Maintenance! Maintenance! Maintenance! Sheesh!

 

And the maintenance continues.  Last post I was gearing up to replace the entry steps.  They have since been selected, ordered and delivered whereupon I was then challenged with retrofitting a set of steps that were never meant to be used in the frame of my rig.

First order of business was to measure the differences and then decide how to build the adapters.  Lucky for me the bolt holes for mounting the steps to the frame were the same size and both were 4" on center.  But the width of the new steps was the hang-up.  They were nearly 4" narrower than the original steps.  Time to get creative.

The original steps looked good when they were young.
But after twelve years of heavy use they had become dysfunctional and ratty looking.

Spacers would need to be built to span the gap between the frame box and the step assembly.  I acquired several  six-foot lengths of steel bars of various thicknesses and mixed and matched until I got the thicknesses I needed.  Then it was off to a local welding shop, a one-man operation, to get the stacks of bars fixed together by a good penetrating weld.  This would assure me of a true hole when I drilled them.

My nearly two inch thick stack/spacer welded up 
and band sawed to length.

Mentioned in a previous post, we are parked on our daughter's family property, right next to a 40'x20' shop that the son-in-law has outfitted for making knives.  In his conglomerate of metal shaping equipment there is an old drill press, perfect for my needs.  I laid out each block using a six-inch steel rule and a carbide tipped scribe.  Both of which I have carried with me since I was a summer-hire in a machine shop in 1975.  Dad taught me how to take care of my tools and use the right tool for the job.

Drilling through nearly two inches of steel 
took patience and a lot cutting fluid.

Drilling a 7/16" hole through nearly two inches of steel is not a hand-held operation.  I suppose one could do it hand-held but I can't imagine the hole being true and it would take forever.  It would be quite the workout getting enough pressure on the drill to keep it cutting.  The drill press with it's adjustable table and work clamp kept everything solidly positioned, with the power of gear reduction helping provide the pressure needed just by pulling down on the handle.  I had four spacers ready to go in less than an hour.

Next was the hardest part, physically.  Removing the old steps and installing the new ones.  I have no pictures of that operation.  I was totally consumed, sweat pouring, balancing the new steps on a small floor jack which itself was balanced on a cinder block so that the heavy (60 lbs) and bulky steps could be lifted and positioned to stab the bolts through the frame/spacer/housing.  And by the way, Cyndee was in on this operation, couldn't have done it without her.  We were both totally wasted when it was all over.

Two of the four spacers in place.
Grade 8 flange bolts, there'll be no stretching 
and loosing up.

Done!
Aluminum has replaced the steel treads of old.
The treads should last longer, we'll see about the 
rest of it.

Next on the parade of repairs, another planned one, tires.  Did you know that tires have an expiration date?  Most people don't because they wear out tires long before the date ever comes around.  But RV trailers are just the opposite, if it is a good quality tire.  It is really hard to drive a fifth-wheel RV enough miles to wear them out, but the clock counts down, miles or no miles.  Six years is a universally recognized life.  Our tires are eight years old, well past needing to be changed.  Heat, cold, UV, oxygen and normal wear and tear all contribute to a fixed life.  Oxidation is the root of it all, so if the tire is exposed to air, even sitting in a warehouse, they will decay.  Think about how rubber bands loose their elasticity and crumble.  Same thing.

Our rig is a triple axle.  So six wheels and six tires and in our case 17.5" commercial trailer tire size.  Additionally we get a higher grade tire, rated for faster speeds.  Run of the mill trailer tires are speed rated for 55 mph.  We upgrade to ones rated for 75 mph.  We also get load range H (16 ply) which is a 125 psi max pressure.  No going to the gas station or even common tire shops to top off the pressure.  It's a truck shop or personally owned high pressure compressor.

So out come the trusty knee pads and my four-way lug wrench, a big one with long handles for breaking loose 48 very tight lug nuts. I crawled under the slide-outs hunched over and scooting on the gravel with my knee pads and I broke loose all those lug nuts.  Next I fired up the leveling system and raised all four jacks to lift all six tires off the ground.  Then it was back under the slides to completely remove all the lug nuts and muscle the six sixty-pound wheels and tires out from under the rig.  I'm sure there are a number of guys reading this saying; "big deal, just a day's work".  And for them I'm sure it is, it used to be for me too.  But I'm 69 this year, no matter how hard I work out I just don't have the strength and stamina that I used to.  Not complaining though, I know plenty guys my age that couldn't even do the crawling under the rig part, let alone do the work.

Jacked up!

Lots of wrangling to get the tires out from under the rig but then it was time to do a dead-lift and get all six of them into the back of the truck for the trip to the tire shop.  When I was first thinking about the logistics of doing this job I was not sure if I could get all six tires securely in the truck at the same time but it turned out to be pretty easy.  Five of them I locked together with a ratcheting strap and then anchored to tie-downs in the bed.  The sixth laid flat and was strapped with some bungees.  No movement what-so-ever for the 20 minute ride to the tire shop.

Loaded and ready for the ride to the tire shop.

After an hour-and-a-half at the tire shop I was back home and reversing everything I had done before, with one exception.  The tire shop, while having the equipment for changing commercial tires, did not have the air pressure to fill them properly.  If I take them at their word, their insurance wouldn't allow more than 60 psi air in their shop.  Whatever.  I just fired up the compressor in the shop next to the rig and topped off each tire before moving it under the rig to mount.

Okay, two more projects to check off as done.  Only one more planned fix, the MaxxAir Fan in the bed/bath has one of it's two hood lift arms broken.  This fan hood is opened and closed at least a couple times a day.  It is critical in removing moisture from our showers and keeping the mildew and humidity in check.  We've been being gentle with it for over a year but it is only a matter of time before the other arm fails.  There is an identical fan in the living area and its lift arms failed the same way.  But the bed/bath is twelve years old and gets used multiple times a day, the control panel is getting obviously worn and the motor noise seems a bit more than previously.  I'm just going to replace the whole unit.

I don't know, maybe it's some kind of karma.  But just as we finished up the above projects the other lift arm broke.  We can no longer open the hood.  Nobody has one of these in stock, we've got one on order and are waiting for a predicted delivery date.  Regardless, as soon as it gets in I'll be on the roof.