Okay, some of you guys lied to me! I'm going on about 2 hours now and still don't have this TV out! But I do have a new found respect for National RV. I was always worried about this giant TV over my head and every time I hit a big bump I was worried it was going to come crashing down on my head. Now that I see what's holding it up there, there is no way a bump was going to bring it down. I had read the other stories about removing the frame and straps holding the TV down. Not on mine. This thing is bolted into a complete steel box. And I mean solid steel on both sides and the bottom. I haven't seen the top completely yet, but it looks like it's lag bolted at the top into the steel frame of the motorhome.I'll post some photos when I get done with this but I'm having a heck of a time getting it out. The steel box the TV is in looks like it was designed around this TV. It fits snuggly in the box and then there was a piece of angled steel across the bottom that held the TV into the box. I figured once I removed that the TV would slide out. Well once that piece was moved I can tell the TV is loose in there, but it won't slide out because the TV extends up into the ceiling. The bottom of the steel box is held on with six bolts. I'm trying to get those out now without having to disassemble the entire front section. So I can just barely get back in there to reach the bolts and turn them a little at a time. I'm down to one bolt left in the far back and needed a break. I have screw drivers stuck in four of the other holes because once I remove this last bolt I think the TV will be free to drop straight down. Hopefully the screw drivers will hold it until my helper gets home from shopping and between the two of us I can hold it while she takes out the screw drivers, and we lower it to the floor.

That sounds like the Motorhome was built around the Television!

This is on a National Tropical. If you open the cabinet doors on either side of the TV you can see wood plugs in the frame. The one in this photo is after I drilled it out. I couldn't get it to pop out with a screw driver so I just drilled the plugs out and exposed the long wood screws underneath. There were four screws total holding front frame on from the side and there was one wood screw in the top of the front frame into the roof.

There was a center plastic piece underneath the TV that had the center speaker in it. It just snapped out. This photo shows the bottom of the metal box that the TV is sitting in. It was secured with six bolts.

You can see the bolts down the side here. I was able to get the bolts out without having to dismantle anymore of the side cabinets. I did have to remove a couple of screws in the plastic trim and the sun visors so I could pull the plastic trim back far enough to reach the bolts.

Removing the old TV (With photos) Tropical by National RV

msmith1199
Explorer II
Dec 25, 2014
I did finally finish this project, I just haven't taken photos. Well I'm almost finished. I still need to put some trim pieces around it and I haven't yet mounted the rear TV. On the rear TV I was going to mount it on a swing arm type mount too, but based on how light these new TV's are I changed my mind. What I'm going to do is build a really strong hardwood door for that cabinet and maybe reinforce the frame a little, then I'm going to mount the TV directly to that cabinet door. That way that I leave that entire space behind the TV open for storage and the TV will simply swing out of the way with the cabinet door. I've noticed this same setup on some newer motorhomes.
mkane
Explorer
Dec 24, 2014
msmith1199 wrote:
1fastdad wrote:
msmith1199 wrote:
msmith1199 wrote:
Found this coil of wires behind the TV. There are two coax cables then some other cable with a large multi-pen connector on it. It had a piece of masking tape on it and written on the masking tape was "Do not use, inoperable." I'm not exactly sure what it would have been for. Maybe for the backup camera? But if so, where is the cable that works for the backup camera and how did they put in new cable without removing this cable? I'll have to figure this one out later. Anybody got any ideas what it is?

No guesses on what these cables may be for?
These are the cables coming from the box in the middle of the from part of your roof. this is a set up for a sat. dish. My 05 dolphin has this.

I just saw your reply here. The problem is I have a Sat dish and it's not using this bundle of cables. And the end connector on that one cable is like nothing I've ever seen on a satellite receiver before. I haven't had time to get back to work on this project so I still want to see if I can figure out where the other end of these cables lead to.

That round end connector is exactly like the 12v power connector to my Gateway G2 Portable Antenna.
mkane
Explorer
Dec 24, 2014
msmith1199 wrote:
msmith1199 wrote:
Found this coil of wires behind the TV. There are two coax cables then some other cable with a large multi-pen connector on it. It had a piece of masking tape on it and written on the masking tape was "Do not use, inoperable." I'm not exactly sure what it would have been for. Maybe for the backup camera? But if so, where is the cable that works for the backup camera and how did they put in new cable without removing this cable? I'll have to figure this one out later. Anybody got any ideas what it is?

No guesses on what these cables may be for?

Satellite TV Antenna.
D_E_Bishop
Explorer
Dec 18, 2014
msmith,

I removed the CRT sets from my Bounder and while it is not of the quality of a National, it was a bear to remove. I looked at a lot of articulating arm mounts and couldn't find one that locked in the stowed position, so I just added one to the mounts I did buy and used a patio door lock to hold it in place.

This year I saw several locking mounts in new units and a neighbor but one in his Southwind. I found them on Google by searching for locking flat panel tvs or something similar.

I ran a HDMI cable to the rear TV and have a splitter box on top of the old splitter box, No Ducted A/C I or conduit in my rig so routed it under trim pieces and along the frame rails.

I also removed the plywood panels from the cabinet doors and had smoked glass installed so I could use the IR remotes for the splitter and for the BluRay player, without opening the cabinet doors.

So far your conversion looks pretty good, wish I had real wood in mine instead of vinyl covered luan.

I see if my pics are still on PhotoBucket.
Semi_Retired_Gr
Explorer
Dec 18, 2014
Parked in Salt Lake City a few years ago in our Winnebago 31c when the TV began smoking - seriously smoking! - Turned it off - disconnected shore power - and it kept on smoking - figured fire was next. In a panic to remove the TV only to find it installed securely - took far too much time to remove - but fortunately never had the fire. Very happily dumped it into their dumpster with no damage except for the TV itself.
Pass42
Explorer
Dec 17, 2014
Did the same in our 2001 Tradewinds... also needed to put additional screws in to hold the overhead console in place.. several had been started, however, never screwed into the beams.....the drivers side was actually hanging down by about an inch...
mike_brez
Explorer
Dec 17, 2014
AZAmmochief wrote:
I removed the one in our 2007 National RV Sea Breeze about four years ago. That heavy thing made me really nervous while driving, it made the whole overhead console shake. I thought a couple of times the thing would come down on us. I swapped it out for a 26" flat screen, only weighing 19 pounds. Best thing I've down for the couch.

Glad your couch is enjoying the new tv.:B
AZAmmochief
Explorer
Dec 17, 2014
I removed the one in our 2007 National RV Sea Breeze about four years ago. That heavy thing made me really nervous while driving, it made the whole overhead console shake. I thought a couple of times the thing would come down on us. I swapped it out for a 26" flat screen, only weighing 19 pounds. Best thing I've down for the couch.
teddodd
Explorer
Dec 17, 2014
that one wire with all of the prongs looks like one of the wires
I've been looking for in my coach. Diagnostic port wire.
msmith1199
Explorer II
Oct 09, 2014

Question for one of you electricians regarding the above coil of wires. I eventually figured out that these wires were from my old King Dome that I replaced with a new HD dish. So since I didn't need them I decided to remove them. Or at least removed what I could easily remove. The big cable with the connector leads up into a wiring harness that goes around behind the cabinet and feeds into the cabinet where the sat box is. I'm still using some of the cabling that is in this bundle and the bundle is wrapped tight, so I didn't want to undo it. So I went ahead and cut this wire up near the roof and tossed out the big coil. After I did that, as I started moving things around I started getting sparks from one of the wires I had just cut as it touched the tin foil layer of the roof insulation.

These sparks have me a little puzzled as I don't understand how the wire has power. I don't have the motorhome plugged in, and the inverter is off. I do have the house batteries on so the only possible source of power is the house batteries or the chassis batteries. But I thought the King Dome was all operated off the 120 volt side? Is there 12 volt power to the King Dome for some reason?

Also, what I thought to be the other end of the cable is not plugged in to anything. It used to plug into the King Dome controller box but that is long gone. I thought the King Dome itself got power from the controller box which doesn't explain why there is still power in this cable.

Any ideas?

On Edit: Nevermind! I found a King Dome manual online. Looks like it does go to 12 volt power someplace after it enters that harness. Good thing I didn't give myself a 12 volt shock when I cut it!