Over the past week or so we've performed some maintenance on our rig. First, I had to change a tire on the trailer. The right side tires are wearing on the outside, one of them too far to use anymore. I found the wheel bearings were all improperly adjusted, and I hope that solves the wear problem, because the only other reason would be out of line frame or bent axle. With only 6000 miles on the trailer the tires should not be worn out.
For the last 100 miles or so on the motor home we had smelled the sweet smell of antifreeze, and found the coolant reservoir was fractured and leaking under pressure. $160 for a new reservoir at the Ford dealer, and the parts man was surprised to find they had the right one in stock. An awful price to pay for a plastic jug! Replacing it should have been an easy job, but it was installed with three tiny headed bolts that over the years had rusted solid. Despite heavy application of WD40, the bolts broke, and I had to drill them out and replace them. I used full sized bolts.
Our generator had developed a leak in the muffler, and I attempted to weld it but found the whole muffler was rotten with rust. I had to cut the old stuff off, and used the rest of my WD40 on the manifold bolts to get it apart. The local generator shop where I'd bought parts before had everything needed in stock for another $125, then we went to an auto repair shop and got a length of 1 1/2" pipe for the tailpipe for $12. After a lot of dirt in my eyes, and cursing and grumbling, I got the new exhaust system installed.
Today I had to remove the motor home dog house engine cover (between the seats) and re-attach the sound insulation which had fallen off. Always something.
In the pics above you can see me with the just-removed reservoir and the newly installed one too, as well as me with the old generator exhaust.
We went to the drag races next door here last weekend, but we were disappointed to see few fans there to watch the sportsman racing. On March 23 and 24 the IHRA Nitro Jam show comes to Tucson, and Marlene offered to stay on here for the extra day or two so I could go and enjoy the craziest vehicles to run on the dragstrip, but the idea of watching the jet cars run just made me sad.
We`ve been doing some shopping, stocking up on things that are cheaper here, like shoes, lingerie, etc. We ordered a new electric wok from Amazon to replace our defunct 25 year old one, as well as some filters for our vacuum cleaner that we could not find locally.
Today a big RV show started here on the grounds, and we went for a first look around. We were not really impressed by the new coaches or trailers. It seems that construction materials and methods have not improved in the past ten years. The best rigs (over $200,000) seem to have better materials and finishing, but still are poorly designed and executed. The build quality of the coach bodies is poor even when compared to the cheapest of new cars. Lucky the chassis builders take their work more seriously.
After being accosted by several hungry salesmen looking to find the best trade-up for us, we still did not see anything that caught our fancy, but we did enjoy the free hot dogs! We might go look again tomorrow... I hear they`re making burgers!
We see the strangest things sometimes in RV parks, but the guy living in his boat while towing it around on the trailer was pretty strange. See pic above.
Marlene had an eye exam at the optometrist ($39), after which we went to the Sher-e Punjab restaurant where we enjoyed a nice lunch buffet of curried beef, curried chicken, tandoori chicken, curried eggplant and potato, naan bread, salads, samosas,basmati rice, and several vegetable dishes, as well as rice pudding, fruits, and little deep fried dough balls in a sweet sauce. Very tasty at $9 a person.
No comments:
Post a Comment