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DD series 60, bath & 1/2 and 365 upgrade on front tires. Looks like a good buy...........................

http://www.rvtrader.com/listing/2003-New...-114782497

 Works on LP, Costco has these on sale for $300, valid 6/1/15 - 6/21/15 while supplies last. http://www.costco.com/Ancona-Casetta-Ser...15229.html

http://www.anconahome.com/index.php?rout...uct_id=497

my main sewer dump air valve was exhausing when the paddle was closed. just started. i capped off the two lines running to the cylinder and it still did it when the solenoids were energized for the down position. so, not the piston seal in the cylinder of the dump valve.

i had an old solenoid valve body so i changed it out. that is really hard to get at and my arms are like chewed up. it didnt fix it but i did use one i think had problems.

so, i just capped it off for now and will do it manually till i fix it.

so....now i have had to stuck open air valves.....makes me think i might have some moisture or gunk in my air tanks. i drained the one in the front blower bay and no water. the one inside the rear passenger side wheelwell and no water, but there was some on the small separator in the engine bay.

tom

hi all,

after my aquahot gets up to temp, and i take a long hot shower with fairly cold incoming water, what temp should the aquahot gauge say/.

tom

Asking $169,900.  Rear has a crack "in two".  "Has its fair share of cosmetic issues."  Major components in working condition.

I will outline the steps I took to rebuild my entry door that had both the interior and exterior skins delaminating. The adhesive was releasing from either the skin or the frame. The adhesive was a solid black with straight edges so I assume it was originally a tape in form.

Support the door from the bottom and remove the screws holding the door to the hinge. Two people are required due to the weight of the door.

Place the door exterior side down on a pair a sawhorses with padding on them to protect the finish on the exterior side. I placed the sawhorses about 66" apart.

Next was the removal of the trim around the interior door handle and latch mechanism. It takes a bit of manipulating to get it off around the door handle but it will come off. I also then removed the handle bar from the door. I then removed the interior door handle (chrome) just to reduce the amount of stuff on the door but it is not required. It is also not required to remove the exterior door latch handle, though I did that too as it had a broken hinge.

Drill out the rivets holding the bottom of the interior decorative panel. Mine would not slide out so I took a broom handle inserted into the bottom and pried up. The plastic channels holding the sides and top got broken in the process. I found later that there was no local source for these strips. More later on this. I removed and set aside the decorative panel.

I then drilled out all the rivets holding the interior structural skin and the plastic strips for the decorative panel. There are maybe a 100 or so rivets.

Then began the fun. I used a utility knife with the blade fully extended and a small soft head hammer. Starting at a corner I drove the knife through the adhesive along the length of each side. Basically I kept the knife handle at right angles to the side of the door and used the hammer to drive it along the side thereby cutting the skin from the frame. Once the skin was released I removed it and set it aside. One person can handle the skin.

Next, the door was flipped. The adhesive was cut the same way. This skin, unlike the interior one, was stuck to the foam inside the door. A long hand saw was used to cut it loose. The skin was then lifted away and stored.

The hand saw was used to cut and grind away the foam until a straightedge showed everything was flat. This was done to both sides. I also needed to remove some of the wood veneers in the middle of the door to achieve the desired flatness. I did this to eliminate the bulging of the door which stressed the adhesive and I believe contributed to its failure. The flattening also made it possible to adhere the skins to the aluminum structural parts in the interior of the door thereby spreading the load and making the door stiffer.

Then more fun, I tried various ways to remove the adhesive from both the skins and the frame. Using Kutzit brand antique and furniture finish remover seemed to work best. I put on a coat, waited a few minutes, used a paint scraper to remove a layer, repeated this until the final layer was scraped clean with a razor blade. One more coat of remover was then applied and wiped off with towels. Then I wiped the surfaces down with mineral spirits per the label on the remover.

There was a crack in the frame on the inner side of the frame just above the door latch. This was repaired with a epoxied wood block inserted into the inside corner, it was also screwed to the top horizontal steel frame above the latch. I had planned to add some additional reinforcement, but deemed the resulting stiffness sufficient with the wood block.

At this point I leveled the sawhorses to ensure that their top surfaces were parallel.

I then made a trial fitting of the skins to determine how they would best fit onto the frame and how I would line them up when the double sided tape was applied. It also helped determine where the outside edge of the tape needed to be on the frame.  At this time I put a clamp crosswise to the frame just below the door latch to pull the sides of the door frame together. Other than at the top and bottom of the door nothing holds the sides of the frame together other than the foam. In the middle where I put the clamp the frame had bulged outwards, the clamp corrected that.

I wiped down all the bonding surfaces with a 50-50 mix of isopropyl alcohol and water per the instructions for the 3M 4951 double sided tape.
I then put the tape on all the aluminum parts of the frame, the interior of the door frame had several horizontal and vertical stringers that I applied tape to that had no adhesive in the original construction of the door. At this point I left the plastic covering on the exposed side of the tape.

I made 4 short 1X4  boards with eyelets in the ends with wires attached and placed these crosswise of the door on the foam so that the skin could be supported above the adhesive tapes while final positioning adjustments were made.

Without the boards in place, I laid the exterior skin in place and verified it's final position and how I would keep it in that position during the adhering phase. I then set the skin aside, peeled the plastic from the taped joints, placed the spacer boards in position, and reset the skin on top of the boards. I placed positioning pins in the holes at the top of the door where the roller for the awning was installed as well as where the  screws for the trim extrusions were. I then pulled the board near the top of the door out and pressed the skin into the tape at the top. Making sure I didn't move the skin, I pulled the rest of the boards out and pressed the skin firmly down into the tape on all the joints.

The door was flipped over and the process repeated on the other side. I used the rivet holes and 1/8" drill bits for alignment holes. However, before I adhered the skin I reinstalled the door handles.

The interior trim panel that had been held on by the plastic channels was installed using the double-sided tape except at the bottom where I replaced the rivets that had been originally used. I then installed the black interior door handle and the door locks.

With the door on a jack stand and with the help of a friend, I used the air suspension system to align the holes in the door with the holes in the hinge. After installation of the screws it was determined the door was setting slightly low so the screws were loosened, the door pried upwards using the jack stand as a fulcrum and a 2X4 as a lever, and the screws retightened. The door swung nicely. A small adjustment to the door latch pin was needed to get the door locks to work freely. Finally, I installed the cover over the door latch mechanism.

There was one late surprize. Just before installing the door on the coach I noticed that in the area under the trim pieces on the exterior of the door the skin arched away from the frame sufficiently that the tape would not hold. I cut the tape out in those 4 areas and injected structural adhesive (Sikaflex that Richard had given me for which I'm enormously grateful) into the gap. I pushed it back into the joint several times with a plastic blade and refilled the joint. I wanted to ensure there was plenty of bond achieved.  If I were to do this whole job again I would deal with this issue the same way since getting those trim pieces off without messing up the paint would be nearly impossible, plus with the skin flattened in those areas the paint lines wouldn't match.

The door now closes with a distinctive thud, way cool. I'll post a few pictures once I get them properly sized. The job isn't complicated, just a bit tedious. It also requires a selection of tools - nothing big and expensive. The 3M 4951 tape I used came from U-Line in a 36 yard roll and I used most of it on this job.

Be well y'all

Yesterday I went to open the engine door on the rear of the coach and the cable that runs to each of the latches that you pull down to release broke.  It is a SOB to have to get the latches to release if it breaks.. Everyone check theirs and if it's worn replace it.

our first trip in the coach in a while has been interesting.  we got it all ready, hopped in and left the house at 730am monday morning headed towards the ralley.  1st stop was to be las vegas to see our son scott there.  250 mile short jaunt.  we planned on stopping halfway at speedco to get the series 60 oil changed.  


coach ran great.  got off I40 before kingman to get some fuel and get the oil changed at SPEEDCO.  as i excited the freeway the coach starting leaning dramatically so much so that the drivers side front and rear tires were rubbing.  (thankfully only slightly and only during the turn).  as i got into the truck stop at the pumps, the coach was almost totally down on the drivers side and overextended high on the passenger side rear.  

i filled up with fuel and slowly drove over to speedco (about a 1/4 mile away) and had the engine serviced.  after being there at speedco for 7 hours and no solution but a better understanding of the problem, we headed over to a nice rv park that was adjacent to all of this and set up, had a nice chinese dinner darlene made and watched america ninja warriors.  btw, it is nice being retired and not having to stress about time.  besides there is nothing me, steve, richard, all of you and a credit card cant fix in time.   ha

here is what the symptoms are.  btw, i have spent hours on the phone with richard and steve bare going over scenarios. and trying things.  they really know this air system.  i kinda do now as well.  ha 

after i have manually lowered the coach on all 4 sides using the level system, now put the coach In travel mode and the engine running in High Idle, all 4 corners start raising to ride height.  the front settles in, the drivers side settles in, the rear passenger side gets to ride height, the ride height valve arm is horizontal and it shuts the air off, then from somewhere that side continues to raise and as it does, the ride height valve starts to release air and now the supply pressure is barely keeping up with air going in and air being release.  it will continue to raise until it is fully extended.  in low idle, the compressor cannot keep up and supply pressure drops until it is not strong enough to put air in anymore.  

if i turn the engine off, turn the key back to on and the coach is in travel mode, the passenger side rear slowly drops to ride height and stays.  air pressure drops to 80 and holds steady.  

if i start the engine back up, on high idle, then the rear passenger side overextends again.  

i could put the coach in leveling mode and drop it all the way down and it would stay or raise it all the way up and it would stay.  

we thought it must be a ride control valve leaking through internally.  so with the incredible help of some volunteers at speedco, the ride height valve got changed.  they helped out of the goodness of their hearts because it is not something they do.  we took the two drive wheels off, changed the valve (i had a new spare, and in fact had already changed all three of them).  my coach uses what newell told me was the newer style valves.  they are barksdale universal valves so you can configure them for either side.  they are black pastic square about 3 inches square.  

so....that didnt fix it.  btw, speedco had the coolest torque wrench for doing the lug nuts.  a computer controlled unit on a cart.  they set it once, do all the lugs and it gives you a print out.  really awesome.   richard, i think you should buy me one for my next birthday.  i will give you my lowly 600 ft lb hand torque wrench in exchange.  

so thanks to the schematic of the ride height system for air that steve and richard did, the 3 of us talked through it a bunch of times....hey i am a slow learner...

the symptoms were a little inconsistent,which made it harder because it would always raise up to max on the rear passenger, but sometimes would raise up to travel on the drivers side rear and sometimes not.  in retrospect, it was because all available air was going to the rear passenger side.  

the ride height valve supplys air to the drive axle 2 air bags and the 1 tag bag.  it would be exhausting as it raised too high, so the valve was working and not leaking through.  

3 things can cause that side to raise.  

1.  ride height valve not adjusted right or leaking through.    (changed it and same symptoms so that was not it)

2.  tag bag overextending by being wrongly inflated by the valve that allows you to put more or less pressure on the tag axle.  but all of us were convinced that single tag bag could not overpower the two bigger drive axle bags.  

3.  the leveling system right rear RAISE solenoid letting air through it when it should be closed.  that could happen if the valve was leaking by or if it was getting energized improperly when in travel mode. 

    so.....i tested to see if it was energized and causing the issue two different ways.   by holding a small piece of metal on the end of the solenoid to see if it was magnetized.  it was not.  just to be sure i unplugged the solenoid and nothing changed.  

   i also had some spare solenoids, so steve said just to swap that RAISE solenoid out.  I did and it fixed it.   it made perfect sense that this fixed it, but....the one piece that didnt match up is that it didnt seem to leak through when in Leveling mode.  but....i dont care why, after a whole day of troubleshooting it, it was fixed and we were off.  

we drove to las vegas and it was fine and 360 miles yesterday and it was fine.  

jerry, a tech at newell talked me through it as well, and he was impressed at how much knowledge our collective here on the forum had on the system and what to try and do.  

so...a big shout out of thanks to richard and steve, both of which spent a ton of time talking it all through with me.  and to jerry at newell who was so willing to help as well.    he basically confirmed what we had already surmised.  

i guess there are several key learnings here from this.  I was stranded and couldnt go anywhere.  i could have called a mobile technician, spend a grand or two having him learn our system and maybe or maybe not fix it.  take a day and do it my self with the help of the forum members was the best choice.  i am retired and was not in a rush and didnt get stressed once or even a little by it.  i viewed it as a learning experience and a chance to talk to my buddies.  
the total cost of the fix was 20 bucks.  plus the cost of the solenoid (which i got for like 20 bucks).  and a day of my time.  

this is an amazing bunch of friends and members here at newellgurus.  i could NEVER have thought gurus would turn into what it is today when i started it 3 years ago.  thank you to all of you.  

the other thing here learned once again (and i will probably keep learning it).  is the maybe try the easy possibilities first.  the RAISE solenoid was a 15 mintue thing and easily gotten to in the engine bay.  the ride height valve is not an easy change.  but...it did make sense that it was likely the first choice.  

ok......enough babbling from me.  darlene is sleeping in, it is 65 degrees at whiskey flats, nevada and i have a few things to do before getting ready to leave and drive 2 hours to carson city to have brunch at In N Out with Clarke and Elaine.  

Good time.

later

tom

Noticed when driving and making a turn my fuel gauge needle will swing side to side. Is this normal and I am just noticing it? It takes a few swings to settle down. Don't think it did this before. 

Finally replacing the nasty old windows for my 77. I decided to rebuild my original windows, its more work but I wanted a certain shade of blue tint.  When the coach was repainted they also painted the frames so I have to strip them with aircraft stripper, 
I wanted the original anodized aluminum look. The new tempered glass only comes in 1/4" , the originals are 3/16. The window felt I purchased from penninsula glass is made for 1/4" so it will work well.