Installed skid wheels under tow bar and receiver frame

 The JM31 has a significant overhang out behind the rear axle causing the tow bar to drag on some inclines that descend to a level surface like our driveway. We decided to install steel rollers under the tow bar and the receiver frame to help mitigate this problem. The rollers that went under the receiver were an easy bolt on task but the roller we purchased to go under the tow bar was designed for a standard receiver. Placing the roller at the receiver would make it to far from the end of the tow bar to be effective. We had an old receiver riser that we did not use anymore and cut a section out of it to slide over the tow bar stringer allowing the wheel to be mounted further out near the end of the tow bar.

Our solution to the rusty sewer hose storage in the bumper

Anyone who has stored a sewer hose in the square bumper on the back of their RV knows what the inside of that bumper can do to the hose.  The least of which is coat the hose with an ugly layer of rust and over time moving around in that rusty bumper can wear a hole in the hose. On the outside that bumper may appear pristine with a nice coat of paint but on the inside it is just bare metal. It will usually start to rust before the RV reaches the dealer. This past week we took our new motorhome out for the first time after getting it home. Arriving at the campsite we were not happy when we pulled our nice new sewer hose out of that rusty bumper. We are not new to the 3 inch sewer hose but for the past 13 years have been using a Sanicon system with the small hose that stored in the service bay. We have downsized and reverted back to the 3 inch hose. We recall installing 4 inch square PVC fence posts on previous RV’s to avoid the rusty bumper. One of the reasons we purchased the Quantum JM31 was because it was low to the ground and did not have troublesome electric steps to worry about. Ingress/egress is easy without staining my wife’s ankles so raising the coach is not an option. Because the coach is so low to the ground under the coach sewer hose storage is not practical. We decided to line the bottom of the bumper with a material that would not rust. For years we carried a roll of 1/8 inch thick rubber sheet that could be rolled out when working under the motorhome while away from home. We cut a 3.75 inch strip off that roll and slid it into the bumper. We hope that will do the trick.

Mystery switch mystery solved

 

We have a three ganged switch under the counter that contains the microwave and is just above the sink. We quickly found that the middle switch controlled the lights under that cabinet and the switch on the right controlled the lights over the dinette. The switch on the left was another story. We could not find anything that it operated. Finally fired off an email to Thor asking what the switch was for. We knew it had wires connected because we had taken the switch out to see. After a few days Thor sent us a diagram with the circuits highlighted. The claim was that the switch in question controlled strip lights under the kitchen counter. So armed with this information we went out to the coach in search of those strip lights. No strips lights. So we poked our head inside the cabinet with a flashlight and discovered a pair of wires with attached butt connectors just lying on the floor. Took a 3 foot long grabber and fished them out and connected a VOM to the ends. Sure enough the mystery switch turns 12 VDC on and off to the wire pair. Now to find my old supply of strip LED’s.

Found out why the Android Auto does not work on the Axxera AVM2207S

When we picked up our JM31 the dealership service department said the Android Auto did not work because we needed a software update. That seemed like a lame answer so today we pulled out the dash to see if the USB jack was connected. It was not and the cable was just hanging. Furthermore the USB cable for the Car Play coming out of the back of the radio was still neatly tied up with a twist tie. We untied it thinking we could plug them together. No such luck because the cable attached to the radio is USB-A and the end from the USB socket on the dash is a mini-B. We did verify that the Android Auto works by attaching a USB cable and plugged it into our phone. We left the cable in place as a temporary fix until we can get an adapter to plug the two cables together.

  

Left the USB cable in place for temporary fix

2021 Ford E450 dog house has improved insulation

 In January we test drove a 2021 Quantum JM31 built on the 2020 Ford E450 with the 7.3 V8. We thought it was noisy and had already done research on how to improve the insulation. That was going to be one of our first projects until we drove our new 2022 JM31 built on the 2021 chassis. Evidently Ford has improved the insulation because the 2022 was significantly less noisy than the 2021. Trying to figure out how to get the radio out today we pulled the dog house. We took a few photos showing the insulation and the engine. Notice that the XM Radio module was just hanging down. It is now mounted up high with cable ties. Looking at the part number on the plug wires we believe they are the updated version.

Installed the Wacko Air Conditioner Silencer

 Installed the Wacko silencer kit on the front air conditioner. Brought the fan noise down from 70db to 61 db.

Coat rack by the door

 We fabricated a coat rack to go by the door. Be aware if you decide to do this that you can only get a decent attachment by screwing into the wood frame beneath the panel on each end. The wall is only about 1/8 inch thick and flimsy.

Modification to allow use of the external cable input for a portable satellite antenna

 The external cable input is connected directly to the voltage injector. Even with the voltage injector switched off and the green LED off the F-connector connection on the front of the voltage injector will not work for an external satellite. Notice in the photo below that we have pulled the voltage injector out from the cabinet wall and disconnected the RG-6 cable coming from the external cable connection just above the 30 amp power input. We have a cable tracer and verified that this is the correct cable. In the photo below you can see that we have the Wally satellite receiver connected directly to that cable and we have the Dish Over the Air adapter connected to the output of the voltage injector. Using these two connections we were able to receive both satellite and over the air stations on our Wally.

Obviously this is not a desirable setup so we made a F-connector patch panel that would give us the option of connecting the Wally to the external input when we had the portable satellite antenna on the ground or a RG-6 cable running to the roof when we had the satellite antenna mounted on the roof. We also routed the cable input connection on the voltage injector to the patch panel so if we wanted to use the external input for cable television we could patch it back in. We purchased some panel mountable F-connector couplers and used a piece of ABS to make the panel.

The next step is touchy because a rectangular opening must be cut in the cabinet wall near the voltage injector. There are wires and cables inside that wall so getting happy with a saw is out of the question. We used a pocket knife with a sharp point to cut sections and then broke them out with pliers. A short section of RG-6 with connectors must be fabricated and connected to the coupler labeled CABLE and fished thru the rectangular opening and connected to the voltage injector. The cable that was disconnected from the voltage injector is connected to the EXT coupler and the cable we routed from the satellite antenna on the roof is connected to SAT.  We found it difficult to get all the cables back into the wall without rotating the voltage injector 90 degrees. A second short section of RG-6 with connectors was fabricated for patching the EXT input to the CABLE input in the event we wanted to use the campground cable.

The satellite and television equipment looks ratty and is not something we are proud of but with the HDMI cable mess Thor gave us it was difficult to do a neat job. On the plus side the Wally remote is wireless and we can keep the cabinet door closed.

Installed the King Jack directional over the air antenna and a portable satellite antenna on the roof

 We were very displeased with the performance of the omni directional over the air television antenna located inside the Winegard Connect 2.0. We have been trying different over the air antennas for years and always went back to the old Batwing directional antenna because we have not found anything as good. We did mount a King Jack on the Batwing once and found it to be almost as good. Not wanting to deal with the problematic crank up mechanism on the Batwing or worry about forgetting to lower it before hitting the road we opted to install the King Jack for our over the air antenna. We chose to drill the hole and mount the rotational control inside the cabinet housing the satellite and television equipment. To be on the safe side we measured carefully and then drilled a pilot hole using a long 1/4 inch drill bit up from the inside.

Drill bit used for a pilot hole coming thru the roof

Rather than using an extension on the hole saw and risking damaging the ceiling or the roof we drilled with the hole saw from both inside and on the roof.

Notice the thickness of the roof and that it is solid Styrofoam with a sheet of metal and luan on the roof side. We did not have to use the extension on the King Jack and just adjusted it for the thickness of the roof. The hole saw should be sharp to cut thru the metal sheet. When installing the dryer vent we noticed the same sheet of metal between the Styrofoam and the luan on the exterior wall. Forget running wires inside the roof or side walls on this coach because they are sold Styrofoam. We did notice that if you can find one of the cable raceways the factory installed in the floor or the ceiling you might be able to fish a new cable in. Removing the panel at the bottom of the shower we noticed a raceway from there to the fresh water tank under the bed. We made a mental note of this just in case we decide to install a diverter valve inside the shower to route water back to the fresh water tank when taking a Navy shower. The purpose of that is to keep the water flowing in the tankless water heater without sending it into the gray tank when boondocking.

Once we got the hole drilled thru the roof we disconnected the over the air coax from the Winegard Connect and used an F-connector splice to attach the King Jack RG-6 to that same cable. We used the existing power injector that Thor installed and that cable was already routed to were it needed to be. The King Jack does not come supplied with a length of RG-6 and we made our own. We keep a roll of RG-6, connectors, stripper, and compression tools handy so did not have to purchase anything.

Connect to existing RG-6 by removing it from the Winegard Connect

In preparation for installing the portable satellite antenna on the roof we removed the cable plate that Thor had installed and replaced it with the four cable version that comes with the roof mounting kit.

We used Steren coaxial cable clips to fasten RG-6 routes to the roof. Be sure to cover them with self-leveling caulk to keep the moisture out.

The instructions for mounting the satellite antenna on the roof gives distances that the unit must be located from other objects on the roof based on their height. We wanted to install the satellite in the center of the roof but that would have violated those distance requirements. That is why we mounted it were we did.

Weber grill conversion

 We love our Weber grill. Our previous coach did not have an external propane connection and we never added one. We always carried plenty of the small propane cylinders but with the limited storage on our Class C decided to convert the grill to use the external propane connection that is standard on the Quantum. We ordered the Torjik conversion kit and modified the grill. We followed the directions and did not find it difficult.