dsr27
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Re: Solera XL awning question
Doug thanks for the reply. I had read that the Solera will drop one end when water builds up, so it's good to hear that it works! Can you comment on the relative wind handling of the Dometic, Carefree, and Solera? I understand that none should be trusted to leave out in heavy winds, but it would be nice to know if one is really better than the others, or particularly, if the Solera is much worse than the others. And since my only experience is with rigid-armed A&E awnings, should I consider the hinged-armed (and powered) units to be more, or less, tolerant of winds than rigid arms? I like the idea of powered very much, but might decide is not worth trying if it's known that these awnings can only be extended when it's dead calm. thanks Gary397Views0likes0CommentsSolera XL awning question
Some years back, I noticed a MH with the awning lazily flapping in the wind. I asked the owner about it, and he responded that it was designed to move with the wind and seemed well damped - it never bounced hard. So I began to think about upgrading from my old A&E manual awning. I think his was a newer Dometic 9200 or perhaps a Carefree Eclipse. As I'm finally looking at this again, I see that Lippert makes a powered awning with a 10' extension- the Solera XL. This would be very handy for how we use an awning. So my question is how well does the Solera XL handle the wind... Does it flap violently and threaten to rip the fabric apart or rip the unit off the wall? Or does it gently move up and down in the wind? Or any other feedback on the Solera or comparisons with the Dometic or Carefree? But I'd have to say, the 10' extension may trump any downfalls. thanks for the feedback Gary1.2KViews0likes3CommentsRoute into Pinnacles National Park?
I'm hoping for a trip to Pinnacles in the future, in a 35' MH. We are in the San Francisco Bay Area, so it looks like we'd head down 101 to Gilroy, then out HWY 25 to Hwy 146. Does anyone have any experience with larger MH's on 25 and 146? I don't enjoy driving the MH down 16% grades or narrow roads with tight corners. Can someone tell me about these roads please? thanks Gary2.1KViews0likes6CommentsRe: cummins 6b5.9 alternator failures
sjholt wrote: Don't worry about the bouncing of the idler pulley. with 3 changes of belts, every one bounced the pulley about. I even changed the whole idler arm and pulley and it still did the same. I don't think all the belts are perfect. this is reassuring, since we have the same motor. I too tried the tensioner change to no avail. Thanks Gary607Views0likes0CommentsRe: cummins 6b5.9 alternator failures
MrWizard wrote: you could go buy the 'soft' belt an install it yup ... I did try the 'soft' belt. That's why the 1st video has a green belt (HD) and the 1200 rpm video has a black belt (standard, both are Gates). There was no difference in the bounce. And comparing the belts in my hands, I couldn't tell all that much difference between them before I installed the black one, so I wasn't surprised the bouncing was the same. It's probably done this for 70 kmi. I certainly never looked before. That would be testimony to the quality of the original tensioner. As far as I can tell the original shows no signs of wear. I would put it back on were I not so lazy. thanks Gary607Views0likes0CommentsRe: cummins 6b5.9 alternator failures
beginning to wonder if this isn't normal for the older 6BT. There is a lot of info about torsional vibrations in the 6BT. I know that ours vibrates the house quite a bit at idle and then smooths out at road speed. The same thing happens with the tensioner bounce. By 1200 rpm it is much calmer. Video frame rate isn't really fast enough for this, but visually (to the eye) it's much calmer 1200 rpm video608Views0likes0CommentsRe: cummins 6b5.9 alternator failures
Wolfe - I haven't seen any obvious run-out yet. You can see every pulley in the system in the video, except the crank pulley/harmonic damper. I have seen some reference to harmonic damper failures causing this, so I looked at Cummins service manual for inspection tips and mine looks fine. Note that on the older Cummins the pulley is the outer 'ring' of the harmonic damper, so wont have run-out unless the damper has failed. Even though mine looks OK, the rubber is 23 years old. I'm not ready to replace that on spec, at least not yet. I'll look more carefully for run-out, that is a good suggestion. thanks Gary607Views0likes0Comments
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