Everything Old Is New Again ....

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Ed & Idonna Bryson
Posts: 14
Joined: Sat Jan 06, 2007 9:22 pm

Everything Old Is New Again ....

Post by Ed & Idonna Bryson »

Greetings All -

For the last couple of weeks I've been a 'lurker' around here and skimmed through most of the messages on the board.

Last Friday I flew to Tyler, Texas and picked up a gently used 1997 24RB President. I've been searching the web for a 24'-25' RV most of the fall and have looked at several manufacturers and models. We are new to RVing (although I pop-up campered all of my childhood) and wanted to buy a gently used one to keep the money risk down in case we tried it and found out it wasn't for us.

There is a chance some of you may even know the unit. Talking to the owners' daughter-in-law I was told the owners used to go to national camping meetings. I don't know if it was Leap'n Lions or some other organization. The old owners were R. W. (Bud) & Mata Mary McKinney of Big Sandy, Texas. They owned a 1987 24RB, put 65K miles on it and traded it in for the 1997 24RB. They put 50K miles on it until 2004 when R.W. became ill and passed away in 2005. Mata Mary is now in assisted living and their son was acting as her agent to sell the unit. We promised them it was going to a good home and we would take good care of it. We showed them our website (http://www.joshua1systems.com) where we put our travelblogs for all the cruising and vacations we've taken and promised to keep it up to date with our RVing.

So their 10 year old unit is now our new RV. I'm going to spiff it up a little and do some routine maintenance (brakes, tires, etc) and then we'll try it out here in the Smokies before going farther afield. I want to upgrade its electrical system, perhaps to a Prosine, and have carefully read Bill Hemme's excellent article on upgrading the converter along with most of the other hints and tricks I've found on the forum. I've got some ideas for upgrades that I will share as I complete them.

We'll probably join Leap'n Lions soon and will probably see some of you over in Nashville in the fall if not sooner.

I'm sure I'll be posting some questions in the future to tap into this great knowledge base.

TTFN

-Ed
1997 24RB President
"The Lion & The Lamb"
CANDE
Posts: 65
Joined: Fri Apr 07, 2006 6:52 pm

Post by CANDE »

We have known Meta Mary & Bud for over 10 years. They treated their coach carefully. Their '97 came off the assembly line just after ours. The RV organization that they did belong was the Family Motor Coach Association which they attended several of their conventions. The next one will be in Perry, GA in March 2007, Hopefully we will make this one.
FMCA has a website which can give you more information. If you see a Born Free 24' RB with Mount Rushmore on the driver's side, with Wisconsin plates, that's us.

We are sure you will enjoy the Born Free and the RV Club if your decide to join. See you on the road sometime.

Happy Traveling.

Carol & Ed Freye
Ed and Carol Freye
2016 Born Free 29' Splendor
Towing a 2014 Mini Cooper Coupe
joslef10

Old & NEW

Post by joslef10 »

Hi Ed & Idonna...Welcome aboard!! I know your feeling: Dont want to
make a mistake!....We (Edith & Joe) had a 36' diesel (Fleetwood Discovery) for 6+ yrs & decided to change over to an excellent Class C
the Born Free!!...We bot your Bill Hemme"s 1999 24 RB. We are both
80 yrs old & still going. If you like RVing at all I think you bot the best
class C available. Joe & Edith Lefebvre
George Boley

Post by George Boley »

Hi Ed: Welcome aboard, if you are not doing anything this summer, how would you like to go to Newfoundland with the club? I can send you all the info or just log onto rallies/caravans on this site. George Boley, Rally/Caravan Coordinator
Ed & Idonna Bryson
Posts: 14
Joined: Sat Jan 06, 2007 9:22 pm

Post by Ed & Idonna Bryson »

Carol & Ed -

Thanx for the information on Bud & Mata. I do believe we have a creme puff of a coach and look forward to many years of use.

Joe & Edith -

Thanx for the welcome. We think for quality of finish we've made the right choice. I spent a LOT of time researching each rig I found for sale and we made several 'road trips' to go 300-400 miles to look at some. I'm more pleased everyday I look at and work with our rig.

George -

Thanx for the welcome. We've already got some non-RV trips planned for the summer. Our lifestyle will probably have us RVing spring and fall and staying around the area in the summer and winter.

------------------------------------

Now for the first question to all - It did come with one major flaw. The skylight/front window is cracked. I called Born Free and talked to Kim. Although the price of $350 for the window doesn't bother me the additional price of $150 to crate it and then pay freight to get it here does add up. I'm going to contact a couple of local glass places and see if they can fabricate it for a cost competitive price. Has any one else investigated this alternative or am I just spinning my wheels?

------------------------------------

Thanx all,

-Ed
1997 24RB President
"The Lion & The Lamb"
User avatar
norijake
Posts: 53
Joined: Tue Mar 21, 2006 6:23 pm

Post by norijake »

Hi Ed,

Would you believe I just came in from having a windshield replaced by Safelite. I don't know if Safelite does custom work or not but I just checked www.safelite.com and saw they have several locations in Knoxville, TN. They have a lifetime warranty on their work and my impression of the company via the installer who came out to our house to replace the cracked windshield as well as the "medic" who, on Monday, inspected the crack and determined that replacement was the better choice rather than a resin repair, is extremely good.

You might give them a call and see if they have something to fit your need.

I helped the installer since another set of hands were needed to place the ws and learned how to install a new windshield. The price for a replacement, tinted windshield was $234, installation $105, horrid, FL tax 23.73, total cost $362.73.
Attachments
Sally's New Windshield, 10 Jan 07
Sally's New Windshield, 10 Jan 07
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2004 26' RB
Ed & Idonna Bryson
Posts: 14
Joined: Sat Jan 06, 2007 9:22 pm

Post by Ed & Idonna Bryson »

norijake-

thanx for the info. i've used a lot of people over the years for windshields.

what i'm talking about getting fixed is the fixed window in the front of the cab over sleeping compartment. i can tell from the picture that you have a newer model that didn't include that easy to break and easy to leak feature.

i've talked to glass doctor and have an appointment to see them tomorrow. they say they use duncan systems for their rv glass supplier.

i'll let everyone know the price outcome. if they are reasonable i'll have them order the glass. if not i'll order the glass from born free and have glass doctor install it.

-Ed
1997 24RB President
"The Lion & The Lamb"
Ed & Idonna Bryson
Posts: 14
Joined: Sat Jan 06, 2007 9:22 pm

Post by Ed & Idonna Bryson »

Greetings All -

An update on our 'new' coach.

I did replace the cab over bed 'moon' window with Glass Doctor. So far no leaks. They were able to closely match the dark color from stock but probably not perfectly.

I then took the rig over to a local dependable auto repair shop that does a lot of work for the ambulances and small school buses for this area. A lot of those are on E350 and E450 chassis so I felt I could trust him to know the chassis. I gave him a big shopping list to go through including a new set of Michelin LTX M/S tires, installing tire valves which I ordered from The Tireman in California, and to go over everything from bumper to bumper. He called several times with the bad news that the front brakes had rusted pretty bad during its time in Bud & Mata's barn since Bud was ill and passed on. Then he found that the ball joints were also rusted. We replaced both of these problems and did new belts, hoses, tuneup, flushed the tranny, and did all the other things we could think of. We found some metal in the tranny so I'm keeping an eye on it and we will rebuild it if needed. So about $3500 later he and I felt that it was now safe to drive.

I installed a new LCD TV/DVD player on a wall arm next to the refrigerator and a smaller LCD TV in the cab over over the drivers head.

Spring sprang early here in East Tennessee so we de-winterized and cleaned up the inside and outside and took it over the mountains to Asheville for 'our' maiden voyage at the end of February. We spent two nights in two separate RV Parks and visited Biltmore House. During the trip we discover several leaks in the plumbing. The kitchen faucet leaked VERY badly so we limited its use. There was water under the bathroom sink sometimes and once a day we found water in the bathroom floor flowing from the toilet. We were pleased with all other aspects but found that even when tightend down to the max the tv wall mounts swang around while driving.

Upon our return I set out to fix the plumbing problems:

I first tackled the kitchen sink. I replaced two o-rings, still leaked. I then set out to remove the cartridge from the Moen faucet. When that failed I decide to pull the whole faucet and go to Home Depot / Lowes and buy a new one. When I removed it I noticed that the mounting hole was not a full circle but was 'D' shaped instead. I assumed that was a standard on single hole mounts and headed to the store. After checking (on the weekend) at both stores I learned that 'D' shape is not standard and they recommended a good plumbing store that stocks old parts that I could visit on monday. So Monday I headed to Locke Plumbing and showed them the unit. They didn't recall ever seeing one like that but we got the books out and found that indeed a Moen sink made in the 90's and before DID come with a 'D' shape hole and it took a specific faucet. The new faucet was an even better design than the old one so they ordered it for me. When it came in I rushed home and it fit great. Just BACKWARD!!! I rebent the tubing and set it in place and turned the spout around. Now the handle was the only thing backward. I called Moen and asked them if it was possible to reverse the handle. They sent me a PDF that showed how. I did it and had a good mechanical installation. Now to hook it back up. Because of the reversal the hot/cold lines were a different length and the hot was short with the cold being long which was the reverse of the old faucet. So back to Home Depot for some PEX tubing, cutter, connectors, crimp rings and a $100 crimping tool. The crimping tool is like a medium size bolt cutter and has the problem that the 'arms' have to be fully extended to fit over the connector. I managed to make the crimps by flexing the pipes out of the opening to where I could get to them and FINALLY I had a brand new beautiful Moen faucet that worked great!!!

So then I tried to recreate the other leaks. No success. Meanwhile my yard guy and I had been digging holes all over the front yard trying to locate the sewer pipe and where it exited under the patio slab in the front of the basement of the house. We finally found it 6 feet below grade about 4 feet from where we first thought it should be. So then we prepared to cut the pipe and install a new clean out that I could use as a dumping station of my own. We poured chlorox down the drains and turned off the water in the house so nothing would be coming out while we had the pipe cut. To be able to clean our hands from the bio hazard of handling the cut pipe and any leakage I turned on the hot water tank in the RV and put some water in the supply tank. We finished the job and cleaned up with the outside faucet on the side of the RV and were glad to have the hot water and soap. When I went inside the RV later I found the leaks were back. After some thought the only thing I could think of that was different was that the water heater heated up in a closed and already pressurized system. So back to Home Depot to buy some more connectors and a pressure gauge. I manage to squeeze the crimp tool under the range area and crimp in a 'T' for the pressure gauge. When I repressurized the system I got a good reading of 35 psi. Then I turned on the hot water tank and sat there to wait. After about 15 minutes it started to rise. When it hit 90 psi I released some water in the kitchen sink to get it back down to 40 psi and it still rose to 90 psi again. So I figured this was the problem.

As I've stated, one of the problems with the crimper was its size and the fact that the arms had to be fully extended to work. I researched the Web and found some solutions including a small (2"x2") bolt on crimper which I thought would be good in close quarters. I ordered one and when it arrived I reinstalled the pressure valve through the cabinet front so it was more easily readable. Then I tested some more to make sure it was a repeatable problem. Sure enough it was and some seepage showed up in the two bad places.

So I bought a small hot water expansion tank and hooked it up and mounted it in the area below the closet and behind the toilet near the hot water tank. It was a lot of fun working with the small crimper in the tight space but finally I finished. Repressurized the systems and tested it repeatedly. No pressure variations over 40 psi and no seepage in my two bad places.

Although it was functional, the bathroom sink faucet was a bit corroded so I bought a matching Moen single handle faucet and replaced it. The supply lines had to be shortened but it was a snap with the little crimper.

I'm still looking to replace the shower unit with a single handle unit to match but haven't found one yet.

So plumbing was done now I could start working on electrical stuff.

I replaced the Ford Radio/Cassette unit with a CD/MP3 unit from Walmart using the adapters they had for Ford pickup trucks. I added some eye bolts and flat bungy cords to secure the two LCD TVs during travel and tapped a new set screw into the tilt bearing to fix the vertical axis in my choice of two positions.

My to do list for electrical includes:

1) Running a supply line and installing a selector switch to allow the radio to be run from house 12v DC instead of chassis.

2) Ditto for the overhead lights in the cab area.

3) Fix the shift interlock which is connected to the HWH levelers. It appears to be non-functioning.

4) Install an already purchased pure sine-wave inverter to power the refrigerator while driving and for short stops without having to keep the LP turned on while driving.

5) Install an already purchased Xantrex Pro-Sine inverter / charger to replace the exisiting converter / charger. This will also require a new custom electrical panel for both AC and DC which I'm working on in the shop.

6) Install an already purchased wired back up camera.

7) Permanently mount my Scan Gauge II in the dash. I'm not a big fan of things being mounted with velcro.

8) And back to plumbing install a transfer pump from the grey water tank to the black water tank for dry camping.

Any way those are my trials, trevails, and to-do list. If you want more details on any of these projects let me know and I'll put together more details and photos and ask the admin to put them in the tutorial area.

TTFN
1997 24RB President
"The Lion & The Lamb"
lassen
Posts: 120
Joined: Sun Aug 14, 2005 10:56 am

Post by lassen »

Ed...What is this secret pill you have that the rest of us don't know about? I'm tireing out just reading of the things you have tried, the things you made work, and the things on your to do list. Anyway, thanks for sharing your expierences and keep us posted. I like your approach and fix for the water pressure problem.

Jack....
Jack & Jan
2005 24RB
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