NeverEasy

Ours is a 2016 #1 Edition. That is a Prime with some LED lighting upgrades, nicer instrumentation, and it is turbo. Much faster than our 2011 Prime was.

Without a trailer connected to the blue wire, you will read "open circuit voltage" which is always source voltage. The LED is a basically a high impedance meter and acts as one. It should be lite bright at all times without a trailer connected. The report that you have always got 12VDC on the blue wire and it does not change with the movement of the Hayes lever is normal. Again open circuit voltage (no current flow) does not care what is between the measurement point and the source voltage. No current flow means no load on the circuit. You can think of it as the electrons have no where to go so they pile up at the end of the wire until they equal the battery voltage. If you hook up a trailer and you see that the voltage (or current) varies with Hayes movement then all is well. You may have a bad red LED. Is yours the old type (no white wire coming out of the Hayes box) or the new one that does have a white ground wire from the mfg. If it is the old type, they have a history of being problematic. Never hook up a Hayes to air over electric over hydraulic (disk brakes with a controller). The output of the Hayes cannot be limited and will lock up the brakes with only minor movement of the Hayes. Chet

No power to various places. I doubt it is a fuse problem. If you understand "open circuit voltage" then you can test for a bad connection on the hot side or ground side on a place you can isolate the load from the circuit. You can't use lighting circuits as it is difficult to know you have all the bulbs removed. However, there are a couple of places that have no loads unless you plug something into them. The cigarette lighter and the CB radio connections are a good place. Read the voltage at either of those two places. If there is battery voltage on them but they will not run an electrical load then there is a high resistance between the battery and either the hot or ground. I am thinking a ground problem. Connect a ground wire to the battery ground and connect the other end to the CB dashboard connector and see if that fixes things. Good luck, Chet

I am not a Gen II owner and, therefore, have not ventured into those schematics much. I opened them this A.M. and tried to trace through them to find the path for brake lights. They pass through the Lighting Control Module. If you are not getting any codes for light faults, I would want to start there or before it. The LCM should throw a code if it knows there is a request for that lamp to work. I would start by finding the brake pressure switch (direct input to the LCM) and see if it is working. Check the trailer connector brake pin and see if it is getting 12VDC (bottom right pin if running a RV 7-way). Are you running a jackalopee? If so, is the LED for brake lights coming on?

Here are two pics from Google Maps with distance on the sites for reference.

Here is a Google Map picuture. CG is on the lower left. Dad's Bluegrass Campground. Note that Goggle shows Dad's right up by the main road.

Goggle maps does a poor job of putting you on the CG. Open maps, go off I-65 north, turn left. Go past the Pilot that is on the left side(there is also one on the right). Turn left between Pilot and Speedco on KOA road. Proceed straight until you get to Dad's Bluegrass CG. As I stated before, I measured some of the sites in the middle of the park using Google Maps. There are some at least 75 feet.

We have stayed in the Nashville North KOA and the Bowling Greene, KY KOA. Looked at Google and found: Dad’s Bluegrass Campground 2889 Scottsville Rd Franklin, KY 42134 (270) 253-5191 Used Google Maps and measured some 70-80 foot sites. Appears to be enough room to get in and out. No experience with this CG. DAD'S BLUEGRASS CAMPGROUND (dadsbluegrasscampground.com)

Thanks for the info. Just put 4 new on a 2016. Had to wait a month for tire shop to get the front ones. Continental.

For the RV Socket, I use crimp ring terminal lugs. Cut off the insulation to save room. Crimp and solder. Install with the crimp big part inboard. They will bend in enough to get the cover on. The ring prevents wires from pulling out.

CA_Tallguy, I, too, am a DIY person. I like the experience I get from the project and I like to do my own work. First thing I do when I get to a junkyard (car or truck) is take all the relays (with their wires if possible) and fuses. Sometimes they want money for them, mostly not if I buy a big part. The Chinese fuses you can buy today are crap. The thickness of the pins are so thin that they will not always make good contact. Therefore, I have a good supply of parts. I built my own light conversion box as I had not heard of a Jackalopee when I first got my Volvo. If I had to do it again, the Jackalopee is a great buy and I would opt to buy it. My box is still working. It has LEDs on the inputs and outputs and fuses on both sides, too. It is well documented so anyone that works on trons could fix it. At the 2019 ECR, a member came to me for an assist with his lights. He had been towing for years without rear brake lights on the trailer or truck. I had a couple of relays and got two from RandyA. I installed them on the wall, driver's side storage compartment and made everything work. I will bet that the Red Volvo is still running with them.

If the Blu-dot is installed on the trailer, an electronic brake controller will still need to be on the truck to control other trailers. Direct Link will work on all. Everyone that I have talked to that has Blu-dot has been very happy with them. You can even get them with ABS for the trailer.

The Hayes is not made for electric over hydraulic. I had to get rid of mine as it did the same. The Hayes does not have a very effective gain control. The knob just moves the pickup point on the rheostat to act sooner or later with brake air pressure. Do you have the old type or the new? If there is no white ground wire as part of the controller, it is the old type. The old have been problematic. On either type, you may need to clean the rheostat. One the old, it is a long wire wound resistor and the unit has no active electronic components. The new has a very small rheostat and a lot of electronics. I did manage to use the new type by taping a wood block onto the manual slider knob so that it would only slide so far, no matter how much air pressure was on it. The problem is the amount of current it takes to lock up brakes with magnets vs. hydraulic discs. I have a current monitor on the blue wire of the brake controller. With magnets, it took 12.8 amps to lock up the brakes. With the electric over hydraulic, it takes .8 amps (yes, 8 tenths) of an amp to lock up the brakes. Fortunately for me I found a new MaxBrake controller and installed it. They are not made anymore.

Had a great time at the ECR. Thanks to Carl and Donna for their hard work. Enjoyed meeting some new folks and reconnecting with some old timers.

Sorry, no parts list. I started my Gen 1 project by going to Volvo and ordering their Air Conditioner rebuild kit (joke!). That got me about 1/2 the seals. Then I went to NAPA and got as many AC kits as I could. There was one big green o-ring that none of the usual places had. I got it out of a book of seals at Tidewater Fleet Supply. The book said it was for a Mercury Grand Marquee.

I rebuilt my entire AC system a couple of years ago. Had a hard time finding the right seals. Bought a few generic seal kits to get some of them. The one from Volvo had some of the seals but not all. Worst leaks were those you pointed out, on the firewall behind the air filter. The others bad leaks were under the bunk. Easy to get to from the side storage door. A can of freon with leak detector and a black light helped locate the leaks. To check it before even putting on the vacuum pump, I charged it with nitrogen then used the Whisper leak detector and kids bubble soap to find leaks. Nitrogen is not necessary, you can use shop air since you will have already exposed the system to the environment. It will still need a 24 hour vacuum down before installing new freon. Fortunately, I have a heavy duty vacuum pump and did all the work myself.

They worked fine for me in Edge. I am not a NV resident and have no personal experience. IMO, you should attend one of the HDT Rallies (National in Hutchinson, KS, West Coast Rally in Caldwell, ID, or East Coast Rally in Crossville, TN. You will be better prepared to transition to a HDT. Short answer as posted for NV: Yes to title as Private Truck. No to Motorhome License. NV 483.850 exempts RVs from CDL license. When towing trailer above 10,000 lb GVWR, requires "J" endorsement. Above 26,000 lb GVWR or GCWR requires non-commercial Class A or B.

I don't have a Gen II but it sounds pretty straight forward. Locate the gage on the dash that shows air pressure when you mash the brake pedal and also shows pressure when you pull the hand trolly. Find the air line on the back of that gage. Cut it and insert the T in that line.

Go here: The Heavy Haulers Rhttps://www.rvnetwork.com/topic/88214-the-heavy-haulers-resource-guide-hdt-rally-site/esource Guide & HDT Rally Site - HDT - Escapees Discussion Forum Click on HDT Decision. There are two sections on state by state requirement: Licensing and Title/registration. Sometimes, personal experience at the DMV ends up different from what is posted here.

Volvo? Gen I or II? On a Gen I, if you tapped into the air line that goes to the brake light switch you should be good.

The DW and I just got confirmation that we will have a mother-in-law sitter and will be able to attend the ECR. I would like to do a class on troubleshooting and repair of water heaters and/or furnaces. To do them justice, I need some old, broken and removed units. Anyone have them laying around? I would be happy to pay shipping if they can't be brought to the ECR. I have tried the local RV shops and did not get any help. Chet

I wrote up a long "How To" replace the whole assembly (frame, shocks, air bags and leveling valve). It is in Word with a pdf of the assembly. I think it got published in the HHRG but I don't seem to be able to find it. The file is too big to post here. If anyone wants it, send me a PM with your email address. I, too, had one of the top nuts pull loose from the chassis. I cut the air bag off, then the bolt, and pushed the nut out and removed it. I welded a new nut to a piece of 1/4 inch steel bar (with a hole, of course) and slide it back into the cab stringers. Better than new, I think. On edit: I found it. It is in the HHRG. Click on "Whats New" and you will find a lot of files besides mine. It does not have the pdf of the parts assembly. Chet

This is what I found for VA. § 46.2-1500. Definitions (virginia.gov) "Motor home" means a motorized recreational vehicle designed to provide temporary living quarters for recreational, camping, or travel use that contains at least four of the following permanently installed independent life support systems that meet the National Fire Protection Association standards for recreational vehicles: (i) a cooking facility with an onboard fuel source; (ii) a potable water supply system that includes at least a sink, a faucet, and a water tank with an exterior service supply connection; (iii) a toilet with exterior evacuation; (iv) a gas or electric refrigerator; (v) a heating or air conditioning system with an onboard power or fuel source separate from the vehicle engine; or (vi) a 110-125 volt electric power supply. Most states only require some of those. Like 4 of 6. The "or" is the last sentence is ambiguous.

Private truck is doable. I don't think you are making it harder than it seems as it is hard. Better to know what you are facing. IMO, the only chance you have of getting it titled/registered as a MH is to bring it into VA titled as that. PM "Old Sailor" and tell him Chet sent you his way. See how he got it done. Chet

| Heavy Haulers RV Resource Guide (hhrvresource.com) Here is a direct link. You can find a path if you go to the top of the browser and back step one level to HDT. Anyway, on the HHRG go to HDT Decision block, and click on the two "State Listing" for registration and licensing. There you will find that you don't need a CDL if not towing commercial. It says no to MH title/registering but that is not always true. You get different answers at different places. The usual answer is no. But I know of one that got it done. Maybe Pat can shed some light on it. How about it, Old Sailor?