Flats,fuel,and heat

[Noblet13]

hi from iowa,we bought a 84chieftain last summer,and i was curious about several issues, I noted that aaa does and does not change tires depending on where you are, is that about right. Our unit came with a 12inch socket with two different sizes and a hole through it,does anyone know what a good set of tire changing set would run short if buying a inch drive ratchet set, or would a twelve volt plug in type impact wrench work,and lastly my manual calls for leaded gas,should i add lead substitute and stay away from ethanol altogether.any help would be appreciated.thx/tony

 

[AFChap]

AAA is normally pretty poor road service for RVs. Look at Coach-Net or Good Sam. I believe either will cover all vehicles you own. (Coach-Net does for me). They will change a tire if you have a spare, or bring a suitable replacement if you don't, and normally can even mount a tire on the wheel at the scene.  Either would provide more & better service than AAA, they know RVs, and either will likely cost less than AAA!!!

I would add a lead substitute to your unleaded fuel. I have a '67 pickup I do that with. I likely would use E5 without much thought.  E10 might be OK, but I wouldn't want to go beyond that.

 

[Noblet13]

Thanks a bunch,  I saw on reading the forum post here that most say I can use the hydraulic levelers  to assist in getting the tires off the ground as long as an appropriate jack stand or a 12 ton bottle jack. Good stuff here, glad I found the site.
One other issue I worry about is heat while traveling. The dash heat is none existent, and the previous owner showed me a bundle of black hose under the passenger side rear twin bed where he reported the owner before had installed and auxiliary hot water heating unit, but he had no ideal how it worked. I am afraid to run the furnace/generator while rolling. I came back from Sturgis one year and it was fairly rainy and cool for August.
I passed four rv's where fires had started somewhere in the mid-section, and someone said they had the furnace going, was that possible..? Thanks again

 

[AFChap]

Gas Winnies come with a "motor-aid" heater that uses engine coolant for an auxiliary heater (like most school buses have under a rear seat).  ...I don't know if there is a cut-off year for that. If yours has it from the factory, there should be a switch/control of some kind in the dash area.

We have run the furnace while driving in low 30's temps, and at least on our coach it doesn't require the generator with the inverter as the engine alternator on ours charges both engine and house batteries, and the furnace blower doesn't take a lot of power.  But above the high 30's we run the generator anytime we need heat or AC. In summer travel, our generator is running almost anytime we are driving.  The generator should be exercised monthly, and while driving is normally when we do that. The appliances are designed to run under gas or electric when parked or moving, and we run them whenever we want to. Most RV fires are refrigerator-based, and not just when running on propane. My Norcold has had two or three recall "fixes" applied.  Next time we have a significant problem with it, I will replace it with a residential type electric-only model.

 

[John Canfield]

^^Yes^^

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

You need have no fear of running the generator while driving - it is supposed to work like that. You can use an electric space heater as needed (or a/c in the hot months).

Nor is there any danger in running the furnace on LP while underway. It may not function if the wind flow disrupts it too much, but it will shut off the propane flow if the burner goes out, so not dangerous.

 

[Noblet13]

Thanks so much for the info, hopefully we will come to understand with experience, our GRACE as the family named her, has been a project, but nothing major.So far it has been just half hour hour drives to the campground on weekends, but we plan to actually go somewhere this summer. We too had great tread on our tires, but with sidewall cracks, so we took off those and purchased used Michelins. She looks dry underneath. We tore out the old shag carpet, replaced with linoleum, and found a solid floor front to back. 30000 on the 454.

The generator had 200 hours on it but revs up and down and I suspect needs a new plug, filters and some card cleaner maybe, but that's the joy of tinkering, right?
The again, I will undoubtedly bug you more.