- Joined
- Mar 20, 2005
- Location
- Morganton NC
Time was limited for getting the Hilton ready for it's first trip out for Leslie and I. Did some repairs, with no test drive.
When I bought it, I knew it had a leak at the master cylinder. I bought one and with minor modifications, got it on. Everything seemed to fall in place so I didn't do any adjustments to the push rod. Big Mistake. A mile from my home the 440 was struggling to push forward. Making several calls to find out what to do, my good friend and mechanic 3DKrawler, give me pointers, as did my friend Chris (light blue Jeep in my pictures). Needless to say the heat that I built up in there cause major damage. Several times stopping and adjusting, and bleeding off the pressure, I finally got it into the campground.
Setting up took a little while, being our first time out. But it wasn't really all that bad. Leslie had made curtains for the front, that worked out great. She also had come up with the idea of putting some aluminum racks under the mattresses to make a queen size bed, instead of two twins, worked out great. We fired up the propane fridge, and hot water heater.
Upon turning on the water we found that it must have had some RV antifreeze in it. It stunk bad! So, we flushed it out several times. Filled it up, pumped it out, and got it to where it didn't stink. We didn't use it to cook with, but did use it to flush the mode with and wash dishes.
We grilled some Chicken and had instant potatoes and green beans for dinner. Was nice to sit at a table to eat, not having to balance a plate on our lap.
IT got kinda cool that night, and Leslie wanted to light the furnace, but we never got it to light. More working to figure it out.
Breakfast time come and sausage and eggs, toast and hash browns. Yeah the oven works good too!
The AC don't work so we brought a couple of fans, never really got hot in there, stayed about the same temp as outside.
We did find out that the oven/stove vent fan comes on automatically when it gets so warm. So Saturday night, I lite one stove eye, half flame, and had a fan blowing to wards the ceiling to keep it from coming on. We woke at 7am to 75* inside and 50* outside.
Coming home was another brake issue. The RV worked great till the brakes heated up and it started to shimmy. It pulled to one side. So we stooped at the Banner Elk intersection to cool. Brought out the window fans, drop cord and cranked up the generator to power them and had the fans blowing on each caliper to cool them. Worked great! (who's your redneck!)
Trying to keep them from heating up again, and talking with David, come up with the idea of clamping off the front brakes to keep from so much heat building, and having to cool them again. That worked great. On the big down hill I took it in first gear with only rear brakes and trailer brakes. I stopped one time to cool, and then on down the mountain.
Overall assessment:
Driving it is very uncomfortable. But, it might help if I am not having to stress so much over the breaks. Also it was a handful. Maybe some better shocks might help some with body roll. Seemed to want to go the direction of every dip. Kinda scary and stressful trying to keep it in my lane, especially on the narrower roads.
Brakes will be redone with new calipers, most likely rotors too, and also brake lines. While at it gonna check out the rears too, no telling what shape they are in.
The radiator did it's job keeping it cool. The temp did sneak up some, but never got real hot. Did push out some fluid when I stopped to cool brakes. guess I had reservoir over full.
When I geared down and RPM's were higher, had some belt slipping, easy fix.
Was running about 3 grand on the tach at 55, so I am thinking I won't be in a hurry to go anywhere.
The Converter don't work or I ain't doing something right. Nothing AC works unless plugged in to AC or have RV plugged into the Generator. I also need to replace house battery and possibly add another to be able to use lights and so on for extended periods. I took a small charger with me to keep it full power
Also gonna have to check to see how it's supposed to charge. It don't seem like the engine charges it, nor does the Generator.
Over all not a good test, but the trip did give many indicators as to what I need to look into.
When I bought it, I knew it had a leak at the master cylinder. I bought one and with minor modifications, got it on. Everything seemed to fall in place so I didn't do any adjustments to the push rod. Big Mistake. A mile from my home the 440 was struggling to push forward. Making several calls to find out what to do, my good friend and mechanic 3DKrawler, give me pointers, as did my friend Chris (light blue Jeep in my pictures). Needless to say the heat that I built up in there cause major damage. Several times stopping and adjusting, and bleeding off the pressure, I finally got it into the campground.
Setting up took a little while, being our first time out. But it wasn't really all that bad. Leslie had made curtains for the front, that worked out great. She also had come up with the idea of putting some aluminum racks under the mattresses to make a queen size bed, instead of two twins, worked out great. We fired up the propane fridge, and hot water heater.
Upon turning on the water we found that it must have had some RV antifreeze in it. It stunk bad! So, we flushed it out several times. Filled it up, pumped it out, and got it to where it didn't stink. We didn't use it to cook with, but did use it to flush the mode with and wash dishes.
We grilled some Chicken and had instant potatoes and green beans for dinner. Was nice to sit at a table to eat, not having to balance a plate on our lap.
IT got kinda cool that night, and Leslie wanted to light the furnace, but we never got it to light. More working to figure it out.
Breakfast time come and sausage and eggs, toast and hash browns. Yeah the oven works good too!
The AC don't work so we brought a couple of fans, never really got hot in there, stayed about the same temp as outside.
We did find out that the oven/stove vent fan comes on automatically when it gets so warm. So Saturday night, I lite one stove eye, half flame, and had a fan blowing to wards the ceiling to keep it from coming on. We woke at 7am to 75* inside and 50* outside.
Coming home was another brake issue. The RV worked great till the brakes heated up and it started to shimmy. It pulled to one side. So we stooped at the Banner Elk intersection to cool. Brought out the window fans, drop cord and cranked up the generator to power them and had the fans blowing on each caliper to cool them. Worked great! (who's your redneck!)
Trying to keep them from heating up again, and talking with David, come up with the idea of clamping off the front brakes to keep from so much heat building, and having to cool them again. That worked great. On the big down hill I took it in first gear with only rear brakes and trailer brakes. I stopped one time to cool, and then on down the mountain.
Overall assessment:
Driving it is very uncomfortable. But, it might help if I am not having to stress so much over the breaks. Also it was a handful. Maybe some better shocks might help some with body roll. Seemed to want to go the direction of every dip. Kinda scary and stressful trying to keep it in my lane, especially on the narrower roads.
Brakes will be redone with new calipers, most likely rotors too, and also brake lines. While at it gonna check out the rears too, no telling what shape they are in.
The radiator did it's job keeping it cool. The temp did sneak up some, but never got real hot. Did push out some fluid when I stopped to cool brakes. guess I had reservoir over full.
When I geared down and RPM's were higher, had some belt slipping, easy fix.
Was running about 3 grand on the tach at 55, so I am thinking I won't be in a hurry to go anywhere.
The Converter don't work or I ain't doing something right. Nothing AC works unless plugged in to AC or have RV plugged into the Generator. I also need to replace house battery and possibly add another to be able to use lights and so on for extended periods. I took a small charger with me to keep it full power
Also gonna have to check to see how it's supposed to charge. It don't seem like the engine charges it, nor does the Generator.
Over all not a good test, but the trip did give many indicators as to what I need to look into.
