Thursday, March 3, 2011

Maintenance Time


With the nice weather, I decided to start thinking about....no, doing something about travel prep.  Ideally I would have done this stuff in November, after first arriving at the winter haven after traveling the summer.  But this past autumn was our 'move in' month and there was so much NON-RV stuff to do, the poor Gray Whale (the big monster above) had to suffer through being 'beached' in the yard. 

So now, with fresh inspections and maintenance done on the mechanical side, the 'vehicle' is road ready.  I ended up at the Ford dealer for this adventure.  3.5 hours and $200 later, all mechanical service is done, including the generator.   I learned a lot too, while shadowing the technician.  There are still two unresolved issues though.  One is an air suspension system malfunction; not a Ford installed item and they would not work on it.  The dash switch to put air in the 'bags' does not seem to be activating the air pump.  So, while there is enough air in the system for now, I need to get that looked at.  The other is awing repair.  The vinyl fabric got weakened via UV radiation and the fabric started to leak.  Once the water got in, the material separated on the upper third of the awning.  So, while I am at it, might as well replace the two room slide covers even though they look OK for now.  It would stress me out to be half way through summer and have the slide out covers come undone. All three will be done in a few weeks after a trip to Tampa.  The work will be done at the RV Medic facility, $900 +/- for all three fabrics, installed.  While there, I hope the air ride can be resolved too! 

Gotta have a budget for this stuff.

So in about 9 weeks we hope to be on the road. 

Safe travels to you and yours.....Mike. 

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