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.