RV Projects

Alternator Replacement

Replacing the alternator on the Workhorse W22 chassis. Cartman provided helpful moral support.Much of the work is done from the passenger side wheel well...a pretty spacious work area, but mounting the alternator involved holding it above your head and inserting the bolts without being able to really see what you were doing. Not fun, but the job can be done yourself faster than the time it takes to find and drive to a mechanic. Plus save a couple hundred bills, too.
While you are in there, replace the spark plug wires with really good ceramic wire sets. Until we installed the ceramic plug wires, we were replacing the OEM versions every 10k miles (engine starts missing, plug wires arcing to the frame).
Finally added a Tire Pressure Monitoring System. Do not want to have one of those spendy Toyo M122 tires get hurt. Also want the system to validate my brake/differential repair work...by detecting if the bearings heat up a bit. I went with four of the caps and two pass thru sensors. The pass thru I used on my inside dualies. I eliminated the braided valve extenders, they always seemed a little sketchy to me. With the TPMS I do not have to go manually check tire pressure before each trip. Woohooo!
I really like the quality of the TST 507 kit. Color screen. Easy programming. My only complaint is I wish it charged off of a USB-C cable (it uses Micro USB)...minor gripe. It comes with a suction cup mount and the grey, grippy stand shown in this photo. I probably would not use the suction cup mount except that the grey stand is great for a smartphone.
My first trip with the TPMS was a bit unsettling to witness the rising pressure and temperatures.


Ball Valve, Female Thread 3/4-Inch
PVC Swivel Hose Adapter with 3/4-Inch Female Hose and 3/4-Inch Male Pipe Thread
1/2" Poly Elbow
90 Deg Sch 40 PVC Street Elbow 412007
Bushing 1-1/2" NPT Male x 3/4" NPT Female
RV has no gravity feed inlet for water. Here is how we top off our water tanks from portable jugs.
Chinese copy of the awesome, hammer forged Versa-Vise. (if you can find an original, expect to pay MUCH more).
How I repaired the oil leak on my Generac Guardian Quietpact 65g without pulling the genset out of my motorcoach. Replaced hose clamp near oil cooler and tightened a lower clamp. Not too bad. Just a lot of blindfolded, one handed work. It beats pulling the whole unit though. If we did not have a slide right above our genset, I would have cut an overhead access port in the floor of my coach. I run K&N HP1003 oil filters in my Generac Guardian Quietpact. At some point I may switch to a K&N air filter, too.
The slideout battery tray was getting so gritty that I had to hook a strap to the handle and fling my body's weight against it just to inch by inch pull the thing free.
This project started with the intent to replace the drawer slides, but I ended up just refurbishing the slides. Part of the project included and expanded road shield to hopefully keep road dust off the slides and batteries.
We do not use our WiFi repeater setup as much as in years past.
With "unlimited" mobile data plans, the need for connecting is not as great as before.
But it is still nice, on occasion, to park in a Walmart lot, connect to MacDonalds WiFi and watch motocross on NBC Sports Gold.
Ubiquiti BulletM2 Titanium. This metal body Bullet M2 is more durable than the plastic version. Looks cooler, too.
Ubiquiti BULLET-M2-HP Outdoor. Plastic may be less durable than metal version.
Outdoor Ethernet 25ft Cat6 Cable, IMONTA Shielded Grounded UV Resistant Waterproof Buried-able Network Cable. 25' should be good for most installations, but 50' (and longer) are available.
Cat6 Ethernet Patch Cable - 1ft should satisfy most installations. Longer lengths available.
Reserve water tank. Plumbed into the winterizing circuit. Fill inlet features valve and water hose connection.
Water heater vinegar flush to clean scale off heating elements and then a fresh water flush to remove all of the debris. Nearly created a calcium beach post flush.
New seat bottom
New seatback
Gluing seat base brackets
added two springs to stiffen seat
Zig zag furniture and auto upholstery oil tempered sinuous springs 9 Gauge, 10 foot length roll
50pk Upholstery EK Clips, S Clips, Chair & Sofa Spring Repair
I am not a particularly heavy guy (165 pounds), but adding extra springs to the seats really improved comfort.

House Battery Charging Sytems

Probably the best article I've read on RV power systems...

The RV BATTERY CHARGING PUZZLE

100 watt Flexible Solar Panel
(used on our sailboat)