ScottMack
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Re: Winnebago / Mercedes Issues 2015 Navion 24G
Sorry to hear you are having coach problems. I am also sorry that you are unhappy with Lichtsinn's. We are just over 700 miles from them and ordered our Winnie over the phone in 2010. We had an absolutely great experience working with them. We had a couple of post-delivery warranty problems and they went above and beyond making sure we got taken care of. They even coordinated some work to be done through another Winnebago dealer - which really was not necessary - since any dealer should honor and handle warranty work. Good luck and I hope things get worked out. Other than engineering/weight issues, we have been happy with the overall build quality of our motorhome.328Views0likes0CommentsRe: How do I track my data usage?
rvgrammady, Actually, the report was fairly easy to find - this is how we access the report from AT&T's website: Login to the online AT&T account. 1. In the top orange banner, there is a "myAT&T" - highlight that and several choices appear. 2. Highlight "Internet" and under "My Internet Service" choose "Usage Since Last Bill". 3. A new screen will appear - in the main box choose "View bill & usage reports". 4. A new screen will appear where you can choose the start period and end period. Press "Submit" and it will generate a bar graph on that same page. You can also print this graph. Hope this helps.357Views0likes0CommentsRe: How do I track my data usage?
Grammady, We have AT&T DSL service. I can log into my online AT&T account and generate a report that shows my monthly usage for the previous 12 months. I would assume you could do the same for U-verse services. In fact, I did just that about 2 weeks ago and saved the chart as a .pdf to my laptop. It used to be easy to find, but I had to hunt around this time to find the "yearly" usage report. I tried to access that area on their website last night and this morning, but it appears that AT&T is having some issues at the moment (my online account even told me I do not have internet services, yet my bills sure indicate that I do!!). I will continue to look for it and when it is available again I will post exact instructions on how I get to mine.357Views0likes0CommentsRe: Are All External Hard Drives Created Equal?
Mike, I have been using two Western Digital 3TB MY BOOK STUDIO EXTERNAL HD's (firewire 800/usb 2.0) for a little over a year. They do require external power. They aren't "dinky", but are not huge either. I am a Mac user, so I use the Firewire connection. I take one of the drives with us when we are on the road and it has worked out great so far. I shoot RAW and my final archived images are either 8 or 16-bit TIFF, which, at 36 megapixels, gives me between a 100-200 mb file per photo. Plus, I archive my RAW masters, which are 50 mb's each. You don't specify whether you are a PC or Mac user - the WD drives are now available with USB 3.0. I also do not know if you have a specific storage need in mind. I have been happy with the WD's and, so far, they have performed flawlessly.156Views0likes0CommentsRe: Ford Escape & other options
JL7456, Our Escape is a 2010 and flat towable according to Ford. I, too, went above and beyond Ford's recommendations, i.e. all TSB's complied with, would tow no longer than 3 hours without stopping and starting it up etc., etc. Our transmission blew at just over 4800 towing miles. Ford replaced it under warranty. I inquired about the Remco pump and they would not provide any financial assistance. I purchased the pump myself (Aug 2011) and had it installed (just under $1500.00 total). I was not happy about footing the expense, but the Escape is a fully decked out "limited" and was fully paid for. I really could not afford to take the depreciation hit. We have since towed the car an additional 12,200+ miles with the Remco pump with no issues at all (I still also follow Ford's flat tow procedures - run through gears, etc.) I was disappointed to find out that Ford had purchased exclusive rights to the Remco pump for the Escape and then more than doubled the price to obtain one. I have been a die hard Ford guy for 25 years and do not plan to ever purchase another Ford based on how they have handled this particular issue. (Some owners had been successful at getting Ford to either partially or fully fund the pump - no consistency at all in Ford's handling of the problem). I guess it comes down to your particular financial situation. The added cost of the pump now is fairly significant. That, and the cost of a baseplate and braking system will result in a sizable additional investment in that vehicle. Base plates are car specific. I have never leased a car, so I don't know how much you would have in the car between the leasing expenses and the purchase price. You might come out ahead to start over with a vehicle known to be towable and have it properly equipped from the get go. I tend to keep vehicles much longer than most people, so I felt my expense in the pump was worth it as long as it keeps me from burning up another tranny. So far, so good - I even used my pump to pump out the transmission fluid so I could replace the fluid at 30,000 miles (combined driving and towing) - The Escape does not have a replaceable tranny filter, so the Remco pump worked great in getting all of the fluid out, even what normally won't come out with a simple draining of the tranny - did not spill a drop!! Measured what came out and put in the exact amount, so I know I am at the same level as the TSB calls for. Good Luck…...241Views0likes0CommentsRe: To Toad or Frog
Sorry, forgot to answer the OP's actual question. We were all set up to tow our automatic Mini on a very lightweight trailer until we discovered we had rear axle weight issues. (Disclaimer: I have towed boats and TT's for many years, but I do not have personal experience towing a car on a dolly). Anyway……. We also had a new Ford Escape, so we decided to flat tow the Escape. I can hook and unhook the car in approximately two minutes. Flat towing has turned out to be so convenient, we will never consider any other alternative. We have a SMI Stay-in-Play brake system (semi-permanent installation), so all we do is attach the tow bar, plug in the electrical cord and flip a switch on in the car. It is fast and easy. Our installer added separate bulbs in the rear taillight assembly, so our towing brake/turn signal lights are completely independent of the Escape's lights. Two major considerations are: 1. The initial setup cost is kind of high - if your vehicle is newer and you intend to keep it for some time, then the cost is much easier to stomach/justify. We generally keep our cars upwards of 10 years, so we felt the expense was worth it. 2. As mentioned previously, you can't back up with four down, so you have to plan accordingly - usually not a problem - gas stops in particular are more carefully planned. In 17,000 miles of flat towing, we have only had to unhook once - I missed a turn and we did not know how far we would have to go before finding a place to turn around (country road in the middle of nowhere). A friend of mine used a dolly and once he saw how easy our setup is, he traded in his existing car for one he could flat tow and absolutely loves it.222Views0likes0CommentsRe: SMI
We have had a Stay-in-Play on our Ford Escape for almost 4 years and absolutely love it. Flip the switch on the side of our center console to turn it on and that's it. If you plan to keep the vehicle for some time, it is well worth it. We have never had battery issues (and we do not have a charge line). Once it is installed, you don't even know it's there. I don't have experience with any other system, and quite frankly, don't think I ever will. I highly recommend it.398Views0likes0CommentsRe: 2014 Jayco Greyhawk --- opinions?
For what it's worth: 1. Have that puppy weighed before you buy!! Our Winnie is similar in that we have two slides and factory installed HWH jacks on our unit. The Jayco wheel base/length ratio is slightly more than ours, BUT weight on the rear axle may be an issue. The fit and finish of our Winnie is absolutely fantastic; however, according to Ford's recommendations, we should have had around 1,000 lbs. left over on the rear axle to play with - we discovered after the fact that we only have around 700 lbs. That may still sound like a lot, but the engineers shorted us about 30% of our rear axle capacity. (If you care, I have several threads from 2010 regarding this once we discovered the problem). We when leave on a trip, we are often 900-1000 lbs. under gross, but 100-150 lbs overweight on the rear axle. We have thrown as much stuff out as possible and moved as much forward as we can - and that is with empty gray/black tanks, only 6 gallons of fresh water and two adults that total 300 of those lbs. So, please don't get caught off guard like we did. Our carrying capacity is over 1,900 lbs, but there is no way we could even get close to that much weight distributed properly in our motorhome. 2. Also, we love our jacks, but please check the clearance of the rear jacks - actually drive the thing and find a few sloped drives etc. to test them - we have had numerous occurrences where our rear jacks would have dragged. In fact, we bent one of them just turning into a state park campground loop from the main road in a park outside of St. Louis. I was quite surprised when this happened and discovered it doesn't take that much of a slope for those rear jacks to "kiss" the pavement. Each unit will obviously be unique due to wheelbase, length of rear overhang etc., but be aware - the rear jacks might be lower than you think.593Views0likes0CommentsRe: Canon printer ink will not dry?
monkey44 wrote: Ran some today, same results - worthy of framing, easily. So, will investigate ink sources ... Canon thinks OME ink sits on the table beside gold nuggets monkey44, I hear ya' - I print on an Epson R3000 and haven't found anywhere that discounts OEM inks enough to make any real difference. I have never used anything but OEM inks and the Epson pigment inks that the R3000 use do such a great job. If you are not familiar with them, check out Red River papers - they are a bit cheaper and most of their customers feel they are better quality than the OEM papers (they have been with the comparisons that I have made). They sell a sampler that contains two sheets each of around 17 of their most popular papers and it was the best $12.00 I ever spent. They also have free color profiles for each of their papers for most upper end printers and just recently added profiles for your printer. Their profiles are designed specifically for the paper and printer/ink combination and the results have been nothing short of stunning. Needless to say, I am now a customer for life.412Views0likes0Comments
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