[VAC] Re: General Maintenance frequency

[Jim Dunmyer <jdunmyer@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Jill,
 The others have given you good advice, but I'll add my $.02 worth
anyway:

When I get an old [tractor, car, truck, machine tool, whatever], I start
out with an "inventory" of sorts, looking it over closely. Next, is a
full "tuneup" according to the manual. 

In the case of the trailer, that means pulling the wheels, checking
brakes, and repacking wheel bearings. Install new seals in the hubs.
After adjusting the brakes, check them for operation by applying power
to the "brake" wire in the connector. Check the condition of that
connector and the pigtail while you're at it.

Check and repair all inoperative exterior lights. Check condition of
hitch. Lubricate the jack, screw and thrust bearing on the top;
disassembly will be required.

Replace the tires if you don't know for a fact that they're less than 5
or 6 years old. My Avion had good-looking tires on it, but I decided to
take this advice myself; I found cracks down between the treads even
though the sidewalls looked OK.

Lube the stabilizer jacks if it has permanently-mounted ones.

Check all appliances for operation, water pump included. Check the drain
valve(s) for leaks, repair as necessary. Check the battery(s) with a
load tester, replace if they don't show "good". Check the converter to
be sure it's working and is charging the battery correctly. (not too
much overcharge)

Look for loose wires in the compartments and secure with cable clamps
and wire ties as needed. As Gerald pointed out, loose wires will break
from the road shocks/vibration.

Be skeptical of everything, look for incipient trouble. The gas lines
are routed under the trailer, make sure that they're tightly secured.
Check the condition of the propane tank hold-down assy; the one on my
Avion was so bad that I removed the tanks for the 10-mile trip home.

Anything that's shakey to start with is GOING to give you trouble on the
road. No matter how hard a job you think it is to fix it now, it's going
to be 10 times worse when you're on the road. On our recent sojurn, the
lock washer under the nut on the hitch ball split, causing the ball to
be loose. Of course, the nut was tightly frozen to the ball stud. Very
fortunately for us, we were at a friend's house and said friend was
close buddies with a guy down the road who had a garage. We were able to
take the ball mount to the shop, torch off the ball, run down the road
to the McAllen, TX Camping World and buy a new ball. Using a pipe wrench
with a 3' cheater, we tightened 'er up. Easy job where we were, nothin'
job if I was home, would have been a big problem anywhere else.

By working on all of this stuff yourself, you become empowered, no
longer at the mercy of the kid at the local RV place. He may or may not
care if he gets your wheel bearings adjusted correctly, but you most
certainly DO. Also, troubles on the road aren't nearly as crippling if
you know your trailer's systems. We had another failure while on the
road this Winter: the voltage converter lost all of its factory smoke.
As our batteries were good (tested 'em before leaving home), I knew that
one night wasn't going to be a problem. We went to the local Wal-Mart
the next day and bought a $40.00 battery charger, clipped it to the
batterys, and plugged 'er in. Although we could have probably finished
the trip with that charger, we stopped at a Camping World store a few
days later and bought a new converter. Tied in the wires and left it sit
on the floor. This problem was no more than a minor annooyance for us
because I know how to troubleshoot and fix that stuff. Someone else
could have been highly inconvenienced.

Some of these repair and maintenance items will be pretty much one-time
(when you first obtain your new-to-you Vintage trailer, others are
periodic. Wheel bearings should be repacked every 10-12 thousand miles
or annually, for instance.

Sooo... There's several points to be made:

1. Try to have it wrenched up tight before you drop 'er on the ball.
2. Expect to have minor problems anyway.
3. Learn as much as you can so those problems really are MINOR.
4. Accept the fact that you will probably have some troubles anyway.
5. Don't have such a tight schedule that fixing a minor problem is going
to ruin your entire trip.

If you have nothing else, you should own (and carry) a copy of
Livingston's "RV Maintenance & Repair" and the shop manual for whatever
you're towing with. Along with an assortment of tools, of course.

Good Luck!!

                                                  <<Jim>>