throgmartin

Everyone has their own tire program for their coach. I know I have my own and I consider my tire habits a personal choice based on my own preferences and what gives me peace of mind. In the end it is my ass sitting in the drivers seat and I will not risk my life or those of friends or loved ones all in an effort to save money. Some say I am OCD about my tires but that is my choice. I have seen too many coaches destroyed, people injured and killed over blown tires. In the 20 plus years of RV'ing I have never had a blow out. I change my steer tires every 5 years and the dual's every 6 years. I keep them clean, treated well with 303 and covered. I run my coach down the road every 30 - 60 days and I make sure when parked I have the jacks down far enough to take some of the load off the tires. I also upsized my tires from 275's to 295's to prevent overloading and to also run lower pressures which improves the ride. I have had 4 corner weights done in multiple traveling configurations and religiously check pressures before each trip. Before buying new tires I poll fleet owners who have semi's running 100,000 miles a year on their rigs. I find out which tire has given them the best reliability and I also check with the tire service guys at Love's and Flying J to see which tires they have seen more blow outs on. No offense but I never go off what other RV'ers recommend for tire brands. The amount of miles we all put on our tires every year is ridiculously low as compared to the amount of miles traveled by large fleet owners. I also never listen to tire shops as their opinions can be biased based on profit margins that month. In regards to RV'ers length of service for tires I rarely pay attention. Every one treats their tires differently in regards to care, miles traveled, climate, tire pressures, overloading not to mention the abuse one subjects their tires to such as potholes, curb rubs, etc. There are way too many variables to ascertain a set replacement schedule as everyone of us cares for our tires differently, runs different brand tires, drive smoother or rougher highways and those of us who are parked in high UV ray states like AZ, CA and FL. In the end we all have to adopt a tire program that works for us.

We use a mobile hydraulic guy who comes to our shop and makes the hose on site for our customers coaches. He removes the hoses, makes new ones and installs it. He has a large truck with a portable shop in the back and does all his hose making there. Very convenient and his rates are not bad. Saves us having to remove the hose and drive to a shop then drive back to pick it up.

For you longtime NASCAR fans you probably remember back in the 90's when the Winston Cup guys were blowing engines during every race. Even the guys with top engine building departments broke motors during races. Then in the late 90's and early 2000's engine blow ups stopped. I started working in Winston Cup in 1993 and retired in 2003. I was a marketing and PR consultant and worked with all the top teams as an independent consulting to the owners and drivers. One day I was having a conversation with Jack Roush and Robert Yates and the conversation turned to engines and I asked what changed with the engine failures and they both chuckled and said - Mobil 1. Since all of my work centered around doing licensing contracts for drivers, sponsorships and other marketing programs I never had the chance to delve into the mechanical end of Cup racing. But Roush and Yates provided me with a lot of great information. Some was pretty deep and above my paygrade. They both had large engine departments with engineers that did engine analysis and constant dyno testing. What they found out was that the engine failures was being caused not only from lubricity issues but heat and all of it centered around the valve train. I believe it was the Roush team who started to experiment with Mark Martins motors and discovered Mobil 1 prevented valve train failures. While it is common knowledge that synthetic oils, especially Mobil 1, provides better lubricity it also had another property which saved the valve trains. It carried heat away from the valve train better. So less heat and better lubricity cured the engine failures in Winston Cup engines. Since then I run Mobil 1 in everything I own, except the coach engine. I use Rotella dino oil in the cummins. I use Mobil 1 in the generator and rear differential. I use Mobil 1 in the truck, tractor, power washer and anything else with an engine. The reason I use Rotella in the coach engine is because I change the oil every year and most times I only have 5,000 miles on it. I also have a Cummins 330 which is known to be one of the most bullet proof engines Cummins ever made. If I owned a 500 or 600 you bet I would use Mobil 1 as both engines have have had known valve train issues. When it comes to oil discussions I stay clear of them. Mainly because everyone has their own preference and to be honest I could care less what anyone uses for oil. They can run Wesson cooking oil as far as I am concerned. For those who like Dino oil for their coach engines Rotella is the best on the market. I like their additive package. For all other engines Mobil 1 cannot be beat and their other oils such as their heavy synthetic gear oils is excellent. As a side note to the NASCAR story, when other teams found out about the advantages of Mobil 1 they all switched. But the hilarious part was that many were sponsored by other oil companies - Pennzoil, Quaker State, Valvoline, etc. So the teams did a switcharoo at the shops by emptying out their dino oils and filling them with Mobil 1 to take to the track so the public wouldn't see Mobil 1 jugs sitting around. Being the smart ass I am I walked into Jeff Gordons garage at the track and picked up a Quaker State oil jug, removed the top and smiled and looked at Jeff and said " smells just like Mobil 1 ". Him and the crew all laughed.

When we do roof renovations at our shop we powerwash the roof. We scrub the roof using a heavy concentration of Dawn 4X detergent. We then completely rinse the roof using the powerwasher. Dawn is a powerful cleaner that wont effect paint and l;eave stains down the sides of the coach. We then wash the coach immediately afterwards. After the roof is dry the coach owner then selects what process he wants. If the paint or fiberglass is in good shape we apply a heavy layer of Aerospace 303. If the fiberglass or paint on metal roofs shows aging then we paint it using Dicor products.

Brett: We were a Sani Con dealer up till 2 months ago so did a lot of installations. I always ran 10 gauge wire back to the battery bay and included a 30 amp re-settable fuse. I do want to say we dropped the sani con line not because of quality issues but Thetfords new pricing structure which wiped out half our margins. The sani con turbo systems are the best on the market for macerators. When they went to the new pricing program I felt it wasn't worth our time to deal with them any more. At one time we moved more sani con systems then any other dealer in the country.

I have been doing things the quick easy way. As the ballasts burn out I bypass them and install 12 V LED tubes and call it good. I tried the strips once and found it to be a royal PITA trimming the strips, sticking them down and then wiring each strip. I found it easier to remove the ballast, butt connect the wires and throw the tubes in. I can convert a light in 15 minutes or less now. The tubes I got from a member ( Jim Gritch ) who sells them through his company. I really like them as the deflectors for the tubes can be rotated to direct the light where I want it.

Before you trash your old Norcold, remove the wooden panel inserts from the door and store them. The wood can be used later for any cabinet project inside the coach. I saved all my door inserts and am going to be using them for a cabinet I am going to build for the bedroom.

They perform much better and produce better power. The problem is the Fed's have shut down all the players that did them. It drove the entire EGR delete workers underground. Now all the technology, parts and programs are coming out of Canada and difficult to get. Most of the USA based guys are too scared to mess with it. A family member, a diesel mechanic, did a complete delete on a newer Duramax. He dumped the DEF and everything. Afterwards he said the power, performance and general engine operation was night and day. In his words " I never realized how choked off these engines are from all that pollution control crap ".

It is pretty outdated. They have come a long ways in trailer braking systems.

Let me know what you think Paul. I have never heard one bad word about Mikes work. Every paint job I have seen came out great. I am sure he allows you to revamp the paint scheme to whatever you want, including all the colors and swirl schemes. I had a customer go in there and come out with a total different coach. The transformation was amazing. Report back here and let us all know your thoughts. See you in Florida sometime Mate.

There is a place in the Elkhart area that has been around for years. I believe it is called Mikes Paint. I have seen numerous paint jobs by him and they all came out awesome. He gives you a blank canvas and you can choose the design. The last I knew he charged $ 15,000 for a complete paint job from front to back on a 40 ft coach. I have always judged paint job costs by what Mike charges. Prices for paint jobs are all over the map and I have seen some very good jobs and I have seen some bad ones. With all the coaches I see in our shop I get a first hand look at work performed by others, including paint and there are professional quality jobs and then there are some I would have asked for my money back. Some have been really bad.

Ken, if that happens again take a bolt to Lowes and match it up in diameter and then buy a longer one. Those threads go deep into the cover. Also always use blue loctite on the SOK III bolts.

I still believe that while there is a true shortage of items in some cases there is also corporate greed and gouging going on. In regards to lumber I had an interesting conversation with a Lowes director. I asked if once the lumber market rights itself and there is no more shortage if the prices would come down and he stated " just a little ". We own 4 companies and all of them except one has been hit with shortages and price increases. I spend a lot of time on the phone talking with peers who own other companies that are large and small and all of them are saying they are having to spend copious amounts of time checking prices on the materials they use in their businesses. Some are experiencing daily increases while others like us are experiencing weekly increases. We have already dropped one product of ours because of stainless prices ( our Coolant surge tank ). Stainless is going up weekly. We go through a lot of mirror stainless every week and we are getting killed. Our margins are nearly to the point of being even with the product price. I am in the middle of a pricing audit and will be raising the prices on our Guardian Plate systems. It wont be popular with RV'ers but we have no choice. Those trucks sitting in those lots are all due to computer chip shortages. The last I knew it would be 2 years before the market is back to normal on chips. A major chip manufacturer in Japan had their plant burn to the ground and it is nearly impossible for other companies to step up production to steady the market. If anyone is sitting on the sidelines waiting to start a project to see what happens with prices, they will not come down. Chances are they will only go up or stay flat. We purchased an industrial property and are just starting the interior build out. Lets just say my budget is blown before I even got started. 4 inch conduit we bought last year for $ 35 is now $ 75. A year ago I built a new pool house and equipment building and was paying $ 3.50 for a 2 x 4. Today that same 2 x 4 is $9.79. Anyone checked the price of electrical wire lately ? It has gone nuts due to copper prices. I just finished doing the underground electrical on our new property - 300 ft of 1/0 wire and 200 ft of 2/0 wire and 125 ft of # 2 wire, all buried in conduit. You would die if you seen the receipts from the electrical warehouse. I wont even get into the 200 ft of sewer line and water pipes. 😞

Ken, that is an SOK I. It is built identical to the SOK II except that the SOK I has round end caps. Some of them had a small deflector on the bottom but I see yours does not. All the SOK I's came with no cover. The assembly was first used in the late 90's. I believe they used the SOK I because of patio awning interference. Again, if they would have used a roof mount assembly then they could have used an SOK II but roof top awnings had not come about in 2003. I forgot the year they came out with the roof top's, I am thinking 2006/07. Girard was the first followed by Carefree then Zip Dee.

I missed that. There are some models that have no topper assembly on the passenger slide. Since his does then I would need to know if it is an Omega or an SOK II assembly. All SOK II assemblies used on Monacos came with a cover. Many in 2004/2005 had gold anodized covers. No one has those covers. The last check I did showed we had the only 3 in existence which we have stored in our warehouse. This included salvage yards. In regards to the Omega's, 2003 was the only year they had covers and were only found on the higher end models. If an Omega assembly has a cover it is an Omega II. If it does not have a cover it is an Omega I. Not to confuse anyone but the only difference between the two was the cover and the Omega II spring was left hand and not right hand like the Omega I's. In 2004 all Monaco coaches ( except the Sig ) came with the SOK II assembly. Carefree dropped the SOK II mid way through the 2006 model year and went to SOK III assemblies. That in my estimation was a HUGE mistake as the SOK II was the most reliable slide topper assembly ever made by Carefree. If you have one be thankful. If Ken can post or send me a picture I can identify the assembly he has.

Interesting you bring up tires. Like everything else now days there is a shortage of rubber. The latest article I read indicated the turn around for the rubber farms after suffering a blight is 7 years. GM, Chrysler, Ford and other large manufacturers know about this and locked in their supplies. I have been watching with curiosity tire prices and anything that hints at a shortage. So far I haven't seen it but heard it was around the corner. In regards to inflation it is a known fact that the more money the Fed's print the bigger the risk for inflation. To compound the problem is the massive debt the Government is running ( 30 trillion at the moment ) and the big unfunded programs that have been or about to be launched. What has kept our economy flying is people are not getting conservative with their money yet. Credit Card debt is high, savings low and people, despite the huge price increases in lumber, fuel and many other things has not panicked society - yet. Still I believe there is a perfect storm brewing as consumers can only absorb so much with price increases before they turn tail and run for cover. When this happens there will be a retraction. This is one of the most complicated economic situations I have ever witnessed in my years as an adult. There is so much at play here with factors such as unemployment, shortage of workers, shortage of raw materials, Covid lock downs, etc. To be honest I am personally shocked that we are not knee deep in a recession right now. Chuck B, my suggestion is to allow the moderators to moderate this forum. Dave, Scotty, Frank and Larry do an awesome job of that. I see no need for a member to step in, put on a police badge and act as the forums super cop. If a rule was broken I am sure Dave or Scotty will address it with the member behind close doors like gentlemen. If there is a problem with a post that you see may I suggest you take it up with Dave or Scotty privately in a message or e-mail. As for myself, I see no problem with the OP's post. Politics were not mentioned and he simply asked about the economic situation we are all living in. Just my humble opinion. 🙂

Just so happens one of my running buddies is an FBI agent. I will track this elusive CEO down. 🙂

The reason this slide does not have a slide topper is because of the interference with the patio awning. In other words there is no room for a slide topper assembly. There were select models of Monaco's that were manufactured without a slide topper on that particular slide. It was a stupid deletion as our coaches need slide toppers. The main purpose of the topper is to keep water off the roof of the slide. Because we do not own Prevost, Newells or Foretravels which all have inflatable slide seals, our slides leak water like a sieve through the top wiper seal. Toppers also keep debris like leaves, sticks, etc. off the top of the slide. In regards to your particular slide I have researched many different slide topper assemblies trying to find one that would fit under that patio awning and never found one. This problem was later rectified by Monaco by installing roof mounted patio awnings which cleared the way for the topper assembly. Your only option is to live with it or remove your current awning and switch to a roof mount and then install a new topper assembly. The cost would probably be somewhere around $ 5,000 for the two assemblies and labor. You currently should have a one touch patio awning. If anything ever happens to it then that would be the time to make the switch. Beware - there are no parts available anywhere in North America for the One Touch. The parts inventory has been completely exhausted, The slide topper assemblies you have on your other slides are probably Carefree SOK II models which have been discontinued. If the assemblies have question mark arms on the end then those would be Omega assemblies. We do have parts for the SOK II's and Omega's and we are the worlds only company that manufactures parts for the Omega assemblies including the arms and locks.

Invision never got my permission to do an upgrade. I think I need to speak to the CEO and have a log discussion about this. You wouldn't happen to have his number would you Scotty ? LOL 🙂

No Sir I wont be there. I sent Jason out to do the rally. He is doing several for me this year. He is our Executive Director and oversees all of our companies. Be sure to stop at the booth and say him to him. Let him know you are one of spies and are keeping an eye on him. 🙂

Andy, Those bent tabs is the reason we stock a lot of those end caps. We stock a lot of springs as well. I am always left wondering why other repair centers don't stock these common parts that are known to fail. They are always scrambling to get and end cap or spring when a customer shows up with a problem. We sell to a lot of dealers who would rather buy from us then a wholesaler because we ship faster. Even Camping World has bought from us because we can turn parts around quickly. If someone in the USA who needs specific parts for Carefree assemblies calls Monaco or the Carefree factory they send them to us. Monaco is particularly annoying as they send customers tech questions to us as well. In turn we end up providing free tech support to their customers and it loads down our staff while freeing up their call center. We never turn anyone away and do it for the benefit of Monaco owners but I get a little tired of eating up our company resources by providing factory support for Monaco without getting reimbursed by them. I forgot to mention, once you get the assembly back together, check for end play. See if the roller tube has any play end to end. This has been a common problem with large Carefree slide assemblies. If you find end play bush the left end with a washer. That end play damages the end caps and I have had numerous customers have their flarge slide topper assembly come off their coach while driving down the highway at 60 mph. Most end up on the roof destroying solar panels, sky lights and other items on the roof. We always check end play on all large slides when we get a coach in. Be sure to check yours.

Andy, the initial spring winds for that long of a slide is 12+1 so 13. If it is a new spring then the winds will be 15. In regards to spring tension loss then the culprit can be 2 different things. 1.) Broken spring 2.) Bent spring hold tab on end cap. I am guessing it is the end cap tab but it could be the spring. Look at the right side end cap and inspect the tab. If it is bent downward you will need a new cap. If the spring is broke then you have to be sure you get the right spring. The summit takes a special spring. I have both the end caps and springs in stock if you need either of them. Ben, We worked up a prototype but the cost was prohibitive so we are back to the drawing board. My engineer and I are still working on it. Our problem right now is time. We are so buried it got shoved to the back burner.

I get constant sales reports on RV's every month from industry sources and associations our companies belong to. Some news releases are misleading when they say " RV Sales sky rocket " - " Used RV Prices see increase ". The RV market is highly segmented. Big buses ( Prevost, Newells, Foretravels ), Diesel Pushers, gas coaches, 5th wheels, trailers, Class C's and Super C's. ( I wont waste my time dissecting towables and other RV's as it doesn't pertain to this group ). In regards to sales, these different classes of RV's are further categorized according to price points - $ 500 K and up, $ 250 - 500 K, $ 150 - 250 K, $ 90 K - 150 K, $ 40 K - 90 K. All of these price categories obviously all relate to consumers buying power or individual classes in which a large segment of the population can afford. With that said the biggest recent price increases have come with older coaches in the price range of $ 40 - 90 K. The main reason is a larger part of the population can afford them. Once you get over $ 100 K your market of potential buyers shrinks. When you get over $ 250 K it really shrinks and when you get over $ 500 K your market of potential buyers is very small. From all the recent reports I have seen the biggest price increases have come in the $ 40 - 90 K price range. Older coaches that were selling for $ 40 grand 2 years ago are now commanding higher prices. While prices for all RV's has gone up there are smaller increases on coaches with higher price tags. To be honest I am shocked at some of the prices for older coaches. Even my own coach ( 05 ) which was valued at $ 45 two years ago has shot up $ 20 K. This is the best advice I can give to a coach owner who is interested in selling. If you are contemplating getting out of RV'ing, now is the time to sell. If you are looking at simply trading coaches tread lightly. While you may get more money out of your current coach, you will pay more for the next one. I anticipate a correction in prices in 2022-23. Values are going to drop significantly and then find a happy place where they will stabilize. Kind of strange that we all own depreciating assets and we all knew when we bought our coaches that values would sink like a rock over time. Yet here we are and many of us guys with older coaches are seeing appreciating values. I would have never guessed this 2 years ago. 🙂

Glad you got it in Captain. I was damn glad I could reach Dustin. Even I learned a couple things from Dustin on that slide assembly. Only a Naval Aviator would call a Marine on a Holiday. 🙂

Like Van, I abandoned the support/bracing the old Norcold sat on, removed the floor the fridge sat on and built a new box style frame out of wood and added 3/4 " pressure treated plywood as the decking for the fridge. Since my coach is an 05, it doesn't have the added ceiling height others have. I brought it in through the drivers window. The Norcold went out the front door. Never had to remove any seats. I advise you to measure twice every conceivable configuration for a fridge before buying one. This includes door swing, fridge drawer operation, etc. We had a customer with a Dip last year that wanted a residential fridge and we ended up having to convert his Norcold to a 12 v JC compressor type and abandon the propane. No Resi fridge was going into that space without taking a wall out. It had a rare Monaco floor plan that put the fridge in a tight hall way to where a resi fridge could not be moved into place. If we did get it into place the doors would have not been able to be fully opened and the bottom drawers of the fridge unacceptable. It is the only coach I have ever run into that could not accept a typical 18 cu ft resi fridge. I forgot the floor plan and am wondering if it was custom made at the factory as I have never seen another one like it. I believe the Dip was a 2004. First and only fridge I have seen in a hallway. It worked fine as the Norcold has small 4 doors. Resi fridges with larger doors would not work and even a counter depth resi fridge could not be jockeyed into the hallway and into the space. Your tape measure will be your best friend. When we do a resi fridge conversion we give the customer the dimensions and let them order the fridge of their choice from Lowes or Home Depot. I do not believe in buying fridges for customers and then up-charging them. We let the customer get the direct savings using sales, military discounts, etc. One cautionary note: Double check the availability of fridges. Some are hard to come by right now. Our home deep freezer went out 2 weeks ago. Not one store had a deep freeze. Notta. None of them ( Best Buy, Home Depot, Lowes, Etc. ) . They said they had no idea when they would get one. We had to have our old freezer re-built.