Truck and Trailer Revival, Part II

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In last week’s post, “Truck and Trailer Revival”, I talked mainly about the truck portion of the project, and the improvements we were able to make to the customer’s truck. In this post, I’ll be talking about the extensive work we performed to that same customer’s 2002 Travel Supreme triple axle trailer.

As I mentioned last week, many RVers are choosing to fix up their old rigs rather than buy new ones, and this fifth wheel was a perfect case in point. The owner had put an amazing 50,000 miles on his trailer, and loves it so much he decided to not only make necessary repairs, but also upgrade and personalize it to meet his own standards. Read more

Truck and Trailer Revival

With the economy being what it is, we are seeing more and more RV owners choosing to hang on to their rigs and fix them up, rather than trading up for something new. Realistically, it just makes sense-because for the cost of a couple of payments, you can often make your rig as good as new-or even better in the case of a customer’s rig we have in our shop right now. Read more

Get Ready for Winter

With Old Man Winter on his way, it’s time to start thinking about maintenance. I know…most people talk about maintenance during the travel season, or right before it—but I know a lot of RVers, particularly on the west coast, that use their RVs all season long. In particular, it’s important to pay attention to your brakes and tires because the roads are getting wet and slick. Read more

Saving Money–The Wrong Way

A few posts back, I discussed the importance of using forged aluminum wheels as opposed to the less expensive, weaker cast aluminum wheels offered in the aftermarket and as standard equipment on some RV products. Almost as if to illustrate the point, a gentleman brought in a huge triple-axle fifth wheel trailer that had experienced a critical wheel failure. We’ve all heard of tire blowouts, but in this instance it was a wheel blowout; the explosion was so powerful, it blew the outside lip right off the wheel. He told me that the tire came off the rim completely and travelled down the highway. Read more

One Hot Tire–What Does it Mean?

Tire problems manifest themselves in many different ways, but what happens when the problem you’re having is out of the ordinary? Then it’s time to do some detective work. For example, a gentleman came up to me this past weekend at the Winnebago Rally in Rickreall, OR and told me how his 2007 coach had already blown the right inside dual three different times, and it only had 20,000 miles on it. The chassis builder replaced the first tire, but after that, they wouldn’t do replace it again. They had apparently checked it out several times, but couldn’t find anything wrong with it. Read more

Tire and Wheel Balance: A Lost Art?

Tire and wheel balance is something most of us don’t think about, until it causes a vibration or shaking in the coach that gets your attention. The problem is, a lot of shops just put your wheels and tires on a machine, spin them up, then bolt them onto your coach without knowing if the assembly is going to be smooth on the vehicle. Read more

Lopsided Super C

 

 

Sometimes, a customer’s email to our shop brings up a good blog topic. A couple of weeks ago, I received one from a gentleman named Dennis who was having problems with the ride height on his Super C. Dennis wrote: “I own a 2007 Four Winds Dutchmen Super C on a Chevrolet Kodiak chassis.  The coach leans about 4 inches on the driver’s side rear because Four winds designed the coach 800# heavier on that side.  Can I simply remove some of the space
blocks from above the rear axle on the opposite side to give the coach a level appearance, or should something else be done to properly eliminate the lean?” Read more

Fuel Saving Tires and More Road Wander

 

In the last post, part of what I talked about was a new fuel saving technology that Goodyear is implementing in the tread of some of their commercial applications, but I was waiting for more information on RV applications and their benefits. I have since found that the G670 tire works in RV applications, and it has the same technology built into the tread compound, but it is still unknown whether the benefits are equal to the commercial applications. In any case, if you’re in the market for new tires, it wouldn’t hurt to check out these new Goodyear treads. Read more

More Fuel Saving Technology and Upcoming Events

A lot of you will recall that I talked a few posts back about how different tires can affect fuel economy. Well, as it happens, a representative from Goodyear came into our shop last week to tell us about a line of tires and retreads with what they call “Fuel Max Technology”. They’re designed for commercial truck fleets as of right now, and as such are available in drive, steer, and trail configurations. However, some of these Goodyear tires will also fit some motor home applications.

Read more

Care for a Truck and Camper

 

We have been working on new suspension products for pick-ups for quite some time now, and last week we had the opportunity to work on a Dodge heavy-duty truck that would allow us to use much of the knowledge we have gained working on motorhome chassis. This truck hauls a camper, and although it was already equipped with airbags, the handling was still far from ideal. Read more

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