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Hi,

as my coach was a race coach used for and office and meet and greet, it had a very nice super long sectional couch on the slide. since darlene and i dont like sleeping on a couch, i had to build a bedroom.

there was also a desk opposite the couch that i removed.

a buddy of mine built the bed for me. he is a master craftsman. after seeing the beds at newell and looking at a few others, mine looks like a newell bed but is built like a super tank. it is wayyy more structural than the way newell makes it. and it comes apart to be able to get at the access panel for the flat floor slide.

i have yet to finish putting the carpet and linear actuator on the inside but the basic bed is done. i did lesser curves on the corners.

i am a big guy. 6' 2 1/2" and 275 so i dont want no short bed. so we made a cal king sized bed (minus 2 inches in length) so it is 72inches wide and 82 inches long.

yea that makes it hard to walk around the end when the slide is in, but with the way the cabinets are that would be that way anyway.

we had a custom made latex foam mattress made with the matching radius for the corners...actually bigger to match the arc as it sticks out. it overhangs a few inches.

we love the bed and need to finish the nightstands now. since my slide seems to be longer than most of the bedroom slides there is over 2 feet between the edge of the bed and the wall on each side.

i bought the super expensive slippery special plastic in 1/2" to put on the bottom to make the bed glide on the floor. got it at a local plastic supplier UHMW.

i had some water damage on the back wall of the slide so i took that wall out and replaced it and then covered it with the same laminate i used on the bed.

couldnt get the same laminate that was in the coach. so i got the same pattern as the columns only a dark gray rather than a black gray.

it looks really nice if i dont say so myself.

here are the pictures.

darlene custom made the mattress pad, sheets and blanket. she has not made the bedspread yet so we used a quilt on the trip.

of course if you know darlene, our pillows have our names embroidered on them.

tom
                                   

today the young man who lives with us saw a newell classic, brown and maroun with the chrome air horns on the top with the newell covers on the horns. he was excited to tell me about it. he has seen clarkes and both of ours so he is getting to newells.

anyone traveling through the phoenix area we know of today? 8/2/12 about 6:30am.

tom

Rhonda and I don't have hookups, but we welcome Newell friends new and old alike.

We love to cook, hike, and bike so come on by.

hi,

thought i would share the airbags on the rear of my 2002.

my drive axle airbags were Goodyear 1R11-066. they were stamped on the outside of the bag so it made it easy to tell. i bought the firestone equivalent that was W01-358-9447. i paid 170 each for 4 of them from a local dealer.
the suspension that is on the drive axle on mine is a Ridewell 2460003 on it. the 246 series.


the tag axle bags on mine are NOT the Ridewell 103589378c airbag like newell told me. there is a firestone equivalent that is w01-358-9378 this bag has the top and bottom mounting studs that are 90 degrees off from each other. mine they are the same direction top and bottom. that bag is not available hardly anywhere. i took my tag bag off and it was a firestone w01-358-8908. NO one has them. firestone will make them but they are 8 weeks lead time and about 180 each before shipping. the tag suspension is a ridewell 2840002 with a dana axle

i did alot of research and the firestone w01-358-9448 is nearly identical to the w01-358-8908. same bellows, same rubber stop inside, same mounting, only 1/4" diff in a couple of places. so i called firestone and they said it will work.

so i ordered 2 of them from www.truckspring.com for $311.42 shipped.

i had leo at all aboard america put all 6 on. btw, it only took him a few hours to do the 4 drive bags.

the front bags i have not replaces as they look fine. from what i understand they are firestone WO1-358-8087 from what others tell me they had on theirs. i have not verified it. they are avail from newell for about 250 each. couldnt find them anywhere else.

hope it helps someone.

tom

ok,

to find leaks is an artform. listening for big ones....sparying windex or soapy water to find bubbles, using various leak detectors to listen....everyone has their ways.

i have found them all the ways.

1. i have replace a couple of the small air dryers/water seperators that were leaking

2. loose connections

3. solenoids at manifolds.

4. my engine air dryer was leaking

5. a couple of the brake porportioning valves for the tag were leaking.

6. my emergency parking brake was leaking under the dash at the seal on the push pull rod.

tom

We are sitting at Thousand Trails in Idyllwild, CA. I found a spot that is fairly level and shaded well in the afternoon. We are proving the systems before going to the bay area and Yosemite the middle of the month.
So far the only problem I have found was the aireator for the Kitchen Faucet was plugged.
I'll be doing some minor maintenance later.

*please excuse the dirty coach it has been in storage a few months.

A though about tires. They are not good forever and should be changed after 5-7 years or if they become weather checked. The weather checking will happen on the sidewalls and in the treads. Those tires are unsafe and could do some real damage when letting go.
There is a Date Code on the Tires and here is some information;
Read the last two digits of the DOT code. The last two digits are the year of manufacture. If the last two digits are 07, for example, the tire was manufactured in 2007.
The two digits before the year indicate the week of the year that the tires were manufactured. There are 52 weeks in a year, so these two digits range from 01 to 52.

and here is a link;
http://www.ehow.com/how_4621263_read-tir...codes.html

When we got our '82 the tires were so weather checked that I was afraid to drive it on the freeway and had to drive on city streets to get the new tires.
The newer coaches need the tires replaced more often than the older (smaller) ones.

here is a monitoring system that needs to be physically hooked up but i thought was interesting. for those that have non DDEC or non ECU engines.

http://www.digi-panel.com/

the bluebird guys have a thread on this at http://www.wanderlodgeownersgroup.com/fo...temp+order

thought you might find it interesting.

tom

i had talked to someone a while ago who said that on their 2001 or so newell they had put an add on anti-sway bar on the rear suspension.

the newellcoach site talks about it but only on coach 1272 and after with zf suspension. maybe my memory is wrong about what i heard.

any of you aware of what is available?

tom

First day out. Left home and in rain within an hour. Then back to 100 degree temps. Series 60 running cool and strong. First leg got 8.21 mpg. Not one problem---yet. First time I have run all four roof airs---Suzy always said 4 a/cs is excessive until I pointed out a Prevost with SIX roof a/cs. Every thing is very dry here in Illinois. Corn crops standing brown. Have seen one other Newell. Have not seen much motorhome traffic on the interstate--probably too hot. Be leaving Mulberry Grove, IL tomorrow heading for Columbus, OH. Trying to keep up with my summer motto--"in the pool by 3".

This sure beats sittin' in the barn.....................