Our entry steps have been dodgy for a while, making horrible noises when extending and retracting, and sometimes not fully retracting until they are nudged. I tried cleaning the tracks and lubricating several times, and even got a couple of techs to look at it, without improvement.

Recently, it’s been getting worse, where it sometimes wouldn’t move at all until I tapped the motor with a hammer (a recommended workaround). So it was clearly on its last legs.

When departing our home base, it did this again. I had bought a replacement motor, but it was too awkward for me to get to it in order to replace it, due to a cover plate partly over the motor. We had a service appointment coming up, so I figured I’d get them to replace it for me. I managed to get the steps to retract by tapping the motor, and rather than risk them getting stuck out again, I disconnected the motor, and secured the steps in place with a ratchet strap (probably not necessary, since the motor was still engaged with the step gearbox, but better safe than sorry).

Here’s the step motor:

I disconnected the motor, a simple plug:

And added a ratchet strap to hold the step in, just in case:

In order to get in and out in the meantime, I had also ordered some metal and wooden steps, which we used at our next campsite:

The good news is that the aforementioned service place, the Oregon Motorcoach Center in Eugene, Oregon, was later able to replace the step motor, and it is now working like new again. It’s certainly nice to have this issue resolved.

Back in 2023 I replaced the rear bathroom vent lid motor after the cover broke.

A little while ago it broke again — the lift mechanism seems to put a lot of strain on the plastic cover. But this time, instead of replacing the whole motor, I just ordered a replacement cover from Amazon (I actually ordered two of them, in case it breaks again).

Here’s the broken cover:

After removing the cover from the motor:

The replacement cover:

The cover on the motor; I needed to unscrew the useless handle to get it on:

Finished:

Let’s see how long this one lasts!

The wheel rims on our coach were looking rather untidy, so based on some recommendations on Facebook, I purchased the Purple Metal Polish and Aluminum Deoxidizer:

Super easy to apply; just wipe on some deoxidizer, followed by the polish, and wipe off.

Here’s a rear wheel before polishing:

And after:

A front wheel before:

And after:

I also treated the tires with 303 Protectant for UV protection:

The polish worked on the headlights too; before:

And after:

Much better!

Our coach has a black tank flush, where it can rinse out the toilet tank, but doesn’t have a similar mechanism for the gray tank. It generally gets cleaned out by filling it up with soapy water from showers, laundry, and sink usage, but occasionally an extra rinse is beneficial.

To do that, one could just close the gray dump valve and let it fill up with regular usage, or one could fill it via the dump valve.

To do the latter, I have a Camco Dual Flush Pro Holding Tank Rinser, which connects in the sewer pipe and includes a gate valve and hose connection, and a knob to direct the water towards the tank or towards the outlet:

By closing the gate valve, opening the gray valve in the wet bay, and turning on the water, it backs up into the gray tank.

To avoid over-filling the tank, I watch the level indicator in the wet bay, and also a water flow meter connected to the hose:

Here’s the whole setup, including the wet bay:

For best results, this can be combined with Liquified Tank & Sensor Cleaner, to give a deep clean of the tank.