April 11th - 18th - Marge's Tires and Repairs

Before we left Florida I needed to top off the trailer tires after it had been sitting for four months. I soon learned the compressor that I had been carrying around for a number of years could not do the job. (Luckily never needed it before.) It would only pump to 100 lbs and I wanted to put 110 lbs in each tire. I borrowed a compressor from a neighbor to get the job done.

With a major road trip coming up in June the first thing to do upon getting home was to purchase an air compressor that could propely inflate the tires if needed. For several days I looked at various models and finally decided on the Viair 450P-RV model, which is a twelve volt DC compressor that can pump up to 150 lbs of pressure. It was quite pricey but had all positive reviews.  Additionally is small and compact, which is important for RV travel. I bit the bullet and ordered one.  Here is a picture of it and all the accessories that came with it.I received it the other day and upon putting it to work was quite impressed with its ability. You have to keep your vehicle running because it uses a lot of amps to run. The only negative with the unit was that the quick connect on the air chuck leaked air. Luckily I had one in my shop. After swapping it out I topped off the tires to my satisfaction.

I knew I needed to check the air in the spare tire on Marge as well. The spare is mounted up under the frame and is lowered to the ground via a cable which you crank from the back of the RV. I had to lower the spare all the way to the ground to check the air because when they mounted it they faced the front side of the tire up so that there was no access to the valve stem from below. I am glad I checked it because after four years it only had 60 lbs of air in it. (I obviously should have checked it a long time ago!) I aired it up to 110 lbs like the rest of the tires and remounted it with the valve stem now facing down so it will be easy to check in the future.

While in Florida a molded part of the plastic that lines the inside of the refrigerator door off. It is a small piece tht holds on one of the door shelves.  I had no way of fixing this without proper tools so we just had to store less stuff on the door. The other day I took the door off and took it into the shop to make a repair. I forgot to take a picture of the broken section but here is a picture of the other side of the door with the red arrow pointing to the piece that broke off.

 

The inside of the door is made out of a very thin, molded plastic. All that is behind the thin plastic is foam to insulate the door. There is absolutely nothing to mount a repair piece to so my only option was to make a mold, fill it with JB Weld, and then file it and grind it into a shape that the door shelf could fit into. Here is a picture of the final result. The JB Weld is dark gray and the paint didn’t want to cover it very well but it is covered by the shelf anyway.

The new piece is solid JB Weld and wider than the original. I made a plastic mold and poured the material into it and waited a day for it to set up. JB Weld sets up like a rock. I also spread JB Weld around the bottom to affix the new part to the flimsy plastic door material. The repair will be stronger than the original if the cold temperature in the refrigerator does not cause any problems with long-term adhesion of the JB Weld product. I fixed one of the door shelves with JB Weld a couple of years ago and it has been holding. This repair will have more stress on it though.

Upon walking out of Marge after rehanging the refrigerator door I noticed the steps seemed wobbly. Upon examination I found that the two rivets on one side of the bottom step had broken off. Here is a picture.

I had other matters to take care of and could not make this repair before it started raining. When we get back from California next week I will put in new rivets and inspect all the others for possible failure. Marge is a 2006 so she is getting a little age on her and, like the rest of us, things are falling apart.

The other joy of RV ownership – fixing things.