nothing special motorhome thread

[Nothing Special]

Yes, Ford's V10 really isn't a great truck engine. My son has a V10 Excursion, 3.73 gears, he towed his 86 F150 down from West Virginia to Chesapeake Virginia on a borrowed trailer, he was down into 2nd gear on US17 crossing the Eastern Continental divide (Blue Ridge Mountains) which is a pretty gentle grade. Pulling a similar load with my 86 F350, 460 converted to MAF/SEFI and only running maybe 8:1 compression, and a 3.55 gear, I never got below 3rd in the E4OD (same ratios as the 4R100 in the Excursion) at 54 mph. Even a super low compression well used 460 pulls better than a V10.

I had a 5.4L V8 in my '08 F-250. The 5.4L is 80% of the 6.8L V10. I'm not a fan of either engine as a truck engine. But in their defense, both do make lots of power and can give good mileage. My motorhome can hold it's speed up Vail pass when towing my Bronco. And it gets around 8 mpg while towing as well (not up Vail pass!). I'm not sure a 460 in my motorhome could do either of those.

Having said that, I still might prefer a 460 (the mileage is where the "might" comes in, no "might" on the power). Because the V10 needs to spin at 5500 rpm to hold its speed on Vail Pass. I did that once, but I just don't like driving like that.

The 5.4L was the same way. A total dog below 3000 rpm, but a screamer if you were willing to listen to it, which I wasn't. But on the plus side it would get 15 mpg in a 3/4 ton crew cab. None of my other trucks could touch that. But I still absolutely hated that truck. And while the 6 speed manual trans was its worst feature, the engine was a close second in my book.

[Nothing Special]

I had a 5.4L V8 in my '08 F-250. The 5.4L is 80% of the 6.8L V10. I'm not a fan of either engine as a truck engine. But in their defense, both do make lots of power and can give good mileage. My motorhome can hold it's speed up Vail pass when towing my Bronco. And it gets around 8 mpg while towing as well (not up Vail pass!). I'm not sure a 460 in my motorhome could do either of those.

Having said that, I still might prefer a 460 (the mileage is where the "might" comes in, no "might" on the power). Because the V10 needs to spin at 5500 rpm to hold its speed on Vail Pass. I did that once, but I just don't like driving like that.

The 5.4L was the same way. A total dog below 3000 rpm, but a screamer if you were willing to listen to it, which I wasn't. But on the plus side it would get 15 mpg in a 3/4 ton crew cab. None of my other trucks could touch that. But I still absolutely hated that truck. And while the 6 speed manual trans was its worst feature, the engine was a close second in my book.

About a week ago we finished another motorhome trip. And another Walt Disney World trip. I mentioned above that we were at Walt Disney World in Feb 2020, a couple weeks before everything closed down. Right after that trip (I think still before everything closed down) we booked this one. Lesley had wanted to see Walt Disney World decorated for Christmas, but after driving down and back in February I wasn't real eager to take another winter motorhome trip. Fortunately Christmas starts on November 1 at Disney, so we were able to make a fall Christmas trip!

The 4 days to drive down / 3 days to drive back we did in July worked well, so we did the same thing on this trip. But with spending 7 nights at Fort Wilderness Campground, this ended up being almost a 2 week trip (which was kinda nice!).

Our daily mileage on the way down was 370 (to northern Illinois), 541 (to Nashville), 503 (to the Florida state line) and 203 (to Disney). We started day 1 after I got off work, finished day 2 early and started day 3 late to spend time with Lesley's brother, and arrived at Disney about 10:00 AM, giving us most of that first day to get set up and still do a bunch of sightseeing and shopping.

We didn't have great weather, but it wasn't terrible either. We got a LOT of rain the last part of the drive down, but it stopped just before we got to Disney. That first day was pretty cool (temp around 60, it was actually warmer in Minnesota that day, in the upper 60s!) and we ran the furnace that first night. But it warmed up as the week went on. It rained a few hours one day, and for maybe an hour or so a couple others, but we wore ponchos and we were fine.

Anyway, here's the Magic Kingdom decorated for Christmas...

... here's our campsite decorated for Christmas...

... and here we are decorated for Christmas!

The drive home went a little different than last time due to a detour. The first day (590 miles to southern Tennessee) was about the same. And the 620 miles on day 2 was pretty similar. But rather than day 2 leaving us in northern Illinois with about 300 miles to go to get home, instead we were near Kansas City, leaving 497 miles for day 3. The Kansas City detour was to stop at a junk yard to get a "new" tailgate for my pickup (more on that in another thread after I actually get it on the truck).

Temps were going below freezing that first night back in Minnesota, so I had to winterize the motorhome right away after we got home, but at least I didn't have to winterize it before we left for home like I had on the February trip. Traveling in a motorhome has some pluses and minuses, and not being able to use the toilet or shower on the trip negates some of the biggest pluses, so being able to keep water in it for the entire trip was a lot nicer!

Anyway, that was that trip. No adventure (if you don't count the trip to the junk yard!), but not all vacations have to be an adventure! The motorhome is now parked for the winter, and we don't have any definite plans for any future motorhome trips at this point. But we are tentatively planning a trip to southwestern Utah in fall of 2022, and I'm sure we'll get something else worked in next summer as well.

[grumpin]

About a week ago we finished another motorhome trip. And another Walt Disney World trip. I mentioned above that we were at Walt Disney World in Feb 2020, a couple weeks before everything closed down. Right after that trip (I think still before everything closed down) we booked this one. Lesley had wanted to see Walt Disney World decorated for Christmas, but after driving down and back in February I wasn't real eager to take another winter motorhome trip. Fortunately Christmas starts on November 1 at Disney, so we were able to make a fall Christmas trip!

The 4 days to drive down / 3 days to drive back we did in July worked well, so we did the same thing on this trip. But with spending 7 nights at Fort Wilderness Campground, this ended up being almost a 2 week trip (which was kinda nice!).

Our daily mileage on the way down was 370 (to northern Illinois), 541 (to Nashville), 503 (to the Florida state line) and 203 (to Disney). We started day 1 after I got off work, finished day 2 early and started day 3 late to spend time with Lesley's brother, and arrived at Disney about 10:00 AM, giving us most of that first day to get set up and still do a bunch of sightseeing and shopping.

We didn't have great weather, but it wasn't terrible either. We got a LOT of rain the last part of the drive down, but it stopped just before we got to Disney. That first day was pretty cool (temp around 60, it was actually warmer in Minnesota that day, in the upper 60s!) and we ran the furnace that first night. But it warmed up as the week went on. It rained a few hours one day, and for maybe an hour or so a couple others, but we wore ponchos and we were fine.

Anyway, here's the Magic Kingdom decorated for Christmas...

... here's our campsite decorated for Christmas...

... and here we are decorated for Christmas!

The drive home went a little different than last time due to a detour. The first day (590 miles to southern Tennessee) was about the same. And the 620 miles on day 2 was pretty similar. But rather than day 2 leaving us in northern Illinois with about 300 miles to go to get home, instead we were near Kansas City, leaving 497 miles for day 3. The Kansas City detour was to stop at a junk yard to get a "new" tailgate for my pickup (more on that in another thread after I actually get it on the truck).

Temps were going below freezing that first night back in Minnesota, so I had to winterize the motorhome right away after we got home, but at least I didn't have to winterize it before we left for home like I had on the February trip. Traveling in a motorhome has some pluses and minuses, and not being able to use the toilet or shower on the trip negates some of the biggest pluses, so being able to keep water in it for the entire trip was a lot nicer!

Anyway, that was that trip. No adventure (if you don't count the trip to the junk yard!), but not all vacations have to be an adventure! The motorhome is now parked for the winter, and we don't have any definite plans for any future motorhome trips at this point. But we are tentatively planning a trip to southwestern Utah in fall of 2022, and I'm sure we'll get something else worked in next summer as well.

Nice! Man, great you guys could do a trip like this.

I have a question or two. How are the campgrounds now after covid? Hard to find spots?

[Gary Lewis]

About a week ago we finished another motorhome trip. And another Walt Disney World trip. I mentioned above that we were at Walt Disney World in Feb 2020, a couple weeks before everything closed down. Right after that trip (I think still before everything closed down) we booked this one. Lesley had wanted to see Walt Disney World decorated for Christmas, but after driving down and back in February I wasn't real eager to take another winter motorhome trip. Fortunately Christmas starts on November 1 at Disney, so we were able to make a fall Christmas trip!

The 4 days to drive down / 3 days to drive back we did in July worked well, so we did the same thing on this trip. But with spending 7 nights at Fort Wilderness Campground, this ended up being almost a 2 week trip (which was kinda nice!).

Our daily mileage on the way down was 370 (to northern Illinois), 541 (to Nashville), 503 (to the Florida state line) and 203 (to Disney). We started day 1 after I got off work, finished day 2 early and started day 3 late to spend time with Lesley's brother, and arrived at Disney about 10:00 AM, giving us most of that first day to get set up and still do a bunch of sightseeing and shopping.

We didn't have great weather, but it wasn't terrible either. We got a LOT of rain the last part of the drive down, but it stopped just before we got to Disney. That first day was pretty cool (temp around 60, it was actually warmer in Minnesota that day, in the upper 60s!) and we ran the furnace that first night. But it warmed up as the week went on. It rained a few hours one day, and for maybe an hour or so a couple others, but we wore ponchos and we were fine.

Anyway, here's the Magic Kingdom decorated for Christmas...

... here's our campsite decorated for Christmas...

... and here we are decorated for Christmas!

The drive home went a little different than last time due to a detour. The first day (590 miles to southern Tennessee) was about the same. And the 620 miles on day 2 was pretty similar. But rather than day 2 leaving us in northern Illinois with about 300 miles to go to get home, instead we were near Kansas City, leaving 497 miles for day 3. The Kansas City detour was to stop at a junk yard to get a "new" tailgate for my pickup (more on that in another thread after I actually get it on the truck).

Temps were going below freezing that first night back in Minnesota, so I had to winterize the motorhome right away after we got home, but at least I didn't have to winterize it before we left for home like I had on the February trip. Traveling in a motorhome has some pluses and minuses, and not being able to use the toilet or shower on the trip negates some of the biggest pluses, so being able to keep water in it for the entire trip was a lot nicer!

Anyway, that was that trip. No adventure (if you don't count the trip to the junk yard!), but not all vacations have to be an adventure! The motorhome is now parked for the winter, and we don't have any definite plans for any future motorhome trips at this point. But we are tentatively planning a trip to southwestern Utah in fall of 2022, and I'm sure we'll get something else worked in next summer as well.

Sounds like a fun trip! Glad the weather worked out pretty well for you. And the temps cooperated - having to winterize quickly is kind of scary. Been there, done that.

KC? That seems way out of the way. Anxious to see what you got.

Utah! Sounds like fun!

[Nothing Special]

.... I have a question or two. How are the campgrounds now after covid? Hard to find spots?

It's always tough to get reservations at Disney's Fort Wilderness Campground. When we went last summer we got reservations 2 months in advance and could only get Monday night through Thursday night. Weekend nights were non-existent. This trip was scheduled a LONG time ago, I think actually even pre-Covid, so we had our pick. But there weren't very many empty sites while we were there, and none of them was empty for more than one night.

But yes, camping has gotten more popular with the pandemic. We really noticed it in 2020 when people couldn't go anywhere else, it was hard to get campground reservations anywhere. And finding outdoor recreational equipment was just as nuts. A friend of mine owns a boat shop. Even if his supply chain was working at its normal level he'd still be sold out. People want to do things, and for a long time it's been hard to do anything indoors.

Sounds like a fun trip! Glad the weather worked out pretty well for you. And the temps cooperated - having to winterize quickly is kind of scary. Been there, done that.

KC? That seems way out of the way. Anxious to see what you got.

Utah! Sounds like fun!

The winterizing wasn't that bad. We got home about 5:00 so I had time, it just made for a busy evening unpacking and then winterizing. It was still above freezing for a few hours after I finished.

KC added about 100 miles to the trip, so definitely not "on the way." But looking at it another way, I wouldn't have hesitated to drive 50 miles each way to go to a "local" junkyard to get a rust-free (I hope) tailgate, so it certainly wasn't a ridiculous detour.

And we went to Moab Utah in 2019 and 2021, hitting Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. We're loving Utah and thought we might try to hit Zion and/or Bryce Canyon National Parks and try fourwheeling around Sand Hollow State Park on this trip.

[Gary Lewis]

.... I have a question or two. How are the campgrounds now after covid? Hard to find spots?

It's always tough to get reservations at Disney's Fort Wilderness Campground. When we went last summer we got reservations 2 months in advance and could only get Monday night through Thursday night. Weekend nights were non-existent. This trip was scheduled a LONG time ago, I think actually even pre-Covid, so we had our pick. But there weren't very many empty sites while we were there, and none of them was empty for more than one night.

But yes, camping has gotten more popular with the pandemic. We really noticed it in 2020 when people couldn't go anywhere else, it was hard to get campground reservations anywhere. And finding outdoor recreational equipment was just as nuts. A friend of mine owns a boat shop. Even if his supply chain was working at its normal level he'd still be sold out. People want to do things, and for a long time it's been hard to do anything indoors.

Sounds like a fun trip! Glad the weather worked out pretty well for you. And the temps cooperated - having to winterize quickly is kind of scary. Been there, done that.

KC? That seems way out of the way. Anxious to see what you got.

Utah! Sounds like fun!

The winterizing wasn't that bad. We got home about 5:00 so I had time, it just made for a busy evening unpacking and then winterizing. It was still above freezing for a few hours after I finished.

KC added about 100 miles to the trip, so definitely not "on the way." But looking at it another way, I wouldn't have hesitated to drive 50 miles each way to go to a "local" junkyard to get a rust-free (I hope) tailgate, so it certainly wasn't a ridiculous detour.

And we went to Moab Utah in 2019 and 2021, hitting Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. We're loving Utah and thought we might try to hit Zion and/or Bryce Canyon National Parks and try fourwheeling around Sand Hollow State Park on this trip.

I'm going to have to get BB out to Utah. Been there several times for boating or just sightseeing, including those parks, and loved it. Haven't stopped at Sand Hollow, but it looks like fun.

[Nothing Special]

I'm going to have to get BB out to Utah. Been there several times for boating or just sightseeing, including those parks, and loved it. Haven't stopped at Sand Hollow, but it looks like fun.

No motorhome trip yet, but unfortunately I'm having some adventures anyway.

The first issue to pop up was a problem with the generator. A couple years ago I had to take it in to have the carb replaced. (OK, "had to take it in" is a little strong, but it's really hard to get at the generator without having the motorhome on a lift, and that's not going to happen. So I choose not to do much of my own work on it.) Anyway, I'd been told to run it at least moderately hard once a month to keep the carb from getting gummed up, but I hadn't really worried about it, hence the clogged up carb.

So now I'm faithfully running it every month. When I ran it in early February it died sometime before I went out to shut it off, and when I tried to restart it I found it had set a trouble code. I decided not to sweat it at that time, but when it wouldn't run in March I decided to make an appointment for it.

That appointment was to be yesterday, but when I tried to start the motorhome to drive it to the service center I couldn't get it to run. At first it was hunting between about 400 - 1500 rpm and moving the throttle didn't change anything. Then it settled down to what it's still doing now, firing right up, but shutting down after only about one second. And still no reaction at all if I'm moving the throttle pedal.

I checked codes and all it's showing is P2111, which I found to be "throttle actuator control system stuck open." From a little more Googling I guess I'll be replacing the throttle body. I might prefer to have a shop do this as well, but as I can't drive it in and I don't relish the thought of the towing bill this would have I guess I'll do it myself. If it is the throttle body it shouldn't be too bad, but I'd rather be working on my Bronco.

[grumpin]

No motorhome trip yet, but unfortunately I'm having some adventures anyway.

The first issue to pop up was a problem with the generator. A couple years ago I had to take it in to have the carb replaced. (OK, "had to take it in" is a little strong, but it's really hard to get at the generator without having the motorhome on a lift, and that's not going to happen. So I choose not to do much of my own work on it.) Anyway, I'd been told to run it at least moderately hard once a month to keep the carb from getting gummed up, but I hadn't really worried about it, hence the clogged up carb.

So now I'm faithfully running it every month. When I ran it in early February it died sometime before I went out to shut it off, and when I tried to restart it I found it had set a trouble code. I decided not to sweat it at that time, but when it wouldn't run in March I decided to make an appointment for it.

That appointment was to be yesterday, but when I tried to start the motorhome to drive it to the service center I couldn't get it to run. At first it was hunting between about 400 - 1500 rpm and moving the throttle didn't change anything. Then it settled down to what it's still doing now, firing right up, but shutting down after only about one second. And still no reaction at all if I'm moving the throttle pedal.

I checked codes and all it's showing is P2111, which I found to be "throttle actuator control system stuck open." From a little more Googling I guess I'll be replacing the throttle body. I might prefer to have a shop do this as well, but as I can't drive it in and I don't relish the thought of the towing bill this would have I guess I'll do it myself. If it is the throttle body it shouldn't be too bad, but I'd rather be working on my Bronco.

Bummer, not the kind of adventures you want.

Hopefully works out well.

 

[Gary Lewis]

Bummer, not the kind of adventures you want.

Hopefully works out well.

Right, not the adventure you want. Is the engine accessible by pulling a cover in the motorhome? That would make pulling the throttlebody much easier.

[Nothing Special]

Right, not the adventure you want. Is the engine accessible by pulling a cover in the motorhome? That would make pulling the throttlebody much easier.

I first looked under the hood and couldn't see accessing anything that way. Then I tried removing the dog house, but after loosening the clips I could hardly move it. It was "loose", but was sticking on something before moving more than 1/4" or so. So then I Googled it and found that you are supposed to go through the hood. Looking closer I see that if I take the air filter and ducting off I will have a pretty straight shot. It's back under the cowl a bit so it will mean leaning over and reaching it quite a ways. But it is a lot closer to the hood than to the dog house, so that's definitely going to be the path to take.