Okay, like I promised, now that we are home we will get some motorhome maintenance done. I have about four or five blogs worth of material now to report on.
The first one was a very important one, it was an oil change. Every 10,000 miles, Steve changes the oil. It's quite expensive to bring it into Mercedes to have what's called their Service A or Service B or whatever done. We're talking between $400 and $1,000 a visit. It includes other things besides the oil change. We have already done the required Sevice B with the transmission and the brake fluid etc with them last fall. So now we only needed the oil change.
(And now because everyone emails me and asks me the numbers...)
Costs:
Mann filter HU 821x $15
O'Reilly Three 5qt jugs $35.95 each Mobil1 ESP OW-30 MB approved 229.51 229.52 229.31
$113. 78 with tax
Then he also changed the cab filter and the air filter at the same time $13 & $19
Steve used to maintain all the heavy equipment at the University, as well as all of the equipment on site at High Cliff State Park. Doing something like a diesel oil change is not hard for him at all. Plus, we save a lot of money doing it ourselves.
He gets out in his garage and he cranks on his 1970s music on the radio station. He's quite a happy boy...
He doesn't need my help with any of the oil change stuff. That's okay, I prefer it that way. Usually I help him and hang out and hand him tools. But it was pretty hot and muggy in the driveway. I opted to stay inside in the air conditioning.
Once he's all done, he hauls away the drain oil and the used filters to the recycling center. I log it in our record books and he makes a little tag for the dash so he knows when he reaches the next 10,000 miles, he will do it again.
On the same day, we had an appointment scheduled with our handy dandy Safelite guy. Yep, we had gotten a chip in the windshield on the last stretch home. This is our third chip now since we've owned the rig. The first one we had fixed right here in our own driveway with Safelite from Peshtigo driving over to take care of it. The second one we had done in Wasilla, Alaska, right at their shop.
Our American Family Insurance automobile policy covers all of our chip repairs completely at zero cost to us. He came and did a great job. It was low and over on the passenger side. Not anywhere in a field of view. He cleans it out good, he fills it up with the proper amount of sealant and uses a special little device to suction out any air and push the glue deep into all of the cracks.
By the time he is done, you can't see anything. All done. We gave him a tip because he came so quickly and he did a nice job.
Now it's time for another repair. Our side entry door has a strut on the bottom and to keep it from whipping open in the wind and also to help close it because it's a very heavy door.
The strut is similar to what you have on the hatch back of a vehicle to gain access, and to help it to keep from banging upwards or to close it slowly. Same idea, just sideways.
We noticed ours was not operating properly, plus it was leaking some oil. So that means the seal in it blew. We ordered the proper one from Amazon, they came in a set of two. We will save the other one for in the future or put it on one of the compartment doors if needed. It was only $9.
HUOPO C1608491 15 inch 30lbs/133N Gas Strut. It just pops back on to the little knob underneath the threshold and the other knob underneath the door frame.
Easy peasy... Done!
The next job is not quite so easy.
During our trip, I noticed our water pump was getting louder and louder. Not the engine water pump, the water pump in the back next to our bed underneath a platform that pumps water throughout the camping portion of the motorhome.
I mentioned it to Steve, but I guess we kind of got involved in our traveling and didn't look at it again for another few days. Suddenly it was very loud!
Well, turns out that all four bolts that hold the housing over the impeller shaft had stripped out and one of the bolts had even broke!
Without anything holding it together, it wasn't able to pump any water. Nothing was leaking. The pump part was okay inside the unit. It's just the drive shaft and impeller were no longer functioning because it was in two pieces!!!
Without having access to any type of hardware stores where we were up in remote Yukon, I came up with the idea of removing all four bolts and strapping it tight together using little electric wire ties, sometimes known as zip ties.
It worked as a temporary fix until we would get home. It held the silver housing up against the black housing tight enough that it could still turn the impeller. But it really needed to be replaced because it was all worn down and wiggly loose inside.
It worked well enough for the rest of our trip, and we ordered a new one as soon as we got home. $71.00
SHURFLO 4008-101-A65 New 3.0 GPM RV Water Pump Revolution, 12V
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Getting down low to remove the old one is quite tricky. It is located in a small compartment next to our bed with a carpeted platform over the top. Being squeezed down between the bed and the wall, while on your knees, then reaching down deep into the compartment. Uffdah!
The first thing is to disconnect the electrical connection, and also to make sure that the water is not pressurized, by opening a faucet and letting any excess water run out.
Steve unscrewed the four screws that hold the pump down to the floor of the compartment. They're a little difficult to reach, so a long handled Phillips screwdriver works much better than a power drill with a bit.
Next, he needs to unscrew the input and output lines. He laid some small dish towels underneath to catch any loose water. Fortunately, they were easy to get loose because they have little tabs like wing nuts formed onto the connections.
He got the old one out, and we verified them side by side to make sure they were identical. You want to keep the same flow rate and pressure so you don't make a mistake with the wrong pump of not being strong enough, or too strong, for your RV.
Now you need a little bit of electrical expertise here. The old connector needs to be snipped off the old wires with enough length left to patch it onto the new wires that come on the new pump. So many different RV manufacturers have so many different connection clips, that it's just best to ship the pumps with bare wire ends. So it's up to you, as a consumer to snip off the original connector that you do have from the old pump, and wire it securely onto the new pump. Steve uses end butt splice connectors with shrink tubing to get a good secure fit. He also dips the tips of his wires into dielectric grease to make a non-corrosive connection. He uses that on all wiring on the motorhome that could be subject to dampness or corrosion.
In prepping the pump to be connected to the new lines, he also uses what is called teflon plumber's tape. One could also use TFE paste that comes in a tube like a toothpaste tube, but that's a little messy.
He wraps a couple rounds in a clockwise fashion on each end of the pump. Has to be clockwise, if you wind at the opposite way it binds up and creates lumps and doesn't give you a good seal on the threads. The input and the output connections both need to have a good seal.
Our particular setup comes also with a small particle filter with a screen inside. This was a good time to clean it out if there were any specks of sand or debris or things coming in the line. We always use an external filter on the hose anytime we add water to our system. But this extra little particle filter is one more step of precaution.
It took a couple extra wraps of Teflon plumbers tape to get the little filter to line up so it would remain in the downward position. It doesn't do any good if you screw it on tight and it's sticking up in the air.
I held the flashlight while Steve screwed it back down into place. All four screws are mounted down to a metal base plate through the rubbery base of the pump.
(Incidentally, those were not the screws that let loose when we were traveling. It was the 4 screws on the pump itself that had let loose between the silver part and the black part).
Now he attached the proper lines for the input and the output to each side of the pump. These were pretty easy to connect because, like I said up above during removal, the large connection nuts on the ends of the lines also had two tabs, like wing nuts, to hand screw it on tightly. Because he had the Teflon plumbers tape on the connectors he got a good tight fit that should prevent any leakage.
Once it was in place, Steve hooked the electrical connection backup. Now he dis-contorted himself (is that a real word?) from on his knees next to the bed and went to turn on the switch. The pump engaged and ran for a little bit and shut off --- correctly. That means it's up to pressure. Now Steve went to a faucet in the kitchen and opened it up to create a demand for water. This will start up the pump, and push the water through the lines. Yup, it works!
(and it's very quiet)
We looked carefully for any leaks around the connections that he had made down in the compartment. Everything was dry.
Yayyyyyy We are good to go again.
Here is the product information and the warranty information in case anyone is curious about this particular brand and model of pump.
WE
REALLY
REALLY
REALLY
MISSED OUR E-BIKES
OVER THE LAST 3 MONTHS!
We had opted not to take them along for our trip to Alaska. We pull them in the enclosed cargo trailer behind the motorhome. We really didn't want to beat the living heck out of that cargo trailer with all the rough roads that we were going over.
Now that we are back home again, it was time to enjoy going out and about on our bikes.
Of course, Nicholas needs to go along too. He rides along in a little converted InStep2 child trailer that we tow behind Steve's e-bike.
We don't have a lot of money into this little trailer, we got it on clearance for only $25 at Fleet Farm last year. We took out the child's sling seat and put a board in the bottom for Nick to ride on. He really enjoys it and hops right into the trailer when it's just sitting in the garage with the door open.
There are two problems with the trailer though, one is the mesh on the front. It's good for him to get fresh air, but he gets excited if he sees a bird or a squirrel or another dog and he bites at the flimsey fabric mesh! Twice now I have had to sew it back up again.
The other problem is where the green nylon fabric stretches up over the top and snaps with little metal snaps into place at the top corners on the sides. The rest of the green nylon area is really open at the sides, and just stretches over the edge with elastic and overlaps the sides. Nick has poked his head through that opening a couple of times! See the black elastic band running around the edge of the arch? That is not secure enough for the dog.
But it was always "iffy" and it is made more for a toddler than a sassy dog excited about a squirrel or a rabbit or a bird?
Nick is also an escape risk since he was rescued using large live traps. He was on the run and nobody could catch him, no matter how many people tried. So he will never, ever be off a leash and he must wear a secure harness too.
Soooooo I was thinking....
He is definitely secure in a metal dog crate. Annnnnd his metal dog crate is about the same size as the base frame of this little cart. Hmmmmm---
What if we take off the arched sections and all of the green nylon fabric? Now we would have the base, just the right size to attach his dog crate to!
I proposed the idea to Steve, and we went out with the tape measure and figured out it would work out perfectly.
Steve took on the project of removing the upper frame mechanism and the green fabric. Now we got down to just the base and it looked like this is going to be a workable situation.
The attached dog crate can still fold down and the wheels still come off for easy transport and packing it away in our cargo trailer.
Steve reinforced the base with two more pieces of horizontal metal bars and used super duty zip ties to secure the crate to the frame all of the way around.
We added his little orange flag on the whip pole so people can see that there is something following the bicycle in traffic. We don't often ride in traffic, but it's a good safety feature.
Nick was a little perplexed when we first put him in. He was trying to figure out why his dog crate, that he's only used a couple times, would be outside flying down the street with him safely contained inside? We kept his leash on him just in case and the back of the gate was securely fastened with a retaining clip.
I followed along behind on my bike and kept encouraging him that it was okay. It took him a little bit to figure it out that this was the same fun ride that he had before in the little green arched cart space.
I felt a lot better about him being safely contained in this new setup. His leash was also secured on the inside just in case of the event of something happening. We left just enough length that he could turn around and adjust his position.
Soon he relaxed, and turned around facing forward. He could sniff the air and feel the breeze and look around a lot easier than when he was in the other configuration.
Here he is in action:
And here's the YouTube video that goes along with today's blog:
Stay tuned.
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