johnwen

Thanks, John....hope that is in the future. Thanks, all, for your help and info. About the wheel bearings...Hull 996 picked up on 13 Jan and been back to Oliver twice now for annual service. They have checked the bearings as good and I have as well. No wobble at all. After severe cupping on one wheel I changed all tires for 4 new ones. Trailer had over 42,000 miles at that time. Then on to Alcan where the 5th strut failed on the way. Actually after finding total failure of the front two struts, I just replaced them all. Here are the original 2 that I removed after the severe cupping started. We are safely on the road to SC with good struts...for now :) Is it possible the numerous severe dips in the road can cause fluid from within the strut to be forced out with a really large compression and over time become dry inside the cylinder, where it no longer is effective at all? GJ...I'm going to need a beer before I start reading your reply :) Probably tonight :) Thanks for your help. John

Hi GJ, I haven't had the Alcans but for only a couple of weeks (Colorado to Mississippi). Tucker did say he wouldn't be surprised if the stiffer springs would HELP with absorbing more of the road oscillations and make it a little easier on the shocks. We travel with the cruise on 62 mph...max. And most of the severe dips occur on the interstate for us. I try to use the tell tale signs of trucks black tire marks around those dips I'm talking about, but with a few floaters in my eyes I sometimes don't see them as fast as I should. A few on the back roads but mostly on the interstates. Potholes are the main surprise on the back roads, not so much on the severe dips. We attempt to avoid interstates if at all possible...fewer crazy drivers, better roads, and much better views (we don't need to get anywhere fast). We will continue to replace the shocks as needed for I feel they do smooth the ride out for the trailer (IMO). I could tell a difference when living in our Casita. Things remained in place better for the ride down the road. I have experience with and without shocks for the Casita. I'll take the shocks! I may take the speed down to 60mph...I'm in my own world at those speeds anyway :) Could be that the Oliver could benefit with a redesign to accommodate larger shocks similar to that of a vehicle. I need to find and test out a Bulldog shock, if I can find one. I'll post back in a couple of months to reveal my experiences. John

Probably won't get the TV shocks changed until Dec and won't know the effect until our trip out to Quartzsite mid January. Will follow up!

JD Tucker at Alcan shares that view as well....that's why we don't mind driving with the bad one removed until I can replace it. Good point about extras. I'm getting pretty good with the changeouts :) My bad experience was having to change out the severely cupped tires that I suspect was the fault of the sheared shafts on the front 2 shocks (previous post). Hopefully changing out the TV shocks will help.

Hi Kim and David, No on the recommendations. I like the lifetime warranty from O'Reilly but dislike the replacement frequency....don't know at this time if it is the TV causing the problem or the Monroe shock. Will provide update as time goes on. Next course of action for me is to replace all shocks on my TV. It appears the unavailable Bulldog may be the only option (but that is not much of an option if unavailable). I asked O'Reilly if 555001 leads to other option but they saw none.

We're in southern Mississippi just after traversing some pretty rough roads across Louisiana. We've retorqued the u bolts per Alcan's recommendations and then some. A few still need minor tweaking so I'll continue checking for another 1000 miles or so. The Alcans seem to be doing great and I'm glad we went that route. Lew and Tucker were a pleasure to meet and they taught me a few things :) I changed my Oliver shocks in July, in Maine, with Monroe Magnum 555001s. Upon completion of the springs install in Colorado, Tucker informed me 1 of the struts were blown and would not extend after compressing it. We continued on to our next destination without the bad shock installed and I re-installed another 555001 after a visit with O'Reilly (not a common stock item so had to be ordered ahead of time). All was going well until Louisiana roads...after reaching Lake Mary Crawford, a public fishing lake by Monticello, MS, I discovered 2 more shocks leaking, removed them and ordered 2 more from O'Reilly. Only 1 came in so I reinstalled the best of the 2. They would extend ok after compressing so I figure they has some life left, but had oil that had leaked from the top of the shock. I wiped the shocks down and will check on them from time to time until getting back to SC. I'm thinking the frequent severe porpoising through dips in the road for over 30+ miles may have forced the oil out and down the bottom outside cylinder. We will see if the struts continue to leak and report back at a later date. My TV now has 121000+ miles (over 21000 so far this year alone since leaving SC) on it and I'm seriously thinking about replacing the shocks on it when we get back. They're not leaking nor appear in bad shape but the truck seems to be a little more springy on hard stops and porpoises a little more than when newer. The tires are new so no unusual wear at this time. I have had zero problems with exchanging the bad shocks at O'Reilly's (lifetime guarantee...thanks Steve L) but am thinking I'll want to try another brand to see if it lasts a little longer. Still happy campers here... :) John

Thanks David, Springs are replaced, but 1 of my 2 1/2 month old Monroe shocks was blown (I replaced all 4 in July). Thanks to Scuba Rx my lifetime guaranteed shock from O'Reilly was ordered at the next stop and I replaced it...no problem).

Congrats, Jason B. Best of luck and we're looking forward to meeting you next time through :)

Appointment at 0730 at Alcan in Grand Junction, and plan to do the same with the old ones...after a thousand or so miles :)

Mike, Ours had 2 screws, 1 each side, just behind the lower faceplate...accessible only after sliding the cabinet out a little. Hope the festival was a good time! John

Buffalo National Grasslands is about 6 mi south of wall...park right on the edge of a cliff :) Boondocking of course.

Update... I've been able to separate the pleated material from the upper and lower grab bars so I should be able to now route the new string. One of Mike's pictures showed the blind separating from the grab bar so I persisted until it came apart. I can now access the area I needed to. Now to actually restring, adjust tension, and reassemble. Will post result in a couple of days :) (progress...I think) John

Glad ya'll are ok Bill. Ground zero during Hugo was certainly no fun but I fondly remember how everyone pulled together to get through the aftermath. Safety during cleanup was so important for all. Best of luck and prayers for quick recovery. John

Bill, I saw Mike's post and it looks as if he was able to detach the pleated shade from the pull down bar which sure would make threading along that bar easier instead of using a wire. I'll try the wire. Thanks for the help Bill. John

Mike It looks as if you were able to separate the blind from the plastic pulldown bar, in the 6th picture, and that's where I think I need to run the string. John

Thanks, Mike, Do you remember how you snaked the string along the inside of the upper and lower grab bars and made the 90 degree turn through the brass grommets? John

You should try Jupiter campground, just inside the National Park....1st come 1st serve boondocking with many turkeys walking through the campsites. As you know, lots of hiking around. (2 years ago)

Are they still showing Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind every night at the KOA? :)

Hi Mike, I have started on this project and printed out all the diagrams but after the 4 frame corners are disassembled where do I start? Start at the spring and let the routing of the the string make its journey through all the channels and holes and back to the spring? I can't see how I can pass the string through the upper and lower screen rails unless I connect the old string to the new string to pass through those blind rails and through the grommets. The plugs on the ends of the screen rails can be removed by removing 2 steel pins on each end but it doesn't open up any space to speak of to run the string up and through the grommets. I'm sure I'm overlooking something obvious but can't see where to proceed after the corners of the frame are opened up. I'll put a call in to the company tomorrow and see what they have to say. But now I have things put back together and reinstalled. The night shade is being held up with a spring clip for now and will be ok until I can find a way to proceed. Thanks for any help :) John

Hey Ya'll... Wonderful vids! What type phone are you using? Reminds me of our travels there last year, but without the smoke :) John

Thanks for the updates :) Enjoy Yellowstone...hope you brought sweaters :) Happy Trails, Us

Hi Claudia, When we were in our Casita I had a similar occurrence, but only occasionally and it took me a while to figure it out. The Casita's vent stack exhaust is pretty darn close to the bathrooms ceiling vent fan and when I had the bathroom ceiling vent open but not running along with the bathroom window open and various cabin windows open, air would circulate through the cabin and exit the bathroom window creating a vacuum through the ceiling fan opening and drawing odors from the outside vent stack. It drove me nuts and would only happen occasionally when the wind conditions were right. Closing the bathroom ceiling vent cured the problem. I suppose just closing the bathroom window, to interrupt the airflow through the bathroom, would have worked as well. That's my only experience and may be worth a try. Hope it's something simple :) John

Haven't missed ours either, Mike. Took me 2 years to finally make up my mind and mine was a real bugger to remove the residue.

Steve, we plan to be there if things go well :)

I installed mine a few hundred miles ago...seem to be doing fine. Thanks, Steve, for the O'Reilly tip :) John