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On the road again, sort of.

Before I unwind my tale – let me mention D and W campground outside Champaign Illinois.  They are just off I-57 and Marketplace.  They are a family owned and operated campground.  It has a nice spring fed lake and lots of trees.  The grounds are well maintained including the roads.  It is a great place to stay overnight or for months.

We are back on the road, sort of.  We spent several months near our home base – working on landscaping, selling stuff from the house, giving away more and lots of other chores.  We plan to sell the house next year, so there is so much downsizing to do.  We sold our electric bikes and bought a new pair we liked better.  Then there was the sump drainpipe that needed expensive repair work and the new computer we hope will extend the life of the very old laptop I type these blogs on.  We are both photographers and edit pictures and videos.

We also replaced the shade motors on the windshield sun and night shades.  The night shade started acting wonky, stopping in the wrong place, refusing to reprogram. I found the motors on Amazon.  When I went to replace them, I found two things.  There is a brown wire that is supposed to be connected ignition so the night shade can’t be lowered too far while driving.  It was connected only to thin air.  No ignition wire to be found nearby.  The other thing I found; as I was untangling the cables – one spade connector on the night shade (the one with the problem) just fell off as it wasn’t crimped well.  So, both motors were replaced and went into storage as they might just be ok.

We traveled north to Wisconsin to spend a week with family – then will head back to home base for a week for one last medical test before we head out west.

Of course, every trip has its problems.  When we left the campground that we had been at for a couple of months, everything worked fine.  The slide even worked several times when we were there (we pull in the main slide whenever we have storm winds forecasted in the 60 mph range).

We pull into our Wisconsin park and neither the jacks nor the main hydraulic slide would work.  Now we had problems previously with the HWH hydraulic system and I ended up replacing both of the solenoids mounted on the pump system.  And the repair seemed to work.  It did work for a short trip and several uses while parked.

But when we arrived, the leveling panel was dark and nothing, even the emergency push buttons wouldn’t work.  Big Sigh…..  When we pushed the extend button for the main slide, it moved out just a little and that was it.  Basically – the hydraulic controller released the pressure holding the slide cylinder in and it moved on its own.  I jumped power directly to the hydraulic motor and the slide extended.  I think we were just lucky on that.

After looking through what HWH hydraulic diagrams I had, I went looking for a 5-amp fuse – and found one inside the dash.  Blown.  Wonderful place Tiffin.  When I replaced it, the leveling control panel powered up.  That panel talks to a controller (included in the front left storage bay) via a CAN bus and that controller talks to the hydraulic valve controller mounted with the pump.

There are two solenoids at the pump.  The MASTER solenoid provides power to the valve control body mounted on top of the pump AND provides power to the second solenoid.  The MASTER solenoid is turned on any time Ignition is on.  This along with the controller and the dash panel let you know if the jacks are in Travel Mode – or not, whenever you are driving.  However, that means that the MASTER solenoid must be a Continuous Duty solenoid – one that can stay energized for long periods of time.  If you just to go Amazon and order a 12V solenoid it likely is an intermittent version – like what you might use for a

intermittent solenoid used continuously: burnt wires.
intermittent solenoid used continuously: burnt wires.

starter.  I had mistakenly replaced my MASTER with just such a solenoid, and it did not survive the 7-hour trip between campgrounds.  I had a spare intermittent solenoid that I installed temporarily, and everything worked.  And I ordered a new, Continuous Duty solenoid that will be installed before our return trip.

Great – that is solved or will be once the correct solenoid arrives from Amazon.  Moving on – before we left home base, we purchased a new TPMS system.  The RVIBrake system got to be too big a hassle.  We bought a TST 507 with 10 sensors.  I went to program the sensors into the display – and they wouldn’t load in.  I tried multiple times.  I replaced a couple of sensor batteries just in case.  I watched four different Youtube videos on how to program these things and read two different instruction manuals on the process.  I was doing everything just exactly how it was shown.  Hold the sensor next to the bottom left side of the display, hit the GO button……  Nope, nadda, zilch…. So, I watched again, and again and realized that they often hit the go button first, then as the sensor got near the display, pop, the serial number was read.  When I tried mine, the serial number read – TWO inches away from the display.  Being too close, the signal must have been too hot to read properly.  I went on to load all 10 sensors and install them on the RV and pickup truck.

The TPMS worked on the way up to Wisconsin but a couple were a little flakey and as I suspected, the batteries weren’t new.  As I was replacing the batteries in the sensors, I noticed oil on the left rear wheel rim of the RV.  The axle seal was leaking…..  More videos.  With the F53, the entire wheel/brake disk/hub assembly freewheels on bearings on the end of the transaxle body.  A half shaft slides through the hub, into the transaxle, mating with a spline into the planetary gears and bolts to the outside of the hub.  Transaxle oil floods that space and is sealed in – with a paper gasket where the half-shaft bolts to the hub. Apparently leaks there is a thing with F53 transaxles.  The only socket wrench I had with me was an 8 inch 3/8ths drive. I put that on – and what were supposed to be 180 lb-ft tightened nuts moved with only moderate force.  Also, apparently insufficiently torqued axle flange bolts is also a thing with F53 transaxles.  There are Youtube videos showing people finding paper seals blown out, falling apart etc.  Mine were in place, so I bought a breaker bar and tightened all the nuts.  I cleaned up all the oil, so I could tell if it leaks again – added some oil to the transaxle (was only a little low).  Then I checked the other side too – loose but not leaking.

We are headed back to home base in less than a week – I’ll keep an eye on it and if it leaks, I’ll have to replace the seal.

A week at home base, then head west young man (and woman).

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What is a Father?

What is a father?

First, he Is the companion to your mother.  For most of us, they come as a pair, each with different strengths and weaknesses.  When one is not present, “your parents” becomes a less perfect set, a less perfect set than each of us might have been used to.  If you never knew your father, then your mother had to fill both positions, which could have been good or bad, but that isn’t the situation I’m speaking to.

My father, like most fathers, wasn’t perfect.  Clearly, he made mistakes.  There were bad judgment calls I’m still learning about.  He could, at times, have a temper.  There were times when he was intolerant of others (usually with good reason).

Yet, he was MY FATHER.  Yes, I had 7 siblings, to whom he was also a father.  And I fully expect that they too, could write a similar story.  But I’m not them and my relationship to George William Gardner is mine and mine alone.

Second, my father was one of the two guides in my life.  For a father to be a guide, there must be some commonality between father and child.  There must be a reason to spend time together.  There must be time for the child to watch the father in infinite detail.  Because it is in the details where the child mimics their parents yet also develops their own skills and personalities.  If the child is watching from afar, with little time in the details, then the lessons learned will be distorted, incomplete, and perhaps imaginary.

Third, my father imparted skills to me.  How to handle a paintbrush to neatly and efficiently apply paint (never using masking tape).  I learned how to glaze windows.  How to build things out of wood.  How to tune up cars. How to fix broken appliances.  How TV’s work.  The basics of electronic – and so much more.

Fourth, my father wasn’t just imprinting skills on my brain.  His training wasn’t setting me up for a life as a handyman.  I was learning the value of work.  I was learning that basic skills put me in control of at least some of the “world around me”.  I was setting goals for myself – such as I was, as a ten-year-old, setting my life goal to be an Electrical Engineer.  I saw that Dad valued people who had skills and used them and didn’t value people whose skill was so narrowly focused that they could add a title in front of their name, but couldn’t change a flat tire if their life depended on it.  Dad also taught me to think, logically, through problems.  “Why did this machine not work?”  “How do we debug it?”  “How could it have been made better, so it did not break?”

This story is about Dad, but Mom deserves a paragraph at least.  Mom imparted a whole different set of skills, yet not completely unlike Dad either.  I would spend Saturday morning working with Dad outside, then go inside and help Mom make a hundred loaves of bread.  She taught me how to darn, how to knit, and how to remain committed to family even in the most difficult situations.  I am my father’s son, but I also carry a piece of Mom in my soul as well.

Fifth, I also learned some bad habits from Dad.  Maybe it’s just DNA, as some family members are inclined to say: “Gardner’s are just………”, whitewashing us all with the same brush.  And I do believe there is some truth to that.  I also believe we all can change, but I can tell you that from personal experience, it’s damned difficult to change some things that were ingrained for 20 years and perhaps before birth.  Dad grew up in the Great Depression.  I’m sure he made difficult choices, for those he loved and he certainly worked his ass off all his life providing for and supporting his family.

So, what is a Father?  A teacher.  I guidepost through life’s difficult choices, even long after he is gone.  Someone to work shoulder to shoulder with when there was a hard job to do.  Someone who said what needed to be said, yet also taught by example without a word.  He was never about politics.  He did favor one person over another because of their policies, but never because of the color of their banners.  As a “good catholic”, he supported his family’s participation, but I also know first-hand that he never spared a priest his disdain when they couldn’t think or act logically or show even the most basic life skills outside of the pulpit.

A Father isn’t the façade some religious fanatic portrays using bible quotes.  A Father if you had one, is your Father.  Even if you didn’t, his absence also formed who you would become.  Never mind everyone else trying to tell you “What a Father is.”

mike