Repairs and Upgrades

[Tax_Man]

I follow three RV forums and have noticed a something. Mostly with basic repairs. What I see is people posting help questions (which is good) but it looks like common sense, remove and replace with new, has disappeared. I guess what I'm saying is don't make it harder than it is.

If your bathroom sink faucet needs replaced, what do you do? I removed the one in the MH and took it to Menard's (Lowe's, Home Depot, etc) and discovered the threads were the same as a standard residential faucet. Bought a new one and installed. I did have to make sure the base plate was skinny enough.

Replaced a light fixture with one I bought from Lowe's. I did have to find a 12 volt screw in light bulb (found at Menard's and on line).

The wiring. White to White, Black to Black.

Fixture installed

The box

The bulb..

[DFord]

RustyMacIntosh wrote:
On my Bounder, the only part I have never been able to figure out is the momentary water pump switches. I get nada at the pump. I jumped the pump with wires leading into the bathroom where I have a small riding lawn mower battery. If I need water, we connect to the battery,

I did change that intelligent box above the pump, the interesting thing is the neg was live and the pos was cold when testing the power to the box.

The red was cold, but the white with red stripe noted as NEG on the little box, was live...had power there.

That little box is supposed to allow you to control the pump from multiple locations. Turn it on at the kitchen sink with one press, turn it off in the wet compartment by pressing the switch in there. It has a holding relay that pressing the various switches close the relay with one press and release it with the next - if it's working right and hasn't been tampered with by hands with good intentions and little knowledge.

[Tax_Man]

Rusty - I do check the forums before doing some things. It is nice to check what others have done.

Journey - Do they do that with their cars????

[RustyMacIntosh]

I saw the cops rousting out a nice pusher diesel motorhome parked way out at the outer limit of the parking lot at a Walmart.....Wallys used to be the place to spend the night, but in Cal the homeless have squatted to the degree I guess Wally has put the kibosh on staying overnight.

I found hotels to be the best place to hide out in. Large hotels where you can get lost in the shuffle. You can get a nites rest, sponge off their WIFI and get a breakfast too....

On my Bounder, the only part I have never been able to figure out is the momentary water pump switches. I get nada at the pump. I jumped the pump with wires leading into the bathroom where I have a small riding lawn mower battery. If I need water, we connect to the battery,

I did change that intelligent box above the pump, the interesting thing is the neg was live and the pos was cold when testing the power to the box.

The red was cold, but the white with red stripe noted as NEG on the little box, was live...had power there.

[journey_indiana]

One of our friends started getting interested in having a motorhome to travel in. We had them drive ours to see what it would be like traveling down the road while driving and parking the motorhome. I told them that two of the important things to remember before buying was to have a place to park it and be able to fix things that might go bad. They bought a 4 new ones before getting out of owning a motorhome. The warranties would run out and they would buy a new one. After 4, they decided that they couldn't afford to "travel" like that
Good Luck,
Journey Indiana

[RustyMacIntosh]

I'm new to the Class A world. So when something goes wrong on the road I am clueless unless I have internet--and an RV Forum.

What I have noticed, at least in 3 cities of California when a minor problem occured is when I Google for Mobile RV Service---all I get is voicemail, and not ONE--of those hacks return phone calls.

In SLO the other night, I called everyone who popped up on the Google search. I think I called at least 7 mobile RV techs. (hacks).

Not a one has returned calls.

BUT!!!!!!!!!! Posting the issue here on RV.NET, I was advised within 30 minutes of the posting what to check. A fuse. How simple. How easy, and yet some hack rv tech could of made several hundred bucks off me from my cluelessness by swapping in a 20amp fuse.

Moral to the story? Keep a hotspot internet access or another internet access to use WIFI. Use online forums. Don't even bother with the hacks who claim to be RV Repair Experts. (The one that cracked me up was the one who "TYPICALLY RETURNS CALLS WITHIN 1 HOUR).....its been 4 days.....

[DFord]

I used to do 3 or 4 things everyday.
Now it takes me 3 or 4 days to do anything.

Doing nothing is hard because you never know when you're done.

[Johno02]

It does seem that those of us that can do a few simple things for ourselves are becoming fewer and fewer. However, it is a fact that I cannot do a lot of things that used to be simple, and it is really hard to find someone that has both the know-how and ability to simple repairs and fixes. But, with the DW and I together, we can still manage pretty well for ourselves. For example, DW found new plumbing fixtures(on sale cheap) that she liked much better than the ones installed in the MH, so we(she)just climbed under the cabinets, and we replaced with the new ones.

[ferndaleflyer]

At one period in my life I just figured no matter the cost I could make the money in no time compared to the time and agrivation it took to fix things. Just felt I had better things to do than work on my DP. Been retired for 18 years now and do a lot of little things myself on the RV, the house, and the cars. Have learned a lot. You want an education try replacing the cooling fan on a Smart car. You would be surprised what you can do if you want to.

[dodge_guy]

Yep! Knowing what your doing helps a lot. I do all my own repairs and installs. Years ago I came across a like new tow bar and brake system for a toad. Knowing I was going to be going to a MH eventually I purchased them for $300. Complete minus base plate. Install on my own time. I figure I save a total of $2700 including installation. Fixed my power stairs on the MH for $80. If you can do it yourself owning an RV is not as bad as some would believe.

[DFord]

We're all wired differently and it takes all types to keep the world going around. Fixing things come natural to me but supervision was a struggle I didn't enjoy one bit. Some folks make great managers but couldn't poor a yellow liquid out of a boot with the directions written on the heel - that may be why they make more - because they need more money to pay others to fix things for them. CEOs have taken that to an extreme that's not healthy for the rest of us though.

[K_Charles]

I was a mechanic most of my life. On a visit to see my brother I had a brake caliper freeze up on the MH. I parked in his driveway, drove the toad down town and got some parts. We removed the two 22.5 wheels and replaced the caliper. All he said was it must cost a lot more to get a MH fixed if you are a doctor or lawyer.

[Acampingwewillg]

I will say this....I just replaced my leaky kitchen faucet in the motorhome and it wasn't as straight forward as I thought it would be. There was some transitioning from solid copper feeds to flex stainless steel. Older Mh's did things a tad different than todays. I'm still waiting to tackle the bath sink. I did but both last year when on sale at Amazon!!

[Lwiddis]

Easier to ask than think and read...except it isn’t.

[jfkmk]

Yup, it’s amazing how unhandy some people can be. Keeps others receiving a paycheck, though!