Community Forums

Jeasen · 09-08-2013, 10:12 AM

I would like to introduce myself and my wife to all on this board. I go by the screen name of Jeasen and I am not sure of my wife's screen name at this time, we will call her Mrs. Jeasen for now. Hi to all members of this board.

Although we have a new to us RV (see signature) we are not new to RVing. We just took a break from RVing for many years while family and jobs took precedence over our RV hobby. Years ago we started with travel trailers (had two, small, and bigger) and then graduated into a Class A Motorhome.

And now that I am retired (my wife is still working) we are back in a small Class C Motorhome. Without the front bunk overhang I guess it is still considered a Class C? I call our Phoenix Cruiser a travel van although it has all the comforts of a larger motorhome. It is amazing how they can cram all those things into such a small space. It appears that we still have plenty of cabinets and storage. I guess we will find out if we have plenty of cabinets and storage!

I am now just beginning to start to do the series of new to me vehicle preventative maintenance items that I hope will help make our first trip an enjoyable one. Any tips or suggestions of items that should not be overlooked will be appreciated. Our Phoenix Cruiser has 52,000 miles on it and appears to be in good shape although weathered from sitting outside. I want to do everything, within reason, to insure a trouble free, enjoyable first trip.

Experience is something you get when you do not get what you want, and I have plenty of experience. I know many of you have a lot of experience of what to look out for and fixing issues that you can pass on to me. It seems that most of my problems are things that no one (service technicians) has ever hear of before. If a wheel fell off it would be obvious that if it was put back on again the problem would be fixed. Out of hundreds of problems I have had over the years I only had that problem once but that is a story for another time. Again tips and suggestions will very much be appreciated. Thanks, Jeasen

MSHappyCampers · 09-08-2013, 11:21 AM

Hi Jeason! Welcome to IRV2! It's great to have you join the gang!

Good luck, happy trails, and God bless!

**JohnRR** · 09-08-2013, 12:40 PM

Time to enjoy.

88Ramblur · 09-08-2013, 01:49 PM

Hello, and welcome to the forum.

We are in Kansas City as well!!

We have our first "New to us" class A. We haven't taken it out anywhere just yet. Ours was sitting for 10 years and we have been doing the same as you - making repairs, along with preventative maintenance for the last month...hoping to not have any issues when we actually get her out on the road.
If you have any questions on where to go around here for great service on things you can't do, we'll be happy to help point you in the right direction

Happy trails!

monkey · 09-08-2013, 01:53 PM

Welcome to the group !!! Here you will find Bunches of nice people willing to help you with almost anything you can imagine !! I have learned SO much from others here! First thing with your rv that comes to mind is the tires... Forget the tread depth... Look at the Date Code !!! Old tires are a problem waiting to ruin your vacation !!! I learned that driving our 95 class A home 100 miles .. Then so much more here ! Feel free to ask !! Monkey...

nmassender · 09-08-2013, 01:57 PM

Welcome to the group! Travel-On

Firecat · 09-08-2013, 02:07 PM

Welcome to the gang, from Vermont. Like you my wife and I having been RVing for years. On our second class a gasser, first one burned while on a trip almost three years ago. Check your tires, but in our case it was a new one that blew, less than 900 miles on it. Good luck out there and first of all be safe.

Jeasen · 09-09-2013, 09:35 AM

First, I want to thank you all for taking the time to welcome me to the board. I appreciate it.

88Ramblur: Thanks for the offer of helping point me in the right direction for repairs that I can not handle myself. I am sure that I will need some help in the future and being local will help get me pointed in the right direction. I am located on the Kansas side in western Wyandotte County by the Kansas Speedway. I am lucky in the fact that most of the repairs needed are just small maintenance items that anyone with some mechanical knowledge and experience would be able to handle. The previous owner was not handy at all and it is evident that he was not able to make the simplest repairs and adjustments. Instead of adjusting and tightening it was rigged instead. A perfect example was the exterior rear view mirrors. Instead of tightening the allen screws to hold them in place a piece of twine was used to keep the mirrors in place so the wind did not push them back and out of adjustment while driving. It took me longer to remove the twine then it did to tighten the screws to hold them firmly in place. Hopefully, most of the needed repairs will be this simple.

Monkey & Firecat: Thanks for the tip about tires. They are on my list of things to check. It appears that the previous owner replaced tires on an as needed basis (one at a time) and bought whatever the tire dealer had in stock. Thus I do not think I have any two tires that match as far as the brand goes. However, they are all the same size, 225-75-16E. Lucky me. One of the steer tires is a Goodyear G949 RSA and looks like a ribbed semi truck tire. I was thinking about buying another one for the front but stopped when I found out that the price of a new matching tire was right at $400.00. Has any one had any experience with this tire? One ply of the entire tire casing is steel and they are used mostly by construction companies that travel on rocky terrain a lot. The steel casing ply helps protect the tire from side wall cuts that would ruin the tire. I really like the solid rib tread design and the all steel ply but and am wondering about the tire being very hard and rough riding? What do you guys think? My Phoenix Cruiser came with Michelin tires and that is the tire brand they are still using today. The tire plaque on the door jamb says 65 psi front and 60 psi dually rear. When is a tire considered to old to use, 3 years, 5years, 7 years?

Thanks again for the welcome messages. I am looking forward to learning from and contributing to this board. Jeasen