Brad & Jacolyn

Guess I should have proof read that before I sent it to you sick buggers.

Is the rally website open yet? I licked on the button and was taken somewhere that wanted to teach me to improve my blackjack skills. I don't do Facebook.

Happy Birthday.

Merry Christmas everyone. The dogs were up at 5:50 to sounds on the roof of the RV. I think it was a squirrel but they think it was Santa so we will go with that.

Hello, We are full timers and are in Edinburg, Tx until April 1st. On our way down here a couple of days ago we blew out a tire on the 5th wheel (HitchHiker Champagne) and tore up the drivers side. I have not got any answers from the insurance company yet so I'm waiting on them. Does anyone know of of a place down here to get the bodywork done without having to go all the way back to Chanute, Ks? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you. Brad

Thank you Steve. We are going to try to get back to the rally again next year. Brad

Thanks for posting all the pictures Rod. We were not able to make it this year. Looks like you are having a good time. Brad

You will all be happy to know that I got dirty today and changed the suspension dump solenoid. Everything is working again. I did come to the conclusion (I forgot since the last time I changed one) that this would be an easier job if I did not have a bed on the truck.

Well I swapped out the switch with another switch with a lockout button that I had and aired up the truck. No difference so I'll start looking for a solenoid tomorrow. Guess I'll be getting dirty Darryl.

Hi Carl, That could probably be done by someone that knew what they were doing but since I don't I would not know if it was right or not (there are about 8 connections on the back of the switch). I have looked and I have 2 additional switches that have the same lock button but just a different picture on them. I'm guessing that they are the same but will have to wait until I get the switch pulled out to see the connectors. Brad

Had not thought of the switch. I think I have an old switch kicking around for another function that was not needed and removed when the dash was rearranged. It does not have to have the little button to prevent it being flipped accidentally just to do a test does it. ?

The leveling valve is in the normal driving position as far as I know. it loses air after a day of sitting and goes back up when I start it. Rocky the system is all aired up for traveling and did travel all day. Will not air down to decrease the unload angle for the smart when the switch is flipped

Good Morning, The last 2 times I tried to dump the rear suspension on the Volvo it did not go down. It did not make any noise at all when I flipped the dash switch. The only thing I know that would prevent the suspension from going down is the solenoid under the truck. I know there is a bank of 5 under there because I had to replace one of them in the past so I know how to do it. I also have something that says the suspension dump is the black line. I was wondering if there is something else I should be checking for. Thanks for any assistance. Brad

Glad I was able to help Craig. Since I have no idea where the sensors are OR what they even look like there was no way I was going to start throwing parts at it. The shop told me that they were able to repeat the failure and the new sensor made that go away.

The last 6 days that we were traveling the Volvo dash would light up with an engine symbol and force an engine shutdown. Then it would start right up again and all was well. No active faults could be found. After a whole lot of diagnostics they were able to recreate the problem. It was a bad Crankcase Pressure sensor. Replaced the sensor and so far no more shutdowns. We got it fixed at Nacarato truck centers in Hagarstown Maryland.

Thanks for the suggestion guys. I tried the heat gun yesterday and it had no effect at all. The panels were to hot to touch and I was afraid to heat them any more. Guess I'm back to the plastic paint question. Would it stick to these panels?

Good Morning, Some of the black plastic trim below the sides of the head lights on the Volvo have faded to almost white and I was wondering if these parts could be painted with black paint for plastic parts. Would it even stick to these parts? Would I have to do anything special to prep them and should I use clear coat over any paint. Is there a special paint I should use? Thank you for your suggestions. Brad

Good Morning everyone, I would like to know what you use for a wifi booster. Before people start talking about a wifi ranger or something else built in I would just like something that I can plug in and boost the signal when we are in a weak area. We have been full timing for the last 13 years and have acceptable wifi a vast majority of the time. We use the hot spots on our phones to get wifi for the computer. We have no router and our printer is attached to the computer with a wire. We only have one computer, no ipads or anything else like that. So you can see we have simple needs and a simple setup. This has worked well for us for years. I have a Sleek 4G cellular signal booster that I put out when the wifi gets shaky but it is quite old and right now we are far enough out that our phones don't even dial out (they will however get texts. Go figure). And I can only get wifi early in the morning and the park does not have its own wifi. So by now I would expect there is something better out there. Please make your suggestions. Thank you. Brad

If you are looking for parks that will accommodate our rigs I use RV Trip Wizard. This is a subscription service and you will need internet to access it but since it is online I have found it to be current most of the time and I think that $30 a year is pretty reasonable especially after using it for several years. It also has filters and one of them is 'big rig access'. Once this is turned on it will not even display parks that do not say big rig access. Now with this said, be aware that not every park has the same idea of what big rig access means so I always call and make reservations. Some places think 45 feet is a big site.

TST 507 also monitoring 10 tires.

RV Pro flex Lexel is good but takes practice. You can't work it without a mess. Make very small beads, move smoothly, stop when you reach the end of the gun stroke and restart moving a squeezing again at the same time(slowly).

Hey Suite, I have had Coachnet for 14 years and have used it 5 times. Never have seen a bill. We are singled.

Merry Christmas everyone from Balmy (41 this morning) Rio Grande Valley

I have a TS hitch and I do the same thing that Jim & Wilma said. Just raise until you see light and pull out slowly.

Check you tube. The mirror parts has to be removed to get to the clips that hold the back in place. As I recall each mirror just has to be slid up to get out of the fasteners and they will come right out. Then you can access the 4 clips that hold the back on.