Although right now it's the middle of winter, I had these photos in my files, as well as a video, of replacing the step motor on our Kwikee brand power steps on our 2016 Winnebago View.
From our helpful friends on our Facebook Group for the View and Navion motorhomes, we learned that the step motor is nothing more than a window crank motor for a door for a Ford vehicle!
We ordered it through Amazon, and it was only $38. We looked at the original brand for replacement as well as one from the E-trailer website. They were many hundreds of dollars!
Be careful when ordering one, make sure that you look at your original one. There are two different lengths of the little shaft on the drive motor. You have to make sure you get the right one!
We checked ours over and compared it to the one we had and yes, we had ordered the right one. Ours is the shorter shaft for the 2016 Winnebago View.
Steve got started by collecting all the tools that he needed, and laid out a foam yoga mat for doing the replacement.
He took the old one off. Now it was time to put in the new one.
MAKE SURE THE STEPS ARE EXTENDED OUT AT THE FURTHEST POINT BEFORE YOU ATTACH THE NEW MOTOR.
OTHERWISE YOU WILL NOT BE IN SYNCHRONIZATION WITH THE GEAR AND THE DOOR SWITCH.
Another HINT--- Steve quickly figured out that to keep the little spacers in place, using some green painters tape to temporarily hold them was a lot easier. Once they were into place on each of the three bolts, he could pull the green tape away and finish tightening up the bolts.
Now he could easily lift the little motor up into place without dropping the spacers all over on the ground. The spacers are actually 2 nuts and a washer per bolt, and you need to get all three of them up there at the same time. We thought it was kind of hinky, but that's how our previous one had been mounted. So he wanted to mount it back the same way.
Before bolting it up into place, he temporarily connected the cable and we tested it. Just to make absolutely sure that the motor was in perfect working order and that we didn't get shipped a defective one.
Caution! If you are going to test it, make sure you unplug it before you proceed any further with the installation. Make sure the electric step switch is OFF while you work on it, because the steps fling in and out with extreme force. You wouldn't want to get your arm or hand in the way of any of the moving mechanisms.
While the steps were in the OUT position, Steve was laying on his back underneath to one side. He carefully mounted it up into place and made sure he got each of the three long threaded bolts lined up with the holes on the mechanism. He lined up the gear, making sure it meshes correctly with bracket on the step. It helped to have another person on hand to move the steps slightly in one direction or the other until he could line up the gear correctly.
Once he got each threaded bolt started just a few turns, he was able to reach in and pull off the green painters tape.
He tightened up each bolt and then plugged in the wire to the existing connector. Be sure the wire is up over that bar and not down underneath it where it could get pinched. He also used some pieces of zip ties to keep the wire up and out of the way of the step mechanism.
Now it was time for the final test....
OUT!
IN!
PERFECT!!!!!
NOTE:
It's important to rinse your step mechanisms well after driving in a lot of gravel and dusty terrain. It's also important to lube them multiple times each year with a spray lithium grease on all the moving joints.
Here is the YouTube clip that goes along with today's blog. It also has a segment about visiting the Mercedes-Benz dealership to have some things looked at as well as stopping off at a few of our favorite places as we ran our errands. It finishes up with some of my painting on the front porch. Nice to look at in the middle of winter...
I know this was all filmed and photographed back in August. But I feel it's a helpful post for anyone else that wishes to change their Kwikee step motor, no matter what brand of RV you have.
We saved a lot of dollars by doing it ourselves instead of having an RV dealer replace it. Also we saved a lot of money by ordering an aftermarket motor from Amazon rather than the Kwikee name brand which was big bucks!
Even if this $38 one only lasts a couple years, that's a lot cheaper than paying for the name brand and having someone else install it.
I'm so thankful that Steve is able to do these maintenance projects, and I'm the helpful gopher with all of the parts and pieces as well as the filming and the photography.
I hope you enjoyed this blog and the video that goes along with it.
Now back to our winter hibernation wait to finish up the rest of our health tests so we can leave and go south in a couple weeks!!
Big apologies for not posting for the last couple of months. Some things just kept getting in the way and it just became another task on an ever-growing list to take care of. I kept thinking of things to write and taking photos. But then other things kept coming up in the way! I think I was becoming overwhelmed...
We are trying to keep warm and stay cozy in our home as the temperatures are dropping. I thought I would get around to putting this blog together tonight...
Once we got home from Alaska, we had discovered two different roof leaks with water intrusion inside of our home. Steve checked things out and it was much more than we could tackle ourselves. If it were 10 years ago, we would have done it. We've done a couple roofs ourselves, but we just don't have it in us anymore.
(Steve checking the flashing around the chimney)
Then it was the task of getting various bids from some uncooperative roofing contractors. We tried five different ones to get a good idea of what we were facing.
The first guy that contacted us came in with the best bid, and the other ones that straggled in for weeks afterwards might have been cheaper, but they were also not reliable in any form of communication or response in returning the bids they promised, nor in the time frame they promised.
So we went with the most responsive and professional roofer. He arrived with a clear plan of attack, a clear idea of what was going on and gave us various options to choose in the forms of repairs. He had written contracts, brochures of the exact products that we could choose from in style, color, and warranty level. He also supplied insurance binders, and took care of the building permit with the city.
It was really hard for Steve to put the project in the hands of someone else rather than doing it ourselves. And of course, the cost of paying someone else to do it!
The work went well, and we are very satisfied with the job that they did.
They worked very hard and got it done completely stripped down and replaced in 2 days.
They had all the proper equipment and took care of things in a very professional manner. The work crew of seven men did a fantastic job. We kept them supplied with fresh coffee and donuts in the morning, snacks throughout the day, and plenty of bottled water and soft drinks and juices throughout. At the end, Steve thanked each worker and gave them a cash tip.
We knew there were bad boards underneath across the front porch and in some of the valleys. We had a lot more sheeting replaced than we originally expected, but now it's done correctly.
We were fortunate to have two great days with no rain to get the roof done. The temperatures also cooperated with very little frost in the early morning hours on the roof surfaces.
These guys worked hard from the very first moment of sunup to the darkest of sundown to finish the job.
Multiple layers of roof came off and the underneath layers just crumbled into nothing! The newest rooof layer put on before we bought the house was nailed over totally crumbling rotted shingles. They should have been stripped off back then... Oh well, it's done correctly now.
One of the worst areas was a section of rubber roof where the two portions of our house meet together.
Everything was removed and replaced correctly now with confidence. One part of our house is from the late 1800s and the other part is from the early 1900s and they were joined together. This little part of flat roof (which was covered with a sheet of rubber) is actually over our bathroom!
When the work was all done, every shingle and piece of debris removed, every stray nail pulled up by magnets rolled over the lawn... Now it was time for Steve to get up on his own ladder and inspect the job. Lol!
Here is a video of the process:
So in between all of that, we took care of a lot of extra items we needed to catch up on once we got home from our summer away in Alaska.
We did sneak away for a few short excursions for a few days to get some camping in after the roof was done.
Here are a few YouTubes of our camping:
We had family situations come up that needed some attention as well as some health issues for both of us.
We did get in a nice Halloween celebration with family, which included our oldest daughter and son-in-law's family from Oklahoma, as well as celebrating my birthday.
Steve went to a Packer game along with our son-in-law and his father and nephew. They had a really great time! We women stayed home and had a "gals day" while the guys were at the game.
Thanksgiving came and went with a traditional gathering in our own home with our own family, and then a later postponed Thanksgiving gathering with Steve's family due to the weather.
Christmas was upon us in no time and we had a wonderful celebration with the children and grandchildren right here in our own home. We celebrated the weekend in between Christmas and New Years, which worked out for everyone.
We got all of the decorations up before it got too snowy.
The grandkids came over and helped decorate the inside of the house for us.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...
Oodles and oodles of sugar cookies were decorated by the grandchildren.
We had a marvelous feast with tons of food and plenty of leftovers to send home.
We sure enjoy feeling the house full of family and laughter and love. I like it when everybody gathers around the island in the kitchen and fills their plates.
We spread out in the dining room and enjoy our dinner together, sharing stories and talking about memories as well as dreams of the future.
The kids have their table with their mischief and silliness. But later on they end up coming in to hang out with the grown-ups to see what's going on.
Here's a little video of our Christmas together:
Before we knew it, it was January---
Last weekend we held our "Epic Bowling Event" where we take all of our kids and grandkids out for a Mexican meal and then off to bowling at The Good Place in Oconto. A lot of fun was had by everyone!
Afterwards, both Steve and I came down with a flu bug,
or a mild case of covid. So did some of the others in the family. Ugh!
Now
~~~~ On to our 2026 Winter Getaway~~~~
We've been planning and making lists and graphing out on our maps of some places to go to for the rest of the winter. The temperatures are dropping quickly and we thought we would be able to escape after our dental appointments on the 19th of January.
So we've been planning and gathering and packing anything in rows in bins in the house that cannot go out in the motorhome because they would freeze.
But then we've got a medical snag in our plans. Some of our lab work revealed some potential problems. We have to stick around longer and get some additional attention and medications and test again for better results by February 9th. So we won't be hitting the road till at least after February 9th.
All in all, looking at the weather with this polar vortex descending upon us in the next day or so, it looks like it's going to be a horribly cold next 10 days to 2 weeks anyhow. We checked the weather down along our intended route through Illinois, Missouri and Arkansas and into Texas Gulf Coast and over into the Texas Hill Country. Everything for the next two weeks looks absolutely horrible and frozen!
So now I'm not quite so disappointed about not leaving, because the weather is definitely not going to be cooperating. That is no place to be in an RV and boondocking and taking chances of broken water lines or freezing equipment.
We will stay home and stay warm and finish all of our medical and dental commitments. Hopefully everything will get balanced out properly with medications and things will be back on track for both of us.
Poor Steve...
We got all the Christmas decorations taken down outside, so we can be ready to leave whenever the doctors let us!
It's so cold out that Nick keeps popping all of his little play balls in the backyard. Even the heavier rubber ones don't hold up to this Sub-Zero weather.
Don't feel too sad for us,
it's still very pretty
in Wisconsin in the winter
We just hope to get out before the snow gets too deep...
Even had a special visitor one night come to check out the bird feeders.
And that long licky licky tongue of his cleared out the entire bird feeder in one evening!
For now, I will curl up in my she shed and work on my newest quilt. Looking out at the snow and waiting for the days on the calendar to pass. Hopefully we will be on the road soon...
Thanks for following along. I hope to have some better blog posts in the future about our winter getaway down south.
This blog starts out with some motorhome stuff. While we were gone on our vacation, it was our anniversary. We usually decide to buy something that we both want together and that will be our anniversary present to ourselves. We didn't find anything while we were traveling, but we decided that we really could use a new set of pots and pans for the RV.
We waited until we got home to order them, and we are lucky that we did. They happened to be on sale, and we saved quite a bit.
We had seen another YouTube RVing couple, actually two different couples now, that had these nice pots and pans that had detachable handles. They are just perfect in an RV because they stack together and take up less space. Both of those couples seem to have great reviews about them and have been using them for quite some time. So we thought we would look into it.
The brand is called "Carote", and they even feature the fact that they are great for RVs because they stack together.
They have different colors in different assortments of different various pans. We looked through all of them to find the set that seemed to fit our needs the best:
We chose this one because we wanted the darker color, and we wanted a variety of fry pan sizes and deeper sauce pans than what we currently have. It also came with a set of knives and some cooking utensils that we really didn't need, but they were nice to get along with the whole deal.
Here's the link to Amazon for the set that we purchased:
We had a lot of fun opening them up and checking them all out. We really do a lot of cooking, together, in the RV when we travel. We rarely go to restaurants. So this would really be a wonderful gift for the both of us.
The detachable handles were pretty cool, and I could see where they would make it really easy to stack things up into a drawer or a cabinet without handles sticking out.
We registered the kettles for the warranty and showed our proof of purchase for one year.
Here they are all stacked up. The brown felted flower-shaped petals are underneath the stack in this photo. Further on in the blog you will see where they go when the kettles are in transit.
All in all, it's three fry pans, a large 5 qt saute pan/wok and three sauce pans, and a special egg pan. There are three detachable handles that can fit onto any of the pans when needed. It came with assorted glass lids and some snap on plastic sealing storage lids to store food in the refrigerator. Plus a nice stainless steel steamer basket that can double as a strainer/colander.
I also like that it comes with a four quart saucepan, my last set only had a three quart and two quart. Four is much more usable and things don't boil over as quickly because it's deeper.
One of the kettles we wanted the most was the four small round egg circles in a pan. We often fry up a single egg for each of us and put it on an English muffin along with a piece of ham or sausage. We make our own Egg McMuffins for a quick breakfast in the morning while we are traveling.
After running them through the dishwasher, we quickly removed our old set from the motorhome. They were in pretty good shape, but they were about 13 or 14 years old. Our youngest daughter needed a set and we passed them on to her. I'm sure she will get a lot more use out of them. They were really pretty coppery color with ceramic lining. We gave her the extra knife set, too.
Now for the fun stuff--- finding out how they all stack together in our drawer underneath the stove in the motorhome.
The set comes with these brown felted flower shaped petals that are really protective trivets that go between each pot or pan as they stack up. It prevents scratching from the exterior of one onto the interior of the other. Mostly it's to prevent the rattling noises! And we know in an RV, those can be irritating. I used to pad my old kettles with pieces of shelf liner or my hot pads to muffle the metallic rattling sounds as we drive down the road.
These are going to work out really well...
Look how they all stack up and nest together into one stack? This is a set of three fry pans, a saute pan, and three saucepans. Seven of them in one stack! (really 8--- I decided to keep my old flat square griddle for pancakes or French toast down below in the bottom of the drawer).
All three of the detachable handles are down in front in the corner. The lids are laid up on their side on an angle, because the knobs prevent them from stacking flat anyhow. The egg pan holds them up just enough on an angle that the drawer can easily open and close.
I decided to keep the stainless steel steamer basket up in the cabinet with my stainless steel mixing bowl. I think I will use this more often as a colander or strainer than an actual steamer basket. Multi-use! So I got rid of the dumb plastic one I had in the upper cabinet.
We went camping and we got to use them for the first time. Something I had never really thought about was by having detachable handles, they can be detached and set off to the side for easier arrangement on the stove burners. As most of you RV owners know, the stovetop space is quite limited and the burners are placed closer together than on a traditional household stove. By detaching the handles, I can move the pans into place and then not accidentally knock something by bumping a handle or having a handle get too heated by being next to another pan. That was an added plus that I really hadn't thought of until I was actually using them. I was very satisfied with the nonstick surface, and the pans seemed to be flat and evenly distributed the heat.
Steve cooked up a big breakfast using three fry pans on the stove at the same time. Once pan for hash browns, one for bacon, and one for eggs. They all fit quite easily on the RV range top.
I think these pots and pans are going to be a winner!
Another project that needed to get done when we got home from vacation was to clean the carpets and also the vinyl flooring. I had picked up this steamer device to use on both the carpet and snap-on a microfiber cloth and it can be used to steam clean the floor at the same time.
It did a great job on the vinyl flooring and the two little carpeted areas up on front behind each of the cockpit chairs.
(Why on earth Winnebago decided to put carpet in those two little triangle sections is beyond me? We saw somebody else on the Winnebago Group on Facebook try to pull it up and it has holes underneath for some kind of brackets or something, depending on what your floor plan is).
The other part in our motorhome that is carpeted is on this step up area that goes around each side of our queen size bed. It gets rather grubby because it's a light cream color. The steam cleaner and the Resolve carpet shampoo really brightened it up and it looked pretty darn nice after it dried.
So that's it for motorhome stuff, but the last two weeks I had a couple sweet darlings come over here to help me out with something that needed to get done on the house.
We bought the house in 2019 and back then I had completely primed and painted the entire front porch. We had to replace spindles and repair handrails. 6 years later, things were looking worse for the wear and really needed to have some better quality paint this time around. The stuff I used last time was straight paint and it was on sale. This time I bought primer and paint mixed together, and I bought enough to do THREE COATS!!!
But first that meant scratching off and scraping any of the loose chips before I got started. That's where these two sweethearts came in on the job.
Boy oh boy, did they ever work hard! They said it's very satisfying to chip and peel off the old paint. Remember, it's only 6-year-old paint so it's not lead-based so they weren't in any danger. They enjoyed chipping and peeling and scraping and scratching. And even more fun, they thought it was hilarious when I brought out the shop vac. They actually vacuumed up the paint chips out of the grass, the sidewalk and the flower beds. They thought that was totally amazing that they're Crazy Grandma would have them vacuuming the flower beds???
Sadly, I lost my helpers when they had to go back to school. Now it was my turn. I love to paint. I turn on some soft music and I have my mug of coffee. In the morning, as soon as the dew is burned off, I get to it. I do one section each day and work my way around all four sides of the spindles and the top and bottom rails. Each section got three coats of paint.
I could only paint in the mornings, as this porch faces to the west. The afternoon sun made it too hot to work out there. So I did a little bit each day as the weather permitted.
Steve helped me with the tall man work on the big columns because he can reach up higher. We didn't want to haul out a ladder so he put a telescoping pole on the roller and he was able to reach to the top.
Some of this porch is rather rugged, it's from the late 1800s and some of the wood is worse for the wear.
Steve firmed up some of it with a chemical wood hardener to hopefully get it to last a little bit longer. If we don't keep things original, we would have to go through zoning and get a building permit to replace the railings with different types and heights to meet code. I would rather keep it original for now.
I just love how neat and clean and crisp everything looks when it's done. There is a therapeutic and mesmerizing effect to doing painting. Every stroke of the brush is cleaning it up and making it nice and fresh. It's a type of a job that you get immediate gratification from, it goes from grubby and ugly to beautiful and pristine. Especially when you paint with white.
The railings look so good again. Steve put the flower boxes back along the ledges after I finished up the gray with some porch and floor enamel paint. Just the outside edges of the porch boards where they are exposed to the elements needed a touch up. The rest of the porch is still in pretty good shape.
Then I had to break out the red paint and a little roller and touch up the lattice work underneath. That was very time-consuming...
Someday I might like to change this lattice over into some cut out fret work boards like we had on our house and Chilton. But for now, this looks very "farmhousey"... but it's not original.
We really enjoy having a front porch. This one is quite long with two sections with two different seating areas. We mostly use the part that is to the southern section of the house with the rocking chairs and the porch swing. Very often we have little grandkid butts perched on the porch swing, eating popsicles or sipping on juice boxes.
Whenever we have company, we kind of end up out on the front porch and sit out there to chit chat after dinner. It's kind of like an extra "living space" for us.
The old fashioned beadboard ceiling could probably use another coat of paint sometime soon. Maybe in the spring I will get a long-napped roller and get a good coat of paint up there. For now it is holding it's own. I can only do so much at a time.
The gray porch boards are showing a little wear, but I can roll those maybe in the spring with some more porch and flooring enamel. Right now I am out of that paint, and I think I am done for the season with my painting projects.
We propped the window boxes up out of the way so I could touch up here and there a little bit more. Imagine soft music playing from my little MP3 speakers, and I'm sipping my coffee from my mug with all of the grandchildren pictured on it. Mornings like this make me smile. I am at peace.
For how much we love traveling and exploring, we also love being back home at our house. It takes some work keeping it up, so we have to fit it in between trips.
A couple years ago, granddaughter Chelsea help me make this rain chain. It's little metal buckets from the party supply section at Walmart. Then it's a hunk of plastic landscape chain from the hardware store. Steve helped us drill big holes in the bottoms of the buckets and we used little S-hooks on the handles to attach them to the chain. We squeezed them tight with a pliers. Then Steve mounted it to the end of the rain gutter. It is quite fascinating to watch the water come pouring down through it. See the chain of little red buckets?
Here is a very short video segment on YouTube of how it works, with granddaughters Whitney and Claire playing with it after a downpour had just passed through:
In this photo below, I have the rest of the gray boards painted along the edges. As soon as they are dry, Steve will hoist down the window boxes to set back on the ledges again. I don't like them up high on the railing, because then we can't see out of the windows. Plus I have the ferns hanging down from above and they just block out too much daylight if I have everything filled up with plants...
This is a beautiful family heirloom. It is the sign that hung on Steve's parents' various homes throughout the years. They are both gone now to Heaven. We happened to be the lucky ones who got the sign when we were clearing out Steve's dad's last home. They were married in 1951.
It hangs proudly on our front porch between the windows on the left side.
I think it is very pretty, and I'm glad that nobody else in the family wanted it. I had always admired it, and we were lucky to get it.
Now that the painting is done, the plants are put back where they belong, and we can relax a little bit.
The weather is still nice here in Wisconsin, even though we've had some cool evenings. It's perfect to grab my spinning wheel and come and sit out on the front porch in our rocking chairs... Steve sipping some limeade or maybe a beer, while I have my soft wool sliding through my fingers as I create beautiful yarn.
It's especially nice to look around and say that we've taken care of "our home".
Some of today's blog is also in this YouTube link below:
Right now Steve is helping the kids with some work on remodeling their bathroom, but after that we are getting ready to go camping again.
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