# Gees, what a bummer...



## Dargo

I was going to take the family on a nice easy cruise through a couple of state parks today and start to get used to our new RV and we never got out of the driveway. 

No matter what, the damn hydraulic leveling system kept setting off an alarm and shutting things off with the warning that the hydraulic leveling jacks were down.  The problem was that they weren't down!  Grrrrrr!!!

I spent almost all day screwing around trying to find out what the problem was.  I'd lower the rams and let it auto-level the RV.  That worked.  I'd hit the button that said to "retract all jacks", and that seemed to work except the freaking computer said they were down and wouldn't let us move and kept a freaking loud alarm going off! 

Hopefully I found the problem.  I found a small rock, about the size of a small marble, hiding on the top of the bottom part of the jack that pushes into the ground.  My theory is that the rock wasn't letting that one ram return to the 'full up' position and kept setting off the false alarm.  It was far too late in the day to go out, but I can now let the coach auto-level itself and then retract the rams with no alarm.  Hopefully that fixed it.  It sure screwed up the plans for today.  I keep telling myself that it's best to find these things now rather than when I have the entire family 2000 miles from home.

Anyone else ever have a similar problem?  Oh, I saw the other thread about air pressure in the tires.  I had to get a new gauge to check mine.  I'm supposed to run at 105 psi in each tire.  My gauge only went to 100.


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## REDDOGTWO

My 31 foot Bounder fell off of the jacks once.  Maybe having a auto leveler is a good idea.


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## BigAl RIP

Dargo said:


> I was going to take the family on a nice easy cruise through a couple of state parks today and start to get used to our new RV and we never got out of the driveway.
> 
> No matter what, the damn hydraulic leveling system kept setting off an alarm and shutting things off with the warning that the hydraulic leveling jacks were down. The problem was that they weren't down! Grrrrrr!!!
> 
> I spent almost all day screwing around trying to find out what the problem was. I'd lower the rams and let it auto-level the RV. That worked. I'd hit the button that said to "retract all jacks", and that seemed to work except the freaking computer said they were down and wouldn't let us move and kept a freaking loud alarm going off!
> 
> Hopefully I found the problem. I found a small rock, about the size of a small marble, hiding on the top of the bottom part of the jack that pushes into the ground. My theory is that the rock wasn't letting that one ram return to the 'full up' position and kept setting off the false alarm. It was far too late in the day to go out, but I can now let the coach auto-level itself and then retract the rams with no alarm. Hopefully that fixed it. It sure screwed up the plans for today. I keep telling myself that it's best to find these things now rather than when I have the entire family 2000 miles from home.
> 
> Anyone else ever have a similar problem? Oh, I saw the other thread about air pressure in the tires. I had to get a new gauge to check mine. I'm supposed to run at 105 psi in each tire. My gauge only went to 100.


 
 Geez ... thats too bad . Yes having all those little extras can be nice but sometimes it gotta make you wonder if its all worth it . Maybe next week end now that you got it fixed ??


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## Dargo

Ever wonder if there is a positive thing about insomnia?  At somewhere around 2:30am this morning I was going over the schematics of the PowerGear auto hydraulic leveling system that is installed in my coach in my mind.  Besides the annoying freaking alarm/safety stop that kept going off saying that the gear was down when it wasn't, the keypad and all it's lights would flash and set off the buzzer alarm sometimes when I'd make a right hand turn; and only on right turns.  Hmm...

Okay, thinking about what sets off the "gear down" alarm...  Each hydraulic foot has a sensor at the top that, that, that isn't in the schematics!  There isn't anything that actually senses if the gear is down on each ram.  The only sensor is a regular ole float switch towards the fluid reservoir *on the right side of the tank.*  Which means that it would send a signal to the control module saying it has a ram down if it is low on fluid.  I check the reservoir and sure enough, it's about 6 ounces low!  I topped it off this morning and have now ran the self leveling system through it's cycle about a dozen times with no problem and drove the coach, making sure to make plenty of right hand turns, and no alarm ever sounded.  Yes!  I'm relatively certain I fixed the problem for basically no cost! 

Now the bad news.  I put a nice scratch on one of the lower side compartment doors that holds luggage by just barely brushing against a post.   Man, am I bummed!  It's only about 6" long and, at absolute worst, I would replace that door.  Still, I pride myself in almost never breaking anything or tearing up anything.  Why is this bumming me out so much?  It's not like I crashed the coach or destroyed it.  I guess I'm just really disappointed in myself for damaging it before we have ever even taken it out and used it.  With any luck, that will be this weekend.  I plan on taking the family on a short weekend trip to a relatively close state park.  Still, I'm bummed about that scratch.  

Any suggestions to get over my out of proportion depression at scratching our new coach?  I know it sounds stupid, but it's still ticking me off big time because I know better and I am normally too careful to do such a thing.  Suggestions?  Oh yeah, I just got in from a trip to Indy and have to turn right around and go to Lafayette first thing in the morning so I won't even be home to try to work on the scratch any before we hopefully head out this weekend.


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## BigAl RIP

Dargo said:


> Ever wonder if there is a positive thing about insomnia? At somewhere around 2:30am this morning I was going over the schematics of the PowerGear auto hydraulic leveling system that is installed in my coach in my mind. Besides the annoying freaking alarm/safety stop that kept going off saying that the gear was down when it wasn't, the keypad and all it's lights would flash and set off the buzzer alarm sometimes when I'd make a right hand turn; and only on right turns. Hmm...
> 
> Okay, thinking about what sets off the "gear down" alarm... Each hydraulic foot has a sensor at the top that, that, that isn't in the schematics! There isn't anything that actually senses if the gear is down on each ram. The only sensor is a regular ole float switch towards the fluid reservoir *on the right side of the tank.* Which means that it would send a signal to the control module saying it has a ram down if it is low on fluid. I check the reservoir and sure enough, it's about 6 ounces low! I topped it off this morning and have now ran the self leveling system through it's cycle about a dozen times with no problem and drove the coach, making sure to make plenty of right hand turns, and no alarm ever sounded. Yes! I'm relatively certain I fixed the problem for basically no cost!
> 
> Now the bad news. I put a nice scratch on one of the lower side compartment doors that holds luggage by just barely brushing against a post.  Man, am I bummed! It's only about 6" long and, at absolute worst, I would replace that door. Still, I pride myself in almost never breaking anything or tearing up anything. Why is this bumming me out so much? It's not like I crashed the coach or destroyed it. I guess I'm just really disappointed in myself for damaging it before we have ever even taken it out and used it. With any luck, that will be this weekend. I plan on taking the family on a short weekend trip to a relatively close state park. Still, I'm bummed about that scratch.
> 
> Any suggestions to get over my out of proportion depression at scratching our new coach? I know it sounds stupid, but it's still ticking me off big time because I know better and I am normally too careful to do such a thing. Suggestions?


 
 Well... A Dr. Rum May help . Lord knows its done wonders for my crappy attitude the last few days . problem is I am having a lot of trouble getting the screen to focus right now . Stupid computer ! 
 Look at it this way :
 Now it is scatched , you got to put the first one in it , and now you can head up that 4x4 shortcut you wanted to take .
 Happy Days !!!!


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## NorthernRedneck

> Any suggestions to get over my out of proportion depression at scratching our new coach? I know it sounds stupid, but it's still ticking me off big time because I know better and I am normally too careful to do such a thing. Suggestions?



Tell you what.....how about you sit down, watch this movie from beginning to end, then go outside and look at the scratch on your RV and ask yourself "Is it really that bad?"  

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkZXAB-RdbI"]YouTube- RV Trailer[/ame]


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## Bobcat

Dargo said:


> <snip>
> Any suggestions to get over my out of proportion depression at scratching our new coach?
> <snip>



Buy a new gun/tractor/atv/truck/implement/snowcat.


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## working woman

yeah, put a band aid on it. Hear they are great for scratches!


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## Bobcat

holy crud. long time, no 'here'. hey!


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## Doc

Yeah, what Al said!!!   

Now you got the 1st mark out of the way, the 2nd won't hurt so bad.  We all hate to mess up our stuff, especially expensive new stuff, but chit happens.  Now that you've 'barely brushed the post" if your wife or one of the kids happen to do something similar you will more than understand.  Unless you leave it sitting in the garage stuff like that will happen.  Rub it out the best you can and move on.     Too bad we don't have a rum smilie.  Right Al?


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## BigAl RIP

Doc said:


> Too bad we don't have a rum smilie. Right Al?


Most excellent idea ....Dude!
  or should I say Doc Dude!


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## NorthernRedneck

BigAl said:


> Most excellent idea ....Dude!
> or should I say Doc Dude!





  How's this????


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## BigAl RIP

groomerguyNWO said:


> How's this????


 Its a start ,but your about 4 behind me .


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## duflochy

Oh dont worry, something lots bigger will come along to take your mind off that little scratch.......


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## Snowtrac Nome

Dargo said:


> Ever wonder if there is a positive thing about insomnia? At somewhere around 2:30am this morning I was going over the schematics of the PowerGear auto hydraulic leveling system that is installed in my coach in my mind. Besides the annoying freaking alarm/safety stop that kept going off saying that the gear was down when it wasn't, the keypad and all it's lights would flash and set off the buzzer alarm sometimes when I'd make a right hand turn; and only on right turns. Hmm...
> 
> Okay, thinking about what sets off the "gear down" alarm... Each hydraulic foot has a sensor at the top that, that, that isn't in the schematics! There isn't anything that actually senses if the gear is down on each ram. The only sensor is a regular ole float switch towards the fluid reservoir *on the right side of the tank.* Which means that it would send a signal to the control module saying it has a ram down if it is low on fluid. I check the reservoir and sure enough, it's about 6 ounces low! I topped it off this morning and have now ran the self leveling system through it's cycle about a dozen times with no problem and drove the coach, making sure to make plenty of right hand turns, and no alarm ever sounded. Yes! I'm relatively certain I fixed the problem for basically no cost!
> 
> Now the bad news. I put a nice scratch on one of the lower side compartment doors that holds luggage by just barely brushing against a post.  Man, am I bummed! It's only about 6" long and, at absolute worst, I would replace that door. Still, I pride myself in almost never breaking anything or tearing up anything. Why is this bumming me out so much? It's not like I crashed the coach or destroyed it. I guess I'm just really disappointed in myself for damaging it before we have ever even taken it out and used it. With any luck, that will be this weekend. I plan on taking the family on a short weekend trip to a relatively close state park. Still, I'm bummed about that scratch.
> 
> Any suggestions to get over my out of proportion depression at scratching our new coach? I know it sounds stupid, but it's still ticking me off big time because I know better and I am normally too careful to do such a thing. Suggestions? Oh yeah, I just got in from a trip to Indy and have to turn right around and go to Lafayette first thing in the morning so I won't even be home to try to work on the scratch any before we hopefully head out this weekend.


everynew fire apperatus our fire department has got has goten a scratch down the side of it at stopsign level with in the first few hours of operation because no body in my town is used to the forward control configuration and those cost alot more than your r-v


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## Dargo

Well, we're loading up and heading south to visit my mom in Florida for a bit.  Since the coach is so freaking big, my kids are busy packing like we're going to be gone for months!  I do have 9' tall garage doors on my house, so you can sort of get an idea of how big it looks.  Once loaded, I need to hook the tow dolly trailer on the back and either load up my Jeep or my wife's Accord to tow behind us.  

Hopefully I survive the trip.  Being our first 'real' trip, I feel like I need a shot of whiskey now.


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## XeVfTEUtaAqJHTqq

Man that thing is huge!  Have fun and good luck!  Prepare yourself now for unexpected little things so you don't get too upset when they do happen.  Don't let a scuff ruin your trip!


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## REDDOGTWO

It is easy to overload a large coach as there is all of that room to put things.  Make sure that you figure for the weight of the people, water etc.


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## Doc

Wow, that is impressive.  Sure would make for a comfortable ride to Florida.  Have a good trip.


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## Cowboyjg

I don't know why I keep getting visions of Robin Williams as I read this thread.


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## NorthernRedneck

So, you're off to Florida?  My parents flew out to Daytona this morning to pick up their RV they bought of ebay.  Apparently, its a 1997 Dolphin 37' with an 18ft slide.  SO, if you happen to see one of those on the road down there.  Wave and tell them I said Hi.


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## Dargo

groomerguyNWO said:


> So, you're off to Florida?  My parents flew out to Daytona this morning to pick up their RV they bought of ebay.  Apparently, its a 1997 Dolphin 37' with an 18ft slide.  SO, if you happen to see one of those on the road down there.  Wave and tell them I said Hi.



I'm actually just south of Daytona parked just across the street from the ocean in an RV park. You see, it was only when I was about 30 miles away that my mother told me that my coach is too big to fit in front of her house (where we have discussed and planned to park for a couple of months) and there was no possible way we could open our slide outs. That left me scrambling to find a place to park.

After a few day in this park (which does have some permanent residents); don't play horse shoes or shuffleboard with the old guys and these guys put diesel pickup owners to shame when it comes to fudging on the fuel economy their coach gets. As I think I've mentioned, my coach has a Cat C9 engine behind a 4000 series Allison 6 speed tranny and weighs around 30k pounds. We also towed my little Jeep behind us. Anyway, I ran 75 to 80 mph most of the way down (apparently too fast) and got just over 7 mpg on the way down. 

First off, I'll agree with 'the guys' and drop down to about 65 mph driving back. That probably will increase my mpg. However, talk about hearing some tall tails!!  One guy has a 42' coach with 450 hp, tows a regular H1 Hummer and claims he gets "about 20" mpg running 70 mph!  What?  Another has a 45' Prevost with 550 hp, weighs about 42k, and says he averages about 17 mpg. You'd think the guys with the mid 30' size RV's are driving hybrids with the mpg they claim.  And to think I thought diesel pickup owners fudged a bit on their mpg!  I think I may be able to get 9 or 10 mpg running slower, but I don't think I would get '20 something' if I were being towed.

Off to pet Manatees and tour the Kennedy Space Center...


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## Dargo

REDDOGTWO said:


> It is easy to overload a large coach as there is all of that room to put things.  Make sure that you figure for the weight of the people, water etc.



Oh, I forgot to mention, according to the tag listing all the weights and limits, I have a out 7,000 pounds available to load before I hit the limit. Although they loaded a lot, I'm nowhere close to that much. 

One other note; the 6 hour delay due to some "massive" wreck just south of Atlanta on the way down sucked!  Starting towards home on New Year's day. Hopefully most people are too hung over to be on the roads.


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## Doc

That is funny.  I'd suspect you could get 12 mpg if you cruised at 60 to 65 all the way back.  But going 10mph slower over a 1000 mile trip would add a little over 2 hours to your total drive time.   
Are you close to New Smyrna?  I love driving the beach down there.  I wonder if your motor home would even be allowed on the beach.  Course you'd probably never get all the sand out of it.   If you do, be aware of the tides.  Our ramp was close to being under water before we noticed it.  We wondered why all the other cars and trucks had left.  We were enjoying the beach and had it all to ourselves.  LOL.


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## XeVfTEUtaAqJHTqq

Doc said:


> That is funny.  I'd suspect you could get 12 mpg if you cruised at 60 to 65 all the way back.  But going 10mph slower over a 1000 mile trip would add a little over 2 hours to your total drive time.
> Are you close to New Smyrna?  I love driving the beach down there.  I wonder if your motor home would even be allowed on the beach.  Course you'd probably never get all the sand out of it.   If you do, be aware of the tides.  Our ramp was close to being under water before we noticed it.  We wondered why all the other cars and trucks had left.  We were enjoying the beach and had it all to ourselves.  LOL.



I always thought is was funny in Florida how they let cars on the beach but they wouldn't let dogs on the beach (other than the two legged kind - lots of them).  Florida is an odd state.


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## Dargo

Aww man, speaking of dogs, all of my nice polished aluminum wheels have now been 'marked'.  Since dogs aren't allowed here unless they are on leashes, does that mean people here intentionally let their dogs pee on my wheels?  Man, that's low.


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## Melensdad

I'm just sayin . . .

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iW9_GamGNQI"]YouTube- another clip from RV[/ame]


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## NorthernRedneck

Back to the original topic on this thread...
Dad made it back from florida with his new pre-owned rv.  He said it ran great all the way but that he did have the exact same problem as Dargo with the alarms going off for the leveling jacks.  He said he found his problem right away after reading the manual and added oil to the system and away he went.

As for fuel mileage on a big RV like that, he said he was rather impressed.  His is a v10 gas with a banks power pack.  He said there was lots of power left even after he got it up to 70mph.  He didn't figure out the exact gas mileage yet but said it cost him around $600 to get one way from Florida to Northern Ontario Canada.


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## Dargo

B_Skurka said:


> I'm just sayin . . .
> 
> YouTube- another clip from RV



But, he wasn't pulling the trailer from hell!!   When we made that turn into the one fuel station in TN that had what looked like a ski slope for a drive I completely forgot about that damn trailer and my Jeep.  The Jeep?  Oh, it's fine.  It's a real trooper.  It's ready for a trip each week.  The trailer?  Um, that's a different story.  Did I mention paying the manager at the Home Depot store to re-open after he closed so I could buy some extra tools I didn't think I'd need to pack?

Four hours later I'd disassembled the trailer, rewired all the lights (wires broke when trailer pulled apart), put the trailer back together, reloaded the Jeep and was back on the road.   And I never once complained about rolling around on the ground on the side of the road in 15 degree weather wearing just a sweat shirt.  I can't remember; if I hadn't mentioned it before, that's where my wife walked to the truck stop across the way and bought me a tube of super glue to glue my thumb back together from where I smacked it with a 3 pound sledge hammer and split it open when I was straightening the trailer.  No worries, it burned like alcohol X 3 but I didn't need to get the 3 or 4 stitches it would have needed. 

Did I mention that when we got back I noticed my 6" drop hitch wasn't a 6" drop hitch anymore?  Apparently that big C9 Cat engine had no problem pulling the 'drop' right out of that hitch.   It's got about a 3" drop to it now and looks like it's standing at about half staff.  Here, I found a picture I took with my phone just before we left.  It's hard to tell, but with the coach, tongue for the dolly trailer and about 15' for the Jeep it's about 62' long.  Combine the fact that you can't back the damn dolly trailer (it pivots), and it's a beast to get into a parking spot!


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## Dargo

groomerguyNWO said:


> Back to the original topic on this thread...
> Dad made it back from florida with his new pre-owned rv.  He said it ran great all the way but that he did have the exact same problem as Dargo with the alarms going off for the leveling jacks.  He said he found his problem right away after reading the manual and added oil to the system and away he went.
> 
> As for fuel mileage on a big RV like that, he said he was rather impressed.  His is a v10 gas with a banks power pack.  He said there was lots of power left even after he got it up to 70mph.  He didn't figure out the exact gas mileage yet but said it cost him around $600 to get one way from Florida to Northern Ontario Canada.



I'm glad he found the problem easily.  As I mentioned somewhere, that was exactly what was causing the false alarm for the jacks down on mine.  One thing I learned about fuel economy with mine is that it makes a *huge* difference depending on the speed you run.  According to our GPS log, my high speed was 92 mph.  I think that was when my lane was ending and nobody would let me over, so I just had to run faster to get over.  Also, going through all the mountains in TN, my coach would stay right at 70 mph where I had my cruise set at the time going up the longest and steepest climbs.  However, that too took a toll on my fuel economy.

On the way back I pretty well kept cruise set right at whatever the speed limit was rather than running with the traffic.  That made almost 5 mpg difference in my fuel economy.  I think I may have mentioned it before, but at 65 mph, I'm turning just under 1500 RPM.  Apparently it's got some tall 6th gear.  On a quick side note, I don't know how you could run a setup as heavy as what I'm running without the engine braking setup.  I barely had to use any brakes with it on.  With it off, I felt like I was always on the brakes.


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## NorthernRedneck

I guess that would be a benefit from the deisel vs gas in a motorhome.  I could see an engine brake being a real help driving something like that.


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