DANG!!! The Shocks Are HERE! plus carpet cleaning and around the yard photos

(please see the post following this one for an update... 

the shocks DO work!) 

Yes, they are here!  and they look to be TWICE as long and twice as lightweight as the originals!   I have NO idea how Steveio will deal with this now.  ACK!

I didn't really explain before, but a few folks emailed and asked me WHY is it such a big deal about the shocks?  Well, it is because the mid 90's Safari motorhomes were constructed on their own exclusive chassis that Safari made themselves, with a sub company called Magnum.  Both of which are no longer in business.  It's not like a common Roadmaster or Freightliner, where parts are readily available.

The suspension is a specially developed style called Torsilastic developed by the BF Goodrich company and is called Velvetride.  It is comprised of a series of rubber wedges and big rubber bushings.  No springs, no air bags.  Just shocks.  (and it does ride like velvet!)  Not many repair places even heard of it, much less able to do any alignment or repairs on it.  Some of the larger coaches/buses like Foretravel used this suspension too.

The trouble with the shock replacement on this chassis is that the original shocks (now 14 years old)  were made exclusively by Koni as a special configuration for the Magnum chassis and not available on the open market as replacements.    They are adjustable, but one shock on one side of ours will still adjust, the other side won't hold anymore, so the seal must be blown inside.  No leaking hydraulic fluid, but if Steve grabs one end and I grab the other, we can pull it apart too easily.

The only other alternative for us vintage Safari owners is to buy a special bracket made by a guy out in Washington for the Safari rigs that will let a person install pairs of smaller more common Koni FSD shocks-- 2 together on each side.  Just the brackets are $295.00 for a pair,  and the 4 shocks just for the front would be another $145.00 each, which is a total of almost $900.00  !!!!

 So THAT is why we were excited to locate a company that has a single larger shock that will fit the original configuration at a great price of $75.00 each.   Compare $150 to $900 ?  The rig rides just fine with the original configuration, so why change it?  We prefer to just replace the shocks with what was there before.

I have NO idea now what we are going to do.  ARG!


Went out this morning to the motorhome to check on the carpet cleaning and drying.  We left the windows open all night as rain wasn't forecast and the sky was clear.   But I slept with one ear open in case I heard any rain, prepared to rush out and shut windows.

Well, it looks GREAT!   I used a couple glug-glugs of a cleaning product called Nature's Miracle Stain Remover and a packet of Oxyclean in the hot water compartment of our Bissel upright steam cleaner.     Nature's Miracle is available at our local Piggly Wiggly grocery store in the pet aisle or also at the Petco chain stores.       http://www.naturemakesitwork.com/home/index.php

Although we didn't have any pet stains, I find it to be a great all around cleaner and stain remover.  It works great on clothes too so I keep a bottle with a sprayer by the washing machine and use it as a pretreatment. Takes out old stains that normal detergent or Shout won't even touch.

With such light colored carpeting in our rig, we try hard to keep it nice and never wear shoes inside.  Even for Steve when he is driving, he removes his shoes as he comes in the door and puts on hard soled moccasins that are never worn outside at fuel stations etc.  Otherwise spilled diesel fuel in the truckers lanes at stations get tracked in on carpeting and will never come off.  He wears leather gloves too when fueling up, so he never has oily diesel fuel on his hands when coming back in or touching the steering wheel.

Here is a pic from the side entry door facing to the front of the rig....

Even the couch came out nice... it wasn't too dirty but needed a freshening up.  I put all the furniture back into place and snapped a few more pics.  Since we took out the second couch and added the euro chair, we have a lot more floor room for sprawled out lazy lounging doggies. That is when they are not hogging the couch too!  LOL    But when we removed the second couch, you could see where it had been and where the main aisle had accumulated dirt over the last four years that we have owned the rig.   We vacuum often, but it's hard to keep up with two sassy doggies armed with 8 dirty doggie paws. 

 

The morning sunshine coming in sure makes it feel good!   We keep the 2 chairs to the one side of the table, which leaves more room at the side entrance doorway, and the basket with our shoes and dog leashes etc.   We just move one chair over to the other side if we are eating inside.  Usually we eat outdoors at the picnic table.  The tiny speakers at the head of the table are for my MP3 player.  They require no power other than the battery on the MP3 player, and we use them often.  Great for boondocking and conserving power. 

The table can pull out longer with one more section of a leaf put in, or we can remove the first leaf that is there now and have it even shorter.  I like having the choice instead of one fixed table size like in our Sierra Travel Trailer.   In the Coachmen gasser motorhome we had, the table could fold down or completely remove and store under the bed.   That was nice too.  This table is attached to the wall cabinet, but at least is adjustable.


Seeing as I had the camera outside, I snapped a few pics around the yard.  The weatherman said it will go over 80 degrees again today, which is very strange for us in May in Wisconsin.


We only put the fabric top cover on the gazebo frame when we are out there on a hot summer afternoon, otherwise it will become tattered and weathered if left on all the time.  I like these new hanging green bags for flowers, and put one on each corner of the gazebo frame.   My huge fuchsia plant from  Mother's Day is hanging up in the center section.  It's getting ready to burst out in new blooms any day now.  Hard to see against the green trees.

The back deck stretches all across the south side of the house and around to the east side.  Then on the west side we have another deck too.  We spend more time outside than in! Here is a pic I found with the fabric top on the gazebo, taken from down below.  The two sets of lower patio doors face into my studio, and I have more chairs down there to sit one too.

This is our view from the back deck and that is the Oconto River in the background.  We are fortunate to live on a section of the river that is sandy, shallow (about waist deep in the middle) and slow flowing.   Our kids and dogs enjoyed all the years of dipping in and cooling off. We kept our woods natural between the house and the river, and just make a walking path through the trees each year.    Those tiny white dots here and there along the ground are the wild Trillium flowers that pop up each year for a week or two, then gone again till next year.  We also get wild roses all summer, and bright brilliant sumac bushes in the autumn.

Here are my 21 tomato plants all in a row behind the garage.  This side faces south so it's like a hothouse here with the sunshine and heat coming off the logs of the garage.   Won't be long and those plants will be crawling all over above the cages and a bountiful crop of tomatoes will last till fall.  Yummmmmmmm    If we get frost warnings, (very common here till June)  I just cover the whole works with cloths over the cages and hope they make it through the night.   I have the cages nailed right to the log wall, so they don't tip over from the weight of the tomato bushes as they grow.  4 Early Girl, 8 Better Boy, 8 Beefsteak, and 1 Cherry Tomato plant.

These coleus plants are from some starter plants from my friend Connie, from her home back in Green Bay in about 1995 or 96.  I keep them all winter in pots in the house and keep splitting them, re-rooting snips and sharing them with friends.   They get darker purple if kept shady, and brighter green and pink if kept sunny.  I will transplant these three pots on the bench into the flower bed along side the garage, perhaps this evening.

After I was done with my picture taking this morning, a little princess arrived.... 

complete in a cute outfit with a picture postcard that says:  

SEND ME TO GRANDMA'S! 

Now, what can be cuter than that????

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Motorhome shocks, backup camera, and fridge prop

Well... update (kinda sorta) on the motorhome shocks.   If you read my other post from Sunday:

Crazy Customer Service when trying to order motorhome parts

you will see that we have been trying to spend some money and get some shocks since May 5.  Today is the 18th.   The not-so-helpful sales guy at the other end of the phone finally promised that his supplier would have the shocks to him by Mon or Tues and then he would ship them on to us toot sweet.  

Welllllll  I wanna go camping this weekend!  

It's already Tuesday, so I figured a call to double check might help.   After being on hold while the same sales guy (by the name of Dan)  he had to call his supplier to double check my order again, he finally came back to me and *said* that the shocks were shipped from his supplier yesterday and would be there at his place today.  And then he in turn would ship them to me overnight to my house and they should arrive by tomorrow.  

WE WILL SEE.  

(and now, watch, I am tempting the Monkey Motorhome Gods by saying they won't be the right ones?!?) 

These Bilstein shocks run in the $120-140 range a piece, and this place has them on a special for $75.75 each with free shipping.   The other guys on the Safari list said it was a good place to buy from.  hmmmmmm?

Now, being the *Cover My Bases* kinda gal, I decided to call a few truck supply places in Green Bay to see what they can do for us, in the event that the shocks do arrive tomorrow and are wrong.    Batting ZERO.... one place suggested their books show a cross reference to a Monroe gas-filled shock for $38 each.  I don't think that is a match??  They said we could bring in our shock and physically match it up, so I think we will send Steveio to work tomorrow with a shock in the car trunk, and he can run over on his lunch hour if need be.

I guess we will see what shows up tomorrow with UPS?  Otherwise I might make Steveio put the old ones back on just so we can go camping.  LOL  One is ok, the other isn't holding firm even after taking it off and adjusting it.   The rig rides fine, we just hear a loose rattly sound when going over some bumps.

If the shocks come, and fit and are good, then I will praise the company and we will order some rear shocks too.  The rears could probably use replacement too, as one seems to have some oil seepage.  Steve is going to have to torch them off because even with 2 weeks of daily squirts of anti-rust spray on them, nothing is budging on the nuts.   The front ones came off easy, so that was half the battle right there.


On to the next thing... our backup camera.    It is housed in a little extruded bump on the rear top cap, with a scratchy plexiglass cover over the opening.  It had yellowed over the years, and really needed to be changed.  Steveio put in a nice piece of strong safety glass, and sealed it in from the inside (accessible from a cabinet in the bedroom)   He used some leftover black butyl tape from when we replaced our window last summer.

 It was a quick repair, but made a big difference on the view~! 

I like using the backup camera when I am doing the driving, especially to keep track of what vehicles are around me.  It's always some stupid little car that is tailgating me and who will inadvertently whip around my right side as I am trying to make a wide turn!  They never seem to see my turn signals either.  At least then then I can prevent damaging my side of my rig because they are impatient or too dumb to know that motorhomes need a wider turn and don't *bend* in the middle.   It happens so often that we learn to drive very defensively and keep track of all motorists around us, even in the rear.



Speaking of the back of the motorhome,  did you see our white tigers? They are right below the camera on the back of the rig.   Jameson was over and doing a little nature walk with his Granfaddah Pfun last weekend.

I have mentioned it before, but the Safari murals are hand painted and airbrushed on individually each personally by the Dame family out in Oregon.  And each one is different and interesting.   Here is a website with more information:   http://www.arcatapet.net/travel/murals.cfm

I am not a tiger fanatic, but it came that way to us, and it's kinda cool.   Often they hide a small animal somewhere on the mural, here is out little mouse.  Makes a great conversation starter in a campground! 

So after Jameson checked out our tigers, he finished his little walk around our yard....  the grape vines are just starting to bud out with tiny leaves, and the lilacs behind are all in full bloom.

The other day on the RVnet forum,   www.rvnet.com , someone was asking about ordering a fancy replacement lever device for keeping their RV fridge door propped open when not in use.   I mentioned we used folded up dishtowels.  I happened to snap a pic this morning when I was in the motorhome taking the photos of the television, so here is a handy RV Hint for the Day:  

  

Well, the sun is shining here, and the sweet baby Chelsea is here for the afternoon.  Might take her out on a nature walk around the yard too.  Never too young to start them enjoying the woods????

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Crazy Customer Service when trying to order motorhome parts!

Okay...  I have a *rant* here.....

Remember---- over a week ago, I posted that we figured out that we needed new shocks on the motorhome?  Well, with due diligence and research from other Safari owners, helped me locate the best shocks for our motorhome at the best price....

Sooooooo I do not like ordering items online with a charge card.  We have been victims of credit card theft once (actually it was our debit card being used like a credit card--much harder to get your money back!)   and I never want that to happen again if I can help it.   I look up what I want to purchase and then I call a company's 800 number and talk directly to a clerk or customer service and order it that way.  Easy peasy, right?

Welllllll not so this time!

(I will leave the company's name out of it, for now, until we are sure we get what we are promised)

I call there a week ago Friday, the 7th and talk to a guy.  He tells me I HAVE to order the shocks on line to get the lowest price advertised on their website and I can NOT order them over the phone!   Hmmmm????   Here I am, credit card in hand, ready to spend almost $200 dollars and they tell me I can't spend my money?

(ps now we use a credit card, not a debit card for all purchases, we learned our lesson)

I explained I prefer to spend my money by ordering over the phone and prefer to not have my credit card number out there floating in cyber space.  He tried assuring me that he himself shops on line all the time and it is safe!  I said tell that to me and my bank with reversing the 11 charges for $39.95 for a porn site???     He said sorry, it is the ONLY way I can order the shocks and get the listed website price.

Ok, so I hang up, I go to their website, I plug in all my information and my poor little credit card and hit the shopping cart and try to check out.... NOPE.. .each time I get a fault error from their server with a code.   I tried three times.  They won't let me spend my money on line either??

So I call back, get the same guy, and read him the error code.  He said "Ohhh we have been hearing that a lot lately"   Huh?  So I ask him if NOW can I order them over the phone and give him my credit card???   Reluctantly, yes, and he takes my order.   I also ask if he can check that the three times I *tried* to order online get removed or even check if it went through so I don't end up with FOUR sets of shocks?  He assured me that if I didn't get a confirmation number, the order didn't go through.  Well, hope so... we will see.

Now, that was Friday the 7th.   He said it would take a day or two so we should get them by Thurs or Fri of last week, the 13th or 14th.

Of course, you guessed it.  Nothing.  Not Thursday. Not Friday.   When I saw the UPS truck go by our house Friday afternoon, I knew we weren't getting any shocks.   So I pick up the phone, dialed, and got the same guy!   Lucky me!

He remembers me (the freaky lady with the porn charges???)   and he said he would check on that order.   Then said oh oh, our supplier didn't ship it to us and that is why you didn't get it yet.  I asked him WHAT????   We have been waiting seven days for these shocks and you never had them in stock when I placed the order???

(this is getting good, huh?)

He puts me on hold and calls his supplier, and then comes back to me and said that the supplier needs to know if I have 8 air bags???  I said NO!   And why would they ask that?    I explained when I ordered the exact number and type of shock listed on their website and its for a Safari with the Blue Streak Magnum Chassis with Torsilastic Suspension with Velvetride by BF Goodrich.... no air bags, no springs....     He said the supplier held up my order because they were not familiar with my rig's suspension !! (stall tactic?)   Now WHY would the supplier even ask such a thing?   That is not anywhere on my order!   The only thing on my order is a part number.    The supplier don't know a thing about what rig I have or don't have, so why would they hold up an order for more information?

Something don't smell right.

On this company's website, they have my year, chassis and suspension listed with a part number that I ordered with and suddenly they are second guessing me as the owner of the rig in what I am ordering?

And for that matter, IF they were second guessing me, WHY weren't they either calling, emailing or sending me a letter for clarification?  They have all three forms of information to contact me when I placed the order.   ARGGGHHH

He put me on hold again, a long time, and then back again all the while talking to his supplier.   The end result of the phone call is that the supplier will ship the right shocks to them on Monday and they will ship them out to me on Tuesday and we shall have them by Thursday!

Wanna bet????


(gosh can you tell I have been sick and cranky?????)


So as second measure of insurance, I think I will check locally in Green Bay for the right shocks at a few of the heavy duty truck places, even if we have to pay more.  Then if the shocks don't arrive by Thursday, I will call this guy , cancel my order and have Steve pick them up after work.

Otherwise, how is this gal gonna go camping on the weekend????


And just to show you that I am not *that cranky*... as I write this, I am sitting out on my deck, with all my new flowers hanging up and relaxing in the late evening sunshine going down.. hummers are humming around my head, oriels are drinking orange juice and grape jelly at the feeders, and the bright yellow finches are gobbling up the thistle seed and all is wonderful in the world.......

We got babies for Mother's Day weekend.... and Motorhome shock repair

Bit of Grandchildren stuff first-----

Ohhhh we got a little Chelsea Beetle Bug Baby here this morning. Steve and I found her a little bumblebee Halloween costume over the weekend and here she is, checking it out....  (her nursery room theme is bumblebees) 

 

I guess it passed "inspection"   after all, what little girl doesn't want to have some fairy wings? 

Then later today little Jameson will be coming over for the weekend.   His mommy is hostessing a karaoke show both tonight and tomorrow night in Green Bay and his daddy will help her with set up and tear down.  So the little lad is coming here to hang out.   We will take him again to the Piggly Wiggly grocery store with the cool shopping carts that are like little trucks!  These are photos from the last time we went:

 

 

Then next weekend we will have little Allegra's baptism....  so will get some more pics of our other little princess.   Here is one her mom shared:

What a little Hollywood Doll! She is out for a ride in the stroller we got her.  How cute is this? 

Can you believe it, we are due for SNOW tonight????  They said 2-4 inches, and it will melt fast tomorrow.  But the temps dropped drastically here and we had to kick on the furnace this morning.  The house was really chilly and the winds are blowing.   That is why we don't plant the tomatoes or hang out any flower baskets yet.  We could very well wake up to white stuff all over them! 

Now on the motorhome front.  Last weekend we noticed a bit of rattling underneath on some bumps, signalling a bad shock.  We have a very nice ride with the special Safari suspension called Torsilastic ...  Velvetride which is really a rubber design by BF Goodrich.  It rides along so smooth, we really don't feet much road problems, but heard the rattling on the rough parts by DePere on hwy 41.  So Steve pulled off the front shocks, and sure enough, one is bad.  So that is our next project, ordering replacements today and will be put on before we go camping again. 

We had a great five days in our rig while down in Beloit/Shopiere... the solar panels worked wonderfully and we were fully charged back up before noon each day, even with partial shade here and there on some of the panels, and some days were cloudy or raining.   Love having the Trimetric gauge to see what we are using, or how far down we are draining the four 6volt batteries.   

We can be "extravagant"  with this power usage now, and keep the router and two laptops going all the time.  And of course some tv, dvd and lights in the evening too.   It was so warm, we never ran the heater either.  But we don't use the big LP furnace with the blower, we have the Wave 8 Catalytic heater instead.  It doesn't use any power at all, just runs off propane with no blower.  But like I said, we didn't even need that this past weekend. 

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

So hope all you mothers out there have a wonderful Mother's Day ... and for everyone else, go HUG your mom!  If you can't hug your own mom, find another one to hug.  Moms love HUGS!