eyeteeth wrote:
Where in Michigan are you? Any RV place is able to check. A nose... a little soapy water and brush and you can check yourself. Make sure any pilots, flames, or cigarettes are out, put some LP in, and see if you smell anything. Brush the joints/connections with the soapy water and look for bubbles. Smell or Bubbles will indicate a leak. Turn off the gas at the tank, and repair, then retest until there are no bubbles... If the gas is on for any length of time and you don't smell the rotten eggs, it's a good sign the system is sealed up. There should be individual shutoff valves just before each appliance, as well as one on the tank itself.
Where in Michigan are you? Any RV place is able to check. A nose... a little soapy water and brush and you can check yourself. Make sure any pilots, flames, or cigarettes are out, put some LP in, and see if you smell anything. Brush the joints/connections with the soapy water and look for bubbles. Smell or Bubbles will indicate a leak. Turn off the gas at the tank, and repair, then retest until there are no bubbles... If the gas is on for any length of time and you don't smell the rotten eggs, it's a good sign the system is sealed up. There should be individual shutoff valves just before each appliance, as well as one on the tank itself.
I recommend having it done professionally. They can check the entire system (even areas that are hard to reach and a nose can't get to). I had mine checked and they found a leak in the heater. Since I didn't plan on using the heater anyway, I just had them close the connection there. Everything else was verified safe. I also had my fuel lines tested for leaks. When I came to pick up the clipper, the mechanic told me they couldn't find a single leak in the fuel lines... apparently smoke was coming out the entire line of hose from millions of tiny pinprick holes. They replaced the entire length of hose.
For me, those two tests made me much more at ease and were well worth the effort.
1975 American Clipper RV with Dodge 360 (photo in profile)
1998 American Clipper Fold n Roll Folding Trailer
Both born in Morgan Hill, CA to Irv Perch (Daddy of the Aristocrat trailers)
In addition to worn kingpins, I've discovered the wheel bearings were too loose. When we started working on the kingpins, by removing the tires and rotors, I was able to move the tires and rotors back and forth on the spindles. A little bit of play is necessary to keep the bearings from wearing prematurely but this seemed like too much, and worn kingpins couldn't account for the amount of play.
The weight of the tires makes detecting actual play difficult. The rotors, by themselves without the tires, gives a better indication.
A bit of Internet research, focusing on heavy duty trucks, led to examine two indicators. (Yes, what I'm working on a light truck but information on heavy duty trucks tends to be more consistant and provided by professionals rather than a lot of amateurs or shadetree mechanics who may not know as much.)
The two indicators are tire tread and brake lining wear. Loose bearings, according to the professionals, cause the hubs to lean inward at the top, when the vehicle is lowered to the ground and weight is applied to the spindles and hubs.
The inward lean causes the inside edges of the tire tread to wear more. Likewise, the lean tends to cause brake linings to wear unevenly. In our case, the tread wear was as predicted. Likewise, the brake pads were worn to a taper rather than evenly across their length.
Further web exploration indicated the old Haynes manual we were relying on has an apparent error in terms of the wheel bearing preload torque specification. Everything I could find on the web indicate the actual torque should be two to six times what is in that manual.
The HD truck procedures indicate the hub play should be between .001" and .005" and a final check should be done with a dial indicator.
I have a dial indicator and accessories but most people in this thread probably don't. There's plenty of guidance on how to (re)pack, install, and preload bearings so I won't get into it. However, the range of recommended freeplay is roughly the width of two human hairs. So, if you can detect freeplay, your bearings are probably too loose. (If you have significant difficulty rotating the hub or tire when it's off the ground, then your bearings may be too tight.)
Old-timers guidance, from almost 45 years ago, says tighten the spindle nut until you can't turn the hub and then back off the nut 1/8 to 1/4 turn. Calculations, based on typical spindle thread count, indicate this should be close to recommended freeplay. (There's actually more steps involved so do your research. I'm just focusing on diagnosis and calculations here, without regard to what is take to do the job correctly.)
1970 Explorer Class A on a 1969 Dodge M300 chassis with 318 cu. in. (split year)
1972 Executive Class A on a Dodge M375 chassis with 413 cu. in.
1973 Explorer Class A on a Dodge RM350 (R4) chassis with 318 engine & tranny from 1970 Explorer Class A
I'd add a source valve so you could choose whether to use the permanent tank or a bottle. It would also prevent the propane from feeding back into the other line/tank, in case you left both tank valves open.
* This post was edited 07/19/17 10:26pm by RvFNG76 *
TreeSeeker - Your breaker panel and power converter is quite clean ... I'd even say remarkably so ... if it weren't for the light switch with an alligator clip attached to it, dangling in mid-air.
![[emoticon]](http://www.coastresorts.com/sharedcontent/cfb/images/eek.gif "eek")
Based on the age and the label on the power converter, the "with battery charger" circuit is probably a single-stage, non-automatic, old fashion charger ... so, yeah, it'd boil a battery dry and destroy it if you don't keep a close watch over it.
Maya.215 - the gray box in the first picture you posted on July 12th (Federal Pacific with 30, 12, and two 20 amp circuit breakers) is a 120/240VAC breaker panel just like what's in your house. (Unless your house is really old, with a fuse panel instead.)
I'm not sure what the second gray box, in the background, is. It could be a grid/generator cut-over, as require by law and regulation when you have an auxiliary generator.
The large vented grayish black box likely contains the power supply/converter but I'd have to see what inside to be sure. (The fact the top is pop-riveted is a further indication, although it could also mean a previous owner stripped the screw threads and pop-riveted it shut.)
There's one sure sign of an old skool power supply/converter ... they always had a transformer like this:
![[image]](http://www.riffgan.com/motorhome/electrical/Transformer.jpg)
(It's upside down, but that doesn't matter in terms of recognition ... and operation.)
The picture you posted later is a fuse/distribution panel. The top fuse (labelled BATT+) is the main fuse, which feeds current (left to right) to the metal bus bar on the right. That bus bar, in turn, passes current (right to left) to all the other fuses, to be distributed to all the circuits. (BTW - that fuse panel looks ancient, like something out of the '50s or '60s ... possibly scavenged by a previous owner to replace a faulty fuse panel.)
If that vented box is your power supply/converter, it could have been disconnected by a previous owner or was malfunctioning or simply quit functioning. (Or all three, if it was creating -- real or imagined -- issues for a previous owner.) The fact you consistently read 12.4 volts on your circuits, regardless of what you do, indicates you're running on battery alone.
* This post was edited 07/26/17 03:15am by Griff in Fairbanks *
toedtoes wrote:
Switch out the floor button????? But that's HISTORY!!!!![[emoticon]](http://www.coastresorts.com/sharedcontent/cfb/images/smile.gif "smile")
It's amazing how many people don't know what it is.
Griff in Fairbanks wrote:
I keep thinking of things to add after I post things ...
The high-beam/low-beam headlight switch on the floor of most of your motorhomes looks like an ordinary pushbutton switch. However, unlike most "momentary" -- OFF-(ON) -- pushbutton switches, this switch is a "latching" -- ON-ON -- switch.
It can easily be replaced by an ordinary ON-ON toggle or rocker switch on the dash, as they are operationally the same, with the difference being a pushbutton versus a toggle or rocker.
(Never mind the joke about people getting their leg tangled in the steering wheel when trying to "dim" the headlights on new vehicles.)
I keep thinking of things to add after I post things ...
The high-beam/low-beam headlight switch on the floor of most of your motorhomes looks like an ordinary pushbutton switch. However, unlike most "momentary" -- OFF-(ON) -- pushbutton switches, this switch is a "latching" -- ON-ON -- switch.
It can easily be replaced by an ordinary ON-ON toggle or rocker switch on the dash, as they are operationally the same, with the difference being a pushbutton versus a toggle or rocker.
(Never mind the joke about people getting their leg tangled in the steering wheel when trying to "dim" the headlights on new vehicles.)
Switch out the floor button????? But that's HISTORY!!!!
It's amazing how many people don't know what it is.Somehow I missed this response, way back when it was posted ...
My wife and I both prefer floor-mounted, push-button dimmer switches. MLP will definitely have one. (I already have the switch in my "things to be done" parts box.)
I think I'll also put a "Dimmer Switch On Floor, Dummy" sticker on the dash for 'kiddies' who aren't used to, or don't know, the old way of doing things.
But, I can't blame them too much ... I think I put dents in the floor pan of a late model truck, stomping around for the dimmer switch before I remembered it was on the turn signal lever.
Likewise, a guy came in the parts store I used to work at, looking for a new turn signal lever for his (beloved) mid-70s pickup truck ... because his son had broken off the old lever trying to dim the headlights.
Quote:
TreeSeeker - Your breaker panel and power converter is quite clean ... I'd even say remarkably so ... if it weren't for the light switch with an alligator clip attached to it, dangling in mid-air.
TreeSeeker - Your breaker panel and power converter is quite clean ... I'd even say remarkably so ... if it weren't for the light switch with an alligator clip attached to it, dangling in mid-air.
Well, you got me on that. It is a temporary setup so I could test my circuit. The switch turns off the connection from the converter to the battery so I can prevent overcharging. The wire clipped to it runs from a separate battery maintainer.
Note: I notice I used red wires. This is before I knew that white was used for positive in RVs, or at least in mine. I do notice a red and white in the picture, and these are stock. Hmm...
I was originally thinking of just replacing that switch with SPDT switch so I could set it to either charge by the maintainer or the converter.
I know the best option is to replace the converter/charger with a newer one that has automatic smart-charging/maintaining. And the generator would automatically smart-charge the battery when it powers the 110AC circuit. The downside of this option is that it costs around $250-300.
Oh, and yes, the current converter/charger puts out a constant 3amps at 13.6 volts which does boil the battery dry. I killed the existing battery and a new one before I figured all this out.