Motorhome Lug Nuts Maintenance

Lug Nuts--we may not think of those first when we think coach maintenance... Nonetheless, the reminder below is valuable (as shared many years ago by Brian Keys, a former Country Coach employee and motorhome expert).

Nothing Worse Than Loose Lug Nuts

Lug nuts should be checked periodically to ensure they are tight. On the rear duals, this will require loosening the outer lug nuts one at a time to check that the inner nut is secure before retightening the outer nut and moving on to the next one. 

Lug nuts generally don't come loose if they have been tightened correctly the first time, and it is here that the following advice is valuable for both your coach and tow vehicle...Use a torque wrench. 

How many times have you seen lug nuts tightened without a torque wrench? More often than not probably, but this practice applies uneven pressure to the brake drum or disc that is sandwiched between your wheel and the hub.  You probably won't notice this as much on the coach as you will on the tow car where a pulsing brake pedal is a sure sign of a warped disc. The advice does hold true, however, in both cases.

Now go check those lug nuts!

 

Is it OK to leave my Motorcoach Inverter On?

JOHN DAVIS of JDRV Services addresses a Motorcoach Owner's Question:

Is it OK to leave my inverter on all the time?

A: Yes you may, BUT, let's talk about what an inverter does and why. An inverter uses a transformer system to create an alternating current sine wave in order to operate 120 volt appliances.

So... if you are inverting 120 volts from 12 volt batteries guess how long it will take for them to go dead. “Not long" (it will vary depending on the age and quantity of batteries you have). Try to think about your inverter this way and see if it helps:  It’s 3 am and you just pulled in to that RV Park. It's raining like the dickens outside and it’s too late to run your gen set. Yet you would like a cup of hot cocoa and some TV to wind down after a long day’s drive. Well you're in luck. You have an inverter to run the TV, VCR, satellite, microwave, or coffee pot, no problem. BUT, remember you need to put this power that you are taking out tonight back in in the morning.

Plug in or run the gen set for a minimum 1 hour for every 4 hours you used the inverter last night. This will help to make sure you never have a dead battery due to inverter use. Now for those full timers who hate to reset your clocks every time you unplug to move; if you are full timers and are plugged in more than not, leave your inverter on, it won’t hurt a thing. In fact it is a good thing because it will monitor your batteries and help them last longer provided you maintain the water level. But that is a subject for a later bulletin, (let's leave it at; check battery water level every 30 days).Don’t be afraid of your inverter use. Enjoy it...you paid for it

--John Davis, JDRV INC of LaPine OR              

Country Coach LP Red Failure Indicator Light Question

QUICK RV QUESTION

This morning we awoke to a red failure indicator light for LP which controls the

water heater. As we tried the stove, it wouldn’t ignite either.

Where should I look first to troubleshoot this? –2000 Intrigue Owner

 

Make sure your LP detector is on, as this device controls the shut off valve at the tank.

Because of where it is positioned it is easy to bump it off the LP Detector unintentionally.

If resetting this doesn’t solve it, I would recommend a technician check your LP system.

 

– Dave Rousey, Service Division, Premier RV of Oregon

www.PremierRVServices.com

3 Highline Motorhome Technical Questions Answered

Questions from Coach Owners
answered by Kevin Kiscoan
Premier RV of Oregon of
Junction City Oregon

Q) My Country Coach Shower Door Handle is loose. How do I tighten it up? What sort of bolt head is inside?

A) A loose shower door handle can usually be tightened up at the mounting screw. Depending on the material used, the screw hole can be stripped out, thus, not allowing the screw to tighten up anymore. If a replacement handle is not available, a slightly larger screw or a screw with a different thread pattern can be used in the place of the original screw to tighten the handle. Use a thread lock sealant to help keep it tight from that point on

Q) The Engine Light on my 2005 Inspire comes on and off. My Silverleaf is not giving any error message? Ideas on what might cause the engine light to come on and off?

A) There are only a couple things that come to mind that would cause the check engine light to come on and off: 1) low coolant sloshing around in the expansion tank can cause this as the coolant covers and uncovers the coolant level sensor, 2) at an idle, the oil pressure can become too low and cause a temporary fault. 3) voltage caused by dirty or corroded connections can be the cause.  I recommend having your local engine dealer take a look for history and/or inactive codes that may be causing the light to illuminate.

Q) We bent our ladder. Where do we go to replace the original ladder for a Country Coach?

A) You can call Kevin at Premier RV and he will be happy to help! If you have the Country Coach part number located in the white tab (parts breakdown) section of your house user's guide, then we will be able to provide an exact replacement. Please know that ladders can take a couple of weeks once it is ordered but it can be shipped directly to you via freight truck.

 

Thank you!

Kevin Kiscoan, Parts Department.

Premier RV of Oregon

Website: www.PremierRVServices.com 

Telephone: 541-998-2640

325 E 1^st Avenue, Junction City, OR 97447

*Located on 20-plus acres of the former Original Country Coach LLC Campus. Premier RV of Oregon is owned by Country Coach Specialists, All Brands Serviced by Highline / Country Coach Trained Technicians

Today is one for the Birds!

So I have been receiving motivational jumpstarts from DarrenDaily via text. This a.m. I listened and was reminded it isn’t WHAT is ahead of me today, it is HOW I view it, how I tackle it. I decide the mindset with which I invest my time today in various areas. Through the window as I’m doing the morning routine prior to heading off to Premier RV of Oregon the birds are singing at the top of their lungs in the big old wedding tree in our pasture. 

Like "capture my full attention and consider sneaking out and recording  them" singing! 

Then I drive the 15 minutes over to  my ‘job’ for the next 7 hours at Premier in Junction City, settle into my desk and start my day. Again I hear birds singing, so loudly that I hear them through the closed door, above the busy road traffic.  So I open the Premier RV front office door and there they are. Perched atop a leafless tree birds are massed in a large choir, singing to high heavens!

Never mind the sky is dark and overcast with a guarantee of soon to come rain. They are singing nonetheless for the sheer joy of the morning. 

The rain did settle in now and they’ve flown off I see to an evergreen tree with more cover.

Where ever I find myself today, whatever I set my hand to doing and my mind to accomplishing, I GET TO CHOOSE whether I sing.

Attitude is EVERYTHING.  Today is one for the Birds!

Do I Need Specific Coolant for Motorhome Hydro Hot Unit

Quick HydoHot Question

A Premier RV of Oregon customer recently asked, “Do I need to use a specific coolant to top off my Hydro-Hot unit?”   

Simply put, YES! Older units use engine coolant-type antifreeze while the newer units use boiler coolant. Do not add antifreeze to a newer style Hydro-Hot unit! This requirement is due to a change in the internal construction of the heat exchanger of the unit. Newer units require a coolant that is rated as “Generally Recognized as Safe” (GRAS) by the FDA. This rating is most commonly found on boiler coolants. Boiler coolant is generally available at heating or plumbing contractor supply houses - as well as some hardware stores. It’s easy to identify which generation of Hydro-Hot you have by taking a look at the pressure cap on top of the unit. Older units have a large 4” diameter cap, while the newer units have a smaller, standard automobile size radiator cap.

--Kevin Kiscoan, Premier RV of Oregon, www.PremierRVServices.com

Outstanding Country Coach People-The Energizer Bunny

I MET A LOT OF OUTSTANDING PEOPLE DURING MY TENURE IN THE COUNTRY COACH MARKETING DEPARTMENT.  
ONE SUCH PERSON WAS THE ENERGIZER BUNNY.

The Energizer Bunny

Once upon a time there was a bright little red haired girl. Her mom and dad divorced and so she bounced from one to the other. She tried to be worthy of the love of both her parents. She grew up doubting herself. It was very important to her parents to have a pretty daughter. She didn't really feel like she fit in… She was feisty, though, and not a quitter. She taught herself to dance, and she was the BEST dancer in the school (and something I witnessed firsthand at a rally years later).  It was a difficult childhood. One day her mom brought home a new boyfriend. Opal had a bad feeling about this one…and she was right. When Opal was feeling brave enough, she went to her mother, who became very angry at her ‘lies” and kicked her daughter out on the spot. Scarcely into the double digits in age, with only her little Girl Scout metal dinner kit tucked under her arm and the clothes on her back, she left that house. She found work in restaurants lying about her age. She determined to rise above her situation, she worked hard!  She put a roof over her head, and she survived. Not only survived, but eventually thrived. She learned the 'business' from the ground up eventually managing catering operations. In a sad turn of fate, her mother passed away later in life from a terminal illness and she bequeathed quite an inheritance to her adult daughter. I like to think it was her way of making amends for letting her daughter down decades ago. My friend told me she’d rather have had her mother than all the money in the world. That’s just the kind of person she is.

I met her when she walked in for a job interview. Petite little gal. Long red hair and the most beautiful bright eyes. Always impeccably dressed and yet, what I was most struck by was her personality. I knew I liked her within moments of hiring her. And smart, my word, I envied her knowledge. In her role as Events Coordinator, she taught me so many things I didn't know of the catering business! What entrees to choose because they plate well for a huge group, which entrees to avoid. What items to Always require on a breakfast buffet, what is appropriate pricing for a pony keg, so many details. I was a rally planner of owners events with huge budgets and she was my right hand. This woman was the Energizer bunny! Our company’s management at the time had us severely understaffed in my department and I was working 60 hour weeks. She matched me hour for hour, week in and week out. When she said finally, “We need more help or I need to look elsewhere,” I did everything but throw a big girl fit asking for extra help for her. I failed. She left ...Today this little dynamo is very successful with a beautiful family. Anyone meeting her would never guess the road of hard knocks this girl traveled. 

I came out of that work experience a far better person for having spent this time with her. I think my work ethic grew even stronger because of her. To this day, she is a kick in my butt when I need one. I am  reminded No Obstacle is a dead end if you have the will to keep fighting, the determination to rise above your current situation, and the belief that there IS a way through it and beyond it. Never say quit. Always get up and try again.  Believe in oneself even if it may seem no one else does.

This amazing Country Coach friend is an Overcomer in the purest sense of the word. 

(story shared with her permission)