Tuesday, June 20, 2023
Friday, January 13, 2017
Fan Speed Control
It's called RioRand™ Upgraded 6V-90V 15A DC Motor Pump Speed Controller. The link is good today, but I would expect it change, so that's why I included the full description.
Tuesday, July 29, 2014
Front End Alignment
We had the front end aligned the year we bought KoKo. The chassis comes from Ford with a ball park alignment as they have no idea how the chassis will be used or how much the weight will be. We followed directions and had it done after letting it “settle” for 5,000 miles and loaded as it goes down the road. No problems for four years. Then it started eating tires. We bought tires twice and had it aligned three times. Turns out that not a one of the alignment shops replaced what are called blanks that Ford puts on to hold the ball joints with adjustable thingies called eccentrics so that alignment on all axis can be done. Eccentrics tune both the camber and caster, but more of the former. The bottom line even highly recommended alignment shops can screw you. All they know to do is what the machine tells them.
Roger Henderson refused to comment if Ford ships chassis with blanks. For that, he lost all credibility.
A friend with a SOB, who read about our FE woes and was also eating tires, called us to advise that the shop they went to for alignment this time found the blanks, still on after 140,000 miles.
Friday, July 11, 2014
Toilet Not Holding Water Seal
Our toilet bowl has not been holding the water seal this trip. I have scrubbed and cleaned to no avail. This morning I suddenly recalled that white vinegar had cured the problem before. I put in one ounce and saw improvement. So I repeated it. Much better. Dorothy suggested adding baking soda – what could it hurt – so I did. Problem solved.
Yes, cleaning with a good brush, especially between the seal and fixure, is always good. So is letting the lever go once in a while, rather than gently letting it return. But for sure results pour in an ounce of white vinegar to eat the scale off.
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Closet Storage
We should have filled the closet with cabinets the first year. We thought we might need a few inches of hanging space. Well, we hung clothes, but we only wore them maybe a few times a year. We decided that we could just as easily fold all of our clothes and put them in drawers.
We only had to buy one more storage unit at Wal*Mart which mated well with what we already had. The picture shows the newest cabinet on the left. We are now wall-to-wall with cabinets.
I anchored the cabinets to rear wall and the two small cabinets on top of the large cabinet are affixed to the lower cabinet with machine bolts and nuts through drilled.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Mud Flaps on a Mid Bath
There have been several posts in the past few months about how to mount mud flaps. The posts finally got my energy up to put them on. Two years of procrastination is not so long is it?
After looking at the pictures of Andrea Eagle's mounting method on her Rear Bath and then at our Mid Bath, I realized that mounting mud flaps might different on each of the seven different floor plans.
On the drivers side of a 2007 Mid Bath there is what I will call half of a mud flap. It extends down to the bottom of the box. I am guessing it's purpose is to protect the plumbing behind it from a blowout. It is made of 3/8 aluminum and provides a decent place to hang a shortened mud flap. I cut the flap so that is 4.5 inches above the earth's surface. I mounted it with three 1/4 SS bolts to the aluminum plate. The bad news is that you will need a right angle drill to fit between the tires and the plate. [Even less room from the aft side of the plate] If you care to remove the tires, you will have plenty of room for a conventional drill.
The passenger side is, of course, different. There is a structural beam that extends from the frame to outer most place on the box. It's an 1/8? aluminum box with a wood core. I drilled three holes into the beam and mounted the mud flap with 3/16 SS wood screws. [Until I can get some 1/4 inch screws] The flap on this side needed no shortening. In fact, it’s 5 inches from the ground.
I am hopeful that the flaps will keep some of the grime off the rear window and the toad. Not much concerned about rocks dings on the toad. We adopted the I would rather ding it than wax it philosophy a few years back.
Sorry, no pictures, it rather dark in the wheel well.
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Freezer Storage
The trays supplied by Dometic on the freezer door are less than optimal. The vertical one has about zero utility in the real world. Perhaps it was designed for frozen juice cans? Whatever, it was never of any real use for us. There is room for two trays on the right side, but only one tray came with the unit. Camping World gave me a price of $23, plus $25 shipping from Dometic in Sweden.
We found a container at Wal*Mart – [Better Homes brand for less than $6] – that is perfect as a second tray. We stuck it to the door with VHB tape. On consideration, I should have used Dual-Lock tape so it could be removed for easy cleaning. As of 2021, the VHB tape is still holding. This tray is pictured with the blue and green ball in it.
The supplied Dometic tray is holding the Amaretto.
The vertical tray on the left came from Dometic. I added two pieces of Lexan to keep what is placed in it from falling out. I left an opening in the middle to allow fingers to grasp whatever is in the bottom of the tray. You can see the top piece of Lexan in front of the black top of the pepper grinder. Where you see the pepper corns is an opening. The garlic salt is behind the lower piece of Lexan. Got that?
You can get Lexan at Home Depot and a silicone that will “glue” it to the Dometic tray. I cut the Lexan with a band saw, a hacksaw blade would work as well.
