Brand new Class C owner and RVer

Get that rubber OF ASAP and switch to 16" rims. The number of good 16" truck tires you can use is short of a multitude!

We had a 72 Dodge Van conversion with 16.5" glass belted tires. 16.5" tires became hard to find, replaced them with available fatter tires which rubbed on wheel wells when turning sharply. Do not run steel belted 16 radial tires on old wheels, unsafe. There are replacement 16" wheels with proper bolt pattern. There are also a very few 16.5" tires still available, probably old stock though. There may be info on this in the long running Dodge motorhome owners thread on this forum.

Ok. I checked the tires. They are 8.00 16.5 load D rated. All of them are 4x05 so they are about 9 years old. Kind of on the edge of usefulness I guess. The owner said they had been covered, I do have the covers, for as long as he has had it but that was only about 2 years. I looked around and I can get cheap ones for $103, better ones for $119 and good ones for $149.
On another note I found the tube used to empty the tanks stowed in the bumper. It is not in good shape so it needs replaced. Is the connector from hose to discharge outlet some sort of standard. Mine is a twist on to little ears on the discharge outlet.
Sorry to ask such novice questions but as one response said, learn, learn, learn.
I have done a little more checking and finding 8.00 16.5 tires is not that easy. I have seen some suggestions that say changing out the rims to 16 inch but then I have also seen some people say not to do that. Any suggestions?

dkmthecook wrote:
Hello all. I just bought my first RV, a 20ft Chevy Escaper, 1990. Everything in it works right and I am looking forward to my first trip this weekend in preparation for my retirement and fulltimeing it next June. I look forward to following this forum and learning all the multitude of things I do not know.

Welcome to the forum! :C

What a nice looking MH. Previous owner must have taken very good care of it.

My tip is:
When you are hooked up to the sewer in a CG do NOT leave your valves open to the fresh and black tank.

Let both tanks fill up 3/4 and then dump. First black and then fresh to clean out the hose.

Leaving them open all the time does not allow enough water just from flushing to move along the sewage. Poop and paper will pile up in your tank harden and cause you all kinds of problems.

Good Luck and have fun!

Good on ya for making retirement a reality!

Mechanically, if you can work on a van, then you can work on your RV. First thing to do is check your exhaust manifold bolts. RV engines are really stout and reliable, so they tend to get ignored and allowed to sit. Exhaust bolts heat/cool and can end up REALLY rusty, which galls them to the manifold. That leads to breaking studs/bolts when removing. If you fear breaking them off, I recommend grinding off the bolt head/nut and replacing the stud left in the block with some vise grips.

Do lots of reading and realize that you probably have a battery isolator configuration. I would recommend upgrading to a battery combiner. I would also recommend load testing your batteries and considering a higher output alternator. You can't ever have enough OOMPH in your alternator. When I bought my RV, one of the first things I did was gut the chassis electrical relays/connections in the engine bay and replace with all new, marine grade parts.

"Real" RV tires will last about 7 years. If you have 16.5" wheels, then you will ONLY be able to get RV tires. If you have 16" wheels, you could be running light truck tires. The recommendation is to replace those every 5 years. Getting load E rated RV tires is the best value.

Make sure you go through all your appliances and replace wear parts like water heater anodes and fire tubes. Also check all your plumbing. Old PEX line is known to go bad and replacing is fairly straight forward. Keep gaskets for threaded plumbing connections around (just in case) and a roll of hose with push-on, shark bite type unions and elbows.

Assemble a good tool kit with cordless power tools and keep some wire, real duct tape and some Eternabond on board. You will be ready to tackle most any issue on the road at that point.

The last thing I recommend is reading through all the forums around here, especially the DIY and tech. forums. Read, read, read and learn, learn, learn. Enjoy your retirement and your rig.

Jose

Enjoy it every chance you get!

Congratulations, a nice, practical looking rig, looks like you got a good deal. Give us feedback on your "shakedown trip".

dkmthecook wrote:
I have checked the tires pretty thoroughly and there is no sign of dry rot or anything else. I am somewhat of a gearhead and I tried to check out everything I could before I bought it. The 350 motor is in good shape and since it does have 63000 miles on it I figure it is pretty well worn in. A 350 is an easy motor to work on and that was one of my prerequisites since I will be doing all the work on this myself.

How did you check out the tires?
How old are they? TO be properly checked out RV tires need to be inspected if over 5 years old. The problem is sitting in the sun uncovered the chemicals in tires evaporate and this weakens the sidewall, this can lead to unexpected blowout. SOOOO, please find the DOT date code and find out how old your tires are.
Unlike a car Just because there is plenty of tread it does not mean that the tires are good. A blowout can easily cause a thousand dollars damage (experience of mine). Please do not take this lightly

I have checked the tires pretty thoroughly and there is no sign of dry rot or anything else. I am somewhat of a gearhead and I tried to check out everything I could before I bought it. The 350 motor is in good shape and since it does have 63000 miles on it I figure it is pretty well worn in. A 350 is an easy motor to work on and that was one of my prerequisites since I will be doing all the work on this myself.

Ok here is a question, how do I attach a picture?
Never mind. I dropped it on my web site and referenced it that way.