What broke while on your last RV trip?

[Hit_the_Rhod]

Originally Posted by Bill Gail

After reading through everyone's travail's in this thread , I gotta say I'm feeling a little guilty not having had a major issue on our last trip .

Just back , left early Sept. and back home last week . 8 weeks , 8,250 miles and 16 States in our 2000 Tioga 24D .
Only issue was having the drivers side wiper fly off during a rain storm outside of Pie Town , NM .
Great trip , still married and made it home under our own power .

NOW you went and did it . . . .

[smarquez]

Iota DLS converter wouldn't fully charge the batteries. Found this out the evening before we left. Ordered another from Amazon and had it shipped to a place around the corner from the fairgrounds in Tulsa. It actually beat us to Tulsa.
I also had to replace a propane tank pigtail too.

[GRF]

Noticed water in lower part of refrig. Traced it to water inlet on ice maker. Checked all outside connections, then removed icemaker. No problems noted. Then I noticed the water inlet spout for the icemaker...it pointed downward! Twisted it to point straight into icemaker. My guess is that when we loaded freezer section for trip, we placed something on top of the icemaker and that item hit the spout. Now works great with no leaks!!

[rffowler55]

Pulled into our site, turned off the coach, and our steps would not extend. Steps gear had jumped track and broke one of the threaded ends of the double jointed bar that attaches to the gear to rotate the steps in and out. On the way home our rear camera stopped working and when we returned home I was able to access the rear camera and the original cable installed 15 years ago had worn through and snapped falling behind the rear cap. Running an endoscope behind the rear cap I found that the cap had a brace that spanned the entire cap around the mid-point and did not provide spacing to allow fishing of a new cable so I ordered a new 4 camera wireless system that I will install this week. Was able to order a new double jointed bar for the steps, installed, realigned the gear and everything works as intended.

One of the reading lamps over the bed would flicker on and off, removed fixture and no loose wires so called Newmar and the lamps had been discontinued but was able to find similar lamps on Amazon. Slowly rebuilding this 15 year old coach:-)

[Rexlion]

My alternator quit working. I managed to get the truck started one more time, drove into town to a repair shop. The shop confirmed it wasn't just the battery, it was the alternator. They couldn't get the part till next morning, so they called me a uber driver to take me back to the CG. At the campsite I got out, started toward the trailer, and my keys are at the shop! No way to get inside the trailer without breaking something. So I got back in the car and the uber driver took me back.

We got back at 4:50 pm, shop sign says they close at 5... but they'd all locked up and left work early!! I called their number and the counter man answered, thankfully; he came back about 45 minutes later and obtained the key ring (minus truck key) for me, then called me another uber ride. So I took the first 3 uber rides of my life, all in 1 day.

Next day, when the truck was repaired, an employee drove it to the CG, I hooked up the trailer, and we headed back to the shop so I could pay.

[LETMGROW]

It sounds like your day went pretty much the same as mine would under the same circumstance. Probably neither of us should take up Sky Diving.

[rarebear.nm]

The two stage propane regulator stopped working on our last full day in Colorado visiting our son. Just borrowed the regulator off his TT in storage and used it for the night. Temps were in the lower 20s. Left the next day and already have a replacement at his house. Since the 5th wheeler is stored in the same town as he lives I'll install it on our next visit.



Otherwise we use a MH we keep at our S&B.

[yeloduster]

Originally Posted by yeloduster

1. We were driving the toad in Rocky Mountain National Park looking at wildlife. I noticed a whine whenever I turned the steering wheel. I got out and checked the power steering fluid. Not only was the fluid low, there was a constant drip onto the ground whenever the engine was running. Temporary fix! Go to Grand Lake and buy a quart of ATF to refill the reservoir. Permanent fix is unresolved. I don't know what is leaking at this moment but it has become low priority. This failure is probably Mild!

It is always an adventure!

The toad is a 1998 Jeep Cherokee that has been lifted ≈4". The results of lifting the Jeep is better off road ground clearance and somewhat compromised highway steering accuracy. The steering box over time had become very loose and had a lot of steering wheel play when driving straight ahead. Now it is leaking as well!

Because of the specialty nature of Jeeps they are often modified like mine for off road use. Consequently there are multiple choices and prices for steering gears:

1. Get a junk yard steering gear. ≈$15 at the you pull it yourself junk yard to ≈$80 if the junk yard pulls it.
2. ≈$160 for a rebuilt unit from Rock Auto or Orielly
3. ≈$200 for a rebuilt Dodge Dakota steering gear (yeah they fit and are bigger and stronger)
4. ≈$370 (including shipping) of precision re-manufactured steering gear
5. ≈$1200 for a very robust off road specialty steering gear box
6. AND every price in between these extremes making choosing difficult.

I chose the precision re-manufacture type because I wanted the precise steering they provide but I didn't want the expense of the high price specialty units.

I found 2 companies that provided the precision re-manufactured steering gears. Red-Head Steering Gears and Blue-Top Steering Gears. They each claim the same precision technics and care of assembly. They both have good reviews and not so good reviews. Red-Head is slightly more expensive and it is a larger company. Some of the not so good reviews of Red-Head were about service in case of problems. Blue-Top got great reviews for customer service.

Initially I was going to order the Red-Head Steering Gear but they did not have the correct gear in stock so I went with Blue-Top.

The steering gear arrived in a timely fashion, the installation was basically non eventful. I had to cut the low pressure line off the steering gear because it was corroded on! So I bought new hoses. I used 1 gallon of Power Steering Fluid to flush and refill the system.

The results, NO LEAKS, NO STEERING WHEEL PLAY!

I still haven't got the steering wheel centered when going straight down the road. It is a simple adjustment...I just haven't done it yet.

[Rhody_Chris]

Originally Posted by Rhody_Chris

So far (touch wood) nothing has broken on this trip. However, on day 5 of our run from RI to Austin, TX I discovered that the T-handle on the black tank is missing, and yesterday (day6) I discovered this (see pic):

Also, I have yet to get the oven or external grill hookup to work.

So, Got the call Friday that my TT that was put in for a November 1st appointment was finally ready. Appointment originally set for awning recall inspection (no issues there), but added winterization and a short list of issues from our trip to be taken care of including replacing the gashed tire and putting a matching tire on the spare rim.

Was hoping to have the TT back before Thanksgiving to use for sleeping while we have a house full at S&B. They assured me that the winterization was done, but the rest of the work was still pending.

So yesterday we take the hour plus drive to the dealer to bring Irvina home and what do we find? They had only swapped the GASHED tire out with the spare that I rode home from Texas on . No new rubber on either of them. They claim they have a local one man shop do all of their tire work.

So now we again need to wait for the tires to be addressed and spend another day to go pick her up and bring her home. Sure glad I didn't need to take time off work for this!

Not quite ready to throw the dealership under the bus, but this is rather rediculous!

[yeloduster]

I do my own maintenance so I don't go the service department of any RV dealer. We read SO MANY horror stories from bad experiences at RV dealers. Does anyone EVER have a good service story to tell? Are all dealers bad?

If you've had a good experience, share it.

[GypsyR]

Originally Posted by yeloduster

I do my own maintenance so I don't go the service department of any RV dealer. We read SO MANY horror stories from bad experiences at RV dealers. Does anyone EVER have a good service story to tell? Are all dealers bad?

If you've had a good experience, share it.

Sounds like a good topic for another thread, doesn't really fit this one.

[Gunshot]

On our last trip to Texas we were heading home via I10 south of Alexandria, LA when we ran into expected bad weather. Wipers took that opportunity to make a loud bang then parked themselves off the outer edge of the windshield. Drove the rest of the way to our stop in Biloxi, MS. with no wipers and much caution. We had planned a 3 day stopover there to hit the casinos and seafood restaurants. Called Good Sam for help locating a mobile repairman. GS located a guy in Mobile who could come out the next day for a fairly reasonable price but could not guarantee that he could fix the problem without parts for my old coach. Thanked him but declined his assistance. We checked weather to find that the whole coast was under a gale force warning with severe storms and much rain the following 48 hours. Don’t want to drive in that so we left a day early and stopped in Montgomery for an overnighter, then went home.
After much research, I found a replacement wiper motor from ASE Supply in Portland, OR. (ND 159100-3220) and with assistance from my bride (small arms to fit the space) got it installed. Wipers back in service.

[rcnuts]

Originally Posted by Gunshot

On our last trip to Texas we were heading home via I10 south of Alexandria, LA when we ran into expected bad weather. Wipers took that opportunity to make a loud bang then parked themselves off the outer edge of the windshield. Drove the rest of the way to our stop in Biloxi, MS. with no wipers and much caution. We had planned a 3 day stopover there to hit the casinos and seafood restaurants. Called Good Sam for help locating a mobile repairman. GS located a guy in Mobile who could come out the next day for a fairly reasonable price but could not guarantee that he could fix the problem without parts for my old coach. Thanked him but declined his assistance. We checked weather to find that the whole coast was under a gale force warning with severe storms and much rain the following 48 hours. Don’t want to drive in that so we left a day early and stopped in Montgomery for an overnighter, then went home.
After much research, I found a replacement wiper motor from ASE Supply in Portland, OR. (ND 159100-3220) and with assistance from my bride (small arms to fit the space) got it installed. Wipers back in service.

Excellant story! We had a similar wiper failure years ago on our older Georgie Boy. I linked the 2 wipers with a small diameter piece of nylon rope. Tied another 2 pieces- one for the right and one for the left on the arms around mid way. Ran the rope through slightly open passenger and driver windows. DW and I coordinated pulling and although a crude solution it worked.

[BirchyBoy]

This last trip was a bad one for stuff breaking and was 100% my fault. I was trying to make the bed and stepped on some trim below the slide. That disintegrated in about .5 seconds. Next, I installed our Dish Tailgater on the roof and then hit a tree a week later. That and the Winegard Air 360 are in pieces.

Overall the trip was fantastic though.