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Nkroon · 08-24-2017, 08:05 AM

Those look about right. I don't have my cables handy to check the length.
The door mechanism is similar to a garage door with the heavy doing that allows the door to go up and down easily. I don't know if the repair is easy or not as I still haven't fixed mine yet.

RKins · 08-25-2017, 04:07 AM

Ok, if you get a chance to measure them I'd appreciate that. I will start the repair tomorrow (if it's not raining - 80% chance for the next 3 days) and will document it so we have a history of the process. Hope it's straight forward. Here is a pic of the inside of the door and you can see one of the 2 cables on the far right in the pic. The other cable is in the same spot but on the other end of the door.

I think the bolt that the cable is wrapped over may put too much stress on the cable - that is where both fraying is happening.

RKins · 08-27-2017, 06:42 PM

I worked on the broken bay door today - the cables I found are not long enough, so I'm not sure what they are for - I tried every door and don't see how they'd work anywhere. The old was 17" but could be stretched length.

Here are some pics of the mechanics - it has some similarities to a garage door - has torsion the springs but also has some cables to force the pivot frames to work.

Here is the cable that broke and it stays stationary and the spring provides the torsion to lift and hold the door open. You can see this one is also frayed

So my take on repairing these door elevation system is that the cable can be anywhere from 15 to 17 inches long, as long as both are the same. #1 thing to do before you tackle this project is to watch how the mechanism works on other operating doors work.
The key is getting the cable long enough to wrap around the bottom pulley (see above) and the wrap ends up being less when the door is down and more as it it is all the way up (in my case about 2 wraps at the top).
If the cables break, all the torsion on the spring is gone now, I cut a 2x4 about 20" long and propped the door up (door seems to weigh 60+ lbs without the spring assist) and what we ended up doing is getting the cable attached at the bottom and wrapped it toward the door and back up and over the bolt (as seen in the pics) and attached to the spot on the frame.. This may take loosening the allen screws holding the spring to the rod. There is no tension now, so it is safe to loosen the set screws.
Since the torsion is now gone on the door, we need to use some (3) 3/8" (or maybe 7/16") 12" steel rods to increase the torsion and an allen set to loosen the set screws that secure the spring tension to the rod that goes between cables. I think this is a 2 person (strong persons) job. You will also need a large vice-grip to turn the rod to tighten the cables (move toward the coach) just before you have the torque springs tightened.
To be continued....

RKins · 08-28-2017, 03:54 AM

After you have both allen screws loose the spring may collapse and slide left - no worries, you'll get it back in the right place as you tighten it. So one person needs to be laying on the ground under the door and the other person stands in front of the door. You will be tightening the torsion spring "up and toward the door" in quarter turn increments, so insert one of the steel rods into one of the spring cap holes and pull up, the person under the door inserts another rod in the next hole and pushes up to continue the tightening. As you get the spring tighter you can have the person under the door insert a rod into one of the holes and carefully let the tension back off until the rod contacts the bottom edge of the door. This will hold the tension on the spring. Use vice grips to turn the main rod to tighten the cables - you turn the main rod toward the coach, so the opposite way that you're tightening the spring. One person holds pressure on the vice grip and the other tightens the set screws (allen screws). Then the upper person pulls the spring cap toward the door enough to get the rod that was wedged against the door, out. Then carefully release the tension until the spring stops releasing.
To see if you have enough tension, both people lift the door a bit, remove the 2x4 and then let the door start to close. If it stays where it is and you can lift it up and it stays in the open position, you're done. If not, you need to repeat the process starting with getting the rod in the bottom hole and wedge it against the door, loosen the set screws and then try to get another 1/2 turn on the spring, tighten main rod to tighten cables, tighten set screws and test the tension again.
While I had my buddy helping, we added tension to the other doors that were not staying open all the way. Now all the doors are working again. I will spray some more lanolin based lube on the springs the next time I open the doors. The lanolin based lubricant is really great stuff.
I made two more sets of cables and keep them in a tray - hope I don't have another cable break but I'm ready if it happens. Hope I explained the process clearly enough to help others that need it.

RKins · 09-03-2017, 06:47 PM

Well I guess it was time to pull a newly mistake. I left the awning out Friday night and it had a little tilt to it but apparently not enough. It rained cats and dogs and I went outside at 430am and saw the awning sagged and full of a couple hundred gallons of water

The awning "legs" were still attached to the side of the coach and I was surprised that the original fabric hadn't ripped. We tried to push the water out to no avail. The only option left was to pull the black lock lever and down came that side of the awning with a bang and out went all the water. Wow.
Seems that the rest of the awning is ok but the main 19' tube has a bow in it now.

I can still roll it up but it doesn't go back like it did for sure. I will have to do some creative rebending to get this back straight. I understand you learn from your mistakes but why are they always expensive ones

straycat · 10-03-2017, 05:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by J.R

Hi,

Well just bought the sister to yours,about 3 weeks ago,same color and all.
Just starting to rework all the batteries and cables,
I came across yours here ,nice pictures.
I will post some pics soon.

Cheers,JR

I have a 1994 London Aire that I bought last year here in Canada from the original family and everything works. I have all the manuals and plan on leaving for Florida soon.

RKins · 10-04-2017, 03:30 AM

Cool!!

If we don't see pics, it never happened

Is it a gasser or DP? What size?

RKins · 10-04-2017, 05:09 AM

I looked through the 94 catalog and it doesn't look like they changed the model much from 94-97. How do your basement doors open? Rising up the side and having springs and cables like a garage door? If you have any questions maybe I can answer from what I've learned from mine. I still have a few questions myself.

RKins · 12-17-2017, 02:45 PM

I added some handy things to our shower - a squeegy to dry the walls and the door, which drips onto the carpet if I don't.

And a liquid dispenser. Better than bottles flying around or us having to pack everything before travel. Oh, the unit was leveled - the pic is not level.

RKins · 12-23-2017, 12:24 PM

I took the coach down to get my spare mounted (and to let it get some road time) and seems Fedex dropped my new rim and dented one edge. l headed back home and parked it on the slab and proceeded to file a claim with Fedex. Usually I auto level the coach and let her sit on her jacks but this time I left the coach up on air as I get at least a week out of before it leaks down. This time not so good - she was down over night almost all the way.
I pulled the coach up on her ramps and got under her and started spraying and all the ride height valves were good and then I sprayed this thing - oh boy. I think it is a pressure switch and dump valve. This is on the tank on the driver side (2 tanks in the middle of the frame above the front tires) and this tank has 2 of these on it, the other tank has one and a manual drain. So I guess I need to call Spartan and get a part# or a price. Anyone change one of these before?

I tried to tighten the 1/2" bolts but they wouldn't budge.

RKins · 01-02-2018, 04:32 PM

I learned something on this - these are Heated Moisture Ejector Valves. I guess when it senses moisture in the tank it purges it. I thought they were part of the air dump system. Anyway, learned something.
Ordered one from Spartan - those guys are great and a lot of help even with this ole girl. I get them scratching their heads now and then because they weren't quite as good at thorough records back then.
They gave me a break on the price - thanks guys.
So this afternoon I got off work early and took a good look at the new one, which gave me an idea what I was going to run into while under the coach.
The hardest part was putting the coach up on the front ramps. The valve loosened pretty easily with the help of a 1 lb sledge tapping the wrench

and the new one, which came with thread lock already, took a little to the get the threads started but went back on easily. These valves look like they haven't changed a bit in 20 years.
I aired it back up, sprayed the new valve with soapy water and saw no air leaks and then sprayed all the others to make sure I didn't change the wrong one

Back to where I was before the leak.

guardrail53 · 01-02-2018, 10:12 PM

Nice, love it when a plan comes together!

Rail!

Magnafique · 01-08-2018, 10:38 PM

Well, you two have a GREAT motor-home and are making it even Greater.
I like the Bullet Train frontal picture (Complement) way ahead of its time. I have been plodding along on my 97 Southwind and it is finally ready for the Prom :-). Gonna do 200 miles on Thursday this week and run it in the hills and flat for a shakedown cruise, then on to Arizona for a month or so. I like the way your writing just flows along and you make all of the stories you relate to us so interesting. Glad you have a good friend to help you along the way. What a blessing,

Thanks, Tom

RKins · 01-09-2018, 03:49 AM

Thanks Tom - good luck and enjoy your coach. Sounds like you have put a lot of effort in her.
I still have a lot of things to fix on this one but I whittle them down one at a time and then something new pops up ;-) She is ready to travel and all major items work. I am ready to retire soon so all the effort hopefully will give us a stable place to hang out and hopefully she'll be mechanically sound.