The Stargazer Chronicles

  The fold out steps on my fifth wheel, which were underperforming already in a number of ways, finally just fell off the camper during this last outing. I already had the replacement steps at home, so this was the motivation to get the project underway. When we had removed the door to get the fridge in, I had already found a rotted bit of wood in the frame under the entry floor that I replaced. That would provide a solid anchor point for the new steps. The only remaining problem was a bit trickier -- the door wouldn't close with the steps in place.  There were two points of contact. The lower door frame stick out too far to allow the steps to rest against the true side of the camper. The door also hit.  First job was cutting the door. The bottom of the door had already been covered so I expected it would be in bad shape once I opened it up. Sure enough, the sawzall unbutton the door without too much trouble to reveal a rotted 2x2 in the bottom of the door. Repairing it a...

 We were planning a South Carolina trip next month. In preparation for that, we booked a campground 2 1/2 hours away somewhere in the vicinity of most of my families homes. This is the first big voyage of the camper on an interstate, and the first voyage since I got the suspension replaced. This is also the first trip with the 3-way fridge installed. We invited all of our daughters and all of our relatives in the area. It turned out, they all came. Our last daughter at home tagged along with us and slept on the futon couch. Our 2 daughters from farther away got a cabin. Our youngest daughter goes to college nearby and visited often. With families included, that is 11 people more or less and we volunteered to feed them at the campground. We then had another 6 family members stop by to visit.  The Terre Haute Campground, a former KOA with new owners, was fantastic. They accommodated all the visitors very well, allowing my disabled relatives to part at the campsite and even givin...

 So with the new converter in place, the Norcold refrigerator should be working. But no, the relays are still clicking, although differently now. I notice they are clicking in time with the blinking of the lights on the old Dometic fridge power switch. I have a new switch, so I take my time and wire it in, and voila, the refrigerator is now working on AC and 12 volt. Propane is a project for later, so this is good. The take away is simple -- assume any component is working when you diagnose a system, not even a simple switch. It tested fine, but the light hosed up the whole circuit.  Now I just need to make a new cover plate for the new switch. The New Switch all Lit Up. 

 Installation and power on of the 12 volt on the 3-way fridge resulted in no cooling and a clicking noise from the back. I did my quick scour of the internet and found the problem. The clicking are the relays clicking and clacking as a result of dirty power. This doesn't surprise me, since the converter is from 1988 and original. Any electronics in it are original and probably not in the best of shape. In addition, my 12 volt battery keeps going dead, meaning it isn't charging right either. I ordered a converter online with a 3 stage battery charger. From what I can read of the original specs, original battery charger was a straight trickle charger with no real control. It probably can't charge enough to keep up anymore, and if it did, it would probably overcharge the battery.  WARNING: I am an engineer and I understand electricity. Please don't try to do this replacement unless you are comfortable with electricity. All power sources were disconnected while I did all of...

 The first two trips with the camper I noticed a tugging between the camper and truck, like the camper was yanking it back. Watching my mirrors, it didn't take long for me to notice it was because the trailer was bouncing. I later learned this is called chucking. I looked over the suspension, which on this trailer, like many others new and old, was axles attached to leaf springs. In the tandem (two axle) configuration, these two springs on each side (one for each axle) are attached on the ends to the frame and in the middle via an equalizer (a little metal triangle). All of the connection points have bushing to allow everything to move smoothly.  The suspension had been coated with something recently, but I was pretty sure it was original and the bushings looked like they were shot. I was going to take a guess this was the original suspension. It was time for replacement. I found a local auto shop that would do the replacement. They were kind enough to send out someone to meas...