In RVing there is a issue or break down, ever happen to u

[wantabe351]

In my traveling to another state or cross country trips a problem comes along.Maybe not on that trip, but once a year I need to spend money on a repair..How about you? Is it the Camper or your Tow Vehicle that wants a piece of your wallet.. Do they arise on the worst time to? Well on my long distance travels to Rockies or North West Its 2 tires on my 5th wheel, and its on a Sunday on our way home, in a area with no services too. Well our trip to the Rockies went well, bought the Sailun Tires for this yrs trip. Perfect no flats or blow outs on a very heavy 5th wheel, road a little hard, -a 8,600mi trip to the Rockies(Tetons,YellowStone,Glacier into Canada Ice Fields) back to NJ, what a June-July trip...Then 9 days ago I left on a trip to Vt. Nothing big, 360 miles at a beautiful CG on a Stream with the best hosts you could ever ask for.While out and Exploring our Dodge truck started to vibrate and shake. Made it back to the camp ground.Spent 2 days working on it at the CG, Owner and others came by for support,After testing and diagnostics - Need motor work, burn't #2 valve. Mechanic up here cant start for 8 to 10 day, Tow it home 1,900$ was the local quote.This is my problem, Do you have any problem on you trips Break dns, Tires and so on... How do you handle them on your trip..Finding the help, or to get it fixed,and the right people too Please post your events and how it was handled/fixed..

[mr__ed]

Only had one tire blowout on any RV I've owned. My hitchhiker fifth wheel blew a tire on the passenger side while on I-40 in NC. I was only a few hundred yards from the RV park exit, so I continued to head towards the park, going much slower, of course. Once in the park I called road service and they arrived in reasonable time and installed my spare tire. Shortly thereafter, upon leaving the park, I had all tires replaced as a precaution.

I had no problems with my 2007 Dodge 3500 RAM diesel. Been fortunate that every RV I'd owned gave me good service. 🙂

[jbeliera]

I have not had any major issues with the former 1998 Terry pull trailer except an axle realignment on my trip to Oklahoma. I had it for six years and that was the only issue I ever had. As for my luck I guess it is more of a matter of carrying the Good Sam extended coverage plan for the big ticket items that can come up when you are out of state and a long way from home. Every year after taking my rig out of storage I take it to my local good reliable RV service shop and have them check everything. It cost me about $75.00 to have them give my new(old) Laredo now the once over. They check all my systems and axles wheel bearings and the like. That way I know that at the start of the season my rig is as good as it is going to be for my trip(s). As for my Jimmy truck I try to have it regularly serviced as prescribed It is like everything else you pay me now or pay me much more later. Things happen even though you try to cross all your T's and dot all your I's. You do your best to prevent and then you just go.

[Pipeman]

Last year on our semi annual trip out west and about a 1000 miles into the trip, the left rear brake drum decided to break up and disappear. I remember having to hit the brakes hard. When we stopped at a campground I could smell that smell when your brakes are hot. Didn't notice anything wrong. Continued on to southern Alberta where we camped for a couple of weeks. We left there and met the kids in central Alberta for a couple of weeks dry camping in the Rockies. While there I checked the home phone for messages and there was one there from the campground in southern Alberta, saying that the next camper into my spot found a piece of brake drum. I checked it out and sure enough the brake drum was gone. We were heading up to the Edmonton area when we were done dry camping, so I called ahead to a RV sales and repair place. When they asked if it was one of their trailers, I knew they weren't going to help, although they gave me a number to call. It was a RV repair place just around the corner from where we were going to camp for a month.They came to the campground, jacked the 5er up, removed the wheel and the guy was shocked as well as me. The only thing holding the wheel on was a jagged piece of the brake drum. After 26 days I had 2 new Dexter axles in place of the Lippert axles. Lippert didn't make parts for a 2009 5er anymore. The never lube bearing was damaged also. Glad to get rid of those never lube bearings. Before a trip my 5er goes to a RV sales and repair shop near by for a check up and my TV goes in for a pre trip check up where I bought it. That's my story of woe for that trip. Just happened to notice that the above post was from St. Albert. That's where we were camped and had the 5er fixed.

[ipeltier]

"With new truck and trailer we had the truck go into "limp" mode due to DEF saturated. This was half-way between Roswell and Albuquerque (hint, there is nothing half-way between Roswell and Albuquerque, not even cell phone service) Limped along for 60 miles at 20mph until we came across a convenience store. Pulled in, called roadside assistance, unhooked the trailer. Tow truck came up from Roswell and took the truck and me (wife stayed in the trailer) back to Roswell. I stayed in a hotel and they "fixed" the truck in the morning. All they could really do was force a manual DEF cleaning, nothing else found wrong. Went to pick up the trailer, when I got there I found that we had picked up a nail in a trailer tire and it was flat. Changed tire with spare, got new tire in Albuquerque. Later on in same trip, picked up a nail in one of the truck tires, near Moab. Put on spare and got it fixed in Moab.
A year later on HW50 half-way between Austin and Ely, NV (there is nothing halfway between Austin and Ely, NV) Truck threw the dreaded DEF saturated error. This time I quickly downshifted to 4th gear and kept driving to make sure I did not go into "limp" mode again."

What is it with these Ford 250 trucks and the DEF problem? We have a 2015 Ford 250, and last week we had the same problem in the middle of nowhere between Missoula and Coeur d'Alene--no cell service, had to abandon the 5th wheel on a service road, get the truck towed 40 miles north into a Ford dealership in the middle of wildfires, stay in a hotel, sit in the dealership for a day until the techs could figure out how to reset the computer system and cancel the DEF idle mode. I'm sending the bills to Ford Customer Assistance for reimbursement.

[Nv_Guy]

Back in '97 heading south on I5 with our trusty turbo'd 91 F350 pulling our 31'TT. We were following our friends who were towing the ATV's on an open trailer. I comment to the DW that we must have a headwind, as my EGT's are a bit high for a relatively flat road..nope turns out the transmission front pump is self destructing..spent the night in the TT next to an industrial area while our friends headed home to drop the FB off. Next AM our friends return to pick us and TT up. FB tow truck barely handled our F350. Took our whole tax refund to get a built E4OD trans that probably outlasted the truck.

[md_procouple]

Getting ready to depart for Indianapolis this Thurs. for two weeks. Getting new tires put on the 5'er in the morning, everything that was "broke" or needed adjustment has been done, both on the truck and camper. Hopefully, all will go smoothly without problems, or at least minor ones !! If not I'm sure I will be re-visiting these pages with up-dates lol. ...Good Luck and Happy Camping !!

[time2roll]

byrdr1 wrote:

2oldman wrote:
Rear end went out on my 2003 F450, 5 miles from Quartzsite. Limped to town.

Perhaps your 12yo truck isn't up to handling the load.

getting my f350 rear end re built now. 270K miles.
camper is down due to a wheel coming off at 65mph. 4 new tires and 2 axles. one axle destroyed. 2 tires destroyed. so it's expensive.
trucks paid for, but it keeps costing me a $1000plus every few months.

I thought these full floaters were bullet proof...

[time2roll]

Fuel pump, two tires(trailer), alternator, start battery.

Everything repaired on the road. Fuel pump was 2 days the rest repaired and back on the road in three hours or less.

I used yelp to find a local guy to do the fuel pump and a tow truck.
Tires I changed myself.
Alternator I begged three shops to get me in, no luck. Swapped it myself in the parking lot of O'Reilly's.
Battery swapped at a close by Costco.

[Road_Phantom]

(Last winter, (I no longer drive the cab and am retired) on the way back from Texas to Pa, we lost a wheel on our trailer in Biloxi, Mi. It took the drum along with it and had to wait a week for parts. Great people there and they got us on our way.


Entirely off thread but being a hacker in NYC... MY hat is off to you. My wife is from Cherry Hill and we go to the City to visit her friends ocassionally. That is a wild place....all the time.)

SidecarFlip, I responded to the OP with an appropriate and relative breakdown. Sorry, but your the one who is off thread. Cheers

[byrdr1]

2oldman wrote:
Rear end went out on my 2003 F450, 5 miles from Quartzsite. Limped to town.

Perhaps your 12yo truck isn't up to handling the load.

getting my f350 rear end re built now. 270K miles.
camper is down due to a wheel coming off at 65mph. 4 new tires and 2 axles. one axle destroyed. 2 tires destroyed. so it's expensive.
trucks paid for, but it keeps costing me a $1000plus every few months.
time to make a decision...on it.
camper is close to being paid for..so we'll suck it up for now.
randy

[memtb]

wantabe351, After starting towing trailers around 1974, I've had lots of issues. Some self imposed! The worst... while on a trip to Evanston,Wy. (towing our 5er ) to spend Christmas with family, we "burned" a wheel bearing about 32 miles east of Kemmerer,Wy. Getting near dark, temps in single digits and falling! Called stepson in Kemmerer to bring me a short section of chain. We chained up the "offending" spindle assembly, and "limped" on to Evanston. We now carry a short section of chain....to make sure we "never" burn another wheel bearing, because we're prepared! 😉 After Christmas, drove to Salt Lake for parts... and with temps from just below zero to single digits, rebuilt the spindle/ hub/brake assembly in the campground!

Coming in at a close second, happened two summers ago. We were passing through Summerset,Ky., and broke a hydraulic brake line on the 5er. Found a good parking spot, drove the truck to an auto parts store, bought some brake line and 2 quarts of brake fluid, and went back to camper. Jack-up trailer (thank God for the Bigfoot leveling system), remove 48 lug nuts torqued at 225 lbs., shape and replace broken line, with help from wife "bleed" brake system ( all six wheels, using a lot of brake fluid), replace 6 wheels, and replace/ torque 48 lug nuts, wash- up (did I mention it was summer in Kentucky). So... after 3 or 4 hours of repair, we were back on the road!

[wantabe351]

I forgot about my 1st ram2500 CTD, was a 2004.5 and was going on my very First big Cross Country trip with my son. We just got into Pa from NJ and my Truck with 8,000mi just lost power and we coasted off a exit into a parking lot and stopped dead..All packed up for your 1st trip a dead in the water...The transmission cooler line broke expelling all of the fluid( under the truck and our ceadar creek 5er,a mess).It destroyed the Trans, left the RV there got it towed to a dealer where a friend worked, 4 days later with new trans I was able complete the trip..But trying to find a big enough flat bed to tow my truck 80miles was rough, Now thinking about it having Nice big campers with a truck large enough to pull it is all great and wonderful until something happens and it does.. Big or small RVers do come together and help each other which in our time of need I'm very great full for. I find this site a great source of information to help us enjoy our form of Recreation ...

[SidecarFlip]

Road Phantom wrote:
This is like when I owned a taxi in NYC. Uneventful months would go by and then, Bam!!! I would be hit with something big, like a near robbery, getting TBoned at the intersection of 34th and Madison or a breakdown in the Ghetto in the middle of the night.
Last winter, (I no longer drive the cab and am retired) on the way back from Texas to Pa, we lost a wheel on our trailer in Biloxi, Mi. It took the drum along with it and had to wait a week for parts. Great people there and they got us on our way.

Entirely off thread but being a hacker in NYC... MY hat is off to you. My wife is from Cherry Hill and we go to the City to visit her friends ocassionally. That is a wild place....all the time.

Glad we live way over here in Michigan and farm. I couldn't take the stress over there....lol

[garyp4951]

My Good Sam Roadside came in handy two weeks ago, and towed the truck and FW to a rv park and dealer in MS, $450 I didn't have to pay, but the dealer stuck it to me for the truck repairs.
I have to say this is the first time in 17 years towing a FW that I could not fix the issue myself on the side of the road.