Traveling Repair Kits

[Naegele]

Have any of you “long time Boy/girl Scouts”, be prepared types, assembled a take-with-you repair kit for potential repairs?  Not talking about typical tools so much, but more about parts?  Our Ollie is about 8 months old and a plumbing PEX fitting in the hot water plumbing snapped off allowing a water line to come completely free during transit due to strain on the fitting from unsupported PEX line weight.  I plan to review the plumbing system more and inventory a kit of fittings, PEX tubing, PEX cutter, etc. to avoid the hassle of losing time camping running to the hardware store for a parts fix. Also will look at more strain relief on fittings using zip ties, brackets, etc.  I’ll post what I come up with.  I do carry electrical basics , wheel bearings, bottle jack, tire plug kit, etc.  If anyone has a preferred grouping of parts and specialty tools please share.  

[DavidS]

8 minutes ago, Naegele said:

If anyone has a preferred grouping of parts and specialty tools please share.  

I had a similar pex problem on a camping trip, reviewed in this post. 

After that experience, my suggestion to others who want to be prepared was to buy a crimping tool with clamps ($29.68) and some brass elbows ($8.99) from Amazon. 

[Mike and Carol]

We carry the pex things David listed above.  I’ve zip tied a lot of our plumbing to reduce bounce around.  Fuses, normal and slow blow for the jacks... a variety of zip ties, white duct tape, faucet gaskets, a variety of batteries, extra corkscrew,....probably some other stuff too.  Mike 

[Naegele]

Thanks David, I did a search but didn’t see this thread.  It’s a good start.  I lick the Shark Bite stuff over crimps or hose clamps but might need all.  Definitely a major pain when you fire up the water and have a gusher!

[Overland]

Here's what I carry -

Plumbing:

• ½" brass pex fittings: elbows (2), tees (2), ½" NPT adapters (2), ½" NPT elbow adapters (2), ½" valve (1)
• #4 stainless hose clamps (8)
• ½" press-fit end cap (1)
• ½" pex tubing (6 feet) - a single long piece is easy to stuff in the hull and not get lost
• ½" flex hose (1)
• Male garden hose fitting (1)
• Female garden hose fitting (1)
• Garden hose splice (1)
• Garden hose washers (4)
• Garden hose screen washers (2)
• Spare water pump - yes, I carry a complete spare pump
• Kitchen faucet repair kit - this kit came with my kitchen faucet
• Silicone tape
• Press-fit removal tool
• Bolt cutters - to remove copper crimps
• Utility knife

You'll note that I don't carry a lot of press-fit stuff or a crimper.  For emergency repairs, I think it's more practical to carry the small brass fittings and use hose clamps.  You can always swap them out for crimps later (though honestly the pipe clamps hold better).  They're almost as easy to use as press-fit stuff and take up much less room.  Plus there are places in my trailer that are too tight for press-fit fittings anyway, and it would be silly to carry two types.  

 

Electrical:

• 12 awg wire (15')
• 12/3 romex (3')
• Wire nuts (4)
• Wago lever nuts (assortment)
• Misc 12 volt fittings (assortment)
• Misc 12 volt fuses (assortment)
• Primary 400A fuse (1)
• Jack fuses (4)
• Spare GFCI outlet (1) - very important!
• Locking cigarette lighter plug (1)
• Refrigerator light bulbs (2)
• Lamp light bulbs (2) - for the lamp I installed on the nightstand
• Electrical tape
• Crimper/Stripper

 

Misc Parts:

• Spare propane regulator (1)
• Spare awning clips (2) - these are the little orange clips on the Carefree awnings that are destined to break one day

 

Misc Repair Items:

• 3M 4200 (1 3 oz tube)
• 3M 4000UV (1 3 oz tube)
• Silicone sealant (1 3 oz tube)
• Eternabond roof repair tape (1 roll)
• Awning repair tape (12")
• Screen repair tape (assortment)
• Clear tenacious tape (12")
• 1" Gorilla tape (1 roll)
• Bungee cords (various)
• Zip ties (various)
• Metal wire (1 roll)
• Velcro strips (various)
• 1" VHB tape (1 roll)
• WD-40 (1 3 oz can)
• Lithium grease (1 1.5 oz tube)

 

That looks like a ton of stuff, but the majority of it fits in a 12" x 12" x 4" Blue Ridge tool bag that stuffs easily in the basement.  A few of the larger spares are in a box that's secured between the hulls along with some other items like the romex and pex tube , small things that I'm more likely to use I keep in the utility drawer, and a few things are always in the truck.  

Edited July 11, 2020 by Overland

[Patriot]

1 minute ago, Overland said:

Here's what I carry -

Plumbing:

• ½" brass pex fittings: elbows (2), tees (2), ½" NPT adapters (2), ½" NPT elbow adapters (2), ½" valve (1)
• #4 stainless pipe clamps (8)
• ½" press-fit end cap (1)
• ½" pex tubing (4 feet)
• ½" flex hose (1)
• Male garden hose fitting (1)
• Female garden hose fitting (1)
• Garden hose splice fitting (1)
• Garden hose washers (4)
• Garden hose screen washers (2)
• Water pump
• Kitchen faucet repair kit
• Silicone tape
• Press-fit removal tool
• Bolt cutters
• Utility knife

You'll note that I don't carry a lot of press-fit stuff.  For emergency repairs, I think it's much more practical to carry the small brass fittings and use pipe clamps.  They're almost as easy to use and take up much less room.  Plus there are places in my trailer that are too tight for press-fit fittings anyway, and it would be silly to carry two types.  

 

Electrical:

• 12 awg wire (15')
• 12/3 romex (3')
• Wire nuts (4)
• Wago lever nuts (assortment)
• Misc 12 volt fittings (assortment)
• Misc 12 volt fuses (assortment)
• Primary 400A fuse (1)
• Jack fuses (4)
• GFCI outlet (1)
• Locking cigarette lighter plug (1)
• Refrigerator light bulbs (2)
• Lamp light bulbs (2)
• Electrical tape
• Crimper/Stripper

 

Misc Parts:

• Propane regulator (1)
• Awning clips (2) - these are the little orange clips on the Carefree awnings that are destined to break one day

 

Misc Repair Items:

• 3M 4200 (1 tube)
• 3M 4000UV (1 tube)
• Silicone sealant (1 tube)
• Eternabond roof repair tape (1 roll)
• Awning repair tape (12")
• Screen repair tape (assortment)
• Clear tenacious tape (12")
• 1" Gorilla tape (1 roll)
• Bungee cords (various)
• Zip ties (various)
• Metal wire (1 roll)
• Velcro strips (various)
• 1" VHB tape (1 roll)
• WD-40 (1 can)
• Lithium grease (1 tube)

 

That looks like a ton of stuff, but the majority of it fits in a 12" x 12" x 4" Blue Ridge tool bag that stuffs easily in the basement.  A few of the larger spares are in a box that's secured between the hulls, and small things that I'm more likely to use I keep in the utility drawer.  

Overland, that is a serous triage list, I better get busy!  
Thank you for posting.

Patriot

[Naegele]

Wow - thanks for all the great responses!

[Trainman]

 I making a list of those on this forum that carry replacement parts, I just need to know who you are and where you will be camping. 😀

trainman

[BackofBeyond]

And I  thought I had some stuff in my emergency repair box -turns out - not. ':-)

[Overland]

A couple of things I forgot about - along with the spare LP regulator, it's a good idea to have one or a pair of pigtails to go with it.  The other is a set of Colby replacement tire stems - that's really for the truck, but they'd work on the trailer too.

[Overland]

8 hours ago, BackofBeyond said:

And I  thought I had some stuff in my emergency repair box -turns out - not. ':-)

That's what happens when you're on the forum too often like me.  Every time someone mentions something they carry, I add it to the list. 

[Overland]

Here's the tool bag that I carry all that stuff in.  It was my regular tool bag until I reorganized my tools a while back.  So I was glad to find a use for it - I don't think I'd spend that much on a bag just for spare parts, but I'm sure that there's something similar and more reasonable on amazon.  But I do like these soft bags over hard cases since they're so much easier to stuff in a corner and don't jostle around as much.  

https://www.blueridgeoverlandgear.com/collections/tools/products/tool-bag

[BackofBeyond]

Overland -

Regarding the orange replacement clips - what does it take to change them out? I had one go south, and  it was repaired by big O service. Next one is on me, so what's the skinny?

RB

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Overland]

39 minutes ago, BackofBeyond said:

Overland -

Regarding the orange replacement clips - what does it take to change them out? I had one go south, and  it was repaired by big O service. Next one is on me, so what's the skinny?

RB

I haven't actually done one, but it looks very very easy.  You just take off the little orange retainer at the end that prevents the two arm pieces from sliding apart, then slide out the inner piece, remove a pin that holds the clip in place, replace the clip and reverse the process.  The kit comes with the clip, a spare spring and pin in case you lose one of them, and a replacement orange retainer piece so that you don't have to worry about destroying the existing one getting it off.  It also comes with two rivets, but it looks to me like you only need those if you plan to take the entire arm off to work on it - I think it would be a cinch to just work on it in place.  

Edited July 13, 2020 by Overland

[BlueHighways]

In this vein, are the nuts and bolts in the Oliver metric or SAE?

[mossemi]

I would say that depends on where the part that has nuts and bolts was manufactured.  The frame hardware is all SAE and I would bet my lunch money that everything that bolts to the frame is SAE as well.  There is metric hardware in the electrical and maybe the plumbing systems, although I’m not positive on the plumbing.  I am pretty sure my inverter positive and negative connection nuts are 14MM.

So if I go out on a limb, I would say 95+% SAE in my 2017 LEII.

Mossey

[chuckstovall]

3 hours ago, Overland said:

I haven't actually done one, but it looks very very easy.  You just take off the little orange retainer at the end that prevents the two arm pieces from sliding apart, then slide out the inner piece, remove a pin that holds the clip in place, replace the clip and reverse the process.  The kit comes with the clip, a spare spring and pin in case you lose one of them, and a replacement orange retainer piece so that you don't have to worry about destroying the existing one getting it off.  It also comes with two rivets, but it looks to me like you only need those if you plan to take the entire arm off to work on it - I think it would be a cinch to just work on it in place.  

Do you have a source for the orange retainers?  (Asking for a friend!!)

[Overland]

Just to be sure we're talking about the same part, it's the piece on the bottom right here, correct?

Going by the parts diagram, I think the only way you can get that part is with the flipper kit.  At least it isn't given a separate part number.  21a is the flipper kit, and it includes all the parts in the photo above.

But the flipper kit is less than $8, so you might as well get it and then you'll have the flipper for when it breaks.  

Edited July 13, 2020 by Overland