Thinking about a Bus/RV

Everskyward said:
If that guy's goal was to be annoying, he succeeded! :rofl:
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Yeah, he was trying to be a bit snide to those who keep insisting that H-D is doing fine and any troubles they've had in the past decade have been due to "millennials". Came off a bit annoying. However, he did have plenty of valid points. Unless there's a major shift in their offerings/strategy, I'd say H-D will be in shambles by 2030. Not only do a lot of the younger (under 40) crowd not care about H-D's absurdly-expensive fringe and chrome bikes/culture, many of them specifically associate H-D as a brand that they'd never even consider due to that image. H-D has painted themselves into a corner in the market but I'm not sure that corner has any sustainability in it long-term, especially given their chosen pricing model.
 
SoonerAviator said:
Yeah, he was trying to be a bit snide to those who keep insisting that H-D is doing fine and any troubles they've had in the past decade have been due to "millennials". Came off a bit annoying. However, he did have plenty of valid points. Unless there's a major shift in their offerings/strategy, I'd say H-D will be in shambles by 2030. Not only do a lot of the younger (under 40) crowd not care about H-D's absurdly-expensive fringe and chrome bikes/culture, many of them specifically associate H-D as a brand that they'd never even consider due to that image. H-D has painted themselves into a corner in the market but I'm not sure that corner has any sustainability in it long-term, especially given their chosen pricing model.
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Harley is in a position not dissimilar to where Cadillac was in the late 90s/early 2000s, the difference being that Cadillacs were notably cheaper than the European luxury offerings that had become popular by that point. From what I see in the dealers from their offerings, I think Harley is trying to make a change not unlike what Cadillac started doing by the mid 2000s in terms of the technology and style. Is it enough? Will it be successful? Beats me. My wife and I like what we see in there but we also like our 2007 and 2009 Harleys, which are very much the old style.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Harley is in a position not dissimilar to where Cadillac was in the late 90s/early 2000s, the difference being that Cadillacs were notably cheaper than the European luxury offerings that had become popular by that point. From what I see in the dealers from their offerings, I think Harley is trying to make a change not unlike what Cadillac started doing by the mid 2000s in terms of the technology and style. Is it enough? Will it be successful? Beats me. My wife and I like what we see in there but we also like our 2007 and 2009 Harleys, which are very much the old style.
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Question may be: Is H-D in the same position as Cadillac was, or the same position Buick was. Cadillac has made a bit of a resurgence in the late-00's, Buick however keeps trying to pretend they aren't an "old people's car". Lol, time will tell.
 
Whatever happened with the Buell Motorcycles.??

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Ted DuPuis said:
We actually had considered that. We did buy a multi-purpose balloon/motorcycle trailer a couple months ago. If you go to my profile and look closely at my avatar you can see it behind the RV. That photo was taken at the Branson KOA, we towed the bikes down for the inaugural RV trip.

I'd actually like a sidecar, but they cost a good bit to buy and everyone who I've talked to who actually has ridden with one says I'll hate how the bike rides after putting it on. Unlike most situations, I imagine they're right. Laurie also not comfortable having one of the kids on back with her and I doubt she ever will be, so that rules out your idea.

So, the motorcycle trailer will be when she and I go someplace without the kids.
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A thought for you. Buy a used Ural. They're Russian, and they come with sidecars. They're not terribly good mechanically, but they're usually set up right and will track straight. With your incredible mechanical expertise I'm certain your could keep one running. Don't take anyone else's word for it, try it yourself. If you don't like it you're done, you can probably sell it for what you bought it for. If you like it, sidecars are only that expensive if someone builds it for. you. Build it yourself and it isn't as bad. If you can build a car you can build a sidecar, they're far simpler and either of those Harleys could tow one. My guess if you could ride all three younglings with the kind of sidecar you can put on that Hog. And I promise, you'll be the only one riding a sidecar, there are very few around. I'd like one before I slide off the mortal coil. I am a fan of really unique vehicles. There's very few examples of my car in town, and only one example of my bike, mine.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Harley is in a position not dissimilar to where Cadillac was in the late 90s/early 2000s, the difference being that Cadillacs were notably cheaper than the European luxury offerings that had become popular by that point. From what I see in the dealers from their offerings, I think Harley is trying to make a change not unlike what Cadillac started doing by the mid 2000s in terms of the technology and style. Is it enough? Will it be successful? Beats me. My wife and I like what we see in there but we also like our 2007 and 2009 Harleys, which are very much the old style.
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Cadillac just put a turbo four-banger in their “SUV” bubble thing.

It officially gets one MPG less on the highway than the venerable ancient 5.3L V8 in both the Caddie and the Silverado. Even after its camshaft moves to turn it into a two-banger.

I truly have no idea why “we” bailed out GM. LOL.

What in the actual eff... ??? Hahaha.
 
Cadillac made their cars look like the Euro things and perform even better. Harley could do likewise, indeed they were going to put out a street fighter and an adventure bike. But the new CEO has decided to double down on what Harley does, become a boutique product chasing a dying demographic. I really think he’s trying to get Harley bought by someone. It’s what he did at Puma.
 
Waiting for a picture next to a flatbed Ford
 
Ted DuPuis said:
In Winslow AZ.

Not standing on a corner.
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We got stuck in Winslow on the way to Flagstaff. High winds had closed the highway most of the day. We ate dinner at a table next to a truck driver and her partner. I asked about the road closure, she pointed to her Tyson truck and said, “I guess those California people are just going to have to wait for their Arkansas chicken.”
 
Well after 2 weeks and nearly 3000 miles, we're back home! The trip was a great success and everyone had a good time. Everyone is also happy to be back at the house. It's amazing how big our home feels after living in the RV for 2 weeks.

As far as the RV itself goes, we had some minor items come up but nothing that stranded us or was overly concerning. Just more than anything a list of items that we want to deal with before the next trip. Given the age of this thing, really I'm pretty pleased thus far.
 
Ted DuPuis said:
Well after 2 weeks and nearly 3000 miles, we're back home! The trip was a great success and everyone had a good time. Everyone is also happy to be back at the house. It's amazing how big our home feels after living in the RV for 2 weeks.

As far as the RV itself goes, we had some minor items come up but nothing that stranded us or was overly concerning. Just more than anything a list of items that we want to deal with before the next trip. Given the age of this thing, really I'm pretty pleased thus far.
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We once did 3 months in the coach,, never again. 3 weeks maybe :)
 
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Tom-D said:
We once did 3 months in the coach,, never again. 3 weeks maybe :)
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After this trip we mostly believe that 2 week is about the right limit, at least with the kids. By the time we got home we were ready to be home.
 
Two weeks, Everett WA to Anchorage AK. 2 couples. Wives were ready to go home, my buddy and I were ready for another 2 weeks, maybe more.

Rental unit, delivered to Alaska for the summer season, booked solid, so we could not extend. Second trip to Alaska for each of us, the motor home beat a rental car plus B&B's by a large margin, we could change our plans completely, any time.

We stopped and fished 3 times on the way up, and twice before turning the unit in.

With young kids, 2 weeks is probably the reasonable limit. Less miles per day worked well when we had a camper and 2 boys. The travel was less exciting than the running around and doing things in interesting places. Two to three hours on the road worked best, some days we only went 30 miles, from a fishing spot to a riding trail, and docile horses.
 
Question for those who've driven their RVs during the winter (probably more applicable to Class As/Cs than travel trailers). We'll be driving through the winter and almost certainly departing our property during below-freezing temps.

I've winterized the water system since it's going to be below freezing during the next week and I don't have the shop (with heat) built yet. I'm wondering if I'm able to fill the water tank right before leaving and still drive without worry of freezing or if this is something I likely won't be able to do, in other words stay winterized until we gt someplace warm enough to run water through.

Any thoughts?
 
Some motorhomes have heated basements that will help keep tanks liquid. Some have heated pads under the tanks to keep them from freezing. Not sure how ours is outfitted. Mine has a heated basement, but that means the furnace must be operational to keep the water from getting stiff. I just takes jugs of water with me and use the restroom facilities if I am camping in the winter.

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Yeah our fifth wheel supposedly had a “heated basement” too. Was more like a vent into the giant outdoors and heat leakage from the furnace area itself.

I never trusted it to keep anything unfrozen.

Would have needed to stack hay bales around the entire thing to even try in deep winter.

Even running a campsite water line and wrapping it in one of those electric tapes and insulation without using the tanks would have been more effort than worth it for a few nights.

In the in between seasons we filled tanks at home and would see a thin layer of ice on top in the mornings up in the mountains where it was colder than at home. Kinda like a fall pond.
 
When I winterize I blow all water, using compressor and pressure regulator set at 45 PSI, then select each faucet until it is dry. then flush the tanks, and drain, fill each drain with alcohol.
 
Ted,I just looked up the fines in Maryland for non muffled engines. $1,000. Altered original that reduces the effectiveness of the emissions system are much higher.

California is $5,000. My ticket in MD was years ago, so the fine was less, but large enough to hurt the budget, and I did not have a straight pipe. The officer had me get out, revved the engine, commented that it sounded pretty good with the door closed, but sounded like hell as he passed me going up hill.

The risk of having a loud exhaust driving state to state is high, MD impounds straight pipes until towed to a repair facility and factory exhaust components are properly installed. Any state that did such would ruin a vacation on the spot. At least around here, the governments are harvesting alternate income streams to replace lost income taxes, and vehicle violations are way up in all three jurisdictions.
 
geezer said:
Ted,I just looked up the fines in Maryland for non muffled engines. $1,000. Altered original that reduces the effectiveness of the emissions system are much higher.

California is $5,000. My ticket in MD was years ago, so the fine was less, but large enough to hurt the budget, and I did not have a straight pipe. The officer had me get out, revved the engine, commented that it sounded pretty good with the door closed, but sounded like hell as he passed me going up hill.

The risk of having a loud exhaust driving state to state is high, MD impounds straight pipes until towed to a repair facility and factory exhaust components are properly installed. Any state that did such would ruin a vacation on the spot. At least around here, the governments are harvesting alternate income streams to replace lost income taxes, and vehicle violations are way up in all three jurisdictions.
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Fair points, and probably worthy of consideration. One benefit I have is that my rig is 20 years old, and the older something gets the harder it is to measure exhaust parts against what's factory. And it's pre-emission, so nothing like deleting a modern truck (which a lot of jurisdictions are going after now).

Really my goal is reduced EGTs when on longer stretches of interstate, which is where straight pipe is a benefit. Another idea I'd considered was doing an exhaust cutout with a 5" muffler so that I could run whichever was appropriate - quiet for in town, in the campgrounds, or when passing or being passed by cops, and loud on demand. Maybe that's the way to go.
 
Ted, my ticket was 40 years ago, in a Chevy truck. since it was personal, not commercial, and I was state resident, a fine plus inspection within 30 days, or tags confiscated. Emissions not a factor, purely on decibels.

Out of state, pay in cash for 4 wheels, impound for more than 4 wheels.
 
geezer said:
Ted, my ticket was 40 years ago, in a Chevy truck. since it was personal, not commercial, and I was state resident, a fine plus inspection within 30 days, or tags confiscated. Emissions not a factor, purely on decibels.

Out of state, pay in cash for 4 wheels, impound for more than 4 wheels.
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More than anything that tells me to stay away from Maryland and Virginia, but I knew that anyway. :)
 
Ted DuPuis said:
I’ve heard that age rule but I’ve also heard that so long as you tell them it’s under 10 and it looks good, nobody cares. I’m sure that’s a “Your mileage may vary” thing.
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Friend of mine has an older Foretravel. From the late 90's. But he gets in to those places just fine. he simply attaches a photo along with his reservation. It's a well kept diesel pusher. They also allow his trailer with golf cart, and motorcycle.
 
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bluerooster said:
Friend of mine has an older Foretravel. From the late 90's. But he gets in to those places just fine. he simply attaches a photo along with his reservation. It's a well kept diesel pusher. They also allow his trailer with golf cart, and motorcycle.
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Good data point, thanks. We’ve not come across any such campground we’ve tried to stay at yet. There was one I think we considered, but admittedly my wife does more of the camping and searching than me so she may have passed over more of them.
 
On the last trip we started off by finding the windshields were popping out at our first stop, as in about 1" off of the body. We figured at that point we needed to just turn around and come home, but after calling a local RV repair shop (local to our house) that had a very good reputation, they said they'd just put Gorilla tape on the windows and finish up the trip, then fix it when we got home. So that's what we did, and it worked out. On that same trip a propane smell that was occasional got more significant, and so we had them take a look at that.

Just picked the RV back up from the shop with the windshields reseated and the propane leak fixed - sure enough it was a fitting that was coming loose in a hard-to-find location and needed to be resealed. Good parts being that no appliances needed to be replaced and it was in a hard enough to find location that I don't feel badly about paying someone else to fix it for me. :)

The next project we have on this isn't going to be fun. Well, projects. The easier one is that I need to change out the oil pump on the engine, or at least I have low oil pressure and I have come to believe that's why. I changed the sensor out before the last trip and there was no change in indicated pressure. So I got a new pump from CAT and need to drop the oil pan. There's nothing in the way so it's just draining the 5 gallons of oil (time for an oil change anyway) and remove the 35 or so bolts holding the oil pan up, then knock it away from the engine (I'm sure it won't come too willingly). While the pan's off I'll weld in a bung for an oil temp sensor (something I feel like this engine should have, but doesn't). All in all not too terrible of a job, but something that needs to be done. And if that doesn't solve the issue, at least then I'll know if the issue is temperature related with my new sensor, and can then keep diagnosing. These engines are known for low oil pressure and the oil pumps do often have issues, so not surprising. It's technically above the limits but definitely below where it should be.

The more annoying project is going to be replacing some amount of the flooring and subfloor. We did see a couple of cracked tiles when we bought the RV, but nothing indicated a soft floor. We figured some shifting after 20 years. Turns out the subfloor in one area was rotted enough that one of the tiles ended up going through. We didn't like the tile anyway but also didn't want to redo the floor, so we were just going to live with it. Now we'll be tearing up some portion of it and then replacing.

Apparently even though Holiday Rambler is supposedly a good brand, they made the flooring with particle board which is particularly prone to getting soft over time with any water exposure. This is a relatively common problem and people replace the subfloor with an exterior plywood that will hold up longer than anyone is likely to own the RV. So, time to start tearing that up...
 
It’s always something...
 
jsstevens said:
It’s always something...
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Ain't it !!
We recently discover that our Accessory side of the Ignition switch does not turn on any of the accessories..
switch checked good. there is a relay that isn't relaying, now to find which one? there are 12 of them, they all test good.
 
Lol. Fun stuff. The “don’t mind letting someone else deal with it even if I know how” just gets worse as you get older. Haha.

You’re helping solidify my opinion that RVs shouldn’t ever have drivetrains though. Ha. If I can’t disconnect it from the truck and leave the POS somewhere to be fixed (or vice versa live in it while someone fixes the truck!) — I don’t want it.

Merry Christmas. We’re sending you some high winds here shortly. Stand by. Ha. Blowing like hell here at the moment.
 
denverpilot said:
Lol. Fun stuff. The “don’t mind letting someone else deal with it even if I know how” just gets worse as you get older. Haha.

You’re helping solidify my opinion that RVs shouldn’t ever have drivetrains though. Ha. If I can’t disconnect it from the truck and leave the POS somewhere to be fixed (or vice versa live in it while someone fixes the truck!) — I don’t want it.
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In this case, the windshields were very, very much something that I didn't feel like I could do without significant risk of breaking the things. They're big, heavy, and that's a skill set to reseat and reseal that takes experience, which I simply do not have. Even on cars I never did my own windshields. While it was there given that I wasn't familiar with the propane system and the leak had gotten pretty bad, I felt in the interest of safety it made sense to pay someone used to finding propane leaks to find it. That's another thing I'm not used to looking for. I'm used to finding leaks of liquids, which are easier because, you know, there's... a liquid. Of course the coolant and oil leaks on the Disco are harder because everything leaks (except brake fluid) so it can get hard to keep track of what's leaking where.

But yeah, in the past 3-4 years I've found myself paying others to do some jobs that I could do, but don't want to because of some level of pain-in-the-ass/just don't want to mess with it.

The shop, that's something that I'm happy to pay someone else to put up because of time. They'll do it in 1-2 weeks, it would take me months. Not worth the monetary savings.

Merry Christmas. We’re sending you some high winds here shortly. Stand by. Ha. Blowing like hell here at the moment.
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Oh we already have those winds. You can knock it off anytime you feel like. ;)

And Merry Christmas, Nate. Hoping for a healthier 2021 for you!
 
Well I pulled the oil pan off the RV and checked a rod bearing and a main bearing. Both have wear, the rod bearing showed material flaking off. Ok, ordering new ones. The crank looks perfect so no concerns there, but apparently this isn’t uncommon.

Then we started digging into our subfloor rot... this isn’t going to be fun.

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Sorry Ted, probably good that youre getting those bearings now. Look forward to all the fun you all will have this summer in it


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Really changing the bearings isn’t a bad job, so I don’t mind doing it. I already had the pan off so easy enough, and a lot easier now than if I spun a bearing!
 
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