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My new to me RV

Been doing a lot of cleaning up on the trailer but, today is the checking of the axles and brakes. I took the wheels off,

IMG_0284.jpg


Then I got the cotter pin, nut, washer, and outer bearing out. It had some fairly new grease on it.

IMG_0285.jpg


I then pulled the brake drum off. It was making some scratching noises when I was spinning it. You are about to see why,

IMG_0286.jpg


IMG_0287.jpg


Minus the cob webs is all this wear on the magnet normal? I have never torn into a trailer brake before.
 
have a read:

http://mikestrawbridge.com/electric-trailer-brakes-rebuild.shtml

I don't see any of the normal "wear dots" on the magnet (they disappear when worn out), it may be ready for replacement.

The magnet moves to the drum on power and touches the face of the drum. This cams the magnet and forces the shoes against the drum.

There's friction material on the face of the magnet and it wears out just like the shoes.

Trailer shoes are usually around 1/4 inch when new and replaced when 1/8 or less.



This is a decent little video on the whole process:

[video=youtube;nrmU8UMDtDY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrmU8UMDtDY&feature=related[/video]
 
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Great informational video great white. I knew there was some type of magnet that controlled the brakes, but have never tore down the brakes on the camper. They seem to work well and do not make any unnecessary sounds such as scrubbing or squeaking. I guess it might be worth a look at them to see how bad the shoe wear is. I was just wondering how much the replacement drum is? I don't put but about 600 miles a year on it so I guess brake wear might not be too bad.
 
Water heater

Well I can not get the RV water heater to fire over, here is a picture of the door for it:

IMG_0299.jpg


Here is a picture of behind the door:

IMG_0300.jpg


It does leak water on the plug (lower left corner of the picture) and out the relieve valve. It will not fire over. I believe it is getting propane, at least at the inlet line. I do not know about at the valve. I really need a wire diagram so I can figure out what is what on all the wires.

More info come! :thumbsup:
 
I assume you are talking about the drain plug leaking. Looks like in the picture that the plug is plastic. Get you an iron or metal type plug or take that plastic one out and put some Teflon tape around the threads. Some people put a plug in that has an anode rod attached to it. The purpose of that rod is to collect minerals that are in the water and to make the water heater last longer. If I am wrong on that you camper gurus correct me. If the relief valve is leaking real bad, take it out if you can and wrap tape around those threads also. That should help that part of it, but unless you get it to fire then that’s not going to end your problems. If that one is electronic ignition there could be an issue with the igniter or maybe the gas valve. Also make sure there are no critter nest (mud dobber, wasp, etc.) in any of the gas line orifices that would hurt the gas flow on the outlet side of the valve. I suppose your water heater is an Atwood or Suburban? Replacement parts are fairly easy to find.

I went through gas water heater woes at deer camp last year. My water heater was a pilot fired model and is different from yours Dang thing kept going out. I replaced the pilot and thermocouple assembly. That did not do it, so heck we decided to replace the gas valve. Everything went good until we turned the water on and the thing leaked real bad around where the valve threads screwed into the tank well. We took the valve back out and wrapped more Teflon tape around the threads. It made it harder to screw back in, but that pretty well took care of the leak. The water heater seemed to do better with the new valve and only went out a few times until the temps. got down to 11 degrees and then I think the gas regulator was freezing?

Good luck and I hope it works out for you.
 
DieselCash said:
Well I can not get the RV water heater to fire over, here is a picture of the door for it:

IMG_0299.jpg


Here is a picture of behind the door:

IMG_0300.jpg


It does leak water on the plug (lower left corner of the picture) and out the relieve valve. It will not fire over. I believe it is getting propane, at least at the inlet line. I do not know about at the valve. I really need a wire diagram so I can figure out what is what on all the wires.

More info come! :thumbsup:
Click to expand...

The hot water heater is pretty simple to work on actually. Do you get a loud clicking sound from the ignitor when you switch it on? If not make sure you have a good clean ground, and that your switch is sending 12V+ to the black box. It looks like from your pic that the t-stat switch isn't hooked up properly. The switch on the left that is inline from the control box to the valve is an emergency shut-off and should have a closed circuit until about 165 degrees. The switch on the right should have 2 brown wires from the ignitor box connected to it and it turns off at about 125-140, and back on at about 110-120. It looks like somebody has monkeyed with the wiring and the t-stat switch isn't hooked up properly. Somebody may have hot wired it at one time to bypass the ignitor unit. Also the hot water heaters are known to rot out and leak out the bottom after about 10-12 years.
 
Couple things, Marty...

1) the plug can be replaced with one that has an anode rod in it, as above... the purpose of the anode is to prevent tank corrosion. Technically, it is called a 'sacrificial anode' ... because your tank has different metals in it, when you add water it wants to generate a current (galvanic action) and that means the metal giving up the electrons (the anode) will rust, really fast. Adding a magnesium rod to the system means that IT will rust, giving up electrons so that nothing else has to (it 'sacrifices itself' to save your tank. They are cheap, and the threads will be the right ones for the bung in your tank.

2) Flame: that's a DSI (direct Spark Ignition) water heater... no constant pilot light on those, they light when they need to. It will have a sensing circuit and a control circuit that work together to send a spark through that red wire leading into the burner... there will be an electrode on the end of that to light the fire. Does that electrode click, or spark? If so, when it's doing that, you should have gas in the burner (that you could light with a long lighter, if the thing isn't sparking. If that works, then replace the electrode). If not, check all of your connections and grounds and make sure you have power getting to the unit. If it lights the pilot but won't light the main burner, then change the thermocouple.

3) Brakes: fix those puppies... and make sure you have a good brake controller. Neither of those are something to scrimp on. Even a light trailer like yours will push your truck all over the place at speed or on a downhill grade, and it can kill you in the rain. I've seen a hardtop tent trailer kill a half-ton on wet pavement when the guy had to stop quickly... and when the brake fuse let go on me driving down a hill in Idaho, that 5er pushed me for nearly twice my usual stopping distance before I could get pulled over. Scary - not something to ignore.
 
No clicking :mad2:

It would not light with a bic lighter :mad2:

The brakes work good, took it for a test drive tonight, the seem to pull on the truck nicely! :thumbsup:

I agree brakes on a trailer are no joke, they can and do make a night and day difference.

ON EDIT: Does anybody have a wire diagram for this thing??
 
Never mind it was not clicking. :mad2:

The pressure relieve valve was what was making the clicking noise.
 
I am not the brightest sometimes, for some reason this water heater has two on / off switches. One is hidden on the water heater. :mad2: They both have to be on for the water heater to work. Who knew? ;)

Well tomorrow will be her maiden voyage to go camping. I plan on going to BLORA, here is a link:

http://www.hoodmwr.com/lake_activities.htm

Thanks for all the help! :thumbsup:
 
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