Life with Jane

[Gordon Dewald]

Originally Posted by guardrail53

Wow, Harvey! That looks good!
That would work good on the roof of the MH to keep the doves at bay! Hint, hint, Gordon! Rail!

Snakes on the roof do not seem to scare the doves. Have to put them in the tree branches. Scared the stuffings out of the guys washing the coach the first time. Now I always remind them where they are.

[Wroughtnharv]

The patina (rust) is happening!!!!!

This morning we went after the wipers. It turns out that important information has found nooks and crannies all over the internet to hide in. So CIL and myself went after it old school, trial and error. I think there is fifty six errors possible in the trial program. We did each one at least twice before we got it.

So here's the info you need to know if your pantograph double arm wipers go out of sync and you have to sync them up from scratch.

1. The short arm from the motor to the two long arms to the wiper assemblies needs to be level.

2. If you want the arms swing side to side same direction at the same time, arms from the wiper assembly to the long arms should be either above or below the center line. I don't think it matters above or below just that they are the same.

3. If you want to sync them where they meet in the middle, kinda cute and the way they are supposed to work, one short arm above the center line and one below.

4. This is the most important part, don't break the little pot metal connector at the top. First quote online for the wiper arm assembly at a truck part store was $280.00. RV store found the part online and called me back with the good news was $180.00 and ten days to get. Salvage yards let me know it was a common issue and I was SOL. Then we kept at it. We found the part, it will be here in Wednesday, $87.00 plus shipping.

The key seems to be to never forget that the computer era is very very smart. But you have to have the right numbers for smart to be very very smart.

[Chinewalker]

Originally Posted by Wroughtnharv

The patina (rust) is happening!!!!!
------------------

Now that is an awesome snake!


But why take a perfectly good back/foot scratcher and turn it into an ornament!

I know, I know, just because you can. Right?

All kidding aside, awesome job. I admire your abilities. All of them.

Safe travels.

[Wroughtnharv]

We left Yuma yesterday about 11 am and this morning we’re east of Tucson at the Pima County campground. It’s perfect for a place to hook up and spend the night, lots of spaces, most of them 50 amp, all gravel, and $25.00 for the night.

Last night we got serenaded by the sound of dirt track racers on what we call a paper clip track. Paper clips have two straight always tied together with tight turns at each end. So it’s a drag race and then grab every brake you can find. I personally like the more balanced track where it’s pedal to the metal all the time and brakes are for sissies.

Three plus months in Yuma and we never once heard the coyotes pack up and then celebrate the evening when it was time to call it a night. Coyotes are like rednecks discovering an old still when it comes to packing up. To listen to them you would think they discovered free concerts and the power of brag. Then when they are heading back to the den they sound like fishermen bemoaning the wind, or the cold, or the fish gods sleeping, whatever.

We lost two hours at the Loves truckstop in Casa Grande checking out the inside duals, one was low yesterday morning and the other had a valve core issue. It turned out we waited for hour forty five minutes to get looked at and then fifteen minutes to replace the valve cores and all is good.

The new wiper arm is in and works perfect. Then while snugging up the other arm a stud broke holding the pantograph arm in place. I have it temporaried but am not looking forward to testing it in an actual rainstorm. With an RV it’s usually the little things that end up driving you crazy.

[Lloyd in S.C.]

Safe travels Harvey. Jealous!

L.

[ronjhall]

Hope you made it home safe.

[Wroughtnharv]

We’re spending the night in our favorite community RV park in Texas, Haskell Texas. We’re on schedule with just one hiccup. We were gonna find a place on I 20 for the night east of Abilene. Then west of Abilene on I 20 the south wind got a little personal. It started with a sound like one of the awning arms was working loose. Then it got louder. I pulled off the interstate and we discovered the awning was loosening up. Few nightmares are more terrifying than having the awning unravel at 60 plus on the interstate. We had a storm rip off an awning on a fifth wheel and put the arm through the roof. We didn’t want Jane to suffer that.

The issue was the wind was coming from the south and we were heading due east. The wind was harsh. So we limped into Abilene and then headed due north for fifty miles to Haskell. The wind became a tail wind instead of side wind taking out the awning. In the morning I will have calmer winds for awhile and plan to put the awning out and then roll it back up. If everything goes as planned we will have found another reason to visit Haskell and their out of the way free first night community full hook up RV park. After the first night it’s $16.00 per night, we always pay because the first night because it’s the right thing to do.

I’ll try to take some photos in the morning of the process.

We were talking about how nice it is to just drive and ride and not have the pucker string exercises going on strong. Then the awning noise started happening. Life in the city this close to the country is what it is. There’s always something with an RV, always something. This goes double for mature ladies like Jane. The stud holding the pantograph arm (that’s the arm that keeps the blade vertical while the main blade swings it back and forth) breaking off is a perfect example. The part the stud is part of probably isn’t easy to find, maybe not available new anywhere. But I’ve already in my mind pulled the assembly and given it to a bud who can do magic with his equipment in his machine shop. If he’s too busy I will do it myself, drill out the old stud and install a new one. The stud just got old and tired, stuff happens.

We were talking about what we’re going to be doing to Jane when we get home. Glenda’s excited about some redecorating, I’m wanting to finally get the HWH jacks working right, inverter permanent install, and get the trailer brake kit for towing dad’s trailer in so the next trip down the mountain won’t be so pucker string stretching, and then there’s recoating the roof, gotta do the roof again. Always something.

But the reward is cruising down the interstate doing the circle and at peace with the world. Circle starts with the gauge scan, most of the time they looked like they’re painted in place. Then left big mirror, wide angle mirror, right big mirror, wide angle mirror, rear view camera to check on lil Blu, gauges again, big circle and life is good.

[ronjhall]

Enjoyed out stay last year at Haskell.
Hope you can fix awning without major repairs.
Safe travels rest of the way home.

[veraken]

FYI here is an item you can make/buy to lock your awning while traveling.

Save Your RV Awning with an RV Awning Travel Lock!

[Wroughtnharv]

Originally Posted by veraken

FYI here is an item you can make/buy to lock your awning while traveling.

Save Your RV Awning with an RV Awning Travel Lock!

Thanks. There will be one of these on Jane before we leave for the next trip.

This morning we woke up to a stiff wind and made the decision to not attempt a repair until the wind had died down. About 4 pm the wind calmed down and it was a simple work each end until the awning was fully extended out. There was a couple of anxious moments because I was working by myself and anything serious would mean soliciting help. Then it was going through the retraction process like there had never been a problem.

[Wroughtnharv]

Here’s a photo of the broken windshield wiper arm stud.

[Wroughtnharv]

I’ve decided to call the rasp rattler Stubby. Here’s Stubby enjoying the shade on the propane guy’s truck.

[okmunky]

Originally Posted by Wroughtnharv

I’ve decided to call the rasp rattler Stubby. Here’s Stubby enjoying the shade on the propane guy’s truck.

Are you trying to give someone a heart attack?

[Wroughtnharv]

Originally Posted by okmunky

Are you trying to give someone a heart attack?

Actually I think the propane guy would have paid my price for Stubby if he thought it would give some of his clients a close call with death. That day he had a client get real ugly with him over the premium for delivery vs station fill up. What he provides is a service that none of the big guys will because it’s not profitable except for small operators and they’re not getting rich off of it. And then some people are so special that they feel it cost too much. Of course those are usually the same people who won’t tip at a restaurant or think contractors charge too much.

Stubby will have many friends and family if my health holds up.