling in needing slide work. Adjusting a flush floor slide takes experience and knowing which points to measure and check during the process as well as having a keen ear and being able to hear binds and motor sounds which indicates binding. It can sometimes be a long process of adjusting a flush floor slide to get it to operate perfectly with the correct height and ease of operation.

Does this slide have a wardrobe on it or a bed ? You can contact Lippert directly and order the part. If they wont sell it directly to you then call my Director Amy at Talin RV and she will order it and have it drop shipped to you. 352-942-2653. You can also ask to speak with my Tech, Dustin. He is one of the best slide guys in the country.

Dave and I discussed ceramic coating on the phone the other day. Owners should know that the only true ceramic coating is the process Dave had done on his bus. Do not be fooled by bottles of ceramic coating you can buy and apply yourself. The typical lay person cannot buy true ceramic coatings, only a dealer can. Unless you are going to go through the process Dave had done on his coach then you are better off applying Mcquires Ultimate wax rather then the cheap ceramic coatings being sold on the internet. My son was able to get a hold of the true ceramic coating through a business contact and it took him 2 weeks to apply it to his 45 ft Mountain air. He had to clay bar the entire coach first before applying it. He did the work off and on according to his schedule. He also did his pick up truck and despite being 5 years old it looks brand new after the ceramic coating. It is a big job which is why these companies charge so much. I could probably get my hands on the high grade ceramic coating but I am not going to spend a few weeks clay barring my coach and applying it. I just apply Mcquires Ultimate twice a year. I can do that in a day. 🙂

Behind the door is storage. The black circles are air con/heat vents. This was not a Monaco coach. I forgot the brand but remember what a royal PITA that dash was. I would never do another one for love or money. It took precision corner cuts, a lot of heat and stretching to get the vinyl perfect. Most of the dealers send dash recovering's back to the factory. Very few upholsterers do these kind of dash jobs. I was a dummy for doing it to be honest. I told the dealership don't call me I will call you next time. 🙂

I am just about ready to have my seats done. I have been doing upholstery since I was 18. I am having my techs remove the seats and then having my buddy do the seats for me. My specialty before switching to awnings was vinyl seating and I have a 2,000 sq ft full blown sewing shop with over 20 K worth of industrial machines. But our shop is so overloaded with orders that I couldn't get a machine or table from my staff to sew on if I wanted to. Everything is in use. Besides, at my age I am not wrestling these seats around. My buddy is a true master and has plied his trade on custom seating for classic cars for 40 years. I couldn't come close to his abilities. We talked yesterday and I am having him cut down the center section foam and inlaying memory foam to make them more comfortable. I ordered all the fabric and went with a commercial grade heavy vinyl that is used in the medical field. The center insets will all be perforated so it will breath and reduce sweat. I was just with Brad from Bradd & Hall in January and we both agreed a lot of the ultra suede and ultra leather vinyl on the market is junk now days. One of our members had his seats done with it and he has to have them done again. They are only 5 years old and are already worn and cracked. Pretty sad to have a huge sewing shop but cannot access it. I have days I miss doing upholstery but not enough to screw around with these heavy seats. I have several friends who are marine upholsterers and they have quit doing couches on boats for the same reason. Age and too heavy. Sadly, true master upholsterers are getting hard to find and when you do find one they are booked out months on work. It is a dying trade unfortunately. One of my last projects: Speaking of upholstery............. This was my very last job doing RV upholstery work. A coach owner had a new windshield installed and the installer slit the the dash with a tool while working on the gasket. It took 2 RV technicians 2 days to remove the dash. I picked it up and went to work recovering it. I dropped it back off at the dealer when it was done and it took the tech's one full day to re-install it. I swore I would never do another dash again. Recovering a dash with all of the radius's and curves and making sure the dash had no wrinkles at the corner was time consuming. The glass company got presented a huge bill from the dealer and myself.

I had the same thing happen to me. When none of your slides work the very first thing you do is check the power to the switch inside the coach. This switch does nothing more then transfer power to your slide controller. The slide controller and relays is what actually powers the motors. If it is not getting a power signal from the switch then none of your slides will work. Monaco in their infinite wisdom used a very small wire to power the switch. Unfortunately they do break from time to time leaving all of your slides in operative. I had mine break and ended up picking up power for the switches off the wet bay heater switch next to the slide switch. Pull the switch panel off and check the power to the switch. If you have power there then it could be a slide relay. If everything checks out then it could be your batteries. If you have multiple slide switches and none of your slides work then I am going to guess the problem is in the batteries or the slide control box. I have lost track of the number of people who have checked the voltage of their batteries and found them to be good. But once you apply a load to them the voltage drops out. A static test of battery voltage is one thing. A battery voltage test under load is another.

God Bless you Brent. I have done one floor and I can promise you I wont ever do it again. It is not a job for an older guy with a body that has been abused for many years. I had aches and pains for 2 days afterwards and ate pain killers like skittles. It drove home that old saying " If I knew I was going to live this long - I would have taken better care of myself ". It is a job better left for you " kids ". Wait till you get older Brent. Your knees and back will remind you of every floor you ever replaced when you were younger. Good job. The floors look great.

Thankfully Lazy Days got an early jump on this so Dave has been able to start the planning process early. Dave, Fred & Bill used to do the Gathering together and since the passing of Fred & Bill he was left alone to do all the work. I have tried to step up and help him to take some of the workload off him as planning these things can be a real chore. Dave and I just reviewed the menu choices and the dinners will be fantastic. I will be doing a seminar or two myself and will help Dave bring in other experts to conduct seminars. We talked yesterday about the need for a few members that may be coming in early to help stuff the goodie bags. Dave will let everyone know when registration opens and when that happens I urge you to make your call to Lazy days to reserve a spot as I have a feeling this Gathering is going to fill up fast. I lost track of the number of Gatherings I have attended over the years but can say each one has always been fun and educational while also giving everyone the chance to meet people from the forum here. As with all the Gatherings I will be doing free coach inspections again and will give more information on that latter. I am looking forward to seeing everyone and meeting new people who may attend. Mark the date. 🙂

I have been in the awning/fabric business for over 15 years and my best advice when considering replacing awning or slide topper fabric is to shop based on warranty. The shorter the warranty, the shorter the life of the thread and fabric. All fabric replacement companies base their warranties on how long the life expectancy is of their product. They have to otherwise they would go bankrupt handling warranty claims. Sadly many of the fabric replacement companies focus on profit versus quality and this shows up in their warranty terms. Some of the warranty terms are pro-rated too. I have seen a big influx of Chinese Sunbrella and thread used by aftermarket companies and one large aftermarket company not only uses chinese fabric and thread but all of its sewing is done in Mexico and then the orders are processed back in the USA. Like so many other products you get what you pay for. Replacing fabric on slide toppers and awnings is a big investment in time and money so you want to buy the very best fabric replacements you can with the strongest warranty. Stone Vos imports their fabric from Germany and it is the highest quality fabric in the world and then sews it with lifetime Solarfix thread. The warranty is 10 years on fabric and lifetime on thread and is NOT prorated. With over 30,000 awning fabric replacements sewn over the last 15 years the failure rate and warranty claim rate for Stone Vos is 0.03 %. Pinching pennies on fabric replacements will end up costing you. Ask Dr4film about his previous awning fabric replacements. They fell apart after a couple short years. 😞