throgmartin

My son, a certified Cummins tech, used to do all my coach maintenance. Once a year whether it needed it or not. He switched my coach over to all synthetic using Rotella after 30,000 miles ( typical break in mileage ). Everything in my coach has synthetic - genny, hydraulics, gear case, etc. He had a couple friends who worked in Cummins skunk works who fed him information from the dyno room. That information never matched what Cummins corporate released to the market. A perfect example is fuel treatments. Cummins at one time said you do not need fuel treatment. Then when the switch was made to ULSD and Cummins got hammered with fuel line leak warranty claims from shrinking seals they came out and said add fuel treatment. Then they bought Diesel Kleen and touted it as the best. Back in the dyno/engineering room they found that Opti Lube was the best performing fuel treatment on the market. Diesel Kleen didn't even rate in the top ten. In one study performed by an independent lab, Walmarts 2 cycle engine oil performed better then Diesel Kleen. When I worked in NASCAR I had a lot of friends who fed me info that came from testing and the dyno room. Remember back in the 90's when drivers were blowing engines due to valve train failure ? They cured it with 2 things. Valve cover spray bars and Mobil 1. They found Mobil 1 carried the heat away from the valve train the best and also had superior lube properties. I never knew that till I was in a discussion with Jack Roush and Robert Yates and they explained what they found during testing. Once that info got out, all the teams switched to Mobil 1, including Jeff Gordon and Mark Martin who were Valvoline and Quaker State sponsored. The teams would empty out their sponsors oil jugs and fill them with Mobil 1 to take to the track. I run Mobil 1 in all my vehicles ( except the coach ). There is so much BS and misinformation out there concerning engines, lubricants, fuel treatments, etc. The last group of people I listen to are the corporate people. The ones I always follow the advice of are the ones in the engine testing rooms who are pulling dyno tests and doing analysis 5 days a week. What they find that works the best never reaches the public. Those tests are buried by the suit and tie guys in order for the company to make more money off a different product. Dave Pratt is a former racer and he can also tell you some stories. Talking about awesome jobs, I have 2 friends who retired from GM. One worked in diesel hot test and the other worked in the Duramax lab. Imagine having a job that paid 6 figures and all you did was do dyno runs and try and blow up engines. 🙂

Well it appears I was wrong on one item as Marv Miller, owner of ESS called me and said they are not closing down but remaining in business. However Tom Bompus has gotten another job and will be leaving ESS. As I stated earlier, this is a loss for the RV industry. Tom is leaving the RV world with a huge knowledge base in Monaco/HR coaches. That type of experience is extremely hard to replace. If anyone has questions about appointments with ESS I suggest you contact them directly. I promised Marv I would correct my earlier statement. Sorry for any confusion this may have caused.

That would open me up for a law suit. I have a policy of dealing with issues behind closed doors and out of the public eye. I will never reveal the names of individuals or companies/dealers. There has only been one customer who was a major PITA that was a member here. I dealt with him accordingly and he is probably still searching for a service center that will book an appointment for him. The one that I had to get the Sheriff involved in was not a Monaco owner. If he had been a member I would have contacted Dave Pratt directly. I am thankful 95 % of our customers are awesome to deal with, are respectful, have common sense and trust us to always do the right thing.

Scotty: The financials of an RV service company is also a factor of companies selling out or closing down. The costs of running a business like this is staggering. Taxes, workers comp, unemployment taxes, liability insurance, utilities, mortgage and of course payroll which in itself is a killer. Parts are another factor. The prices keep going up with no end in sight and even the costs associated with tracking down these parts are horrendous as hours can be spent by staff tracking down an individual part that costs $ 25. The math doesn't add up when you consider you pay $ 50 for staff time to find a part that you make $ 5 off in margins. The margins are also getting thinner and we try hard to hold our costs in line so as not to gouge our customers so we end up eating some of the price increases. AC units is a perfect example. They have almost doubled in price since Covid. I hate to cry a river but these stresses all add up to burn out and makes you wonder why you subject yourself to these pressures every day. And of course, ask any business owner and they will tell you their business is a 24/7 affair. You can never escape the pressures of owning a company. One other glaring problem are the customers themselves. A lot of the RV service center owners and managers talk among ourselves. We discuss parts, production, scheduling and almost ll of us belong to the FRVTA association which holds monthly meetings. One thing we all have noticed is the attitude of RV customers and how it has changed in the last 2 years. 95 % of our customers are golden and excellent to work with. But we get that one customer every couple months that requires either me or Bethany to ban them from our property. They are the ones who are never happy and would complain if you served them cold ice cream. They get verbally abusive and can cause chaos. I ban them from our service lot and pass their name off to other service centers so they are aware that this individual is a royal PITA. This year alone I have banned 4 customers and one the Sheriff served notice to never step foot on our property again. Tom Bumpus and I used to share customer names with one another and I do the same with certain service centers in Florida where I know the owner and or manager. They do the same with us and will pass on problem customers names. If they call for an appointment they wont get one. You hate doing it but I will not subject my staff to jack asses who drive onto our lot, make demands and then nickel and dime us to death. A lot of these customers are frustrated over the high cost of repairs and some are financially up against the wall. I am sorry for their frustrations but I am not their punching bag and neither is my staff. I also wont be shaken down for money or threatened with legal action. I just find it sad that we have lost 2 good shops this year - Elkhart Sales and Service and Smokey Mountain Coach Works. Both served the Monaco owners community for many years with great service and expertise in their given area. I hate to think that someday all that will be left are the Lazy Day's, General RV's and Camping World service centers as the independent shops continue to close down.

I really screwed up with my original post above. I should have mentioned that this forum is extremely important to Monaco owners. The wisdom of some of our senior members, the files, schematics, drawings, member input helps solve many problems for coach owners here. As time goes on and more experts leave the industry, this forum will become even more valuable as a resource to owners. If I am allowed, let me play out a scenario to show just how important having experienced Monaco techs is for coach owners. John Doe takes his coach to XYZ dealership for a slide problem. The dealer assigns a tech who typically works on Winnebagos, Thors, Tiffins, etc. The tech eats up 2 hours of diagnosis time and finds the problem. He then spends 3 hours adjusting and fixing the slide. The customer leaves and at his next stop puts out his slide and finds it is binding and operating hard. Now the customer is left with finding another dealership to fix his slide and he now faces another repair bill. This scenario plays out all the time. Every week we have a customer who pulls into our service lot with a slide issue, leak or some other problem. It typically takes myself, Dustin or Mike 10 minutes to diagnose the problem and an hour to fix it. Why ? Because 90 % of our work is on Monaco's and we have probably seen that issue 200 times before and know the correct adjustment to make. When you work on a specific brand day in and day out you learn all of the little tricks. You also know exactly where to look for a given problem because you have seen it so many times before. I could write a book on the failed repairs we have seen done by inexperienced techs who didn't have a clue when it came to Monaco coaches. Some of the repairs we have had to un-cluster which cost's the owners a lot of money. This was my reason for posting this topic. Each coach brand has their own inherent issues and while many brands share the same systems, the build process brings forth many different methods used that if you do not know can be a real headache to repair. As a business owner I should be happy but to be honest I am not. My company should not be a busy as it is. We should not be having to fix repairs and poor workmanship that was made by another shop. We should not be booked out months in advance for appointments. In a perfect world you should be able to drive your coach onto a service lot and have a repair made in a high quality matter and requires no future work. But the RV world is far from perfect. I hate having to show a customer a problem that a half Azz'ed technician created by not knowing how a Monaco is built. I have 4 young techs and they are all like my kids. I am proud of them all, their pride in workmanship and their dedication to learning Monaco brand coaches. I admit I am not the easiest person to work for as I demand perfection. Thankfully I have a staff that day in and day out goes the extra mile for me, our customers and they go home at night with a smile because they took pride in their work. Unfortunately we have an industry loaded with technicians who look at their job as nothing more then a paycheck. Rant over.....................

Dave and I always have a meeting of the minds when it comes to my seminars. I have done 9 different seminars on various topics all over the USA over the years and one more wont hurt. Whatever ya'll need for a seminar at the gathering I am game. Which reminds me, I am completely revamping my seminars for next year and updating them. I like to keep them fresh as well as add new items to the seminars I have recently learned.

[I got the shock of my life last week when I was notified that Elkhart Sales & Service has closed their doors.] Well it appears I was wrong on one item as Marv Miller, owner of ESS called me and said they are not closing down but remaining in business. However Tom Bompus has gotten another job and will be leaving ESS. As I stated earlier, this is a loss for the RV industry. Tom is leaving the RV world with a huge knowledge base in Monaco/HR coaches. That type of experience is extremely hard to replace. If anyone has questions about appointments with ESS I suggest you contact them directly. I promised Marv I would correct my earlier statement. Sorry for any confusion this may have caused. For those of you who are not familiar with ESS, it was a service center located in Elkhart. They had been in business for decades and the shop was managed by a very dear friend of mine Tom Bumpus. For those of you who do not know Tom, he was a walking Monaco encyclopedia as he worked in Monaco's R & D center as well as later in his career was a supervisor in the factory service center. He was known as one of the very best with Monaco's electrical systems and carried schematics in his head. Tom at one point was one of the Factories " super tech's ". There were 2 Monaco had on staff. One covered the Western USA and Tom covered the East. When a dealer could not figure out a problem with a coach the factory flew Tom in to fix it. Let me first dispel any rumors that ESS was in financial trouble. That simply is NOT true. They were heavily booked with appointments and were financially in good shape. The problem was the same thing many shops are experiencing - staff. It is hard to find workers and even harder to find qualified technicians. Tom was not able to do all the work on his own and training a new employee is a long expensive process. Tom decided to head to an industry far removed from RV's. He is making a lot more money and the physical demands are more line with a guy his age. But there is one other problem with the Tom's walking away and that is the loss of experts in the RV industry. This is my second buddy who has left the RV industry and moved on to greener pastures. Both started working for Monaco when they were in their late teens / early 20's. Both, after so many years were burnt out. The closing of the Factory, then both going out on their own took its toll on them. The loss to the industry and more importantly Monaco owners is tremendous. There are no replacements for these guys as it takes years to build a large knowledge base of Monaco coaches. I look around and consider the changes I myself have seen and it is worrisome. The old Alliance in Wildwood, FL is a perfect example. It was staffed by former Monaco factory technicians who were excellent technicians. Alliance was the go to place for Monaco owners. Then Lazy Days bought them. The last I checked they have one former Alliance technician left. I think of some of the best Monaco techs ( all former factory techs ) who are still working as techs and they are all aging out. What happens when these guys hang up their tool bags and retire or walk out and go into another industry ? It leaves Monaco coach owners with less experienced techs to work on their coaches. I find this all worrisome. Tom and PJ are very dear friends and I know when I have a problem coach on my lot they are a phone call away to consult with me. But it still does not replace having those skilled hands working on a coach. These are just random thoughts of mine I am having while drinking my morning coffee.

Fixing delamination is a highly skilled process. It requires not only knowledge of the process but also making sure you use the correct materials. Monaco's walls, which are fiberglass bonded to 1/4 " luann plywood, is attached to the superstructure ( wall braces ) using a specialized glue. The top and bottom of each panel is seamed and attached and then covered by the upper and lower beltlines. Delamination is caused by water intrusion into the sidewalls ( typically through a popped beltline or leaking window frame ). The Luan board rots and the fiberglass then has no rigid structure to support it causing it to bow outward. Because the luan board is so thin it rots quickly when exposed to moisture/water. Fixing a large delam area is ultra expensive and even fixing a small area is very costly. Finding a service center to do the work is even harder. There are only 2 shops that I know of that do wall replacements the correct way and have the knowledge base to affect a perfect delam repair. The process is painstaking, requiring the right environment, temperatures, etc. It also requires the correct clamping process employed in all the right areas using specific bonding agents. I was brought in to testify in a court case as an expert witness early this year in a delamination job that went bad. One of our members here had his coach " re-walled " at a Florida dealer and the walls delaminated and popped in a few short days. His coach was reduced to a 40,000 lb worthless piece of rolling fiberglass. Thankfully he took pictures of everything including each step in the process as the coach was being re-skinned. It didn't take me long to spot all the wrong processes they used. When he complained because the majority of his walls popped and delaminated, the dealer told him to go pound sand. So he hired a lawyer. The law firm sued the dealer and their insurance company. The insurance company elected to go to trial. That is when the coach owners law firm brought me in as an expert witness. My deposition and supporting documents helped persuade the insurance company to settle at the 11th hour just before trial. Obviously because of the settlement agreement I cannot name the dealer or the member here. Here is my advice - If you have a delaminated wall........... Leave it the hell alone and live with it. 1.) The process to have it repaired can easily exceed the value of your coach. 2.) You will play hell trying to find a service center that truly knows the process and knows what they are doing. I have heard it all before - " My Uncle Jacks neighbor is a great fiberglass guy and works on corvettes ". Trust me when I tell you the process for professionally repairing delamination on a motorcoach wall far exceeds most body guys abilities. I know of two people who are truly experts at this process and both are no longer in the RV Industry. One of my very dear friends supervised the building of your coach at the factory and was in charge of the body construction department. He was Monaco's number 1 guy in the body building department. If you asked him he would tell you the same thing I told you - live with the delamination. There have been coach owners who have repaired small delam areas on their coach walls before by gutting the wall from the inside and replacing small sections of the luan board leaving the fiberglass in tact. How it turned out I am not sure as I never seen the finished job. I don't recommend it unless you are one helluva craftsman, have a great deal of experience working with adhesives and can build jig's and know how and where to brace/clamp the outside area. Just as a footnote, I have delamination on my coach. I fixed it by not looking at that area. Problem solved. 🙂

The coldest I have ever stayed in my coach was 15 degrees. It was by accident that I got caught in those temps. The temp was not predicted to get that low. I took a trouble light with a metal deflector and hung it in my wet bay. No problems and nothing froze. I fixed any issues of possible freezing by heading to warmer temps the next day. We should all be grateful because Monaco did a good job of insulating our coaches - wall's, ceilings and dual pane windows. You should see some of the other brands and the way they are insulated - very poor to say the least. In a nutshell the one thing I found that works the best to prevent freezing of pipes, etc. is avoid cold climates. I am a veteran of 42 winters in Michigan.................... Cold weather sucks............... Strangely enough, when I retired the first time I developed a terrible allergy to snow. I moved to Florida. I never wanted to hold a snow shovel in my hands again. 🙂

There are many more out there running the Norcold's. Just had someone contact us today to work on their Norcold. I sent them to Lazy Day's. 🙂 I wont allow my techs to touch a Norcold. I do not want to be inserted into the law suit stream if their coach burns down. Doesn't matter if it isn't our fault. If there is a law suit the lawyers list every company that looked, touched or worked on it.

I am not sure what you maybe be referring to but if it i the soft-start for AC units, those are wired into each AC unit on the roof. If this is the case then I can attest to the fact that work great. We are a dealer for Soft-Start and have sold a lot of them.

I would say try the salvage yards but they sometimes wont sell just a component. They want you to buy the entire assembly. In this case they would probably want you to buy the whole door. I have tried getting certain parts in the past from Colaws and Visone and they always want me to buy the entire assembly at ridiculous prices. I think your best bet is to have a local screen maker build you a new frame with screen to fit your door.

The costs to retrofit would be exorbitant. Just the wiring alone would be a complete nightmare.

I have lost track of the number of slide seals we have replaced on Monaco's. We currently have 2 coaches on our lot having this work done. I have posted on here before about the difficulty of replacing slide seals on the higher end Monaco coaches. Dynastys, Exec's and Sigs have very tight clearances between the slide sidewall and coach wall. Replacing seals on these coaches are not fun and requires a lot of Ibuprofen for the pain in your hands. 🙂 We have a few other tricks we use. One is lubing the new slide seals well with aerospace 303 right after replacing the seals. This allows the seal to break in without grabbing the slides side wall and working loose. On some coaches we have had to apply 3m adhesive to the crimp. It all depends on many factors - clearance issues, the slide being out of square in the coach wall, etc. I have seen some slides out of whack in regards to squareness and being un-level that the clearances in one spot pinches the wiper seal and pops the crimp off the flange of the slide opening. Most slide seal jobs go smoothly but there are always those few coaches whose slides creates headaches and requires slide adjustments being made to square the slide and level it for a proper seal fit and ensure a proper functioning wiper seal.

Whenever a step wont extend or retract our first step here at the shop that our tech's use in troubleshooting is to jumper the motor using a 14, 18 or 20 volt drill battery. If the steps work then you move to the control module. One word of caution - always make sure your arms and hands are in a safe position when jumpering the motor. One other tidbit - Many control modules fail due to water and moisture getting into the step light which is found by the motor on some models. Be sure this light is sealed properly. I lost a control module on my own coach due to this issue.

We are located 50 miles north of Tampa, 15 miles off I-75 in Brooksville. I suggest you call well in advance as we are booked out for several months. 352-942-2653.

I bought a lock and lube and I couldn't get enough clearance around the head and zert when greasing the U-Joints. I use a hand pump grease gun for that. I did buy a Dewalt 20 V grease gun and that thing is awesome. I have so many things to grease besides the coach - Farm tractor and implements, Kubota RTV, trailer bearings, etc. I order Mobil grease by the case lots. The Dewalt grease gun is awesome. It isn't cheap but makes greasing so much quicker and easier. I also like the fact that since I have almost every 20 volt battery operated tool that Dewalt makes I can swap batteries. I have used the air grease guns but found running air hoses and a compressor ate up time. With the Dewalt grease gun I grab it, a tube of grease and a battery and can go anywhere on my property to grease equipment. I do use the Lock and Lube on everything else except the U-Joint zerts. It works great and does lock on to the zerts. BTW, greasing anything is one of my least favorite things to do. https://www.amazon.com/DEWALT-DCGG571B-20-volt-Lithium-Grease/dp/B00G1X2HPG/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2HDPR4N36RNJW&keywords=dewalt+cordless+grease+gun&qid=1663070641&s=automotive&sprefix=Dewalt+grease+gun%2Cautomotive%2C677&sr=1-2

Clean surfaces with denatured alcohol. Use this adhesive. https://www.amazon.com/3M-08011-Black-Weatherstrip-Adhesive/dp/B0002SQTVY/ref=pd_day0fbt_img_sccl_2/139-5905659-8697434?pd_rd_w=07Vqo&content-id=amzn1.sym.fb2f9869-6657-4645-bf3b-01bcc75765ec&pf_rd_p=fb2f9869-6657-4645-bf3b-01bcc75765ec&pf_rd_r=FS9QTEVXXDPZA8W45Z75&pd_rd_wg=iMD8Z&pd_rd_r=692373d2-013e-499f-8b3b-669c5888c71f&pd_rd_i=B0002SQTVY&psc=1

Steve is right. We have mended some seals using 3M body adhesive. It is great stuff. I do need to add that I am proud of my dear friend Steve for being right. Being right is typically not found in veterinarians and is almost non existent in Mississippi State graduates. Steve and Scotty are perfect examples.......I rest my case.........lol......:)

The motor is located under the bed. There will be a false panel which has to be removed to access the motor. Lifting the bed will not reveal the motor. You have to remove the false panel located at the head of the bed. If you are having problems with this slide's operation let us know and then I can steer you in the right direction.

Tom has the right tool and idea. My technicians start at the top and slowly work down. My interior technician is a master at it. He has never damaged a piece of trim work. He works slowly and methodically. Do not twist the board or pry at an uneven angle. Use a straight out motion. The wood can crack and break if you start using uneven prying motions that twist the wood at weird angles. Patience is a virtue and if you use patience while removing them you wont damage the woodwork. Re-attach using a brad nailer. I would not recommend using VHB 3M 2 sided tape. This tape has amazing grip power and the wood may crack if ever removed again. 3M VHB tape is a permanent tape used for body trim, etc. Good luck.

I wont install any other type of switch on a customers coach. I do not want the liability. The factory switches are junk and a fire hazard. My OEM switch failed, nearly fried my inverter and melted to the point that when I took it off it fell apart in my hands. I lost track of the OEM switches we have replaced. We buy the Sea switches by the case load.

The Blue Sea switch is the only way to go. Have never seen one fail.

I had the same issue. I rebooted the coach and it went away. Before digging into everything, try this simple procedure to see if it works. If it doesn't then you can start your search for the problem. Kill all power to the coach. Switch both battery disconnects to the off position. Let set for 5 minutes. Switch battery disconnects back on and then turn shore power back on. It is just like re-booting a computer when it gets gremlins in it. My son whenever helping me with a computer problem always told me - " When in doubt...........Re-boot ". 🙂

For what its worth, we bring in a mobile hydraulic guy to custom make all new hoses with fittings. I blew a hydraulic line on a backhoe last year and the mobile guy came out, made a new hose, replaced the line and I was back digging in an hour. These guys do this for a living and are excellent at repairing these lines. When you consider renting specialized tools not to mention your time and labor you maybe better off calling in a specialist who knows all the work arounds, can effect a perfect repair that wont leak in the future and also warrants his work.