Sculptor

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MR. COB!!!!

Following because I might do this someday.

Thanks Carl. Good advice. Ours is older, and I think about replacing the exhaust occasionally but there always seems to be somewhere else to $pend it.

Two layers of plastic or aluminum, one inside and one out. Self tapping screws from the inside. One near each corner of the hole so it won’t shift. Maybe even cut the tips off that stick out. My before coffee thoughts.

We’re neighbors.

Following. Because I did that too this year. I might break down and do it myself but I’m interested to see any responses. We are in Mission a bit further south from Corpus.

Some good info above. Our Volvo was our daily driver for 3ish years. We were on the road full time and during the summers have moved about the same as you describe, 4 hour travel, every few days to a week. Grocery store and hardware store runs got to be routine, hand the stuff up, then hand it back down. We were at a slight disadvantage in places like Yellowstone, some roads prohibit RV’s and buses for good reason. Parking in downtown San Antonio to visit the Alamo was a problem. We ended up taking the bus. Just rare examples. if I had it to do over again, I might have our Volvo 730 singled short like Av8r. Like you, I probably would choose a short sleeper since we never use it. The sleeper is probably a requirement in any state that allows converting to RV. The air-up and warm-up never bothered me much. It has taken me a long time to get used to the hard banging on potholes. It throws the drinks out of the cup holder and my wife can’t sleep on the mattress. I agree with Rickeieio that climbing up and down has disadvantages. I’ve heard that is where most truckers get injured, but that has only influenced me enough to be more conscious while climbing. We have stayed at a couple of parks where the time it takes to punch in the gate code is too long to drive through it. I have to have another person punch it in. Neither of those reasons would be a deciding factor for me. Just inconvenient occasionally. I haven’t had a big diesel pickup to compare. That’s what I was looking for when I found these sites for HDTs. I will say I absolutely love my HDT when pulling the RV. Only the strongest crosswinds affect it at all. If the trailer brakes have a problem it’s not a big deal to drive until you can get them fixed. Not recommended of course. I didn’t know I had gotten air in the brake lines and drove for awhile before I noticed. These things happen. Blessings and good luck. Kevin.

Happy Thanksgiving and a grateful thoughts from our “house” to all of yours. Even though I’m a day late. Thanks Rick and everyone for your friendship, help and advice.

Arrived at our winter home in the RGV about an hour ago. Rig mostly intact. Marriage mostly intact. Funny how our long lost friends seem so relaxed and slowed down. I think I can relax a bit now and soak up the vibe. Next year we are taking the road much slower. Probably most of the summer will be spent near the Great Lakes. Beer O’clock now.

Thanks guys, for reminding me. I have been forgetting to post updates in this area for quite awhile now. Our travels this year were from TX to OK to TN to NC to NJ to NY to PA to OH to MI to NC to FL. We are currently on our way back to TX. Today we should leave FL and cross into AL. I can’t say enough about the short visit we had with Rick and Susan. We even got to see their beautiful house. Thank you, thank you! About LAST year and the year before, I have some travel videos on Rumble if anyone is interested. I’ll warn you the music track is lame since I had to use free music. Soo Saint Marie looking toward Canada. Key West looking toward Cuba.

Thanks Dan, I haven’t noticed pulling (except when braking, another small problem with the front cams sticking) but have always thought it wanders pretty quick if I take my eyes off the road even for a second or two. Some roads are worse than others.

So Trey Marshall of Marshall Diesel Repair stopped by for a quick assessment of the Volvo front end. He said the linkages all look good. The kingpins seemed “dry” and so he greased some different fittings for me. He agreed the wear seemed more from running under-pressure. There was no way to jack up the front end to check for looseness anywhere. Ride height was even side to side. the one item Trey noticed was there is a shim on the spring bracket (?) on the left front, but not on the right front. He said to have that checked out. I’m told that’s a common correction for alignment. We both agreed this campground will not allow any significant work to be done here. By the way, I chose this cg because of its proximity to family in Cutler Ridge. I discussed my rig on 2 or 3 different occasions and was assured we could fit the site. They have no long sites here. They are extremely nitpicking about parking on our site, to point of demanding I remove the stepladder from our RV ladder to move the truck 6” further off the pavement. I was off the pavement when I was forced to move. Don’t consider Southern Comfort resort when you travel.

Thanks Deezle, I checked out 2 of his videos. Made me a little tool envious, if I can say that here. 🥸

New development, I looked nearby and called a mobile mechanic. He is very well reviewed on Google. He is waiting for his new house to close. He is living in the same park we are staying at, and saw us pull into the park yesterday. I saw his service truck leave this morning before first light. He will stop by our site late afternoon today. At least I can get a good diagnosis or even an on-site repair. He said kingpins are not likely. Probably a wheel bearing. We shall see.

I tried to answer last night and it didn’t post so I’ll try again. Thanks Rick, I meant one outside edge on each tire, away from the engine. The edges toward the engine were much less worn. But since the center seemed even less, that’s when I decided to up the pressure. Today I might even bump it up to full pressure 110 cold. We are in Miami near the Keys and it’s pretty hot here. 😁 I will look at an old weight sheet I have and do as you suggest. What tire chart? In the resource? Say hi to S.

Thanks guys. I have greased the front end but infrequently. Only put 40k on it since I bought it.

2013 VNL 730…. I’ve recently noticed some significant tire wear on the steers. They are about 2 years old. Yes I agree I should have looked a long time ago. The wear is even not cupped, along the outer edge of the tires. I’ve been running at 95 psi to smooth out the ride. Yesterday I bumped it up to 105 psi. Tires are rated 110 psi cold. My question is where to look for correction? Is it true that a dealer will just farm the job of alignment out to a specialty shop? I had 2 alignments done in NC, one through the dealership and one through the spring shop the dealer sends it to. Since then I put the new steers on but never got it aligned. Is alignment just the toe-in/toe-out adjustment? Or does it include the camber adjustment? We are on the road still but will settle in the RGV by the first of November. Then I will start looking for a place.

I had not thought of that. Hmmm it could very well be the key switch.

As I sat in the truck this morning, before I put the key in the ignition, I tried the lights. I forgot the lights won’t come on without the key being on. One of the more unusual short circuits I’ve ever dealt with. Not that I’m actually dealing with it yet. Lol.

No security system. Yesterday we had a tornado watch all afternoon. I parked to block some of the wind if it got strong. I left the doors both unlocked in case we needed to ditch the RV and run into the Volvo. So yes there was a possibility someone was in the truck. Not very likely. They would have had to climb in, turn the lights on without using the switch, and slam the door on the way out. Not impossible, just very unlikely. 😁

Here’s a new one for me. We arrived home to our site in our current RV park, last night about 9:30 pm. We drive a Ford suv for errands. The 2013 Volvo 730 was parked next to our fifth wheel. We could not have missed it. I had moved it earlier in the day to be closer to our RV in case the wind got worse during the afternoon. All that to say, we looked right at it. This morning before first light, my wife raised the shade and said the truck lights were on. I ran outside and sure enough the main lights were on and looked to be normal brightness, not dim. I opened the driver door and the headlamp switch was OFF. I turned it right 2 clicks. The lights flickered off and came on as normal. Then I switched back to off and the lights went off and stayed off. I then started the truck briefly and had no trouble starting it, like the lights had not been on for a length of time. Since it was so early I chose not to run it to charge the batteries in the early morning. I will later today. The main switch is now OFF. 😁. I feel very lucky the batteries were not discharged noticeably. Very weird. The only thing I can think of is the headlamp switch is going bad. I didn’t climb up to see if there were any messages. I’m just relating an experience, not asking for help. Feel free to add comments and opinions.

I’ve bought cheap dealer batteries twice. The first set of 4 in about ‘17 or ‘18. Much later I found out only 2 had any life and 2 were dead. I replaced them this spring. So about 4-5 years.

Yeah that’s it.

I have read this a few times also. I have not done it but might in the future. This probably doesn’t affect you, Chriseng, but for anyone else; I read the process of getting a required basic driver license endorsement in Texas is easier in Livingston County also. if I remember the former LEO’s screen name I will post it.

Dang. My son works near there somewhere. If you need a car ride I can ask him to help?