Motorhome Maintenance, Modifications and Swapolas

Ownership of a motorhome requires scheduled maintenance. It's not like a travel trailer or fifth wheel that people stick in their backyards, only to use a few weekends a year.  The drivetrain and engine and chassis needs constant upkeep. Some people opt to bring their motorhome to a dealer or a qualified mechanic.

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Steve is our qualified mechanic! Even though the previous owner assured him of routine maintenance being done, Steve still wanted to do everything himself and make sure everything was fresh and up to date.

I am so thankful he uses such due diligence and careful procedures to keep all of our vehicles in tip top condition. I, on the other hand, keep all the records in a maintenance file and take photographs of the work if I can. 

So he started gathering supplies... 

I had time to photograph the supplies. But once he started the work, he did it while I was away at a HCE Banquet, so I don't have any photos of him actually doing the work. 

All of the part numbers and prices and places purchased are posted after these photos. 

He ordered the correct air filter, fuel filter, and oil filter from Mann filters through our local Napa store. 

He got the proper Mercedes-Benz approved oil through a deal at our local O'Reilly's Auto parts. They price match the sale that was at the AutoZone 30 mi north of here. He was also able to order the cab filter too. 

The photo above cut off the part number. So I added one extra shot here to keep it for our records as well as posting on this blog for everyone else. 

The back of the Mobil 1 ESP fluid must have these approved numbers from Mercedes-Benz or you cannot use it. 

Luckily it came in 5 quart jugs. It was more reasonably priced that way. 

While reading the other experienced Mercedes-Benz mechanics' posts on our Winnebago list, he was also told at the same time doing the fuel filter it is imperative that he changes this turbo compensating ring while he has everything apart. So he was able to order that from Amazon. 

So here are all the details copied and pasted from our maintenance log:

5/3/23

36,235 miles

Oil change

Mann filter HU 821x  $13.85 NAPA

O'Reilly Three 5qt jugs price match to AutoZone sale

Mobil1 ESP OW-30 MB approved 229.51 229.52 229.31

 $117.07 

And CAB filter 3736 

5/3/2023

36,235 miles

Fuel filter change

Mann filter WK 820/15 $119.27 NAPA

at the same time changed

Mercedes-Benz Sprinter turbo compensating ring 000-094-00-51

$28.49 from Amazon free shipping

5/3/2023

36,235 miles

Mann Air filter change

C4312/1

 $28.55 NAPA

5/4/23

Tightened leaky clamp on power steering hose and topped off power steering fluid. Used bq146002 power steering fluid from Mercedes-Benz $12.70 for 1 quart

So that was all of Steve's mechanical stuff that he took care of. 

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The next little modification is something that I wanted. We will both enjoy this one. 

In our past motorhome, anytime we wanted to use our Roku devices (which we tether through our cell phone data plan) we had to take them from the house and bring them out to the rig.

Both of our house Roku devices are the older version where you have to have the little Roku unit stuck to the top of the TV with a hunk of velcro. The remote control needs to be line of sight to aim to make the Roku work. I got kind of tired of ripping them off the velcro and bringing them to the camper and pulling away the TVs to the back side to plug them into the HDMI port, as well as the USB port to power them. 

I recently read that Roku now makes a streaming stick that completely hides behind the tv. Once you plug the stick in the HDMI and the corresponding cord into the USB, it can remain completely hidden behind the TV. The remote control does not need line of sight to the device to make it work.

So even though we have two Rokus in the house, I invested in two more at $49 each to keep permanently in the rig.

They hook up on the back to the HDMI and also the USB for power. They could be plugged into a 120 volt AC household current outlet for power too. But that defeats the purpose here because, both of our TVs are 12 volt! So by plugging it into the USB, all of the power for the Roku comes from the TV itself. And the TV gets it's power from the 12 volt batteries. No household 120vAC electricity needed! 

We got them set up and configured and updated. They work great and it seemed to solve the problem of having to move the house units out to the rig and back again. Makes life a little easier.

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A few blogs back, I mentioned about our external LED porch light. It's made by a company called Optronics. The LED lights were slowly burning out, one at a time. The other guys on the Winnebago list said that it was under a lifetime warranty. If you took a picture of the diminishing lights with an arrow pointing to it, you could email it to the company and they will replace it for free! So I did just that --- and the new one came in the mail within 2 weeks. 

Steve pulled the old one off and hooked up the wires for the new one. He also made sure to caulk up this large hole that had been made for the original installation. 

Once he had it all up in place he also caulked around all of the edges with silicone sealant to make sure there could never be any water intrusion. A good job well done. So for a free replacement and a little bit of caulk, we now have a nicely functioning porch light. 

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Also, few blogs back I mentioned about replacing the shower head with the new one from Oxygenics called "Fury". It's a really nice adjustable shower head and combines air with water to give the feeling of a full blasting shower. This works great in an RV where you might have limited water supply and low pressure with a regular shower head. The only drawback is that when you use the shut off lever on this new device, some crazy regulations let it still dribble on you so it never backs up the pressure I guess? It's a complaint from quite a few people on their reviews about this dribbling mess especially if you are trying to conserve water by turning it off while you soap up or shampoo or condition your hair. 

The solution is to add an inline shut off device. We had one of these on our last motorhome too. Bought in the hardware department aisle for only $5 or so. Use a little bit of plumber's tape and screw the shut off device in between the hose and the shower head. I suppose you could also put it down at the other end. But I would rather have it up near the handle. 

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Speaking of showers, we had to do another maintenance modification. The thermostat in the Atwood water heater is pre-set to one temperature only. It gets so horribly hot that it could burn you. It's 140°!

We watched a couple youtubes, and one particular gentleman with the same motorhome as ours called Grandpa Ron, said to change it out to this thermostat and it really keeps the water closer to only 120°. That's still kind of hot but by the time you mix some cold with it it's not too bad. At least it's not scalding us!

Steve said it was a very easy swap and it was just three metal retaining clips that hold it into place. He pushed in the new one into place with the clear plastic protection shield. He bent the three little tabs back over to hold it into place. Then the black rubber protection sticks over it, and pushed on the wires in the correct order. 

So here is another entry copied and pasted from our maintenance log:

5/6/2023

Changed thermostat on hot water heater to a lower temperature. Dometic Atwood Part number SVC tstat flush mount 130°, 91470 Amazon $15.05 free shipping

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Another blog subject a couple posts back was about ordering this extra table post and table mount. The 16" serving tray finally came, and I put it all together. I used Gorilla glue first, but that didn't hold as well as Gorilla double stick exterior black tape. That did the trick. I didn't want to put any screws through the tray as it might crack it.

It makes a perfect little cocktail table or a place to put our coffee cups in the morning. There are two different positions in our floor that we can put a table post. This works out really well as opposed to the big 18 by 40 inch table that is stowed away in the closet. 

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Now for the final blog topic.

It is built upon yesterday's blog post where we had to rapidly leave the campground for a reason!

Currently, the slide in the living area of our rig has a Flexsteel loveseat. It is called the Fold and Tumble model. It is a very nice love seat, but it does not recline because it needs to have the bed mechanism underneath it in place of recliners for your legs. 

When flipped and pulled out it opens up into an almost double size bed. It's just 4 inches shy of being a double mattress, so it is a very, very wide twin. All of the mattress sections are memory foam, and it's okay as a bed if you need an extra sleeping area in a pinch. We really didn't need that. We have an overhead bunk if the grandkids come to visit. 

What we really wanted to do was to remove this Flexsteel loveseat and put in a reclining loveseat similar to what we had in our last motorhome. We mainly wanted to recline with our feet up in the evenings for tv watching.

The only real clincher about using an everyday household Lazy Boy or and other brand recliner is that it needs to be a "wall hugger" design. There is not any room other than a few inches behind to tip back before the foot portion extends out. A wall hugger design will scoot the seat forward when you recline to boost more of the chair outwards away from the wall.

That one that worked in our last motorhome was made by Lazy Boy and it was a Pinnacle model. That Pinnacle would just fit but the only problem is the Pinnacle is only available now with the outside long lever handle that needs to swing into three different positions. That won't work in this slide because of the two side walls. Lazy Boy can no longer order them with the little half circle outside latch like our last model was 10 years ago. Bummer.

We had looked at some other brands and we had tried other measurements and nothing really seemed right. They need to be a wall hugger design or it just won't work.  We ordered fabric samples from RecPro in Indiana, who specifically makes rv furniture. We really didn't care for any of the samples. And we weren't overly impressed with their quality after reading their reviews. They were still in the $1,200 range.

We started looking at some of the other rv furniture companies that supplied the exact size, but it would involve custom orders. Some of them were three to four months wait time. And they were quite expensive, up to almost the $2,000 range. 

So then we decided to just make do with what we have and see if the right thing will come along.

On a rainy icky Friday afternoon, after we got up from our nap, Steve started perusing Facebook marketplace as he usually does. And what did he find????? 

An RV loveseat 

in just the right size

 and the right color 

and the right price!!! 

(That red pending word was nicely added by the seller because we were on our way to go get it!)

We packed up the rig as quick as we could and headed on home, stopping at the credit union on our way through to grab some extra cash. We dropped the motor home in the yard, stuffed the dog into the house, and took the Saturn along with our flat trailer. We quickly drove 60 miles to check out this loveseat!

The sellers had bought it brand new for their small bus conversion, but never really used it yet. Instead, they got detoured off into doing a larger bus conversion. Well, there was a lot more room in their larger bus so they opted to go for a couch instead of using this love seat after all. They put it on Facebook Marketplace and we were the first ones to get down there and check it out. 

What is special about rv furniture is that it is made to go through narrow doorways. This love seat is very accessible by breaking down into four individual pieces. This one is made by Williamsburg, and is of nicer quality than any of the others we looked at. 

We were actually able to fit all four sections into the back of our Saturn without even needing to haul anything on the flat trailer. We gladly paid full price of $500 and had a great conversation with the sellers before we hit the road and took off. We will keep in contact with them and maybe go camping sometime with them in the future, that's how well we got along and had so much in common. 

The next day, Steve was out there in the motorhome bright and early starting to disassemble and unscrew the mounting screws from the base of the original Flexsteel loveseat. 

After he got all the screws out, we determined it would be easier to take the entire love seat out in one piece but it was going to be quite a job. It is very very heavy! Our son-in-law Waylen was gracious enough to come over and give Steve a hand. They tilted it up on one end and we laid a blanket down to protect the faux leather. 

They were able to get it on end and get it out through the doorway in an L-shaped manner around the corner. It JUST made it without having to be disassembled.

They hefted it up and carried it off to the garage. It was extremely heavy!

We listed it on Marketplace, if anybody else would like to buy it for their rv. It would be great for someone doing a van conversion or a family needing an extra sleeping space in their rv. 

Now here is the empty slide. The platform to go on is exactly the size of the frameworks underneath the loveseat recliner we bought. Otherwise we would have had to make some adaptations with a bigger plywood base or some extra brackets or rollers. We can even keep the DOT approved seat belts in place because the new loveseat has access holes specifically made for the seat belts. 

We weighed each portion before Steve brought them in. The total of both seat bases and both seat backs comes up to 155 lb. This is a lot less in weight than the other one they took out!

We reused the same screws that came out of the other seat. That way we were sure not to go too far down through the platform or harm any of the slide electronics or mechanisms.

It took a little finagling in close quarters for Steve to get the power drill under there with a short bit to drive the screws back into the platform. In retrospect, maybe lag screws with a socket and ratchet would have been easier? 

After he got one base screwed down and the back on, he worked on attaching the other base. They clip together in the middle and we had them perfectly centered in the opening. We had a quarter inch on each side to spare! 

Steve finished screwing down the second base and had to work in some awfully tight quarters. I held the flashlight and handed him screws. 

He needed ibuprofen after this job was done! Lol

We fed through the seat belts and clicked them together so they don't slip back down through the openings behind the love seat. Now we have extra safe seating in case we have passengers along, for example: the grandkids!

The buckled seat belts tuck back into the depths of the chair out of the way when they are not needed. I am so glad we went with an RV loveseat because otherwise we would have had to eliminate those seatbelts if it had been a regular household one. 

Here are both chairs extended in the lounging position. The one on the right is extended even further to lay back. To go into the complete prone position, we probably would have had to adapt the bottom base of the slide. But we don't know how often we would want to go that flat anyhow. This is a perfect position for watching TV or relaxing or reading a book. 

I really like the cup holders on each side and the extra padded armrest. I even curled up sideways on it in a napping position and it is quite comfortable. Our new little cocktail table looks so cute with it.  We put it in the center post position between the chair leg portions and they can still open and close around it (not in this pic below).  We are going to still keep the ottomans for shoe storage and use when relaxing in the front cab seats.  Now we have a comfy livingroom for four. 

The color is great because it blends with the dark gray up in the cab area as well as the dark gray countertop and some of the trim in the room. I like this color much better than the white. 

A loveseat is perfect for lovers! 

We put our feet up and relaxed 

after our project was done. 

I wonder what our next project is going to be?