Community Forums

FinelineDave · 06-02-2013, 10:18 AM

Well to you APEX owners I know these coaches can be frustrating at time now that I have owned my for 3 months. But I've figured out how everything works and once this is accomplished correcting the issue can be easy. Being mechanically inclined defiantly helps though.

Next step is to change the smart bed switches like I believe it was Basil from a post they did. All and all these are very nice coaches just need to be patient and learn there inter workings. I suggest if you haven't done so is to send the Silverleaf components to be updated even the dash unit makes a difference. The VMS400 dash units pulls out from the back held in by Velcro. Another is unplug the temp unit in waste compartment from the TM-102 because if this gets wet your system will tweak out or mount it up high. When i found out the VMS400 had never been updated figured it was time just like any computer needs updating. Also tie up your waste or any other pressure sensors so they don't get wet if anything happens. Still learning this coach, but thought I would share.

Renipladlo · 06-05-2013, 02:06 AM

Search this forum for the drain bay temp sensor, I fixed mine right after we purchased ours and posted my solution, and it's never had an issue since, it's not accurate for crap, but it's showing temps. There is another one in the services bay as well I think.
Once you fix all WRV's screw ups, the generator to house wiring, the lose electrical connections all over the place, the kitchen sink drain pipe issue, then it's a good coach, it's the having to rebuild all WRV's screw-ups which has put me off from ever owning another one. I don't want to screw up the fiberglass skin, so I live with the bad SB switches, as the backup ones work fine.

FinelineDave · 06-05-2013, 09:59 PM

Yep already fixed the kitchen sink drain flex hose. As well. It broke the fitting and changed it to a Fernco for a flexible connection.

What did you do with the gen set wiring just tighten the connections?

Renipladlo · 06-05-2013, 10:37 PM

Well you can search genset wiring, transfer switch wiring, or just extend the gen slide, open up the junction box, and see if any of the wire nuts fall off, they used the incorrect size on my coach. Strip off a little more insulation, put on the correct wire nuts, and then use Scotch 33 splicing tape on the wire nut, with scotch 88 over that, and the wire nuts won't come off ever.

Check the tightness of all the wiring in the transfer switch (power to coach off), and the breaker panel under the bathroom sink, on both the inverter breakers and the normal 120V AC panel. Mine were lose there too. There are several 12V DC junction boxes one in the HWH bay, one in the tank bay, check those connections as well.

In my case, WRV used the incorrect sized crimp on connectors for the HWH junction box, so I had to change all those to the correct size and I did them one at a time so I did not mess up the order of them. I still need to do additional rewiring, but it's getting to be no fun having to work on this RV all the time, realizing MH's are a lot of maintenance, I should not have to rebuild the thing every time we use it. WRV had no electrical QA I don't think, if they did, he was on drugs or drunk. I can say this with certainty because too many owners have reported the same issues and that led me to check mine. It's a known problem, WRV electrical work was very bad. However, most MH owners regardless of brand tell me horror stories whenever we are camping, they come up and we start to talking, and the stories come out, so it may be RV's in general, but we never had this kind of trouble with our Alpenlite 5th wheel, it was great, and always worked all the time.

swansnest · 06-11-2013, 10:03 AM

Sorry you are having so many problems w the coach - maybe the accident has made you more disgusted w it?

Inspite of all the problems we have had, and the small fortune it has cost to repair & keep it going - we have never regretted buying the Apex! We still love
it and when we can't drive it anymore, we plan on using it as a second guest house on our property!

Renipladlo · 06-11-2013, 12:06 PM

The Swans,
Yes and No! Actually once we worked out the bugs from the accident it seems to work better than it did. Two things improved it overall before the wreck, changing the alternator to 200 A, and Changing out the lead acid batteries to AGM Lifeline's. That made a huge difference in how things worked. Then we had to change the inverter to a new Magnum 2800 Inverter and that seemed to make things better, maybe it's a "feel good thing" I don't know. Once I change the solenoid in the battery bay, then everything electrical should be back to 100%, the kitchen sink thing is a concern, as it seems I might have to disassemble some drawer cabinetry to do it.

My complaint is/was that WRV did not design some parts of the thing good, the kitchen sink drain area. And now we have 30K miles on it, it needs new ball joints, give me a break, those are designed to run for at least 100K miles, why are mine failing? Like I said, some things now work better than ever, but it should not need to be rebuilt after every 4 month adventure, no RV should. There are some units out there which are worse, and I'm glad we don't have those, and some better too!

We have what we have, and will just keep plugging along as best we can. We hope you are all having a wonderful time, missed seeing you at the DR rally this year, was only there for a few hours.

EngineerMike · 06-11-2013, 02:17 PM

The ball joint problem is endemic to all Alpines, not just Apex, but can be resolved for about $5 w/the bungee cord upgrade (see post#4). You have to change the bungee cord every 5 or 6 years, but for $5 it only works out to about $1 per year P.M., which even engineers can see is a pretty good deal in the world of motorhomes.

swansnest · 06-11-2013, 11:53 PM

Hi Monty! All of those fixes are what we did to our coach 3 & 4 yrs ago - except we had AGM from the beginning. Did you ever see what Tris did in our battery compartment? If I was any good at posting pictures here, I would post them. Maybe I will take pix and send you an email.

we have never had problems w kitchen sink - thank you Lord for small favors! We have about 70,000 miles now on ours. I cant remember if we had our ball joints replaced and Tris is asleep!

After all the changes Redlands did on our coach last year - coming from CA to here we have gotten terrific mleage - 8.5 average wuth all the grades, Of course it has helped immensly that we have had a tail wind most of the way!

Very funny, Mike! Are you in Baja? Sorry you guys aren't coming to WY.
Either of you going to TX in Oct? We are planning on it.

Tris & Carolyn

Renipladlo · 06-13-2013, 10:31 AM

EM - A picture is worth a thousand words. When you saw trucker bungee, that is one of those black rubber things with the "S" hooks on each end. About how long would you saw I need? I can get them across the river at one of my suppliers after I put in new BJ's.

Tris & Carolyn, What did Redlands do to your coach? I have ideas on the Battery compartment. I am going to take then out, clean up the bottom of the compartment real good, then I have a piece of rubber insulating material we used to put under 500KV transformers, and I will cut that to fit back in the left hand rear corner so the positive post cannot hit the frame rail. Then I am going to put shrink tubing over all the studs which rise from the bottom of the compartment and the flat metal brackets which hold down the batteries, and then when I put it all back together, nothing can cause a short. I am going to change the solenoid while the batteries are out since I have better access to it then.

I will do a good job on cleaning everything since it's dusty in there now. Our weather is supposed to get better so I have it on the docket for Friday. I am going to plan on it taking all day. Old and slow now that i'm past 60.

swansnest · 06-13-2013, 12:23 PM

Hi Monty! When we get to Buffalo in a few minutes I will take pictures and send them to your address and you can decide whether to post them.

Tris says he took everything out and put 1/2" plywood on the bottom, then he cleaned up the AGMs and put them back in and instead of the metal straps across them, he made metal brackets to bolt onto the Back wall and smaller metal brackets to bolt onto the battery tray. He used nylon truck hold down strapping between the brackets. So no metal can touch the battery and cause arcing. Prior to this he replaced the solenoids to electronic solenoids 3 years ago and they (it)has have g given us no problems. (I am having trouble w my iPad - it has taken me 5 attempts to write this - my delete button sticks). The cutoff switches he also changed to the negative side of the batteries after changing the oem switches on the left wall to marine heavy duty switch. The pictures will show better than my explanation.

Renipladlo · 06-13-2013, 12:38 PM

Looking forward to the information. Thank you.

EngineerMike · 06-14-2013, 09:56 AM

The bungee kit should consist of:
1) 31" rubber bungee w/S-hooks, hook to bolt at top & take 2 wraps around drag link, lower S-hook back to the bungee
2) 1/2" nut & 1/2" fender washer, place on rear facing bolt thread at top of bulkhead ahead of LF tire, put upper S-hook of bungee on it; washer keeps hook from sliding off
3) zip tie- place around the lower S-hook that is hooked back to the upper run of bungee so hook doesn't rattle off or slip.

Waterdog4315 · 06-14-2013, 11:48 AM

Old River Your comments re Apexs re fer to "correct electrical connecors". Would you [lease What is correvt vs incorrect sizing.

bairdallen · 07-02-2013, 06:07 PM

Thanks for the information. We have had our 2006 APEX for two weeks now and have put 3,000 miles on it. And yes we have had our share of problems. The greatest being overheating here in CA in the 110+ heat. Something "blew" in the engine bay and sprayed coolant all over. Waiting for a cooler day and lots of energy to ascertain what and where and asscess the problem in detail. Haven't even checked out the silverleaf for upgrading--good idea. Roger Allen