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Bad Motor for Sure

Coach – Net served me well yesterday. They contacted a mobile RV service, West Wind, located nearby in Murrieta. Kathy from West Wind called me and said she would send Mike out to our site between 3pm and 4pm.

Mike arrived at a quarter past three. I told him what happened and the tests I performed. He re-checked some of the diagnostic steps and said he thought I had a bad motor on the HWH pump. Then he connected an external battery directly to the motor, bypassing the motorhome circuitry. The motor didn’t run. This doesn’t ensure that we don’t have any other issues, but it confirms the diagnosis of a faulty motor. From the tests I performed earlier, I don’t see any other problems in the system.

The next step was to locate a replacement part. Mike found the part number for the assembly and told me of a couple of possible sources for the motor from nearby RV dealers. I called around, but no one had the motor in stock. I looked online at the HWH site and found the correct part number for the motor to fit my assembly. I did more online searches, but didn’t come up with anything.

I called Paul Maddox, the HWH technician who helped me with the jack solenoid. He’s in Arizona. He said he knew someone who had the motor I needed, but he would have to drive 10 miles to pick it up, then drive another 30 miles to get to a FedEx outlet to ship it. He said I should try to get it from HWH as they could ship overnight. It wouldn’t take any longer to get it from them. He told me the retail price of the motor was $284, and I shouldn’t pay any more than that – he said he’d heard of unscrupulous outfits charging as much as $500 for the part.

I looked on eBay and saw couple of replacement motors priced from $298 to $399. No deals – and I don’t know who the actual manufacturer was. The HWH part is made by Monarch.

eBay photo of the replacement motor

I called Mike at West Wind and told him I couldn’t get the motor. He said he would get it from HWH and call me in the morning to confirm.

Mike called me this morning at 9:15 and said the motor was on its way and would be at his shop tomorrow. He told me the cost of the part was $284 plus shipping. We made an appointment for Thursday morning to have it installed.

Newsflash! I just got a callback from Giant RV in Murrieta. They were one of the dealers I spoke to yesterday. They located a motor and can have it by 3pm today! I called Mike and he was able to cancel the order from HWH. Giant RV will sell me the motor for $276 plus $22 tax. This is surely less expensive than overnight shipping from HWH. I’ll ride the scooter over to Murrieta this afternoon and pick up the part. Mike juggled his schedule and will try to be here by noon tomorrow to install it.

I made one final test. I powered up the HWH system and had Donna hold the generator retract switch. With voltage delivered to the motor, I tapped on the motor housing with a hammer. It ran for a few seconds every time I whacked it and we got the generator slide in. This is the old Chevy starter motor trick. It confirmed the circuit is good, the motor is bad.

Today I want to tidy up some of the wiring I inspected and repair the hook-and-loop fasteners on the front panels, a project I’ve been meaning to get to. I’ll arrange a late checkout from Jojoba Hills. We may not be a day late after all, but I’ll be several hundred dollars short!

Calling Coach-Net

I wonder what will happen next! We have more trouble. After I serviced the generator on Saturday, I left the generator slide open. I was more concerned with cleaning myself up and also allowing the fuel smell to dissipate.

Yesterday, I turned on the HWH hydraulic system and pushed the rocker switch to retract the generator. Nothing happened. No sound, no pump running, no movement of the generator slide. I tried the living room slide switch. Same result, no go.

I started checking ground connections. I looked up front to see if there were any connectors I might have accidentally bumped while I was working on the generator. There isn’t anything associated with the HWH pump up there. I cleaned ground connections anyway.

At that point, it was time to tune in the Charger game. I was happy to see them win a tough match in Buffalo, but all the while, I was thinking about the HWH problem. I looked up information on the Internet during the Broncos versus Seahawks game. I posted a question on the iRV2.com Alpine Coach forum asking where I would find the HWH control box. One of the members replied, telling me it was behind the front console. I decided to wait until Monday morning to start taking things apart.

This morning I dove into the project.

There’s an HWH control box in there somewhere.

Aha – there it is!

I poked around and finally located the control box. I examined connectors. I found the ground lug loose on the control box. I tightened it, thinking I had found the problem. Nope, still no action from the pump.

I broke out my Fluke Digital Multimeter and began the tedious troubleshooting procedure at the hydraulic pump. I started by testing the master relay. This was difficult as the master relay is hidden behind the pump motor. I had to use a mirror to locate the terminals and hook up the meter by feel. I found proper voltage on the terminals there. I checked all of the connectors at the relays and the motor. I re-checked continuity through the grounds. I had Donna operate the switch. I could hear the relay click. I think I have a bad motor.

That’s when I threw my hands up in the air and called Coach – Net. We’re members of their RV Roadside Assistance program. I explained the issue to the customer service girl. She said she would have a technician call me back shortly. An hour later, I called them again. The technician assigned to handle the call, Leonard, said he was just about to call me. He was doing research on the HWH system. I told him I had the HWH troubleshooting guide and told him the tests I’d performed. He said I had already done everything he wanted me to check. The next step was to find a qualified technician in the area who could come out to assist me.

As I was typing this, I got a call from an RV service outfit in Murrieta. Coach – Net had contacted them. I went over the issue with them on the phone. They will call me back to tell me when they can have someone here to help me. Coach – Net pays for the travel time and standard service call. I’ll have to pay for any parts and additional labor to install them.

Stay tuned.

Simple Maintenance – Right!

We had some relief from the heat on Friday. The early morning cloud cover burned off, but it didn’t get too hot until late afternoon when the temperature hit the mid-80s.

I wanted to perform scheduled maintenance on the scooter and generator while I have the opportunity here at Jojoba Hills RV Resort. When we get to Mission Bay, they won’t allow me to do mechanical work there.

On Friday morning, I changed the engine oil and filter on the scooter. I also drained and refilled the gearbox with 75-90 gear oil. The Kymco maintenance schedule calls for these lubricants to be changed every 3,000 miles. We just turned over 6,000 miles, so it was due. Next week, when we’re in San Diego, I’ll have to find an air filter element for it – it’s time to change that too.

After I cleaned up, I took the scooter out for a test run, then I rode it to Temecula. I stopped at Best Buy and picked up another ink cartridge for the printer. The one we bought on Wednesday didn’t work. I forgot to bring the bad cartridge to see if they would exchange it, so I paid for another cartridge.

After Best Buy, I had a quick lunch at Subway. They had the six-inch sweet onion-teriyaki chicken sub on sale for three bucks. From there I rode to WalMart where I bought a few grocery items that Donna needed and three quarts of oil for the generator. I already had new filters for the generator on hand, but I didn’t have any oil for it. We have 544 hours on the generator now. The last oil change was at 400 hours. Onan calls for oil and filter changes every 150 hours. At 500 hours, I should have changed the fuel filter and air filter. This would be Saturday’s task.

After I returned, I kicked back and read while Donna was working at her laptop. We planned to go to a happy hour get-together at the pool around 4:30pm. Donna whipped up a plate of hors d’oeuvres and I put a few cans of beer in a small cooler and we walked down to the pool. There was a small gathering around a few tables that were pushed together. We were invited to take a seat and join them.

We met John Macon, a Jojoba member since 2010. He filled us in on some of the history of the place. He also scheduled a tour of the park for us to take with him on Saturday afternoon. Taking visitors on tours of the park is one of John’s specialties.

View across the pool at happy hour

We finished the night off watching a movie – Rudy, the story of a kid who dreamed of playing football for Notre Dame. He didn’t have the size or talent, but he never gave up.

This morning, servicing the Onan Quiet Diesel generator was my main task for the day. Our generator is mounted on sliding rails that are hydraulically operated. I switched on the HWH hydraulics and opened the generator compartment, expecting a fairly easy job ahead.

7.5kW Onan Quiet Diesel generator

Underneath the generator, there’s a door on the bottom panel to access the oil filter and fuel filter. I ran into a problem right from the start. The latches to open the door were jammed. I couldn’t get them to budge. I figured there was debris caught in the sliding latches behind the door. I decided to unbolt the hinge and see if I could get the door free. That was my next problem. The hinges were fastened with T30 torx head fasteners. I used to have every size of torx bit imaginable, but those Dirty Rotten Thieves took them when they stole my trailer. The biggest torx bit I had was a T20.

I jumped on the scooter and made the 15-mile ride to Temecula where I found torx bits at O’Reilly Auto Parts. I also bought a new strap wrench there. This time I remembered to bring the bad printer cartridge and receipt. I stopped at Best Buy to return it. I told the customer service girl that I bought the cartridge a couple of days ago and it didn’t work. I also said I bought another cartridge yesterday that works fine, confirming the first cartridge is defective.

She told me that printer cartridges are generally not a returnable item. They have no way of knowing if I used up all of the ink in it or not and had no way to test it. I showed her the test page from our printer with no black ink. She asked if I had the receipt from the second cartridge. I didn’t bring it with me. She asked how I paid. I paid with a Visa card. She looked up the transaction and said since I came back and bought another cartridge, she would make an exception and refund the cost of the first one. She said I should call the store immediately if I get another bad cartridge in the future or I wouldn’t be able to return it. Good to know. This is the second time we’ve had a bad ink cartridge.

I stopped at Ralph’s grocery store and bought a case of bottled water. I strapped it on the back of the scooter and headed back.

I crawled back underneath the generator and removed the access door. Then I loosened the oil filter. The filter is tucked up in a cramped space. I wanted to be sure I could get it off before I drained the oil. Then I decided to tackle the fuel filter.

I started by loosening the fuel supply fitting on the old fuel filter. Fuel began dripping from the line into a catch pan I had placed underneath. I expected a few ounces of fuel to drip. Once the dripping started, I saw my error. I should have removed the other filter fitting for the fuel line going to the engine first. I had to reach past a dripping line to access the other fitting. I started to remove the other fitting. It was very difficult because I couldn’t see it. With diesel fuel dripping down, I couldn’t get my head into position to see what I was doing.

When I started to loosen the second fitting, more fuel started dripping. It was running down my arm. I took a break and thought the fuel would stop dripping soon. After a few minutes, more than a pint of fuel was in the catch pan and it didn’t show any sign of slowing down. I came to the conclusion that changing the fuel filter was not a task for me. I’ll wait and have it done the next time we have the coach in for service.

I crawled back underneath to re-secure the fittings. I still had the same problem with fuel dripping and running down my arm while I tried to tighten the fittings by feel. I had fuel running down my arm for 15 minutes before I could get the unions tightened. That’s when I realized the fuel wasn’t running down to my elbow and dripping into the pan like I thought. It was running all the way to my shoulder and my shirt was soaked with fuel. Ugh!

I cleaned up a bit, then got on with the oil and filter change. I hadn’t paid much attention to the oil drain plug until now. That’s when I saw the drain plug looked like a pipe fitting with a square lug. There’s no room to get an open-ended wrench in there. I don’t have any square sockets.

I thought about it and came up with an idea. The square lug was 3/8″ across. I put a 1/4″ socket on my ratchet wrench, then put a 1/4″ hex driver into the socket. This left the square 3/8″ drive opening on the back of the driver. The 3/8″ drive opening fit perfectly on the drain plug and I removed it easily. The picture below is labelled – click on it to enlarge and you can see how I did it.

Driver set up to remove square drive plug

Tool assembled

While the oil drained, I replaced the air filter. This was the only part of the job that went exactly as planned without a glitch.

I cleaned the latches on the access door. I couldn’t see any reason for them to jam. They seemed to work once I had the door off. After I screwed it back onto the hinges, it worked fine.

After I filled the engine with oil and did a test run for leaks, I poured the waste oil from the pan into the empty oil containers. I’ll recycle the oil later. I dumped my tools onto a rag in the trailer and cleaned myself. I’ll clean up the tools and put them away later. I took off the fuel-soaked shirt before I entered the coach and took a long, hot shower. This was supposed to be a fairly easy job!

I relaxed for the rest of the afternoon. Donna cancelled our tour of the park since the generator job took so long. I wasn’t up for a tour after I finished.

Tomorrow the Chargers play in Buffalo, so they will be the early game at 10am. My plan is to kick back and enjoy some football!

Jojoba Hills Co-op

The days here in Jojoba Hills have blended together. Each day has been much like the last. The hot afternoons keep us inside our air-conditioned coach. On Wednesday morning, Donna and I rode the scooter 15 miles to the Ralph’s grocery store in Temecula.

While Donna shopped for groceries, I walked over to Best Buy and picked up a black ink cartridge for the printer. Then I took the scooter to the gas station and filled up. By the time I came back, Donna was in the checkout line. Once again, we managed to fit half a dozen bags of groceries under the seat, in the tote bag and in a backpack.

Yesterday, I explored the Jojoba Hills RV Resort. This is an Escapees Co-op. As Escapees members, we can stay here a maximum of 28 days in a calendar year as visitors. Most of the people here have bought a “share” in Jojoba Hills. Owning a share entitles you to have a site assigned to you. You don’t own any real property, but you have your own site. Judging by license plates, it appears that most of the shareholders are not permanent California residents. They’re domiciled in tax- and RV-friendly states. That means they cannot be here year ’round. By the way, the park requires all RVs here to have valid, current license plates even though many of the rigs look like they haven’t been on the road for a long time.

The price of a share is set by the board of directors every year. We heard it was around $30,000. There’s a waiting list for shares. If you’re on the waiting list and a share becomes available, you pay the owner of that share the share price plus any improvements or assessments. Now you have your own site. Electricity and propane are not included, but the monthly maintenance fee of around $250 includes water, maintenance of common areas and access to all of the amenities (pool, clubhouse, tennis courts, workshops, etc). If you are going to be away from the park, you can make your site available for visitors. The money from the rental of the site goes to the co-op, not the shareholder. The incentive for doing this is free maintenance of your site while you’re away. The co-op maintains all of the sites available for rental.

It’s an interesting concept. We don’t have any intention of settling in one place at this time, but who knows what the future may hold.

The weather was cooler yesterday, but still quite warm with a high of 86. Last night felt humid and this morning we have a low ceiling and high humidity. Today is supposed to clear up and the temperature will reach the mid 80s again. This morning, I’ll change the oil and filter in the scooter. I want to take care of a few maintenance items while we’re here because the resort does not have any restrictions against working on vehicles. I also plan to wash the coach before we leave next Wednesday.

Low overcast this morning

No Escape from the Heat

After writing my post on Sunday, I tuned in the Patriots vs Vikings NFL game. At the half, I went outside and replaced the check valves in the HWH hydraulic pump. Meanwhile, Donna went for a walk and said she felt remarkably well after Saturday’s grueling bike race.

The new check valves didn’t make any difference. The right rear jack still won’t stay in the extended position. It slowly retracts itself. By the time I finished cleaning up, it was 11:45am. Donna and I drove to town and had lunch at a Mexican restaurant. Donna ordered seafood fajitas minus the tortillas (in keeping with her 21-Day Sugar Detox program) while I had enchiladas suiza. I would give the restaurant, Don Perico’s, a three on a scale of five. There wasn’t anything about the food or service that stood out, but it wasn’t bad either.

We made it back in time for the Chargers home opener against the Seattle Seahawks. It’s unseasonably warm in San Diego. The temperature on the field at Qualcomm Stadium was well over 100 degrees! The Chargers wisely chose to wear their white uniforms. It was an entertaining game. The Chargers beat the reigning Superbowl champs 30-21. It shouldn’t have been that close – the Seahawks were given a touchdown when their player clearly stepped out of bounds at the 21-yard line. At the end of the day, it didn’t matter though. A win is a win. While I was enjoying the game, Donna went to town and did some shopping like a good tourist.

On Monday morning, we prepared to hit the road. Things were a little out of sequence as I had to get the coach ready to roll, then hit the dump station to dump and flush the tanks on the way out of Mountain View RV Park. While I was doing that, Donna drove the rental car back to Enterprise in town. The Enterprise guy gave Donna a ride to the Tractor Supply store where we planned to meet. We checked out the parking lot there when we picked up the rental car. It would be an easy entry and exit in the motorhome and it’s right next to highway CA58, which was our route away from Tehachapi. From Tehachapi, CA58 east is mostly a downhill run.

We drove east and made a stop at a rest area near Boron. It felt good to get out and stretch our legs. I didn’t know when we would see another rest area. Our route would take us south on US395 then on to I-15 and I-215. I didn’t recall any rest areas along that stretch.

We stopped at the Pilot/Flying J truck stop at the junction of US395. I have a Pilot/Flying J – Good Sam RV fuel card. With this credit card, I get a discount of six cents per gallon off the cash price. This saves 11 to 15 cents per gallon off the normal credit price. I also can pump all the fuel I need in one go. At most stations, a Visa card will only allow you to pump $100 of fuel. Then you have to go inside and pre-pay at the counter if you want more fuel. Another benefit at the Pilot/Flying J stations is that the truck pumps have high-flow nozzles. And they have two pumps – a master pump on the driver’s side and a slave pump on the right side. Our Alpine Coach has two filler necks, one on each side. With two high-flow nozzles, I can top up our 100-gallon tank in a few minutes.

US395 south took us through Adelanto and Victorville with many stoplights. I-15 south climbed to the Cajon Summit at an elevation of 4,190 feet above sea level. It was very hot – the outside temperature was in the high 90s. I’m happy to report that our coolant temperature and automatic transmission fluid temperature never exceeded 205 degrees on the climb. Coming down into the San Bernadino Valley, we rode the Jake brake as we traversed miles of 6% downgrade.

Clarke Hockwald (whatsnewell) wrote a post about driving in metro areas that I totally agree with. As we travel around in our RV, we tend to spend much of the time driving through rural or semi-rural areas with no worry of having to avoid rush hours. Driving through scenic countryside is enjoyable. When we know we’ll be driving through a high-density metro area, there’s a certain tension that builds. Parts of I-15 are five lanes wide. Trucks coming down the hill into San Bernadino stay in the right two lanes and keep their speed down. Cars use what ever lane they feel like, some of them zooming downhill at 80+ miles per hour. The speed differential creates some hairy moments as car drivers don’t obey the rules of the road. They pass on the right, some of them weaving their way back and forth through the lanes. We saw a couple of cars panic braking as they came upon slower traffic.

We made our way through the worst of it without incident. I wanted to get to Temecula by 2pm, as I knew the traffic volume increases dramatically by 3pm. Our destination was Jojoba Hills SKP Resort, about 18 miles east of downtown Temecula. SKP parks are operated by the Escapees RV Club. We’re Escapees members. Jojoba Hills is a private park for members only. The official address shows us in Aguanga, California. Aguanga comprises a post office and a small general store.

We arrived a little past 2pm. The woman in the office drove us around in a golf cart and showed us four different sites we could choose from. We chose site 646. It has a nice view to the south and was long enough for us to pull through without dropping the trailer. We have full hook-ups with 50-amp electric service. The park is located on a hillside with the sites terraced along paved interior roads. Our site is fairly level. The sites are gravel with a concrete pad for chairs and tables. We booked nine nights here at a discounted rate of $126 – that’s $14 per night! Nice!

Last evening’s view from our doorstep

Last evening, while I tuned in the Monday Night Football game, Donna went to the pool. The swimming pool is 65′ long. Donna said it was great for swimming laps. She swam a quarter mile last night and set a goal to swim a full mile before we leave here.

Today, the heat wave in southern California will continue. The forecast high for today is over 100 degrees! We should have relief in a few days when the forecast calls for highs around 80 degrees. Meanwhile, we can make good use of the pool.

Wrong Way!

Friday’s post took me over an hour to prepare. It takes time to resize and optimize photos, then write, proofread, have Donna proofread and finally publish. By the time I posted, the morning was getting away from me.

I mounted the new Continental GP4000 IIs rear tire on Donna’s bike – twice! I had to do it twice because of a moment of brain fade. These tires are directional – they’re designed to roll one way. I found the arrow on the sidewall showing the direction it should roll, but I had the orientation of the wheel wrong. I installed the tire, pumped it up, then saw my mistake. So, I took it off and did it over again. By the time I removed her aero bars (they aren’t allowed in mass start races) and cleaned and lubed the chain, it was 11:30am.

We had an appointment to pick up a rental car at Enterprise at noon. I didn’t get to the HWH check valve project. We picked up the car, had lunch back at home, then headed out to do some sightseeing.

First we drove to the Tehachapi Loop. This is a marvel of engineering. Generally, railroad gradients are aren’t steep. They are usually less than 2.5%. There are a few grades in the USA that exceed this, but the steel rolling stock of a train isn’t designed for climbing or descending a steep grade. In addition, trains are heavy and grades increase the power requirement to pull the load. On many grades, helper engines are employed. The steepest grade on any railroad route determines the power requirement. Higher power requires additional engines and fuel. This increases cost.

The freight train route from Bakersfield to Tehachapi Pass averages 2.2%. At one point, near Keene, the railroad track makes a loop. The helix-shaped railroad track is nearly three quarters of a mile long. Trains enter a tunnel, then roll around the loop passing over the tunnel. The train gains 77 feet of elevation through the loop. My camera didn’t have a wide enough angle to capture the entire loop.

Train on a portion of the loop

Roadside sign with history of the loop

Aerial file photo from railfanguides.us

We arrived in time to see a train pass through the loop. Trains more than 4,000 feet long cross over themselves. This route, linking the San Joaquin Valley with the Mojave, is one of the busiest railways in the USA.

From the Loop, we drove back to Tehachapi on Woodford-Tehachapi Road. Our goal was to drive the bicycle course Donna would race on Saturday. The course has a number of turns. For someone unfamiliar with the area, it can be confusing. I had to pull over and look at the map several times as we drove the 37-mile distance. At one intersection, the course crosses itself.

On Friday night, Donna prepared salmon with a rosemary-dijon sauce, forbidden rice, sauteed artichoke hearts and green beans for dinner.

Salmon with rosemary-dijon over forbidden rice

Salmon with rosemary-dijon sauce over forbidden rice

Saturday we were up before dawn. Donna ate breakfast and we had our coffees before we headed out at 6am. We found a place to park near the starting point of the race. I always like to arrive a little early and avoid having to scramble to the starting line.

Starting line for the bicycle race

I set Donna’s bike up and pumped up the tires. She had time to warm up before staging at the starting line.

Donna and other competitors at the staging area

After the race set off at 7am, I drove back to the RV park. At 8am, I walked over to the airport cafe for breakfast. We’d heard the cafe was excellent. I enjoyed the view, watching gliders towed down the runway and taking flight behind a Piper Pawnee piston-powered airplane. At least I think it’s a Piper Pawnee. There are at least three of them here. They were originally designed for agricultural use as crop dusters. They make a great tow platform.

Piper Pawnee

Gliders on the flightline

The cafe wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. My breakfast croissant with egg, ham and cheese was mediocre. The service was slow and the coffee I ordered turned out to be a styrofoam cup of tea!

At 9am, I drove out of the RV park onto Highline Road. The bike race passes by the RV park as the riders head east on Highline. I drove west and saw a few of the race leaders on the road. I stopped at the intersection at Tucker Road and parked. I watched competitors come past. I was beginning to wonder how Donna was doing. I expected to see her before 9:30am. She came by at about 9:40am and looked fine. I drove east to Curry Road and parked again. I got out of the car to snap a photo. I had to run across Highline as Donna was approaching faster than I expected.

Donna hammering down Highline

I drove downtown and waited for Donna to finish. She left it all out on the course – she was done in at the finish line. I brought a small cooler with recovery drink and snacks for her. After a little recovery time, Donna told me of a couple of mishaps during the race. There were three races running concurrently, one was 97 miles (GranFondo), one was 67 miles (MedioFondo) and one was 37 miles (PiccoloFondo). They all started together, then the racers took different routes. The course had arrows at some of the intersections. Yellow arrows marked the 37-mile course Donna was on.

Shortly after the start, some of the racers were confused by a large sign with a yellow arrow on the side of the road. The arrow seemed to indicate a turn. Racers made the turn and Donna followed, although she knew it didn’t seem right. Around the corner was a steep hill. Donna quickly geared own and threw her chain. She stopped to re-install the chain as everyone realized they made a wrong turn. The sign was for a yard sale.

Later, about three-quarters of the way through the race, Donna came to the intersection where the course crossed itself. There was a sign there with yellow arrows pointing both ways. It said “Right First Time – Left Second Time.” This was the first time she saw this sign. In the heat of the race, riding with her head down, she didn’t know she had already crossed this intersection. She went right and began a long climb. After about twenty minutes of climbing, she realized that she had already made this climb once. She was going the wrong way! She turned around and got back on track. This extra hill climb, the toughest hill on the course, killed her race time and average speed. She still finished well though.

The town had a big festival for the event in the town square. The race organizers provided coupons for lunch and drink for the competitors. We found a table in the shade, which we shared with a local couple, Lindsey and Bailey, who had also just finished the PiccoloFondo.

I went to one of the food vendors, Red House BBQ, and got a brisket plate for Donna. The portions were huge and the food was excellent. The plate came with a mac and cheese side (which I ate) and dolmas. The brisket portion was so big, we brought half of it home with us.

Other than a quick run to Albertson’s for groceries, we spent the rest of the day kicking back. This early morning race stuff is tiring.

Today, I need find time to change the HWH check valves. It’s an NFL football day though, so I may put it off. Tomorrow, we’ll head south to Temecula.

All Jacked Up

Wednesday turned out to be a tough afternoon for me. My back was still jacked up, but I needed to get some things done. The right rear HWH leveling jack started acting up again while we were at Row River. It slowly retracts itself after I extend it. This shouldn’t happen. While we were at the FMCA convention in Redmond, Oregon, I had the solenoid replaced (twice) to correct the problem. All was good until we set up at Row River.

I made a big mistake when we set up there. Our site wasn’t level – the front of the coach was low. Since we were parked on dirt, I put down 12″ x 12″ wooden pads under the jacks to increase the area supporting the coach. This helps to keep the round metal foot on the bottom of the jack from sinking into the dirt. Since the front was quite low, I stacked two wooden pads under each front jack to reduce the amount of extension of the jack.

I’ve done this many times before. I’ve always leveled the coach manually when I stack the pads. Without thinking about it, this time I started the auto-level sequence. The HWH computerized auto-level system has a sensor that detects the pitch-and-roll degree of the coach. Then it commands the jack extension to correct the attitude and level the coach. It works fairly quickly. The front jacks extended automatically. When they hit the doubled-up pads, the front of the coach was lifted too high. The HWH system didn’t retract the front jacks, it extended the rear jacks to correct the pitch of the coach. When the weight was taken off the rear wheels, there wasn’t any braking effect. Due to the slope, the coach moved forward – the jacks slid off the pads and dug into the ground. Not a good thing.

HWH leveling jacks on wooden pads in normal use

After rectifying that situation, I lowered the coach and leveled it manually. Everything seemed fine. A few days later, the right rear jack started its slow retract again. I don’t know if it’s related to the sliding-off-the-pads incident. I don’t see how it could be. The only way for the hydraulic jack to retract is to bleed off the fluid pressure. When I want to retract the jacks, a solenoid is activated to allow the fluid to return to the reservoir as the springs pull the ram up. I don’t have any external leaks and all of the other jacks and room slides (which are hydraulically activated by the same system) work fine. Something is allowing the fluid from the right rear jack assembly to slowly flow back into the reservoir. The first suspect is the solenoid.

I phoned Paul Maddox, the HWH technician who replaced the solenoid in Redmond. Since he replaced the solenoid twice, he didn’t think replacing it again was the way to go. He thought I should look at the check valves. The fluid for each jack passes through two check valves. These valves allow fluid to flow in one direction, but block the fluid from reverse flow. The check valves are opened by differential pressure. If the pressure is lower on the downstream side of the valve than on the upstream side, the valve opens and fluid will flow. If the pressure is higher on the downstream side, the check valve is forced against its seat and blocks reverse flow.

Paul suggested removing the upper (sometimes referred to as outer) check valve and replacing the O-ring that seals the valve. I removed the check valve and went to Ace hardware and found the right size replacement O-ring. I reinstalled the check valve and the jack still retracted itself.

HWH hydraulic assembly

Upper check valve and O-ring

I talked to Paul again. He said there was another check valve, the inner check valve. This one is harder to access, but he said he would send me parts and instructions.

The parts arrived Wednesday afternoon. Since we would leave the following day, I thought I should try to fix the jack right away. In order to access the inner check valve, I needed to remove the solenoid. I rode the scooter to Pep Boys and bought a small-diameter strap wrench. It was a cheap Chinese-made tool, but I thought, “How can you screw up a strap wrench?” Well, the Chinese have found a way. This wrench is so poorly manufactured, it takes three hands to operate it. I futzed around for 20 minutes before I could make it turn the solenoid.

After I had the upper check valve and solenoid out, getting to the inner check valve was tricky. It sits in a machined passage directly under the upper check valve, below the solenoid. I tried to see it with a mirror, but couldn’t tell what I was looking at. I tried reaching through the upper passage with hemostats, but I couldn’t grasp it. I fished a magnet through the solenoid opening and a strange, tightly wound spring with a straight tail came out. I hadn’t seen this spring in any of the diagrams I studied and there was no mention of this spring in the manual. I fished around with the magnet again and the check valve came out.

Check valves, solenoid and strange spring

I called Paul again. I told him about the strange looking spring. He had no idea what it was doing in there. He thought it may be the cause of the problem, as it didn’t belong in there. He thought I should reassemble everything with original parts, but without the spring. I reassembled everything. I lowered the jack and then watched it slowly retract again. Grrr.

While I was watching the jack retract, I noticed the tab that the retraction spring mounts to, was bent from the Row River incident. I decided to grab a large channel lock plier and straighten the tab. That’s when the real trouble started. As I cranked on the tab, the foot of the jack pivoted on the end of the ram and one of the springs came flying off! I’m lucky I didn’t lose a finger from the powerful spring. With no springs, the ram stopped retracting. I was in trouble now. I had to find a way to reinstall the foot and spring on the ram or we wouldn’t be going anywhere.

I used a piece of wood and a little ingenuity to force the ram into the fully retracted position. In this position, I would only have to stretch the springs a few inches to connect them to the foot. While I had the foot off, I used a hammer to ‘smith the tab straight before I attached the springs. Lying on my aching back under the coach, I pulled on the end of the spring with pliers. I used all my might and only managed to extend the spring about half an inch. Oh dear! These are powerful springs.

I tried different tactics for the next hour or so to try and lever the springs into place. I was beginning to think I needed a mobile RV tech. I saw one of our neighbors outside of his trailer. I borrowed a hydraulic bottle jack and a pry bar from him. The next half hour was spent trying to use hydraulic pressure from the bottle jack to lever the foot, with springs attached, over the end of the ram. Total frustration!

Then I just grabbed the pry bar, found a hard point to pry against and pulled the foot down, extending the springs as far as I could. The foot slipped off the pry bar, right onto the end of the ram! After two and a half hours of sweating and swearing, it was job done! By then it was beer-thirty and I was done in. You couldn’t pay me to do this type of work, but I’ll do it to avoid paying someone else.

On Thursday morning, I loaded the trailer and we made ready to travel. I usually load up the day before we leave, so it took extra time and work before we could hit the road. We still managed to depart by 10:30am. The drive to Tehachapi was a little over 40 miles. Highway CA58 has some steep climbs. We reached Tehachapi summit, a little over 4,000 feet above sea level, and exited the highway.

Currently we’re set up at the Mountain View RV Park. This is a small park with electric and water hook-ups, no sewer. There is a dump station we’ll hit when we leave. Originally we planned to dry camp in Tehachapi. The forecast calls for warm weather with highs near 90 degrees. We would have to run our generator all day for air conditioning if we dry camped, so we opted to pay for a site with 50-amp electric service. This RV park is unusual. It’s part of a private airport. The runway is in an open field 100 yards behind our coach.

View across the end of the runway from our door step

We’re only a few miles from town. Donna and I rode the scooter to town yesterday and had a look around. It’s a quaint little town. The downtown area is clean and well-kept. Later, we grilled bacon-wrapped filets that Donna served with quinoa salad and green beans.

Grilled bacon-wrapped filet

Today, I plan to replace the rear tire on Donna’s bike. Her race is tomorrow, with a 7am start time. Then I’ll pull the check valves for the right rear jack again and replace them with new ones that Paul sent me.

At noon, Donna is picking up a rental car for the weekend so we have a way to get her bike to the race start and back. We plan to take advantage of the extra set of wheels and do a little sight-seeing this afternoon.

Our site at Mountain View RV Park

In Search of Potato Vodka

I woke up with a stiff back yesterday. I’ve had lower back pain for a couple of days. I think it’s due to inactivity rather than something I did to strain it. I sat in front of the TV all day Sunday and that’s when it started bothering me.

Yesterday was one of those days that flew by without anything really interesting going on. We received our mail which was forwarded from our service in South Dakota. That’s always a highlight. Donna was happy to find a royalty check and I was happy to receive the business cards I ordered from Vistaprint.

Card looks grainy in this photo - actual cards are glossy and smooth

Card looks grainy in this photo – actual cards are semi-glossy and smooth

Donna and I rode the scooter to do some banking at the Chase Bank in town. The route we took had us riding on Edison Highway which had been freshly oiled in preparation for repaving. Not a good surface to scooter over.

We found the bank on Mount Vernon Avenue. Once we were finished there, we rode north about a mile to a Mexican restaurant Donna scoped out online. The Loma Linda restaurant had good reviews, so we decided to have lunch there. I had the chili verde burrito which was huge and served with rice and beans on the side. Donna ordered the camarones (shrimp) soup. She wasn’t too pleased with her choice. She said the shrimp had been way overcooked and the zucchini and carrots in the soup were large chunks that needed to be cut into smaller pieces before they could be spooned up. My lunch was very good, though I’m not used to eating such a large portion. Of course, no one forced me to eat the whole burrito, but I did. I was uncomfortable for most of the afternoon.

From the restaurant, we rode back down to the Albertson’s grocery store near the bank. Donna shopped while I sat on a bench outside in the shade. My back was so stiff that walking was a chore. We managed to pack several bags of groceries on the scooter. We filled the underseat compartment, a tote bag between my knees and a large backpack.

After we returned home, I thought a martini would be in order – for medicinal purposes. Before I could make a martini, I needed to replenish my vodka supply. I remembered passing a liquor store near here. I went back out on the scooter to the store. It was a poor example of a liquor store. They only had a few brands of vodka, mostly pints and half-pints and no potato vodka.

I went to two grocery stores and found poor selections again. I rode west on Niles Street and stopped at stores displaying liquor signs. In California, it’s usually easy to find liquor retailers. I found plenty of retailers – they just didn’t have what I was looking for. I phoned Donna and told her I may be out for longer than I thought. Then I used my smartphone to map liquor stores in the area.

The 10th(!) store I stopped at had an ancient guy behind the counter. I told him I was looking for potato vodka, preferably in a 1.75 liter bottle. He said I should go to Rite Aid. I asked him if there was a Rite Aid in the area. He said “Yes, they’re everywhere.” Then he just stood there looking at me. Apparently that was all the direction I was going to get. I thanked him and walked back to the scooter.

I started to loop back towards the RV park. I saw a CVS store, right next to the bank where we were this morning. I went in and found Blue Ice American Potato Vodka (made from Idaho russet potatoes). This became my new favorite when I found it in Grand Junction, Colorado. It’s hard to find. I’ve only found it in one or two stores since then. I bought two bottles.

I came home and watched the Formula 1 race from Monza, Italy on the DVR. The martini hit the spot. My back didn’t bother me so much. Donna made a quinoa salad with feta and mint for dinner. After the huge lunch, a light dinner was perfect. Afterwards, we walked a lap of the park.

I still have a sore back this morning. We started the day with a delicious, nutritious breakfast featuring crustless zucchini quiche with bacon and tomato wedges on the side.

Crustless zucchini quiche

Backache notwithstanding, I need to start to prepare for travel today. We’ll head down to Tehachapi tomorrow.

Visitors from Abroad

Cloudy skies were a welcome sight yesterday. We’ve had clear skies with intense sunshine since we arrived in Bakersfield. The heat has been relentless with daytime highs around 100 degrees and overnight lows of 70. The overnight low doesn’t occur until 6 or 7am. For most of the night, the outside temperature is in the 80s.

Donna took advantage of the cloud cover by going out on her bike in the morning. She followed the same route across town that she took on Saturday. This time, she rode the Kern River Parkway Trail in the opposite direction from Saturday’s ride. This was a shorter route. She had a good ride and covered 26 miles.

I’m still having issues with over-the-air TV reception. I don’t understand the problem. In our current location, I can pull in 20 strong stations, but they’re all analog broadcasts. I cannot receive any digital HD signals. I broke out the ladder and climbed on the roof to check the antenna. I cleaned the coax connections with electrical contact cleaner. They had some corrosion. I couldn’t think of anything else to do. The analog reception is good, but a digital HD image would be better. Maybe I need a new antenna or booster.

I took a walk through the RV park. It isn’t as large as some of the parks we’ve been in, but I was able to get some exercise. While I was out, I could smell rain. It was virga (I wrote about that here). The rain was evaporating before it hit the ground.

The park we’re in, Bakersfield Palms RV Resort, is split into two sections. The larger section is for long-term (one month or more) residents. The section we’re in is called the overnight area. There are only a handful of RVs in the overnight section, which is comprised of 20 large pull-through sites. Only three of us have been here for more than a day. Most of the RVers are using the park for an overnight stay as they travel through central California.

Yesterday, a class C rental RV pulled into the site next to us. There are two couples in the RV. They appear to be European. They’ve kept to themselves, so we haven’t had an opportunity to talk to them. We’ve met many Europeans on extended vacations in RV parks. Some of them have exhausting itineraries as they try to see all of the sights in the USA in four or five weeks. Others keep returning to complete their travels and do their sightseeing at a more reasonable pace.

A few of the European travelers we’ve met have their own RV that they store in the USA when they return home. Then they come back to continue their RV adventure. We met a Swiss couple that did this when we were in Mesa, Arizona. Their rig is pictured in this post. We met a couple from Austria in Salt Lake City that were traveling the country in their RV. They planned to end their adventure, which began in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in Alaska and maybe sell the RV there.

Class C rental RV

I would have liked to meet the people in the rig next to us, but they packed up and left as I’m typing this. Traveling to a foreign country and renting an RV has to be a real challenge. The thought of heading out in a rental RV is scary enough. There are so many things to learn in an RV, and most of us learn a few things the hard way.

I’ve driven cars in Europe many times. I know that driving where you may not fully understand the customs and laws can be stressful. I’m fine in Germany and Austria, but places like France, Slovakia and Italy give me heartburn.

And then there’s the whole issue of being in unfamiliar territory. Getting onto Fairview Avenue from the RV park is a bit confusing. I noticed that the rental RV that just left exited to the left, which would send them in the wrong direction if they were trying to reach the highway.

Clouds last evening

Yesterday’s cloud cover is long gone. Today, we have clear skies and the thermometer will reach north of 90 degrees. I don’t have a plan, other than to go grocery shopping with Donna later.

To the Rescue

Donna started her weekend with a Saturday morning bike ride. She planned to follow the route we scouted through town on Friday. Her goal was to reach the Kern River Parkway Trail and put in a total distance of about 40 miles. I assumed she would be out for two and a half or three hours.

She sent me a text at 9:40am saying she had reached the turnaround point and would be back at 11:15am. At 10:30am, she sent another message to let me know that she had to slow down. It was getting hot out and she wasn’t feeling great. At 11:05am, her message said she had stopped again and ate the last of her snap peas. She was still more than 11 miles away and her new ETA was noon. The day was becoming very hot. At noon, I received a message telling me she was stopped about two and a half miles from here. She had bonked. She asked me to bring her some food.

Donna started a 21-day sugar detox program on Monday. This program restricts sugar as well as carbohydrates. The combination of the change in her diet along with the oppressive heat shut her down. I rode the scooter and found her sitting on the ground in the shade in front of a nursery. I brought the milk and cooked sweet potato slices she had asked for. After drinking the milk, she felt better. Milk has a good combination of protein and carbohydrate, making it a good recovery drink.

She got back on her bike and rode home. I rode slowly on the scooter to make sure she would be fine. She said she felt pretty good. She even picked up the pace at one point when some little dogs ran out and started chasing her! Her mileage for the day was over 42 miles. Back at the RV park, she jumped in the pool to cool off. After that, we mostly stayed indoors as the temperature outside rose to 100 degrees.

Yesterday’s forecast called for another hot day. Donna did some strength training outdoors in the early morning. I was a couch potato all day. I watched the Jets win over the Raiders. Then I made a beer run before I watched the Cowboys get manhandled by the 49ers. Last night I watched the third NFL game and saw Denver flex its muscles against Indianapolis.

Today will be a little cooler, and the skies are cloudy for a change. But the high for the day will be over 90. I need to get out and exercise. Sitting indoors all day and drinking too much beer has me feeling lethargic this morning. Tonight, the first weekend of the NFL season concludes with a double-header. Detroit will take on the Giants and then the San Diego Chargers play the Arizona Cardinals. Time to break out my 1984 number 14 Dan Fouts Chargers throwback jersey.

Photo from the Chargers game I attended last year with my brothers-in-law, Tommy and Mark.

Flying The Koop

…from real estate to wheel estate and back again

Category Archives: Uncategorized

Bad Motor for Sure

Calling Coach-Net

Simple Maintenance – Right!

Jojoba Hills Co-op

No Escape from the Heat

Wrong Way!

All Jacked Up

In Search of Potato Vodka

Visitors from Abroad

To the Rescue

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