Coach Maintenance Under Way

January 5, 2010
Hudson, FL

The coach alignment was completed on Monday, and we're having a fogged window repaired today.

Alignment for a motorhome is a bit different than in a car, where it's normally just a "front-end" thing. For motorhomes, they have to check that alignment and tracking of all three axles. Now the steer and tag axles rarely get out of whack and when they do, it's a big job to fix them (cutting torches and welders are involved). Our motorhome's tag axle was out of line from manufacturing, and we had that fixed several years ago under warranty.

Fortunately, only the steer axle required a minor adjustment this time. Since the chassis uses an air suspension, they also have to check and set the ride height (how high or low each wheel's air bags are set for travel). Changing the ride height can impact the front-end alignment, so that has to be done first. We needed a minor adjustment on the right rear this time. At some point, I'll learn to do that myself, although it's very difficult without a pit to access the linkage underneath that needs adjusting.

Before we left Arizona, I did a lube and oil maintenance, and at that point I wasn't happy with the grease fittings on the driveshaft's u-joints. Sure, enough, they were starting to go bad, with grease failing to flow to all wear surfaces, so those were replaced as well.

Overall, the shop (Josam - www.josamusa.com) did a great job. They use specialty laser alignment equipment developed in Sweden (they are the US distributor) and are one of 2-3 places nationwide that really specialized in large motorhomes.

While the alignment was being done, we went to breakfast (Cracker Barrel) and took a ride about 3 miles west to verify that we'd be able to easily get on I-4 when we left (we could). As we were turning around, we saw a Whole Foods so we had to stop in for a few things. With additional stops at Publix, WalMart, PetsMart, and Costco (only a few things at each place, thankfully!), everything on "the list" was crossed off. When we got back to Josam's, they were just wrapping up so we paid, hooked up and were on our way by noon (you can do that when they start work just after 6:30 AM!).

Our destination was in Hudson, FL, about 120 miles of driving away. We were glad we got out of Orlando at a reasonable time, since we needed to stop for fuel and would have made the Flying J in Seffner, FL, our overnight stop if we were later. Fortunately, our friend Rod gave us the heads-up that this place was very tight and we just stopped for fuel. What a zoo! Several truck/RV (they're the same at this place) were closed off and there was a line of RVs at the propane filling station, blocking the truck exit. We were lucky enough to find a space and squeak through, but we'll definitely mark that "J" down as an "avoid" in the future.

In spite of the adventure in fueling, we arrived at Suncoast Designers (http://suncoastdesigners.ccwindow.com/rvservices.html) around 3:00 PM. These folks have a side business repairing fogged and/or leaking RV windows. We heard about them in online RV groups and in the FMCA Magazine and, since we had to pass close by and since we have a fogged and leaking window next to the driver, a stop was an easy decision. I'd called to make an appointment before we left Arizona, and knew that they had on-site overnight parking. In fact, they recently upgraded so they have about 12 spots with 50 amp electric and water. Just like being at Camp Monaco. We backed into an open spot and plugged in, checked in, and then settled in for the night. I made a couple of passable (not Philly quality but edible) cheesesteaks for dinner, having found shaved beef at the grocery. Since there wasn't anything on the tube, we decided to try out the new travel Scrabble game Geri picked up. We played two close games, splitting 1 and 1 before these early days caught up with us. With the furnace set to ward off the freezing temperatures, we called it a night.

Today, we were up early again. The installer (actually I suppose "de-installer" since he was here to remove the window) was knocking on the door around 7:45, so Geri headed for the car with the pups. Once the window was removed, they covered the hole with a cardboard/plastic panel to keep the frigid winds outside. Although it's warmed up nicely inside as the sun has come out, it's still only 43°F out with a 15 MPH wind, so we're sticking close to home today...

Hopefully, they'll wrap up the window work this afternoon (several people were packing up and heading out late in the afternoon yesterday), although our plan is to stay here tonight and make the drive to Panama City Beach, first stop on our trip back west, tomorrow.