MOTORHOME MODIFICATION - *D* Dash Air Conditioning and Dog Therapy Visit

I am going to start off the new year with posting some of our motorhome modifications, a few at a time. I will post repairs, modifications, or neato things we have found for RVing.  I have lots of pics in my files so I will do them in alphabetical order.

Underneath that stuff, I will post my regular daily stuff..... kinda sorta fun, eh?

So here it goes, we are up to the letter D now!

MOTORHOME MODIFICATIONS 

STARTING WITH THE LETTER D

Dash Airconditioner Freon:

This was done in September of 2015. Steve had re-charged the system a few times over the years with cans of R134a freon, but this last time it would not take in any more freon, sadly it would not cool or kick in the compressor.  That usually means that there is too much air in the system.  It needs to be brought in, get hooked up to a machine to evacuate the remaining freon, and then have it pressurized to check for leaks.   We had this done once about 7 or 8 years ago and we were good until now. (remember our rig is 20 years old) Time to do it again....

We found a nice local garage able to do it locally:

Automotive Source Inc. Service Center

61 E. Chestnut 

Chilton WI 53014

920-849-4443

We pulled the rig around back, and we were about 10 minutes early for our appointment.  We were taken around back right away, and our mechanic Eric was right on the job.  He let us stay and watch by the rig, and allowed me to take photos.  (we hesitate to ever leave our rig unattended at a shop after a VERY bad experience up in Oconto that caused us a lot of money, pain and headaches)    So we request that we can observe as long as we promise to not get in the way. 

Eric brought out the evacuation machine, and said he has been working for this shop for three years now. He drives over every day from Menasha. Happily, he is closing on a home purchase in the area in one week and is quite excited to be a new homeowner in our city of Chilton. He is looking forward to an easy commute of only a few blocks by next week! 

Eric had to remove the little caps on both ends of the dash air system. Ours is a Acme brand model 191633 and has both an inlet and outlet openings.  Eric hooked up the machine and set it to work.  It first has to suck out all the freon and the old oil stuff in the system. 

Then he pressurized the system and watched the gauges for any leaks for a period of time to be sure.  Next it was time to add the proper amount of freon and also some new dye and oil treatment fluid.  Our system capacity is 4.6 pounds, and Eric wrote it right on the case of the unit so we know in the future what it takes.  Here is my Steveio waiting patiently during the testing process for leaks....

Now it time to fire it up and check the coolant from the dash vents.  Steve went back to check the compressor unit at the engine and noticed that one long rib of our serpentine belt has come off!  The belt is still working, but with one piece missing, we will soon see more of it destroyed. 

Soooo, now we ordered a new belt, and it will be in tomorrow.  Good thing he checked!  He is thinking the tensioner pulley is causing some grief too, and it helped shred the belt. We we will also replace the tensioner at the same time.  Steve has an extra one on hand in his box of replacement parts.  Usually Murphy's Law is that if we have a replacement part on board, then the part in working action never breaks!  LOL    So while he changes the belt, he will put on the new pulley and keep the current one as an emergency spare. 

Now... it's time to PAY THE BILL! 

ACK! 

 Steve looks pained.

Tom looks happy (or so he says) ~!

The bill wasn't so bad afterall! 

It was $78 freon

$4.50 dye/oil

and $75 labor

The serpentine belt will be in tomorrow and that is an additional $54 

Steve will take care of installing that himself.

 Now Fast Forward a year later in 2016----

Dash Airconditioner Compressor:

Our Cat engine has a large Seltec air conditioning compressor unit in the back that runs the little Acme box up front to cool the dash vents. A while back, Steve noticed that our compressor clutch hub was broken into bits!  He can still let the belt run on the pulley, without the clutch hub operating. We just went without any dash air the last few trips.

If you know anything about Steve, you will know that just will NOT do... he needs to fix it!  (in the meantime we can run the rooftop air conditioners with the generator running)  He did some research and some conversations back and forth with a few folks on the Safari Yahoo Group we own:  SafariMotorhomes  

It was difficult to determine which unit we had, as various ones were used over various years during the Safari manufacturing.  There is a label but its way up high inside the engine compartment. He got the model and part numbers off the unit with my help.  I had to lay on my back under the rig, scoot myself into position and then I could get my arm up inside there to aim the camera at the label.  It took five or six photos before I got the full label in the frame. 

Now to find the replacement parts for a 20 year old unit.....

He found a great place to order from (thanks to fellow Safari owner John Ruff)  and the air compressor was ordered toot sweet.  In his talking with Richard, the guy in charge of sales, he mentioned that the drier unit should be changed at the same time.  We ordered that too, and it was shipped free of charge because of the shipping on the big compressor when it fit in the same box.  Nice! 

For the technical guys queries and also in case someone googles up my blog post for the part numbers, here they are: 

ACMEAIRPARTS.COM

913-515-1560

Email: richard@soldbyrichard.com

4526121 8 Groove Clutch New TM-16 AC Compressor
NEW Seltec 4526121 8 Groove Clutch 12 volt Vetical # 8 & 10 fittings 10 cubic inch.435-56121, 2521196, 10046121.  TM-16
$225.00 plus $23.50 shipping

4103052 Drier 3/8 x 3/8 male o-ring fittings.
Replaces: 4103050, 4103052, 4107316, 804-297, 085266-00 , 054-00001.
3/8 male o-ring drier with female & male switch ports.
$38.50 free shipping

The parts arrived in two days! 

First step was to rip out the old compressor.

We are very fortunate that our whole king sized bed lifts up to access our engine compartment.  Motorhomes with slides do not offer that ability, and you can only access the engine from small trap doors here and there in the bedroom floor or closet.  That is why many diesel repair places charge higher rates of labor for the motorhomes.  Honestly, as our friend Mel says, why charge more?  If it takes longer to work on those kind of motorhomes, the repair place makes more money!  But for rigs like ours that take less effort, why not charge us like the trucks and get it done faster?  Hmmmmmmm??

Here is my hero, busy at his task

While working on removing the old one, Steve had previously applied some PB Blaster spray fluid to help loosen the fittings on the two high pressure lines.  He applied the spray three times a day, during the two days waiting for the parts.  Now the time to tell if it worked? 

No such luck. 

Dangnabbit

 He had to cut off both lines to get the old unit off.

We have a local guy who is going to make up two new lines with new fittings next week. Then we can drive the rig over and he will install them, and evacuate the system of any debris before filling it back up with freon.

Speaking of debris....  It is a good thing Steve checked the tiny expansion valve for any debris.... 

OH MY!  

Seems the dessicant bag in the old drier unit broke

and all the little BB particles made their way into the valve!

Sure is a good thing he checked it! 

We got the call on Thursday that our newly found semi mechanic had gotten in the ordered ends for the hoses on our AC compressor unit.  He came recommended to us by the faithful parts guy at a local business.  When Steve talked to him on the phone, Chris Fritsch really seemed to know his stuff, and was willing to do the job for us when the new parts came in. Steve had previously drove out and met up with him and he knew what to do for the job, and understood the job we were asking about.

Here is the guy we hired: 

C & F Repairs   Chris Fritsch

W4096 Moore Rd

Hilbert WI

920 418 1858  or  920 439 1858

Thursday night, as soon as Steve was done with work, we brought the motorhome out to the country location. I followed in the car so we could leave the motorhome there.

Chris and Steve got the main ideas taken care of, such as where the engine access from inside was available, and where the controls were inside for the jacks and how to get in the front compartment by the freon fill fittings etc.

The guys finished up their business so we hopped in the car and left our rig in their care.  We do not often do that, but felt confident that his rural location it was fine.  Plus they have a massive doberman protecting the yard and a big Great Pyrenees dog out in the shop. 

Friday evening Chris called and had already flushed the lines out, pressurized them to check for leaks, then evacuated the AC system and refilled with new freon.  While he was doing that, he noticed our passenger side rear hub was leaking... the seal was bad!   We had redone the drivers side 2 years ago, so having the passenger side go bad now was no surprise to us.  Thankfully, he had time to repair that for us too!   We are glad he noticed it for us and it was not in any way to pad the bill.  We had our own choice to take it as it was and get it fixed elsewhere.  Steve asked if he had time, and he was able to locate the seal part and get it done by later Saturday morning!  

We drove on out to pick up the rig on Saturday....

The guys settled up on the bill:

2 AC hose fittings  29.00

3 electric connectors 3.00

1 wheel seal  48.00

refrigerant 30.00

zipties for the lines 5.00

remove and replace fittings on air compressor

pressure check for leaks, evacuate and refill

check fan, remove and repair fan connections

remove and replace rear right wheel seal

labor 6 hours @ $60 per hour!   *that is very reasonable!*

The total bill came to just under $500 which is very good in our eyes.  Of course it is tough to ever pay anyone for work on our meager budget, but we felt confident that the work was done well.  As Steve drove the rig home, the dash air was blasting icy cold.  Perfect! 

~~~~~~~

Last week I happened to spill my cup of coffee into my laptop!  Don't ask how, it just flopped over and poured into my keyboard!  ACK!   I flipped it over fast, unplugged the power and removed the battery and dabbed with paper towel.  Then I stood it on it's side and blew it with a hair dryer.  I trepidatiously plugged it all back in... it worked.  Somewhat. I missing a few keys worth of characters.  But I quick did a backup to an external drive, just in case.  Then I went on Amazon and ordered a replacement keyboard.  Only $11.57 plus shipping, under $20 total.

The replacement came in two days, and I googled for a You Tube on the exact instructions for my particular laptop.  I watched it through twice, and it was going to be easy. (I had replaced one on my old Compaq and also on my old Dell that were a LOT harder!)

I unplugged the power cord and also removed the battery from underneath.  Best to do this before you start! hahahaha

On the top edge of the keyboard, there were five tiny tabs to push back and pop out the top edge of the keyboard. The tip of a tiny screwdriver worked, but just about anything pointy would do.

The keyboard lifts out and I carefully flipped it over.  Be sure to not *tug* on the flat ribbon cable so you do not damage the connector underneath.

Carefully lift the plastic lever of the connector with the tip of the screwdriver.  The flat ribbon cable will slide right out.

Remove that old keyboard and set aside.  Now get the new one and flip it over, and take the new ribbon cable and line it up.  Be sure you are doing it so the cable will lay flat once you flip the keyboard into place.  Do not do it opposite or you will kink the cable and probably goof up your keystrokes!

Carefully flip the keyboard back over and align the larger stationary bottom tabs first, then snap the top edge back in along those little snappable tabs.  Click Click Click into place!

Plugged everything back into place and VOILA!  All done and now I can type apostrophes, quote marks, no more double C's every time I hit a C and no more mysterious tabbing when I try to hit Caps Lock.  YAYYYYYYY!!!!!!

Our sweet houseguest Millie is missing her owner terribly.  She keeps looking at us quizzically and wondering what happened to that kind old man who spoils her rotten?  Now that Steve's dad is settled into his rehab center for knee replacement therapy, we arranged for Millie to come and visit him!

She is a trained therapy dog with certification for nursing home and recovery center visits, and has been to this facility before with his dad to visit other people and brighten their days.  Well, now it was time for her to visit her owner and give him some LOVE!

Here is a video clip I shot quick from my phone when we went to visit him...

What a Happy Doggie!!!

"Are you coming home soon????"

Millie dutifully laid by his feet while he underwent some therapy exercises.  She never gets in the way around wheelchairs, walkers, equipment or people.  What a good girl! (see her little therapy vest?)

Sadly, we had to say goodbye as Dad P had to get back to his schedule of therapy and get ready to come home as soon as he can. He is doing great for 84 and having a knee replacement.  He has a big Canadian Fishing Trip coming up with all three of his sons to look forward to.  Gotta be able to get in and out of that boat with his full catch of fish each day!

Oh.. .P.S. ... This crazy visiting dog Millie is systematically removing all the manufacturing tags from each and every dog toy in our house! She is not destroying the toy itself, just removing the tags! Silly girl! 

Steve told her the Feds are coming to arrest her 

and put her in doggy jail because 

it is a federal offense to remove this tag! LOL

Awwwwwwwwww

MOTORHOME MODIFICATIONS *C* and Three Dog Night

I am going to start off the new year with posting three of our motorhome modifications at a time. I will post repairs, modifications, or neato things we have found for RVing.  I have lots of pics in my files so I will do them in alphabetical order.

Underneath that stuff, I will post my regular daily stuff..... kinda sorta fun, eh?

So here it goes, we are up to the letter C now!

MOTORHOME MODIFICATIONS 

STARTING WITH THE LETTER C

Compass:

Compasses seem to have gone the way of the past, since GPS has come into our lives.  Older RVs do not have a GPS built in. A lot of people rely on the GPS on their cell phone. What if your cell phone battery goes dead, or your GPS unit in your rig keeps saying Rerouting... rerouting.... ???

Both Steve and I navigate and keep track better if we have a compass to glance at. In our car, one is built into the rear view mirror and I use it a lot to keep my bearings when I drive.  Same with Steve in our motorhome.  I found him this one years ago... and we keep it velcroed to the dash.

It is a digital one that runs on a few AAA batteries,

 and has a light to illuminate at night. 

I think I found it at an auto parts store. 

Containers:

When dealing with the smaller cabinets and lighter payloads in an RV, we try to find things that stack compactly and take up less space.  Instead of the full paper bag packages, I only take along partial amounts of flour, sugar, brown sugar etc. I put them into containers to seal out any critters when we travel in the south.  I used to have these round ones, but they took up a lot of room and wasted space with their cylindrical shapes.

Instead, I found these containers from our local Shopko chain of stores.  Here is a link and they are on sale right now.  Gourmet-Living-8-Piece-Square-Rectangle-Air-Tight-Canister-Set   You could google the brand Gourmet Living to find some online I am sure.  They are thick plastic and have a lever of top that vacuum seals the lids down tight.

The rectangular shapes help to stack them tight, 

and keep things from sliding around. 

Cover on Console Shifting Pad:

Our Cat Engine on our motorhome has an Allison Transmission with a push button keypad on the left side of the drivers seat for shifting.  With a simple push of the button, you can put our rig into gear!  Just imagine the horror of us being outside hooking up the Tracker Toad and having someone push a button... or a dog jump up on the seat to look out the window and push a paw onto the keypad?  Yes, we always try to pull the emergency brake when stopped... but things can happen.  I was always nervous about something or some pet pressing a key when we were doing the hookups.

Steve eased my fears by making this heavy plexiglass cover for our shifting pad.  We flip it up out of the way to lean against the wall when we are driving, and we always flip it down flat over the keypad anytime we leave the drivers seat.  Even if it's just for a minute at a wayside to grab a drink from the fridge, or pulled over to do a potty break. Better safe than sorry!

~~~~~~~~

I am sorry that I missed a couple days of blogging here.  Things have been a little up in the air.  Steve's dad, our wonderful Pa Pfundtner, leader of the clan, decided to have knee replacement surgery.  At 84 he is going strong, out and about and doing things, but his knee has been giving him grief.  So he scheduled a knee replacement for Friday.  He made arrangements to stay overnight at the hospital guest house the night before, because he was scheduled for the first surgery in the morning  and had to be there at 5:30 am.  We met up with him and big brother Mark on Thursday night for the great handoff of precious Millie... Dad's dog!  

She is his pride and joy and constant companion.  He adopted her from a rescue group and gave her a new lease on life. (and spoils her profoundly!) He has trained her for doing therapy dog visits to nursing homes and hospitals.  She is so well behaved and sweet.  Those eyes just melt into you....awwwwwwww

We took her back to our house, driving through horrible fog and rain that we have been having for days on end in Wisconsin.  Our snow is crusty and hard and melting fast....  It took us twice as long to get home as the fog was as thick as Sea Poop!  (pea soup?)

We got her to our house about 11 pm and although she has been here before she was so confused about not having her Daddy around.  She gets along well with Finney and Binney, and we made a little bed for her alongside of our bed on the floor.

We turned out the light.

ooooh 

the moans! 

the groans! 

the whines! 

the wimpers! 

She missed Paul so much.... and was miserable. 

After 20 minutes of listening to her little heart breaking, 

we let her up in our bed!   

Laying on top of my legs and sprawling out across the king sized bed suited her just fine. She konked out and slept peacefully for the rest of the night.  Each time we tried to move, she was a lump of doggie fur and not easy to roll over.

 Oh well, I guess it is a Three Dog Night! 

In the morning we popped up our two stinkers onto the bed. They had been sleeping nicely on their doggie beds on the floor.  I suppose for poor Millie who misses Paul so much, we can give her a bit of comfort for the time she is here.  Steve brought up coffee and we had a Three Dog Morning! 

We ran back to visit on Friday, and then again today to see how Pa is doing.  Therapy has started and they have him up and walking around multiple times a day. We will keep Millie with us until he is ready to go home and resume his spoiling of her. hahahha


Today Steve decided to teach these dogs about doing household tasks and projects.  As you can tell, they are not too impressed?   Since we put the new tv up on a wall bracket (see last blog)  I wanted to hide the coax antenna and the power cord in a trim strip.  Better than having those ugly wires hanging down loosely on the wall.

I painted the special metal trim strip the other day with the same color as the walls.  Then Steve measured for the brackets and spacing to put it on the wall alongside of the tv. We had to take the tv off the wall to re-route the two wires behind it, so they would come out on the far right side:

We tucked the coax and power cord into the trim strip and slid it down into place. A few taps of the hammer did the job.  It was just the right height to come out next to the tv and run down the wall to the baseboard.

As the dogs dozed on the bed, we worked around them, as they lost interest in our project.  The walls are a soft blue color. But on a dreary day, the colors do not show up so well.

And there it is.... 

all encased in the trim strip and I think it looks a lot better! 

Steve went downstairs to put away the tools and he shouted up for those three lazy dogs to get up and go outside.  ZOOOM they left the bed in a rush!

I was left alone to test out the tv and make sure it worked 

and that our connections did not come loose. 

Hmmmm I thought about taking a nap....

On a rainy icky afternoon,

 it seemed like just the thing to do. 

So I did.