Happy Thanksgiving! - TT

Thursday - A very quiet, and relaxing day for us here at the park. Bridget’s oldest drove out from L.A. to visit for a couple of days. We had Thanksgiving dinner at Sullivan’s Steakhouse. They did have the traditional meal but I opted for the ribeye. It was easily the best, perfectly cooked, well seasoned steak I’ve had in a long time. So I got a day off from cooking. I still have the other half of my dessert from Sherman’s Deli for later. 

I’m very thankful that we can do this traveling lifestyle. I still enjoy it even though we see some of the same places. We were last here six years ago back when we had the 5th wheel. 

Friday - These are the magnets that were installed on the inside of the old windshield to hold the MagnaShade. I was looking for 3M double stick circles in hardware stores but never found any. I just remembered that the folks at MagnaShade provided a spare magnet and, it turns out, a bunch of replacement 3M discs. 

After watching the installation video on YouTube, we reinstalled the magnets. We have our MagnaShade back. It was missed as it really does help limit the heating from direct sunlight. 

Palm Springs, CA - TT

Tuesday - A short travel day to Palm Springs TT park. Traffic wasn’t too bad though I must’ve been passed by a couple of thousand vehicles. I think I passed only a couple of trucks. It was challenging to find a parking spot as the park is pretty full. It would be easier with a smaller RV.

I’m trying out the StarLink pole mount as just setting it on the ground wouldn’t work very well due to crowding. Speeds are pretty decent at 300+ Mbps down and 25 Mbps up. Plenty for what we do.

Tuesday - Today’s adventure was the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, once billed as the 8th wonder of the modern world  The upper or Mountain Station is at 8,500’ or about 8,100’ above the valley floor. I hadn’t been here since ~1980 and I remember very little from that backpacking trip.

The tram moved very fast compared to the one in Albuquerque and one of the unique features is the spinning floor. It makes two rotations on the trip to give everyone a view. 

After a light snack, we went to several overlooks and even though there were clouds between us a the valley, the view was pretty phenomenal. It was cool at 46°F and with the 15mph breeze, our outside stays were not long. 

We spent a couple of hours wandering around before catching a tram heading down. This is the counter weight to maintain tension on the cable. The drive is at the bottom and it pulls the tram car down. So the downhill car doesn’t swing much when passing over the towers. 

On the way back to the RV park, we stopped at Sherman’s Deli for some dessert. Another stop to run the Jeep through a self-serve car wash. You can’t tell that I had just washed the Jeep a couple of days ago. It’s dusty following the RV. 

The coconut cream pie from Sherman’s Deli was fantastic. Half of it was a lot of dessert. More for later in the week!

Quartzsite, AZ - BLM

Monday - Another 300 mile travel day to western Arizona. We are staying at the Roadrunner BLM area which is free dry camping for up to 14 days. We are only staying overnight but it is nice and quiet even though we are only ¼ mile from the highway. And, free is good!

Tomorrow’s drive is only a couple of hours and we’ll be there for five days. Long enough to relax. It’s been around 1,200 miles since we left Bay Landing RV park. A fair amount of driving.

I was hoping to get a chip in the windshield fixed while we were here but the shop we used before from Junction City doesn’t seem to be here. 

Benson, AZ - TT

Saturday - A short travel day to one of our favorite RV parks in Benson, AZ. We are only here for a couple of days due to the windshield delays but I’m not going to complain. No windshield issues on the three day trip. The pool and hot tub here are fantastic. Nice and warm with everything working. This is the first place we’ve been in a long time where everything works. 

The task for today was washing the Jeep. After all the trips behind the RV and all around Texas, it was pretty filthy. This park charges a $10 fee if you want to wash your car but at least it’s an option. The soft top precludes running it through a car wash though I have used the “no touch” automatic washes without any noticeable issues. 

It really feels like a vacation right now. A few more tasks tomorrow. 

Sunday - Since the temperatures are dropping, I rewired the solar panels from one series string of four panels to two strings of two panels. As the temperature drops, the voltage of the panels increase. And there is a chance that the voltage with the four panels in series could exceed the maximum input voltage of the charge controller. Breaking up the panels into two strings of two cuts the voltage in half. The downside is that it increases the current through the long run to the charge controller which increases the resistive loss. But that’s better than damaging the controller. 

I replaced the burner in the rear furnace. That isn’t the reason why it won’t run but I noticed that it was starting to burn out when I disassembled it. At that time, I just ordered a replacement part. This time, I was able to measure 12VDC at the circuit breaker within the furnace. I will check the furnace signal connection within the rear A/C unit as that is how it communicates with the thermostat. But now, I’m sitting by the pool & hot tub. 

I did need to add another 1/2 liter of ATF fluid to the hydraulic reservoir. That’s after driving ~600+ miles. Tomorrow, we have ~300 miles and then another 120 miles to our next longer stop. 

Later - For some reason, the rear furnace now works. I messed around with the wiring but didn’t find any problem. I don’t like these kind of problems..

Deming, NM

Friday - A long-ish travel day at 404 miles. We finally got out of Texas and we are about half way through New Mexico. We were originally thinking of stopping at a Harvest Host but decided to look at an RV park as it’s supposed to drop below freezing tonight. Since the rear furnace is still not working, we can have an electric heater if needed. 

This is an Escapee RV park. We had never stayed at one of them before and decided to try one out. It’s not bad. Tomorrow is a short travel day to Valley Vista RV park in Benson, AZ. One of our favorite places to stay.

Later - Well, it did drop to freezing in the morning so I think the RV park was a good choice. I really need to look at the furnace again. I think it’s something simple as I couldn’t find 12V on any of the wiring. Sounds like another project…

Midland, TX - HH

Thursday - A moderately long travel day to Midland, TX. Around 320 miles. We are staying at the Permian Basin Petroleum Museum using Harvest Hosts. I’ve stayed here before while traveling towards Tucson a couple of years ago. 

The museum also has a Chaparral Gallery as the racing organization is located in Midland. An excellent museum with a lot of information on the Permian Basin and the oil and gas industry. Lots of “hands on” exhibits. 

Tomorrow, we may actually make it out of Texas as we are aiming for just across the New Mexico border. Tonight’s low is forecast to be in the 30s. We’ll see how it goes with only the front furnace. I suspect that it’ll be just fine. 

Bridgeport, TX - TT

Monday - It was a productive morning. The motorhome's left turn signal was intermittent. If I put pressure on the lever, it would work ... most of the time. This is a recurring problem as I had repaired it before. I removed the lever assembly and disassembled it. It wasn't designed to be serviced but I didn't let that stop me. Several of the contacts inside of the assembly were burned. All bulbs on the motorhome's left turn side are regular tungsten filament bulbs. About half of the bulbs on the passenger side are LED. It may be time to change all of them to LED. One project finished. 

By early afternoon, the rain had stopped and the ground was almost completely dry. I removed the boot from the transfer case lever to see if the cable was still attached. It was. After crawling under the Jeep, I found the shift rod on the transfer case, and the end that should be attached to the shift lever cable wasn't connected. I'll assume that the tech just forgot as opposed to incompetence. I snapped it back on and the lever now shifts properly and the dashboard display registers correctly.

I was worried that I was losing hydraulic fluid on the RV. This is hydraulic fluid for the steering and the engine fan. I had checked the fluid in Cheyenne and the reservoir was full (the shop filled the reservoir). I hadn't checked it again until Hondo and I needed to add a couple of quarts. I used to check it every drive day and usually needed to add a little each time. There is some sort of pressure relief valve on the hydraulic pump that has a small crack and the shop in Cheyenne temporarily fixed it last year with some marine epoxy. They couldn't get the part in time for us to leave last year so they mailed it to me in Hondo. I have the part and just need to find a shop to install it. It needs a very large wrench and, I suspect, it'll make a mess when the old one is removed.

The reason that we are back here is to have the passenger-side windshield glass replaced. The shop that I had contacted earlier received the glass from the insurance company and is located in Arlington, TX, which is north of Fort Worth. This TT park is within the mileage allowance the insurance allows. He is planning to come out here on Tuesday. Rain and wind were forecasted for today. Tomorrow is supposed to be pretty nice. It's been blowing pretty good today with gusts almost to 50mph.

Tuesday - No wind and blue skies. I had picked up this extendable pole for the StarLink dish from Amazon and it was delivered right before we left Hondo. Today was the first time to try it out. The 15m cable is long enough to reach from this location on the rear ladder, through the driver sliding window and almost reach the router. I had picked up a weatherproof RJ-45 coupler last month and was planning to put a pass-through into the side of the RV. When I tested the coupler with a functional Ethernet cable, it didn’t work. So for now, the cable passes through the window opening. 

I tested the coupler and there is continuity on all 8 pins. One Ethernet cable failed on pin 8 so maybe I have a bad cable. Once the glass company is finished, I’ll try the coupler with a different cable. 

This afternoon, a team of four replaced the rubber seal and the passenger half of the windshield. To replace the seal, the drivers side also needed to be removed. The new glass appears to fit better than the old one as the corners look seated. 

The RV needs to sit for at least 24 hours so the urethane can set. Hopefully, this fix lasts… 

I tried using a cable (commercial Cat6 cable) that didn't have continuity on pin 8. Several cables from the same vendor exhibited the same flaw. Starlink sends power to the dish using the unused pairs on the Cat5/6 cable which includes pin 8. The good cable I'm currently using came from Walmart.

The only task remaining at this time is the rear furnace.

More RV Tasks

Friday - The super reliable rear furnace wouldn’t light sometime last week after working just fine for quite a while including all night. Odd. This morning, I removed the burner assembly, disassembled and cleaned it. The flame diffuser was starting to fall apart but it was still in one piece. I ordered a replacement diffuser and after vacuuming out the furnace, I reassembled it and tested it. It's working again. 

I installed a ladder-mounted pole for our StarLink antenna but haven't tried it out as we are heading back to Bridgeport, TX, in a couple of days so our windshield could be replaced. The pole and mount seem to be sturdy and well-made. All metal with no plastic pieces. I’ll set it up at the next campground. The unknown is whether the StarLink cable is long enough to reach the router from the ladder. I’m bringing a Cat6 coupler and an additional 25’ cable.

The glass shop picked up the RV glass from the shipping company yesterday. Slow shipping as it took almost two weeks to get from Oregon to Texas. There is rain predicted for Monday so the shop is targeting  Tuesday for the installation.

Saturday - The furnace didn’t run last night as in the blower didn’t even come on. The previous problem is that it wouldn’t light. Another thing to troubleshoot over the next few days. Today, I started getting things put away for travel. There must be a hydraulic leak as I had to add oil to the hydraulic reservoir on the engine. 

The basement storage seems empty as a lot of stuff was moved to the shed. 

Sunday - We left before 9am as we had a long-ish travel day planned. Challenges started first thing. Apparently, the dealer neglected to connect the shift lever to the transfer case. So we couldn’t flat tow the Jeep. Bridget drove it to our destination which was over 350 miles north. We are back at the Bay Landing TT park near Bridgeport, TX.

Ural Now Runs

Thursday - This morning, I thoroughly cleaned the Ural left carburetor by soaking it in carburetor cleaner after disassembly. Put it back together using the same adjustments it originally had. I re-installed it and it ran fine. Or at least as well as it did last spring. 

I rode it to D’Hanis to fill up the gas tank with fresh fuel and I noticed that downshifts were difficult. I adjusted the transmission shift stops and it didn’t help. That’s when I noticed the cracked shift lever and the lever flexed at the crack enough to hit the footpeg mounting bolt. If I can get the shift lever off without breaking it the rest of the way, I can probably get it welded.

I guess it’s always something with a Ural… And, I should clean the right carb just because. It looks filthy compared to the newly cleaned left carb.

Working on the Ural

Monday - Pulled the left cylinder head and all looked good. I re-torqued the head and checked the valve clearances. The intake was tight but within specs. DomC had found a forum entry on Soviet Steeds that sounded exactly like what I'm seeing. They had the PowerArc aftermarket ignition as do I and the solution was to re-install the stock ignition. 

I also dropped off the Jeep at the dealer in Uvalde. 

Tuesday - This morning, I loosened the PA interrupter disc which is attached to the end of the cam so it makes one revolution for every two revolutions of the crank. There is one slot for TDC and multiple slots around the circumference of the disc. The interrupter disc can be seen in the picture on the left but the TDC slot is hidden under the black LED/phototransistor pickup. With the engine at TDC, I rotated the disc 180°. If there was a problem with PA, then it should fire on the other cylinder. That didn't happen which meant that the PA was probably functional. 

I pulled off the carburetor from the non-functional cylinder and disassembled it as far as I could. The needle had varnish on it and the power  was full of what looked like algae. The air tube and the main jet were partially blocked. I cleaned it up as well as I could, re-assembled it and it now ran on both cylinders though the left one was really lean under load. I think I need to pick up a can of carb cleaner and put the parts in to soak for a couple of hours. 

Wednesday - I just got an update from the Jeep dealer. A rodent had eaten through part of the wiring harness. The dealer fixed the harness and didn't insist on replacing it. I'm also having them replace the oil in differentials and the air filter. We should be able to pick the Jeep up this afternoon.

I also heard from SafeLite about the RV windshield. The glass has finally arrived in TX and now I'm waiting to hear from the glass shop, which is located in Arlington, TX. Once we hear from the glass shop, we will move the RV back to the Ft. Worth area. Probably back to Bay Landing TT as that was within the 90miles that was approved by the insurance company,

Ural Issues

Friday - Today's task is trying to get the Ural back on the road. It would start and only run if the right cylinder choke was on. And even then, it was running really lean. I pulled the right carb and dropped the bowl it had gas and was clean. I reinstalled the carb, moved the petcock to prime and fuel started flowing out of the bowl vent. The float valve wasn't sealing.

Yesterday, I started installing an HF antenna mount on the rear ladder of the RV. A week and a half ago, I picked up an HF radio, antenna and cable from Ham Radio Outlet in Plano, TX, but they didn't have a ladder mount. This was shipped to the RV park and it arrived the day before we left. I should've just ordered it from Amazon. Maybe. I ordered a telescoping mast to install the StarLink on and Amazon claims that it'll be delivered today. It hasn't even shipped yet.

Later - I pulled the right carb and the needle valve was sticking due to a buildup of varnish on the needle valve. I cleaned it and reassembled the carb and the Ural started and ran sort of okay. I took it for a ride and it really felt like only one cylinder was running. The EGT for the left cylinder was reading ambient temperature and after a mile of riding, the left head was barely warm.

Saturday - Bad news. The left cylinder is not working. The needle valve on the carb was all gummed up and not able to open so no fuel. After that was fixed, I swapped the plug wires and it still ran the same. Operating the throttle on the left cylinder did nothing. The valves are operating correctly. So the next step is to pull the head. 

D’Hanis, TX - SKP

Thursday - A short drive day today and we arrived before noon. Just in time for a free lunch at the hall. It was warm and muggy and the weather service was predicting rain all day. I don’t think we got any. 

The RV is all set up and the StarLink dish ended up near the end of the pad due to the tree. I ordered a pole mount that’ll attach to the ladder and Amazon claims that it’ll arrive tomorrow. 

I need to spend some time getting the Ural ready as the Jeep has an appointment in Uvalde on Monday. 

Lampasas, TX - HH

Wednesday - We left the TT park around 9:30 and headed south and west. Mostly on secondary roads with maybe a hundred miles on I-35. We are staying at another Harvest Host south of Lampasas, TX. Nice, level gravel lot next to a hanger. A really nice, quiet location. Only about three hours tomorrow to Hondo even taking the “scenic” route through Fredericksburg to avoid San Antonio traffic. But the forecast is for rain.

Point, TX - TT

Monday - It's much windier today with gusts up to 35mph so the awnings were stowed. Better safe than sorry. In fact, this area is under a tornado watch until this evening.

Now it's 5pm and there still isn't any rain yet. Not that I'm complaining. The temperature is starting to drop. It is now 77°F but still humid. I still have the A/C running as a dehumidifier. It's pretty muggy outside.

The weather radar suggests we are in the middle of a bad storm but no wind or rain when I stepped outside. In fact, you could even see patches of blue sky. 

I participated in two test sessions today. Both passed easily. 

Tuesday - We decided to take off tomorrow as the windshield was just shipped from OR and the glass place said it's usually about 10 days to two weeks to TX. So tomorrow morning, we head south. The rain and thunder didn't really start until night into the early morning. I spent the afternoon putting things away. Only a handful of tasks for tomorrow morning. 

Point, TX - TT

Thursday - We got quite a bit of rain in the middle of the night. A front blew through with wind the last couple of days and pleasant temperatures today. I believe the forecasted high is 76°F. It feels nice. 

The StarLink outages occur several times per hour but I’m surprised at how well it has worked given the tree cover. Better than I would have guessed. 

I’m waiting for a few items in the mail now before I can play with the new HF radio. An antenna mount and cable. The sales guy thought the antenna mount would include a cable but when I looked up the part number, there was a note that the pictured cable was not included. 

Several friends have moved on so it is pretty quiet around here. I'm waiting for another test this afternoon. Testing is an activity that I enjoy. A little bit of socialization a couple of times per day. 

Friday - A quiet morning as Bridget is visiting several museums with other RV friends. It is another cool day at 67°F@11am. Kind of overcast but it's not windy or raining.

The afternoon session was canceled so I tried out the hot tub. It was nice. And since it wasn’t hot and sunny, the pool was deserted. No complaints from me!

I also drove into town again to pick up an Amazon package. I now have the antenna cable but still waiting for the mount. UPS tracking claims Monday. 

Sunday - Humid and warm at 78°F before noon. It’s also a bit breezy and rain has been in the forecast since yesterday into the first half of the week. So far, most of the rain has been north of us.