The dash heat is fixed and looking at roof repair

The heat control has some wires and vacuum lines plugged into the back of it.  But when I was bolted back into the dash it pulls the vacuum lines out.  So now it works but I still want to make sure the lines don't pull out when it is in place.
And today I looked into the roof around the shower sky light.  Most of the roof is really good but the sky light area needs some work.

I wasn't sure that there was a 2 piece skylight but it has a inner piece that I removed.  Then the plan is to pull out some of the foam and wood, slide in some new stuff and it should be all better.  That is if it ever gets warm enough to put some Snow Roof on.  This roof should turn out much better than Wilbur's complete tear off and replace.

The dash heat problem

On our trip to Eugene we had an issue with the dash heater where we had plenty of heat out the defroster vents but not so much heat out of the bottom of the dash.  Well Sophie said she had good heat but my side was not so hot, so to speak.  And today I looked around under the dash and found that a connector on the back of the heat control that had several small air lines on it would disconnect when I pushed the controller back in the dash.  That might be the problem but I will have to try it out tomorrow or whenever I get time and motivation.
I'm not sure about some of the stuff under the dash like this box I found.

Yea the last thing I need is some car alarm going off in the middle of the night.......and it's in my motor home.

I am really starting to like Smokey

We have been talking about the outing we just did.  And all of the room we have was nice.
So today I have not even been in Smokey but I have spent plenty of time looking into things I want to do.  the first thing is to check the timing of the engine because I think it might be advanced to much.  When starting it warm is doesn't want to turn over.  Most of the time I just kick in the coach batteries and it starts fine, but not the way I think it should work.

And then the cruise control/heater problem.  I have read about the defrosters on all the time when their is a loss of vacuum.  Well when the weather warms up and I feel like it I just might look into it.
Maybe I will go out now or after supper and look around the engine for awhile looking for loose or missing vacuum lines.

The first outing with Smokey is over.

This morning we got up and watched TV while enjoying all the room we now have with Smokey.  The stuff we really are enjoying is the fridge that is big and the water heater.  I never had a water heater that my wife could handle and with the hose hooked up, which is something I never had before either, we seem to have an endless supply of hot water.

Good looking rugs for $5.00?

We decided to stop by Home Depot and look at window blinds and carpet.  We have decided on using blinds, like Wilbur has, on the dinning room window where the covering is gone.  And then we found a deal on some throw rugs on clearance.  So we stocked up with rugs and have plenty of those all around.
After checking in with the Elks Lodge and paying our $15.00 a night we had lunch and packed up for our trip home.  Oh and I got to use the dump station.  Now this is really living large.  The one hose is connected in the "wet bay" and without even bending over to look under the coach you pull one handle for each tank and it's all done.  There is a faucet in the wet bay for cleaning up and even a hose connection on the black tank to flush it out.
I did have a comment to the Elks with their electric boxes.  They just replaced the power boxes with a small box like used on the side of a house for a 15Amp receptacle with a flip up cover.  And my new 30Amp plug would not even come close to fitting in the box.  I ended up buying a 30Amp extension cord and that would just barely fit in the box.
The trip home went just fine.  I think their might be a vacuum leak because the cruise control works sort of and the heater does not switch from defrost to heat.  All the heat and air comes out the defrost vents and not so much out the bottom of the dash.  Always something to do along with our long list we worked on this weekend.

Nice looking dash.......except for the red light that I don't know what it's for.

 We drove 150 miles with NO SMOKING either.

Spending the day in Eugene with Smokey

The first outing with a new RV must be special, but I will probably never know since I only buy old RV's, LOL.  But we have always enjoyed Eugene and today was no different.  The sun did come out today and we took a 2 mile walk along the Mackenzie River starting at the Valley River Center.  Anyplace with a Macy's store is good for Sophie.
Yesterday we were the only RV at the Elks  until about 7:30 when a diesel pusher arrived.  Something they changed here at the Elks is new electric plug in boxes.  I do remember the old ones which are mounted on the back wall of the Elks were hanging loose, so they needed work.  But the new boxes are the size of a residential 20amp outside receptacle with a cover on them.  I could not even plug my new connector in because there was not enough room to fit it in the box. 
Anyway the guy who came in after dark had a 50Amp cord and his 30Amp adapter had not been used for several years and his old plug just bent the prongs as he tried to pound them together.  I did go out with my big flash light and try to help him but we never got him plugged in.  No 50Amp plugs here, and the water has only one faucet with a 4 way splitter.  Not so great but I will try the dump station out tomorrow when we leave. 

Well we had plenty of room for our use.

The first outing with Smokey

We decided to give Smokey a try out on the road so we headed to Eugene.  It was about 2:30 when I filled up at the gas station and came home to hook up the wagon.  I was smelling a little gas as we packed up and then when I looked under Smokey and saw a wet spot on the gas line back close to the gas tank.  It looked like someone spliced the gas line with a short piece of tubing and the connection was wet.  So I figured I should put a gas filter in place of the tubing.  I put my coveralls on and slid under with a new filter, some rubber gas line and all the tools needed.  Well if the gas tank wasn't so full I probably wouldn't have leaked so much gas but it ran down my arm until I got both ends of the gas line connected.  Well since I was home I hopped in the shower and left all the gas soaked clothes in the garage.
Once we hit the road everything was good,  well OK anyway.  Our list of things to buy and fix is getting longer by the minute but right now we are full, warm and dry and watching an Elvis movie and reading the newspaper.
Maybe tomorrow I will post what we have got done and bought.
It's time to kick back and figure out our new bedroom.
We drove about 75 miles today.

I'm out of storage space.

No not in Smokey but in my Blog picture storage.
So now I have gotten rid of some of those pictures so I can bring you more pictures.

The plan is to take Smokey on a little trip tomorrow.  Maybe to Eugene for a couple of nights.  But before my wife will agree to that, we need to clean out the fridge, stove and bathroom.  That would be to re-clean those things.
I took care of the engine air cleaner intake.

This was the intake that was behind the radiator.

It should have gone up and over the radiator but seems to have broken where it bolted to something.

I replaced the old part with this clothes drier hose.

Attached to the grill.

And then when I went to hook up the lights that I put on the wagon when I tow it and there was a problem.

The plastic part bent with the heat of the bulb and then no lights.

 So I bought the new parts for the lights and I installed them.  Lets hope they work.  I have a 50 50 chance of getting the wires right because they are both black on the new parts.  I will check them out tomorrow.

Happy Thanksgiving !!!!!

Yes another Thanksgiving day. I was watching the young family across the street rush off to their family feast at a relatives house and thought about those days with young kids.  My kids are all grown up, I guess.  Anyway they will be coming over today for lunch and I will go pick up my dad and bring him over too.  Kind of makes me think of the loss of parents and friends who have passed away.  Time is winding down for all of us so get out there and enjoy what you can where you can. The extra leafs have been put in the table and more chairs put around it.

Back to the RV stuff.  I have been having an electric heater running in Smokey off and on since I shampooed the carpet a few days ago.  Seems like if I could wait until warm weather it would dry real quick but I can't wait until then. 
I stopped by the Salem Elks lodge yesterday and looked at their storage area.  But when I talked with the camp host there are no storage area parking left.  Oh well I like it in the drive way too. 

And have you been getting all the E-mails to shop online today.  Wow if there was only something I wanted to buy.  Everything from RV stuff to RC stuff.  Now that's a lot of toys to look at.

The day before Thanksgiving

Sure we needed to stop by the grocery store for a few things but also for some RV stuff, right.  Yes I bought a water filter, pressure regulator and a 90 degree angle fitting for the side water hose connection.  After trying to decide if I should use a filter or not, what kind of filter and the whole pressure regulator thing I just went to Walmart and bought what they have.  On Wilbur I put a screen on the water pump just to keep the rust from the old steel water tanks out of the pump.   Oh all the tings on these new fangled RV's.
Then I decided to check out my water pump for leaks and there was a drip on it so after using some teflon tape on the fittings I think it is sealed up good. 
Here is the filter http://www.walmart.com/ip/Camco-Water-Filter-2-Pack/14504322

And the pressure regulator http://www.walmart.com/ip/Camco-Brass-Water-Regulator/14504323

And the angle connector http://www.walmart.com/ip/Camco-90-Brass-Hose-Elbow/14504298

And while at the local Fred Meyer store we met several friends and relatives.  Seems like I could spend lots of time just visiting at the store but everyone has things to do and things to cook and eat.

I even spent some time trying the key in every storage compartment lock to see if they work.  Boy is that a lot of locks.  And what do people put in all the bays????  I guess I will find out soon.  Probably before I weigh the whole thing.

Smokey is almost ready to go

Well if you know what I mean by being ready to go take a look at this picture.

 You can see the package on the counter.

And I did some more cleaning of the carpet and some upholstery.   Will this weather ever dry up for more than a few minutes?

It really is ready to go except for the weather.  Sure would be nice to have a little sun and drier weather.  Maybe after Turkey day we will head down the road. 

What a wet and windy day

The roof leaks, but not so much when it is parked in the driveway and not level.  I tried parking level but boy did the shower have a drip, and then not so much when just parked with the drivers side lower than the passenger side.  So that's the way it will be parked until the roof is fixed.

I did spend some time just hanging out in Smokey today.  We decided to shampoo the house carpet and several chairs, so while waiting for that stuff to dry we just fired up the heat and gen set and enjoyed a wet and windy day inside Smokey.  But while running the gen set I heard something like a dog barking outside only to find that the cooling fan in the power center is making noise.  Looks like something else for my to do list.
And in the morning I just might use the carpet cleaner on Smokey.  Oh I know that I did clean the carpet and seats once but if you had seen how dirty things were you would know why I need to do some more cleaning.

UGH My roof leaks

Yea the roof still has a leak but most of it is in the shower.  The big repair I did today was install an aerator in the kitchen faucet.  And it works just fine too.
And I know the red light on the dash was out when I looked at it this morning.  But now when I went out to look at it again it was on.   So what is this stupid light for anyway?????????????????

I am  missing the dining room window blinds and have been looking at what to use.  Maybe I should replace more than just the one window or try to match the others with one new one.

Here is what one guy uses.  http://www.rv-boondocking-the-good-life.com/rvwindowblinds.html


Someone just posted a comment on my you tube video 100,000 mile Winnebago and that got me thinking that Smokey will turn over that magical number before long.  I wonder when or where that will happen.  I guess we will have to wait and see.

Just cleaning up things today.

Right now the weather is wet and cold so I did some light cleaning.  Most of Smokey was pretty dirty, OK very filthy, and since my wife likes things clean when she uses them I have given some stuff one or two cleanings before she starts cleaning.
The cook top was taken apart and scrubbed,  the microwave was scrubbed out and the fridge was given the once over again.  All the fridge shelves and trays are in the house and have been thoroughly cleaned.

Do you see the built in knife rack?

Looks pretty good, huh.  And much better than Wilbur when I started that stove clean up.

I did adjust the shower door so it closes and opens better but no picture of that big job, sorry.

But one thing my brother taught me was what the switch inside the door was for.  Oh I knew what the four switches behind the handrail were for because the said on them, but the one by itself was only on or off.  This one is to turn off all the cargo bay lights.  Yea you probably knew that.

Running water and everything

Friday is here and the big news for today is the new water pump is installed and we now have running water without being hooked up to city water.
For some of you that might not sound like much, but for those of you who remember that when I first tried to put water in the fresh water tank it just ran out.  There was a valve from the water tank that didn't have a handle on it and it was open.  But after talking with my brother who has a S.O.B. (some other brand) he said there was a valve with a knob you pull to drain the tank, but I never found the handle until today.  It was laying in the cargo bay where the tank is and when I pushed it back in place and put water in the tank it didn't drain out.  So with some water in the tank and the new water pump installed I now have running water.

 

I almost forgot about the outside faucet in the dump bay, if that's what you call it.  I never had a dump bay before.  As soon as I turned the pump on the water just flowed out of this bay.  So it was time to replace the broken faucet.  I just needed to cut off the old fitting and install a Shark Bite 3/8" to 1/2" pipe thread fitting.

And here is the dump bay with the dump hose on the left and the fresh water are on the right.  Don't get those mixed up.  You can see I have a black water tank rinse thing in the side of the tank.  I hope it works but now I have to try that out sometime.

The rest of the day was spent cleaning the inside stuff.  I cleaned the cook top, removed the shelfs from the fridge and even cleaned the microwave oven out a few times.

I am getting closer to going someplace soon.

Going smoke less.

The fuel problem turned out to be a blown fuse and I am thinking the oil leak is a thing of the past.
Here are some pictures of the underside of the engine after a 20 mile trip with some time on I-5.

If these pictures don't make sense to you just imagine oil burning off the exhaust pipe.  Oh the smell of burning oil.

No leaks here.

You can see the exhaust pipe where the oil put out quite the Smoke on the drive home after buying it.  Now it's all clean.

I think the oil leak was because of the oil pan gasket and some crankcase pressure.  Whatever it was causing the leaking I am very happy with the result.  And it you want to get a one piece oil pan gasket for a Ford 460 you can use the newer one on an older engine by enlarging the 4 larger bolt holes.

I have a fuel problem

Yesterday I decided to look into the dash gauge problem.  When I turn on the headlights my gas gauge went up a little, the oil pressure went up some and the temp would go up some.  So I thought I would look behind the dash.  All was looking good until I decided to start the engine and wiggle some wires.  But now the engine ran and run out of gas.  Something I checked out was the inertia switch.  Now that was something om '73 Winnebago didn't have.  That checked out good.  Then I looked at the low oil pressure switch that shuts the gas off if the oil pressure gets to low, a nice thing I guess.
Looking deeper I decide to just run a wire right to the fuel pump at the gas tank and it runs fine.  Now to look for the fuel pump relay.  Of course it is not labeled as a fuel pump relay but I think I found it.

Why do you need so many wires just to make some gauges work.

And I am going to go out now and look for the relay.

Smokey or not so smokey

The oil leak might be a thing of the past but I won't say for sure until I spend some time on the freeway.  But for now it is looking good.  I took a few trips around the area and after re-tightening the oil pan bolts there is no sign of a leak.
Another thing I did today was install the LED lights in the bedroom ceiling light.  Only 3 strips were put in this fixture unlike the front room light where I used 4 strips.  The bedroom light did give me some trouble because the wall mounted light switch does not always work good.  But that is something I can deal with now that I know what is going on.

This is the 4 strip light.

This is the 3 strip light.

And then I looked at the air cleaner intake hose problem.

It is not attached to anything and drops down and the air is blocked.  Not a great way to get air to the engine.  I looked for some way to extend but I think I will just bolt a bracket on it so it stays in place.

And I contacted John Deere to see what they could give me as far as Chassis info.  This is what I was told.

John Deere no longer supports these because we sold this line to OshKosh in 1989, who in turn sold the line to Freightliner Custom Chassis in Gaffney, SC in 1995.  Freightliner's customer service number is 800-385-4357.  They should be able to direct you.  

Julie Powell

JD Parts

Deere & Co.

So I have an OshKosh by gosh chassis.

The Superchief after 4 weeks

Can you believe that I have owned the Superchief for 4 weeks now?????   And several things have been fixed but there are still more things on my to do list.
Today I fixed the crankcase vent tube, anyway that's what I am calling it.

I bought a preformed hose and cut off what I needed.

The new hose installed.

I still need to find a way to see how it looks with the engine cover on but I did strap the oil filler tube down lower and think it will not get bent flat like the old one.

And now the weather is colder and wetter so it might be so time before I work on the water system.  I did buy a new water pump but have not started that project yet.

A new power cord plug

Today we went to Portland to visit our son and see his new apartment.  Not really RV stuff but of course I did find time to stop at RV Parts Outlet and buy a couple of things.  Something I wanted to replace was the power cord plug.  It looked like it got hot and so I wanted to try a new 30A plug with a handle on it.  Take a look.

The old one didn't look so good.

Cut the wires and strip like the instructions tell you.

The wires are attached.

The new one is ready to go.

And I can find it in the dark better now that's it's yellow.

And I did some looking around the engine too.

This hose connects from the air cleaner housing to the oil fill tube.

 I don't know if this hose would allow pressure to build up in the crankcase but it might.  And then the pressure might cause an oil leak................well it might.  I cut the larger hose from the steel tube to the valve cover and pulled it down to keep it from getting pushed on by the engine cover.

This get's pushed on by the dog house over the engine.  I am looking for anything that might cause pressure in the engine.  And I did check out the PCV valve too.

I'm Back on line today

OK I am fully connected again and have been still busy with Smokey.
Today I hooked up my newly updated LED ceiling light.  I ordered a roll of LED lights and replaced the fluorescent lights with the LED's.  Take a look at this.

I cut the black and white wire to the old tube ballast.

Then I cut strips of the LED's and soldered the red and black wires to the LED strips that were cut to the length needed and connected them to the correct black and white wires with wire nuts.  I know that is not the best connections to make but they are temporary.  And in a few years I might even fix them again.

This is the strips attached and wired up.

At night without the cover on.

The light closest to the TV A/C is LED and the one over Sophie is fluorescent.

 And then I did put together the other bed platform.  There is some trim to put around the base as soon as I figure out how I want to access the storage underneath.

It looks like we are ready to take off and do some camping.  Well Sophie thinks we need to clean and clean some more before we hit the road.  But it is looking better all the time.  I am even learning what some switches do.  I spent time today oiling up all the outside doors and storage area locks.  That even took awhile to do.

Oil leak progress and other stuff

Tuesday I started on the oil pan gasket replacement. It looked like a pretty easy thing to do. Remove the starter, which was easy with the one wire and 2 bolts. Then the cross brace under the engine came off. It was easier than the Dodge 440 starter. Then all the bolts were taken out of the pan only to find out that I needed to drop the exhaust pipes from the manifolds to get the pan to come out. I had thought about just working the new one around the pan without taking it all the way off but I did find that a couple of pieces of gasket material were stuck blocking part of the oil pump screen so it was a good thing to take it all the way off.

The exhaust bolts came off pretty good. Sprayed the bolts with rust buster and did the loosen and tighten thing with them until they came off. Since I had the starter out I ran it down to O’Reilly’s auto parts and had them check it on their machine. It was good but just thought it would be good to check it.

Later I was able to put the new gasket on the pan and install it. I even replaced the cross brace before running out of energy and calling it a day.

Wednesday I installed the starter and the exhaust. No big problems until it came to removing the old oil filter. Now it has been some time since an oil filter has given me a workout but this one did not want to unscrew without a battle. It looked a little worse for wear when it finally gave up and unscrewed.

Then with fresh oil and filter I took a serious look at the radiator and fan shroud. This thing has been rubbing the fan on the shroud for awhile now. There was even a thought of lowering the radiator, but after taking out the 4 screws the shroud dropped down to where it should be and was tight enough to just put some cable ties in and I think it will be fine like that. Another thing that was bothering me was the air intake for the engine. From the inside the snorkel just flopped around and didn’t feel like it was attached to anything. Once I removed the heavy covers around the top of the radiator I saw the snorkel was not attached and it had dropped down behind the top of the radiator so that I could not even fit a finger between it and something that would keep the engine from getting fresh air. This was another thing that was good to fix.

So after getting those things fixed I took it for a drive. First just around the block and checked for leaks, then a farther and faster drive still without leaks and finally a long fast drive. No more Smokey but still some leaking oil. I am not sure where it is coming from but it looks like the oil pan gasket is working fine. There is an auxiliary oil cooler the has hoses from the oil filter area to something up around the radiator that might be leaking. More cleanup and drive to find this leak. But the exhaust pipe was not smoking so this is an improvement.

There was something in the mail today for Smokey. I received the LED lights I ordered from China. And tonight I hooked them up to see how they looked just laying inside Smokey. So far I think they will be fun to use in the ceiling lights. Stay tuned for the lighting upgrade.

The new LED lights just plugged into the lighter and layed on the floor.  That's a lot of light.

In the center of the picture is a small box and that is the intake for the engine.  It was dropped down behind here and blocked the air.
 

And I unbolted the cooling fan shroud and it moved into place so for now I will leave it unbolted and zip tied in place.  So that doesn't rub.

I took the weekend off and internet is down

Please check back in a couple of days as I do not have internet right now.  It should be back in a couple of days as I work on my Superchief.

I'm on the coast this weekend

Friday we left Smokey home and headed to the Coast with Wilbur.  Cannon Beach RV resort.

Wilbur on the left, Wall-E and Jeffs '73 on the right.

 

 

And of course Terry needed to add a choke cable to his newly installed carb.
He said he is getting 11 MPG, but you know how he lies.