Trip Report - and the aftermath

[Astasoftride]

We took the coach out for just under 1,400 miles this past week. Visiting Huntsville State Park, Huntsville Texas and Fountainebleau State Park, Mandeville Louisiana. Then we headed up to an area outside of Meridian Mississippi to visit family. Of course I miss judged the return drive of 550 miles in one day. The drive home was ALLLL day long.

The things that were done/or not....

Replaced the drawer slides for the the two large drawers in the bedroom. Installed soft close slides (18").

Discovered why I need something under the jacks, and went and bought a section of 2 x 12" cut into 1' lengths.

Repaired a screw hole in one of the closet doors. (where the washer/dryer goes - if you have one)

Then the real fun stuff.......

I was having some sputtering from the engine on some hills. I found a dirt parking lot and changed the fuel filter. I switched the ignition switch from off to on about 10 times waiting over 30 seconds each time (to cycle the lift pump). The engine started with no issues. No further stumbling from the engine from that point.

I almost / did join the lost spoiler club. My wife was following me when we drove to the dirt parking lot (mentioned above). Well she says...that thing sure looks like it is moving around a bunch. I had to cut it off and put it in the storage bay. So at least I still have it. Now to make new brackets and remount.

The one unresolved problem. It seems I lost both AC's. Both stopped working. The DuoTherm CCC thermostat just went blank. We slept two nights with out AC, but to be fair the night temps were 67 and 56. So it wasn't bad at all.

I finally tried to simply shut off all power. That resolved the front AC, but not the rear. Looking into things further it seems as though the communication cable to the rear AC was melted??. I am going to try to remedy that and see if the rear unit will work again.

[slflynn1]

Curious as to which year, model is your coach?

[Astasoftride]

I really need to remember that my signature doesn’t come out when I post from my iPhone

2003 Alpine 36MDDS

[Dreamacre]

What kind and where did you get the new slides for the bedroom drawers?

I am fed up with ours coming off the tracks.
Was it an easy fix?

[Astasoftride]

I just went to Home Depot. 18” soft close. Purple package - I think.

I just removed the part mounted on the drawer and brought it with me. This will show the right kind to get as for as how they mount

The hardest part was removing the side that is on the cabinets. For me the rear of it slide into a bracket. I had to carefully pull the old one out and then push the new one in. Get the new on to be flush wiirh the wood or just a tad behind the face

The drawer pieces required new holes, but it was easy enough to screw the new screws in.

[Jim A]

My '04 coach came with roller slides with a plastic bracket in the back, which became brittle and broke. I replaced the cheap roller slides with ball bearing slides. Fortunately almost all drawer slides are 1/2" wide to match the width of the existing slides. You can pretty much choose whatever slides you want to use.

I used Knape & Vogt KV 8400RV stay closed slides for my larger drawers, and the KV 8455FM soft close for some smaller drawers. These have a metal rear mounting bracket. I found the soft close didn't have enough power to hold the larger drawers from coming open going around some corners.

The first KV slides I got from Lowe's. I went to install them, and they were too short. Some of the 22" slides I bought were actually 20". I went back to Lowe's, and half the slides in the bin were mis-packaged. They were sealed, so they were not returns. I pointed it out to the salesman, and he just walked away. I buy elsewhere now.

[Astasoftride]

To follow things up

I remounted the spoiler. I bent new brackets from steel. Time will tell if that was a good choice compared to aluminum. I did use steel rivets as well.

The annoying part of the spoiler repair was due to me getting a bit zealous with the wire cutters. I had to rewire the lights and the camera. I took the opportunity to replace the clearance light bulbs with LED. Mainly so I wouldn’t have to worry about the power loss due to possible wrong wiring choices.

The A/C system was due to the communication wires. I suspect that the wire from the thermostat and the front A/C was simply dirty. The wire to the rear A/C had to be repaired. I cut the ends off of the cable and hardwired those up to phone jacks. Then the A/C plugged into those jacks (it originally had a female/female connector)

Anyway, those repairs are done.

[Hayduke]

Originally Posted by Dreamacre

What kind and where did you get the new slides for the bedroom drawers?

I am fed up with ours coming off the tracks.
Was it an easy fix?

Originally Posted by Jim A

My '04 coach came with roller slides with a plastic bracket in the back, which became brittle and broke. I replaced the cheap roller slides with ball bearing slides. Fortunately almost all drawer slides are 1/2" wide to match the width of the existing slides. You can pretty much choose whatever slides you want to use.

I used Knape & Vogt KV 8400RV stay closed slides for my larger drawers, and the KV 8455FM soft close for some smaller drawers. These have a metal rear mounting bracket. I found the soft close didn't have enough power to hold the larger drawers from coming open going around some corners.

The first KV slides I got from Lowe's. I went to install them, and they were too short. Some of the 22" slides I bought were actually 20". I went back to Lowe's, and half the slides in the bin were mis-packaged. They were sealed, so they were not returns. I pointed it out to the salesman, and he just walked away. I buy elsewhere now.

I also installed the KV8400's on 3 drawers so far, 2 more to go in phase 1.
https://www.knapeandvogt.com/content/8400rv

I didn't realize Lowe's sold KV. I ordered mine online.