Tail of a trip to and from Bowling Green.
Well we left June 15, the heat of the day overwhelmed the dash A/C so we turned the generator on and turned the roof A/C on. Unbeknownst to us the power transfer switch did not kick on and the A/C was running off the inverter. Not a good thing.
Got to our rest stop for the evening and discovered the batteries were almost dead, and that the battery charger on the inverter was no longer working.
It was raining. In the rain, we (good friend Steve and I)finally traced the problem to a point in the relay in the power transfer box that was corroded. A little emery paper fixed the problem.
I will revisit this now with a file to make sure the points are all clean and flat.
The generator was not shut off until we returned to Rochester the following Monday, not because we were afraid we would have the same problem, but because it was HOT!
94 degrees and 100% humidity.
This is the salvage yard generator that I installed last fall before the trip to Florida. It ran flawlessly.
Interestingly the batteries stayed fully charged for the whole week (remember the charger in the inverter is fried.). I believe the solar panel charger still works on the batteries. I might just leave the inverter/charger alone. I hate to do that because as soon as you start to let things slip it is a slippery slope with other repairs.
On the return trip in LaGrange Kentucky the TireMinder went off with a loss of pressure warning on one of the trailer tires.
Pulled into a rest stop and the entire tread was gone, just steel belts showing, still holding air. Changes out the tire and wheel with our spare (89 degrees and still very humid).
We were traveling with another racer (Steve), and he stated that he had had Carlisle tires on his trailer and once one went the other five went right in a row (six tire stacker trailer).
The next exit had a WalMart and I replaced the blown tire with a D load range as that was all they had (the trailer originally came with D load range tires and I upgraded them all to E).
I was extremely impressed with the way WalMart service took care of the tire, had one person torque the lug nuts, then had a second check them, then had me do a figure eight in the parking lot and then retorqued the lug nuts again.
Got to Hamburg NY and the TireMinder went off again. There was another Walmart at this exit and we received the exact opposite treatment. They would not even look at the tire unless I removed the tire from the trailer and brought it into the store.
They did not have the tire anyway, turned out that my most treasured RV service center was also in Hamburg.
You guessed it camping world. I had them order in 5 E load range tires, replaced all the tires on the trailer and the spare. One of the open tasks is I will check date codes this week.
Found that a third one of the Carlisle tires was ready to go.
I kept the two D load range tire casings and will mount one up on another wheel giving me two spares. I also put a tire sensor on the one spare that I currently have. ($1,000 later we are ready to leave camping world).
One other thing, I had to stop the camping world tech when he was bolting up the rims, his method was to take his impact gun and run a lug nut all the way down and then proceed to the next one.
As we were pulling out of the camping world parking lot the low air pressure warning went off.
The air gauges read 120 PSI
I drove the Motor Home, home to Rochester (2 hours) with the buzzer going.
Once home and we shut the generator off and the engine off we could hear air escaping from under the dash. Found that the carpet surround under the dash had never been screwed back in after the new carpet was installed at Caledonia RV. This worked out for me because I was able to pull it away and fine the leak. When I put the new sensors in the srounds will be screwed back in place as they should have been.
I apologize for the photos quality, I only had my phone with me.
I traced it to the left most low air pressure sensor under the dash (there are three, plus two more for the brake lights).
Air was coming right out of the connector post on the sensor. The sensor body takes a special socket to remove it, I happen to have one.
Talked with Gillig (outstanding customer service)and the part number is 51-26117-018, they are back ordered and will not be in until August. We have a race in July.
Gillig gave me a Honeywell part number 76064 at 66 PSI.
Went to our local NAPA store armed with these part numbers and they could find no cross reference (Boy I wish I had the NAPA parts guys some of you guys have). Interestingly enough one of the new guys there said he recognized the Gillig part number. Turns out he used to work in the parts department of Rochester Transit Authority (all their buses are Gillig).
I tried Cook Brothers (truck Parts) and they came up with a Bendix part but I’m not sure it will fit, but it does have a single terminal and it is on the end. I think I could make it work by adding a loner pipe nipple to the way the sensors are plumbed into the air circuits.
I came home and tried NAPA online and it came up with 29 different Bendix parts. Anything truck.com wants $29.76 (23 in stock).
Tried the Honeywell part number and got a number of hits.
I will try DeCarolis (truck parts) tomorrow and if that does not work will order online.
The problem with the Honeywell part is it is a two terminal sensor which will mean I have to run a ground to the senor. Also the terminals are on the side rather than the end which will be near impossible to tighten once installed. Grainger wants $58.45 each. Allied Electronics wants $35.61. Online Components.com wants $23.73 (with 336 in stock). My plan is to replace all three.
Anyone recognize the Gillig part and know the manufacturer? Would be great to able to replace these sensors with the exact part.
