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stripperguy · 07-29-2020, 07:21 PM

For anyone still tuning in...

This happened yesterday

I finally made time to reinstall the generator in my 2007 Tuscany. I had designed my not yet finished new detached garage to easily fit my FourWinds Sprinter based RV...and then we sold it and bought this monster! I had to remove the passenger side mirror to squeeze into the door, but at least I didn't have to work outside on the crusher run driveway.
I had previously repaired the brackets that hold the generator between the frame rails, and verified that the mounting holes had the correct spacings.
My son dropped by to help. It was fairly simple to lift the generator with my S-I-L's tractor, and set it down on a heavy duty transmission jack. Then my son and I removed the front generator mounting beam, and rolled/jacked the generator into place. Easy peasy with the lower half of the front cap removed. Then, put that beam back in place, install all the mounting bolts, torque them, connect fuel lines, battery cables, control wiring, and output cables.
While I was repairing the generator, I had already verified operation under load, and I had changed the fan belt, and the air, fuel and oil filters.

I hit the start switch to the prime position for 30 seconds or so, and tried to start it. Amazingly (to me) it started easily and purred as it should. Inside the coach, it took maybe 45 seconds for the transfer switch to do it's thing.
Both roof A/C's, the fridge, microwave, all outlets and electronics are working just fine! It's a little stinky inside the coach, because I haven't yet installed the generator exhaust pipe.

I had also repaired some of the front end wiring for the headlights and such, bought a replacement headlight, and repaired a damaged cab A/C line.

So I'm coming down the backstretch...still gotta mount a new condenser, charge the cab A/C system, finish cosmetic repairs on the cap, fabricate new front cap stabilizer brackets, remount the bottom half of the front cap, and paint everything. Shouldn't be too much longer.

Oh, and I still have those parts from the Splendide washer/dryer unit that I removed. The pump, dryer coils and blower, control board, drive motor, you name it. If anyone needs these parts, PM me and you can have them for the cost of shipping.

Lawgiver · 07-31-2020, 09:34 PM

Nice update. Sounds like your coach is almost ready.

You got me with the header for your post. "This Happened Yesterday" I just saw your first pic and had not scrolled down yet to read the rest of your post. By all appearances it looked like someone attempted to drive the coach into an obviously too small of a garage opening.

Many years ago after just purchasing my first gas class A, I attempted to cut through a car wash bay instead of disconnecting my toad and backing up properly to turn around. Ended up with a nice dent in the fan motor cover of my roof top AC unit. The bay opening was fine. Plenty of room to spare for my coach. What I didn't account for was the sprayer mechanism for the hand held wands that dropped down from the center of the bay. Not exactly one of my finer moments for a new RV'er back then. That first photo was eerily familiar..........gave me bad flashbacks

stripperguy · 08-01-2020, 06:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lawgiver

Nice update. Sounds like your coach is almost ready.

You got me with the header for your post. "This Happened Yesterday" I just saw your first pic and had not scrolled down yet to read the rest of your post. By all appearances it looked like someone attempted to drive the coach into an obviously too small of a garage opening.

Many years ago after just purchasing my first gas class A, I attempted to cut through a car wash bay instead of disconnecting my toad and backing up properly to turn around. Ended up with a nice dent in the fan motor cover of my roof top AC unit. The bay opening was fine. Plenty of room to spare for my coach. What I didn't account for was the sprayer mechanism for the hand held wands that dropped down from the center of the bay. Not exactly one of my finer moments for a new RV'er back then. That first photo was eerily familiar..........gave me bad flashbacks

The header and teaser photo are intentionally misleading...to draw in more traffic.

We've all had those clearance issues, some worse than others.
Just last year I had my Jeep LJ loaded up with my wife's and my solo canoes. The Thule bars are wider than the Jeep...I very carefully made sure I had overhead clearance at the spot we were launching, but neglected to check the side clearance (the Jeep body had room, why check further?)
Anyway, I snagged a tree limb, and broke one of the roof mounts. So yeah, it happens.

Back to the repairs:

The A/C condenser was damaged, as well as the mounts for it. Coincidentally, my son had a spare Volvo S40 hanging around (a flood wreck he bought for parts to repair his newer insurance wreck S40 that he got practically for free).
Well the condenser from that S40 is just a tad larger than the OEM one in the Tuscany, so I removed the original damaged mounts and welded up some new ones. Also modified the OEM Volvo fan shroud to work with the condenser alone. I also bought a couple feet of BH8 AC hose and a handful of fittings to extend and adapt the AC lines. Everything is just tack welded, I'll finish weld and paint all the brackets in the next day or two. I also need to line the inside of my brackets with some high density foam, to protect the aluminum condenser from abrasion. Soonly, I'll connect the AC lines and evacuate and charge the system.

The last bit of fabrication and welding left is the supports for the front cap. I'll do that as I test fit the bottom half of the front cap. Then a little cosmetic repairs an the cap and it's ready for paint.