Gettin' the travel itch again! Need some advice first....

[smithguy]

Howdy All!

It's been a while since I posted, but after last years 7K mile, 'round the country road trip in our 88 Coachman, I'm getting the itch to go cruising again! However, theres a few things that happened on that trip to the rig I haven't quite got myself up to getting fixed (bad case of the lazy). I was just curios if anyone had any good technical links to help me out with the following:
1. Onan Genset Emerald III went kaput: While on the road, I replaced the carb, the fuel pump, did a service (oil, filter, plugs) and could get it to run beautifully while sitting still. Soon after I would start driving the rig, the genset would******out. Wouldn't have been so bad if it weren't the summer time with the heat and humidity. Needless to say, it got a bit warm in the RV on the road. Anyone know how much is involved with tearing apart one if these beasts? I'm pretty mechanically inclined, but all of the people that attempted to help me on on the trip (including 2 RV shops and one gentlemen that was a generator tech in the military for 20+ years) had trouble getting it fixed. Kind of a red flag in my book, but I'm willing to get my hands dirty trying if it's not monumental. Just looking for some links or PDF's that might help.
2. Norcold fridge lasted about 70% of the trip, then turned into an expensive cabinet: We were on the road for about 2 1/2 months. Probably the last 4 weeks of the trip, the fridge decided it didn't want to go on any further and commited hari-kari. It wasn't anyting dramatic (no explosion, no relasing of gasses or anything), it just went up in temp. Again, many wonderful people we met during our travels attempted to give advice, including the placement of the "sensor" that clips to the heatsink fins located in the back of the fridge (inside)that supposedly controls the temp. We were plenty full on LP, and the unit is switchable between LP and elctric, neither of which helped. I had read that the rig needs to be level in order for the fridge to work properly, which I did make every attempt while parked. Considering the age of the unit, I'd more apt to replace then repair. Please hold your laughter to a minimum, but is this something someone with relatively competent mechanical skills can do on their own?
3. Lastly (at least what needs immediate attention), our automatic steps fell apart: I bought the rig used from a gentlemen in town. Keep in mind, it's an '88 so it had some age to it. It didn't have high miles, but I'm thinking the stairs saw every single one of them (including being left out once or twice and unwilling met with a curb or two...). So, after a while, the stairs started to show signs of sagging, and then finally the lower step (of the the two) just "broke off" at a weld. Darn the luck, wouldn't ya know it but I left the welder at home! (kidding.... I don't weld. Would like to learn though!). So, my question for this one is, could the same guys who is supposed to attempt the above repairs (fingers crossed) also put the stairs in? Places like Camping world want close to $300 for install, on top of the $600 for the set. Would like to spend that cash on gas for the trip, rather than someone to install something I could possibly do myself.

Our rig might not be brand new, but I'm sure attached to it!:D It's the first one we've ever owned and we want to get many more years out of it before we "need" to upgrade. Seems like a good way to break into the lifestyle, without having to pour a HUGE amount of cash into at first. Hence the reason I'm trying to do the repairs myself.

Thanks so much for reading! Any help would/advice would be greatly appreciated!:):@

[smithguy]

Peg Leg wrote:
Do a search on surplus RV parts. I use one about 50 mile from home and have another one just across the line in Mich that I like a lot. I can enjoy just walking through looking at all the different things they have. These places buyout end of model parts and some good used parts, you never know what they'll have on hand or can get for you.

Websites, 800 numbers are your friend, check shipping cost before ordering.

Will do. Thanks so much for the idea! Yeah, I'm kinda hoping to find some of these establishments out here where I live. Hopefully, I can save some $$ going this route. Thanks again!

[smithguy]

John Wayne wrote:
You could just go to RV Cooling for a new unit for the back of the Refrig. about 1/2 the cost of a whole new ref rig.

thanks so much for the idea! is RV Cooling a website?

[smithguy]

talotto wrote:
1. Genny? That's a tough one, I'd tackle it myself if you can get to it. On ours, except for routine maintenance, I'd have to drop the unit out the bottom of the rig to access almost anything.
2. Refer? Many times it's the main board, you can replace them yourself fairly easily. If it's anything more than that, and you're going to be plugged in most of the time, consider putting in a residential unit. I rarely use mine on propane, we're either running the genny, plugged in or traveling a short enough distance that it doesn't lose it's cool.
3. Steps: Fairly easy for a do-it-yourselfer to swap out. If it's the motor/gearbox combo, many of them are repurposed car window motors. I'd take it out and go see someone at a well stocked auto parts store. If it's the stairs themselves, you should be able to get parts from the vendor or at an RV junkyard. Not difficult to work on at all.

Awesome! thanks so much for the ideas! I will look into them, sounds like it will save quite a bit of $$ this way! Thanks!

[talotto]

1. Genny? That's a tough one, I'd tackle it myself if you can get to it. On ours, except for routine maintenance, I'd have to drop the unit out the bottom of the rig to access almost anything.
2. Refer? Many times it's the main board, you can replace them yourself fairly easily. If it's anything more than that, and you're going to be plugged in most of the time, consider putting in a residential unit. I rarely use mine on propane, we're either running the genny, plugged in or traveling a short enough distance that it doesn't lose it's cool.
3. Steps: Fairly easy for a do-it-yourselfer to swap out. If it's the motor/gearbox combo, many of them are repurposed car window motors. I'd take it out and go see someone at a well stocked auto parts store. If it's the stairs themselves, you should be able to get parts from the vendor or at an RV junkyard. Not difficult to work on at all.

[John_Wayne]

You could just go to RV Cooling for a new unit for the back of the Refrig. about 1/2 the cost of a whole new ref rig.

[Peg_Leg]

Do a search on surplus RV parts. I use one about 50 mile from home and have another one just across the line in Mich that I like a lot. I can enjoy just walking through looking at all the different things they have. These places buyout end of model parts and some good used parts, you never know what they'll have on hand or can get for you.

Websites, 800 numbers are your friend, check shipping cost before ordering.

[smithguy]

Thanks all for the fast replies!

donn0128 - I agree with the manual steps, but the momma likes automatic ones! gotta keep everyone happy! 🙂 probably going to attack the onan anyways, just for the learning. I was kinda hoping the refer was a "plug-n-play" (figuratively speaking...),so I will look into it. just need to find one at a decent price, thats all...

doxiemom11 - thanks for the tip on the thermistor (also, thanks for reminding me what it was called, was banging my head into the desk trying to think of it!). yeah, tried the air filter too, even tried running it w/o it for testing, still to no avail.

[doxiemom11]

Onan - just a thought. We were having trouble with ours and it was a clogged air filter choking it out -- has that filter been changed?

Frig -- you tried adjusting the thermistor on the fins, but did you know this part can go out and need to be replaced - fairly cheap and worth a try before replacing frig.

Steps - don't know , how about finding an rv salvage place and see if they have steps at a cheaper price.

[donn0128]

Tear the generator out and unless you actually need it for cooling on the road, junk it, along with the refer and steps. Buy a new refer that will fit into the opening and install it. As for the steps, manual steps are pretty cheap and easy to install. New automatic steps would be a lot more money.