Replacing Our RV Front Shocks (DIY)

With our extended winter stay I have had time to not only fix all the little things on the RV and our CRV but I also to tackle some bigger jobs . One such job I wanted to do was to replace the shocks on the front end of our Tiffin Allegro Bay.

After reading online about how to best do this I was surprised at how easy this job would be. The only real challenge it seemed would be to loosen the nuts initially off of the bolts holding the shocks to the chassis. In addition my next challenge was to determine which shocks to order.

After reading many reviews and accounts of other RV’ers I came to the conclusion that I would replace the front shocks with Koni shocks. These shocks come very highly rated by others and I read many accounts of happy campers for those who went with the Konis as their replacement shocks.

Most accounts I read said to make sure to order shocks specific to your chassis and year model. I contacted shock warehouse via a chat session to determine what I needed. After telling them my year model and chassis of our RV they told me what to order. The shocks came in about 5 days later and during that time I had sprayed Liquid Wrench on each of the shock nuts and bolts hoping to make them easier to remove.

The bolts and nuts needed 1 1/8” sockets (1/2” drive). The other tools I needed were a large 12 “ adjustable crescent wrench , an 18” 1/2” drive breaker bar, a propane torch with a quick start and a piece of pipe to extend the breaker bar’s length. With tools in had I tried to remove the nuts off the bolts. After using the pipe to extend the breaker bars length and  bit of heave and ho the two bottom nuts came off.

The top bolts were much harder to loosen. One finally broke free using the full length of the pipe and breaker bar but the other one required the use of the propane torch to heat the nut hoping to cause it to expand and break free from whatever was causing it to seize up. Well after a bit of cussing and grunting it also finally broke free.

With the shocks out I opened the new ones only to discover the holes in the top of the shocks were too small to accept the wider bolts that came out of the old shocks. CRAP, I have the wrong shocks!!! So after contacting shock warehouse and going back and forth with them they finally agreed to pay the shipping for me to return the new ones and get the correct ones sent back to me.

The problem with the initial order was I have a FRED which is a front engine diesel chassis in our RV and they required a different shock. The company tried to assign blame to me saying I ordered the wrong ones but after showing them my saved chat session they realized that maybe they should have asked me if I had a FRED chassis. Anyhow it took a while to get the new shocks but eventually the right ones were sent to us without me having to pay additional shipping.

Installing the shocks was easy and straight forward as I simply reversed the steps on how I took the old ones out. Now I should mention that I had my jacks down already as we have been parked and set up on our site. As a result I didn’t have to raise the rig to remove the shocks . The shocks have no weight bearing on them so they really are simple to remove once the nuts are freed.

The only trick in putting on the new ones is to put the top bolts on first so you can pull (albeit not easily) the lower half of the shock down so the hole lines up up with the chassis hole for the lower bolts.

Anyone can do this job and other than some awkward arm positions the task takes less than an hour to remove and replace your shocks. With this behind me I will rest awhile before I move on to another big one as our water heater just went out…..sigh.

NOTE: We are still at our winter site until March 1st in Bonita Springs, Florida…

Having Fun in Southwestern Florida…

We are still enjoying the mostly great weather here in southwest Florida. It has already  been  nearly two months now and the time is passing by quickly. While we haven't been doing a whole lot other than enjoying our park and friends, we have found time amongst our busy days (tongue in cheek) to enjoy a hike or two.

The Gordon River Greenway Park did a great job of listing information about many of the plants on plaques alongside the trail. We spotted some wild cotton and loved seeing the reddish immature True Bugs (top photo) crawling around one of the wild cotton balls. We saw lots of birds and since it is Florida there were various wildflowers blooming adding a splash of color along the trail as well.

We also made it over to the Naples Greyhound Track to bet on the dogs on the twice monthly Dollar Days venue happening on the 1st and 3rd Fridays when the track sells hotdogs, popcorn soda and beer for $1.00. That’s right for $5 you can get two hotdogs, two beers and still tip the help a buck.  We aren’t huge gamblers but betting $2 per race allows us some cheap entertainment especially when we actually win.

This is the last year in Florida for the Greyhound Races since the voters voted to ban greyhound racing starting next year. I guess there will be a lot of dogs available for adoption as well as a lot of unemployed folks at these huge empty race tracks. It will be interesting to see what becomes of the greyhound tracks in Florida.

We also have been having a grand time socializing with both our snowbird friends from the north and our RV friends we have met along our travels across the USA. There are many opportunities for social activities and happy hours including a very fun street dance. We were lucky enough to have our site adjacent to the street dance so our friends brought over their chairs and we had a nice crowd in front of our RV dancing the night away.

One of our favorite activities is re-uniting with RV friends and this time it was with Steve and Mona Lisa whom we traveled into Mexico with a few years ago. We met them at the Brass Tap for a few beverages and snacks while discussing our future plans. We had a great time seeing them  and will do so again before they leave this area.

With a little over one month remaining for our winter stay I have begun planning our trek toward Louisiana and Texas and as many of you may have guessed, I am starting to get a little hitch itch again…

NOTE: We are now at our winter site for the season in Bonita Springs, Florida…

Test Blog–SOLVED OLW 400 and 404 errors

Okay I finally got Open Live Writer (OLW) to work… here is what I did…

First get the patch for OLW 0.6.3 and run the setup file.

You then need to open the file location where Open Live Writer is installed, you can do this by right mouse clicking on open live writer, then click on properties and then finally click on Open File Location. Once you are in the OLW directory locate the file named update.exe and either rename it or simply delete it. What this does is fix the patched OLW from opening multiple instances.

Lastly go into Google Photos and look at your albums. If you were like me you have many albums named Open Live Writer. Look to see if each of the albums are shared. If they aren’t shared simply rename the album i.e. I renamed mine Open Live Writer 1

Try a test post and if you are lucky like me OLW will finally work again.

Built a PVC Bike Rack and Enjoying the Sunshine…

Our routine has been delightful as we settle into our daily activities here in Imperial Bonita Estates RV Park. We have been here about 1 1/2 months which leaves us another 1 1/2 months to go and yes. I admit it, I am starting to get a little bit of hitch itch. Nonetheless we continue to enjoy our stay this winter.

One day I was enjoying a late happy hour with a nearby Canadian neighbor named Bob. I noticed Bob had a nifty bike rack made out of PVC pipe on the side of his RV. I looked it over and decided I wanted one too. I looked online and found several examples of larger bike racks but none with plans for a 2 Bike Rack. Finally I basically took the plans Home Depot had online for a three bike rack and converted it into what I wanted.

Twenty seven dollars and change later I had a new bike rack!.I bought two 10 foot pieces of 3/4 inch PVC and rode them home on bicycle. I also purchased the necessary T’s and Elbow joints to complete the project. I measured all the pieces and cut them by setting up a little jig and clamp system to hold down the pieces as I cut them with a hack saw. Yes, there are better ways to do this but it is what I had so I dealt with it.

After I cut all the pieces I used some sand paper to sand the burs off the inside of each piece of PVC pipe. I also used my electric drill with a grinder bit to round the edges of the cut pieces of PVC pipe.With all the pieces prepped it was easy to fit them all together to quickly make this bike stand. Well, it was almost that easy… I measured one side a bit too long and had to had to re-cut those pieces, grind and the re-sand them so they could be used to properly assemble the bike rack.

Pretty cool, we now have that nifty bike rack I wanted which also doubles as a way to block the path of those who felt compelled to cut through our site. Don;t get me started… Anyhow for those of us who have bikes without kickstands this is a great solution for parking bikes upright and not having to lean them on a tree or the picnic table.

Other than little projects we have also made some time to visit the beach and walk miles along its seashore while looking at the seashells, dolphins and birds along the way. We even explored a new brewery in town although it wasn’t all that great. So even though I have hitch itch we are still managing to be productive and find some fun things to do…

NOTE: We are now at our winter site for the season in Bonita Springs, Florida…

Built a PVC Bike Rack and Enjoying the Sunshine…

NOTE: I am having issues with a ERROR 400 “Bad Request Error” when uploading my blog with pictures. As soon as I solve this I will add pictures to the blog

Our routine has been delightful as we settle into our daily activities here in Imperial Bonita Estates RV Park. We have been here about 1 1/2 months which leaves us another 1 1/2 months to go and yes. I admit it, I am starting to get a little bit of hitch itch. Nonetheless we continue to enjoy our stay this winter.

One day I was enjoying a late happy hour with a nearby Canadian neighbor named Bob. I noticed Bob had a nifty bike rack made out of PVC pipe on the side of his RV. I looked it over and decided I wanted one too. I looked online and found several examples of larger bike racks but none with plans for a 2 Bike Rack. Finally I basically took the plans Home Depot had online for a three bike rack and converted it into what I wanted.

Twenty seven dollars and change later I had a new bike rack!.I bought two 10 foot pieces of 3/4 inch PVC and rode them home on bicycle. I also purchased the necessary T’s and Elbow joints to complete the project. I measured all the pieces and cut them by setting up a little jig and clamp system to hold down the pieces as I cut them with a hack saw. Yes, there are better ways to do this but it is what I had so I dealt with it.

After I cut all the pieces I used some sand paper to sand the burs off the inside of each piece of PVC pipe. I also used my electric drill with a grinder bit to round the edges of the cut pieces of PVC pipe.With all the pieces prepped it was easy to fit them all together to quickly make this bike stand. Well, it was almost that easy… I measured one side a bit too long and had to had to re-cut those pieces, grind and the re-sand them so they could be used to properly assemble the bike rack.

Pretty cool, we now have that nifty bike rack I wanted which also doubles as a way to block the path of those who felt compelled to cut through our site. Don;t get me started… Anyhow for those of us who have bikes without kickstands this is a great solution for parking bikes upright and not having to lean them on a tree or the picnic table.

Other than little projects we have also made some time to visit the beach and walk miles along its seashore while looking at the seashells, dolphins and birds along the way. We even explored a new brewery in town although it wasn’t all that great. So even though I have hitch itch we are still managing to be productive and find some fun things to do…

NOTE: We are now at our winter site for the season in Bonita Springs, Florida…

Step Repair and a Small Modification…

One of the best things about having an extended stay this winter is it gives us time to fix some things that we have been ignoring as well as take care of some larger repairs. The most pressing large repair was that we needed to fix our steps. You may remember I penned a blog about replacing the step motor in California. Last year I rebuilt the steps by changing out all the loose bolts.

Well now our problem was the steps had broken. One of the steel slats on the outside edge of the top step cracked and resulted in our steps becoming very bouncy, and I mean VERY BOUNCY. This much needed repair required me to remove the steps first by disconnecting the cables/wires to the motor and ground, then next by removing the four bolts which hold the steps to the RV. Sounds easy right? Well, not so fast, as it was really hard to get to two of these bolts which required me to blindly explore to find the nut on the top of the steps to remove them.

Anyhow, once the stairs were off I took them over to a welding shop to have the crack repaired. The welder not only repaired the crack but added a side brace to strengthen the area around it. He also recommended I do the same bracing on the other side to prevent the same crack occurring on that side. Forty dollars later (a very fair price I thought) I spent the next two hours trying to get that one nearly impossible bolt back on the steps. I am not sure I would have ever gotten it on if I hadn’t basically taped the nut head to the crescent wrench to get the bolt started.

Another minor upgrade I needed to make was to add a fan on the cabinet wall in between the TV and our stereo receiver. This became necessary as our TV had been sometimes overheated and recently our stereo receiver posted a “Thermal Error” which shut it down due to excessive heat.

I bought a nifty fan on Amazon which is powered via USB cable. By plugging it into either the TV or the stereo receiver the fan will come on anytime the unit is turned on allowing for air movement around the device to keep it cooler. But first I had to cut a hole in the 5/8” wall where I wanted to place the fan. I cut the hole by initially using a power drill to drill holes on each corner of the square I planned to cut out. Next I used a jig saw with a wood blade and slowly cut out the square.

This, of course, made quite a mess so all the sawdust had to be cleaned up before continuing. Since I didn’t want to attached the fan to the wood as it would not provided efficient airflow I cut the hole larger than the fan. I then had to get creative by using one of our old license plates from the RV to make a plate upon which to attach the fan on so I could then secure the plate to the wall. I cut the hole in the license plate the same way I cut the the one in the wall but used a metal cutting blade in the jig saw. If I do say so myself it was a perfect solution as the fan is in and doing its job.

With those items repaired I took two things off of our TO DO list for our winter stay. Don’t worry about us being bored here as the TO DO list has plenty more on it…

NOTE: We are now at our winter site for the season in Bonita Springs, Florida…

A New Year and Why Some People Give Up the RV Lifestyle…

Another year has gone by the wayside and they sure seem to be getting shorter… As we let 2018 fade into the past we look forward to having a better year in 2019. Last year wasn’t our best year financially as we had a rash of RV repairs and we aren’t done yet. I still need to replace the front shocks and one tire on the RV. Hopefully I can get it all done before we leave Bonita Springs, Florida.

The year 2018 wasn’t all bad though as we stayed in a lot of new places we thoroughly enjoyed and spent several months with our daughter leading up to her beautiful wedding. However we often wonder if we had encountered the large expenses of replacing our turbo and exhaust manifold early on in our travels whether we would have given up on traveling. It is fairly common for folks that want to RV and tour the USA to become disenchanted their first year on the road if they were unfortunate enough to encounter high repair costs during their very first year’s travels. Often times these same folks toss back their RV keys, sell it all and move back into a sticks and bricks.

Upon reading these accounts I always felt as if these people might not be giving the RV lifestyle a long enough chance but after encountering a year such as theirs I can now fully appreciate why some choose to give up the lifestyle. This lifestyle isn’t all a vacation every day as life on the road has its unique ways of reminding you that it isn’t going to be all fun and games.

In addition we know we are fortunate in that we haven’t encountered any major health issues during our nearly eight years on the road as that is another reason folks must give up the RV lifestyle as well. While we do have our own health concerns we aren’t tied to having to stay in one spot because of them nor do we have any debilitating issues which make performing the day to day tasks of RV’ing limited.

We have also noticed that other RV’ers leave the lifestyle due to family member’s health declining (usually parents as they are aging). We don’t have to worry about parents aging as both of our parents are deceased. Only my mother was still alive when we started on the road and I was fortunate in that my sister was with Mom to watch over her before and after she entered a care facility in Texas.

While we may have taken a financial hit in 2018 we are very thankful we still have our health and our children are healthy as well so there is nothing stopping us (but ourselves) from continuing to travel around the USA in Abbey, our RV. In that spirit we celebrated the new year with our traditional good luck meal (black eyed peas and tamales) in the hope it will ensure the upcoming year will be a happy one. Here is hoping that all our readers also have a healthy and rewarding 2019 while traveling and may there be no issues limiting your planned activities. Our 2019 plans will take us out west  and we also look forward to seeing you all on our Road of Retirement.

NOTE: We are now at our winter site for the season in Bonita Springs, Florida…