2011 June » tgif: let's RV

The Fix Is On

Jun 222011

When to Crossroads and met with the Lippert rep. They had removed the bottom skin and the front cap. There are no broken welds, all the welds looked good and could see no physical damage. Once that was all removed and the trailer was lifted you could see where the frame was flexing. This is not some lightweight frame, the walls are 4 gauge steel making the walls of the frame tubes about 1/4" thick and from what I was told is heavier then most manufacturers use. The side walls bolt to the frame in two places behind the rear pin box crossmembers. The walls do not attach in front of this crossmember because of the frame design is not a box but an angled or notched design so there is nothing to bolt to. The frame flex starts just about where the forward most sidewall bolt is. Front of the trailer is on the left on the above picture.

The frame is designed like this because the front cap is curved or rounded so a square front frame would not work. As you can see from the above picture there is about 9" of wall in front of the frame rail. To reduce the flex they are going to extend the frame rails as far forward as possible and then run a new crossmember to the pin box area plus add a couple extra braces and gussets between the new framing and existing framing. The side wall will then be bolted to this new framing. I should get the rig back late next week.

Wildfire Sweeps Through Top Of The Hill RV Resort

RV Day to Day Life, RV Parks & Campgrounds No Responses »

Jun 212011

I just read that a wildfire sweep through the Top Of The Hill RV Resort located in Boerne, TX. This interested me because I stayed in this park 2 years ago while visiting Texas Hill Country. Top Of The Hill is a nice park located just off I-10 and it gives you a great view of the country side.

First news report

News reports says that 7 out of 70 rigs were destroyed along with the park's club house, laundry and bath house. Reports where there were a number of explosions from propane tanks and ammunition going off. I was parked across the street from the laundry when I was there so it really made me think about what was there and if my rig would have survive if I would have been there at this time.

Second news report

Back To The Crossroads RV Factory

RV Maintenance & Repairs No Responses »

Jun 172011

I took the trailer back to the factory today to get the frame and pin box inspected. The trip to Topeka (Indiana that is) took about 1 1/2 hours. It was an easy trip except for a bit of construction on the road leading to the repair facility. I finally got to meet Randy after talking with him a number of times on the phone.

Once I got there I unhooked and they brought over a forklift fittest with a hitch on the forks so they could have a closer look at the pin box flex. After lifting it a few times and measuring about 1 1/4" flex at the end of the pin box they took the trailer into the shop. At this point Randy didn't want to say if the amount of flex was too much or not until the rep. from Lippert got there to look at it. It sure looks lonely sitting all alone in the repair bay!

Lippert Frame Flex

RV Maintenance & Repairs 2 Responses »

Jun 162011

Tomorrow I take the trailer back to the Crossroads factory to have the frame checked out. It appears there is excess flex in the frame where the trailer's pin box (hitch) attaches to the trailer frame. I first noticed a problem on my drive home last weekend. As I pulled off the highway near the fairgrounds where I dump my holding tanks, I had quite a bit of brake chatter. Once I got to the fairgrounds I checked the trailer brakes and suspension and all looked good. Once I emptied the tans I headed home.

It happened again twice on the way home. Once I had the trailer unloaded I parked it and started to unhook it from the trailer. As I watched the trailer unhook I noticed the pin box mounting brackets were moving. The mounting brackets are attached to the trialer frame and there should be very little flex in this mount. As you can see in the picture above, two holes are showing in the mount below the overhang skin.

Camping At An RC Race Track

RV Activities No Responses »

Jun 122011

There are a lot of places you can camp and a lot of activities you can do while camping. One of my hobbies is Radio Control Car Racing. I don't get to do it as much as I would like but I do try to attend some of the races at one of the local race organization's summer race series. This series is 6 races held at 6 different tracks. The race is on a Saturday and practice is held on Friday. I normally will take a vacation day from work on Friday and head to the track on Thursday evening so I can make it a long weekend.

As you can see there are a number of us that bring our trailers to make a weekend of it. While most arrive on Friday and leave Saturday after the race is over, there are a couple of use that arrive early, stay over night on Saturday to leave on Sunday. I enjoy doing that as it gives me a lot of time to relax both before the race and after. No need to rush to pack up just to drive home by midnight.

Custom Flow Tailgate Install

RV DIY & Mods, RV Equipment No Responses »

Jun 062011

In my previous post I talked about the terrible weather I had camping Memorial Day weekend. What I failed to mention was that during my efforts to get unstuck I damaged my V tailgate when it caught on the edge of the pinbox when pulling out from the trailer. It was a cheap Carlson tube tailgate so that didn't bother me so much as I hate not having some type of tailgate on the truck.

I don't like using the stock tailgate because if I am at more then just a little angle I can not lower the tailgate to unhitch without it hitting the trailer. Since I normally camp alone, that is a problem. My only solution is a V tailgate. This time I wanted something with a little more quality so started searching around. Reading different forums the Custom Flow tailgate came with many recommendations. As I researched prices, it was a good value too. I order the Custom Flow 5th Wheel Tailgate from Amazon for $320 including shipping and it arrived 3 days later via UPS.

Lake Hudson Recreation Area - Clinton, MI

RV Parks & Campgrounds No Responses »

Jun 032011

It was the middle of May before it dawned on me that I needed to get some campground reservations for Memorial Day weekend. Since most Michigan campgrounds are booked solid months in advance for holiday weekends I didn't hold out much hope of finding any openings. I searched many state and private campgrounds in the area and none of them had openings for the 3 day weekend. I wasn't giving up yet and started searching some of the smaller less equipped campgrounds.

I finally found some openings at Lake Hudson Recreation Area near Clinton Michigan. It is only about 2 hours away from me and even though the sites only have electric hookups and no other facilities it sounded like a good place to try.

The Lake Hudson Recreation Area is a Michigan State Park that is considered a semi-modern. What that means is minimal services with only electric hookups, pit toilets and no dump station. The roads will be dirt with the sites carved out of the local landscape with minimal disruption to the vegetation. There are no playgrounds or other activities for kids but there is a nice sandy beach about 1.5 miles from the campground and a boat launch if you want to catch a few Walleye.

The Spring weather here in Michigan has not been very good. There had been rain for 25 of the past 30 days which made for soggy ground. As we entered the park the ranger warned us to be careful picking a site as many of them were very soft. You don't reserve a particular site, you are just guaranteed to have a site available to you so it is best to get here as early as possible for the best selection.

Wiring & Siding Fixed

RV Maintenance & Repairs No Responses »

Jun 022011

I was able to fix the electrical outlets on the slide and the loose wall panel in the stool room.

I used my plug in electrical outlet tester to find that both outlets in the slide were not working. On the floor there is a junction box where the wiring comes into the slide. When I took the cover off the junction box I found that one of the wire nuts was not put on correctly and the wires were not making a good connection. I redid the wire nuts and now I have electrical power to the outlets.

I then decided to look into the loose wall panel a bit more. I peeled back the seam tape and found that the manufacturer uses some type of staple to attach the wall panels to the aluminum studs. A few of the staples had pulled loose. I took a couple of flat head sheet metal screws, drilled a pilot hole for them and screwed the loose section of the panel to the stud. I then put the seam tape back in place. There are a few wrinkles in the tape so I'm going to get a new piece of the seam tape from Crossroads to replace the bad section.