Roadtrek

[mkguitar]

Originally Posted by GJorey

Anyone know where the fuse is for 2017 Simplicity macerator? Currently not working.

Hi, suggest you start a new thread for quicker response


Mike

[GJorey]

2017 Roadtrek macerator fuse location?

[rowiebowie]

My macerator (on a different model than yours) has a 20A blade fuse in the power center. In previous macerator posts, some have stopped the fuse from blowing by spinning their macerator clockwise by the slotted shaft on the end of the motor. Maybe theirs was jammed up, but sometimes that is not the case and the macerator just needs to be replaced.

Good luck.

[GJorey]

How do you access the macerator to spin?

[rowiebowie]

Originally Posted by GJorey

How do you access the macerator to spin?

Fortunately for me, my macerator is front and center under my dump panel. Yours is wherever they mounted it, and may reqire crawling under to access.

But for illustration purposes, here's what the end of mine looks like. Behind the silver end-plate is the end of the motor shaft. It is slotted and you can give it few turns with a screw driver.

Disregard the caption as it points to the mounting bolts. But just below the arrow is the end plate.

[GJorey]

I have a different set up.

[rowiebowie]

Originally Posted by GJorey

I have a different set up.

You very well may have a different setup, but have you actually seen your macerator pump? It may be a diiferent brand in a different location, but might still have the slotted motor shaft for loosening jams.

[GJorey]

There is a clear round cover underneath. Maybey that is it.

[Morkani]

I think I bit off way more than I can chew.
I was able to retire with disability last year and sold my house & bought a Roadtrek. It only had 70k miles on it, and everyone said it looked great.
I have been in and out of service centers for the last 7 months I've had it.
1. Car battery replaced
2. water pump (still not fixed, will only pull 12-18 gallons before loosing prime)
3. cruise control needed fixed.
4. AC ("fixed 3 times & sitting in a repair shop waiting for a 4th)
5. rattling in the wheel addressed 3 times
I don't remember other examples but it's just one thing after another and it's starting to make me wonder if I'm just completely inept at finding the right places and it's just random joe's "taking the job" and not knowing what they are doing?

I am not terribly self reliant, but after selling my house I figured I'd be more than able to handle any challenges along the way, but I'm seeing these garage people draining my account and I already suffer from anxiety, it's just making this worse.

Camping world is where I've gotten most of my back 1/2 RV stuff, but they won't touch the chasis, I've also gone to Connibear for back 1/2 stuff & a couple mom/pop places that have worked rv's before.(oh and a couple mobile rv guys)

I've had midas work on my vehicle 2 or 3 times and a place called christian brothers, they only do the chasis but not the back.

I was hoping I could take it into a qualified place and go...."here, make it fun for a long time."

Are my expectations wrong? Or am I just taking this to the wrong place.
I'm scared I made the wrong decision and maybe I should do tiny house, but the desire to travel is so great.

(btw. otherwise I love the vehicle, I've mostly been sitting on a pad in an rv resort the last 7 months trying to get everything sorted)

Please please help if you have any tips. thanks.

[SteveJ]

Originally Posted by Morkani

I think I bit off way more than I can chew.
I was able to retire with disability last year and sold my house & bought a Roadtrek. It only had 70k miles on it, and everyone said it looked great.
I have been in and out of service centers for the last 7 months I've had it.
1. Car battery replaced
2. water pump (still not fixed, will only pull 12-18 gallons before loosing prime)
3. cruise control needed fixed.
4. AC ("fixed 3 times & sitting in a repair shop waiting for a 4th)
5. rattling in the wheel addressed 3 times
I don't remember other examples but it's just one thing after another and it's starting to make me wonder if I'm just completely inept at finding the right places and it's just random joe's "taking the job" and not knowing what they are doing?

I am not terribly self reliant, but after selling my house I figured I'd be more than able to handle any challenges along the way, but I'm seeing these garage people draining my account and I already suffer from anxiety, it's just making this worse.

Camping world is where I've gotten most of my back 1/2 RV stuff, but they won't touch the chasis, I've also gone to Connibear for back 1/2 stuff & a couple mom/pop places that have worked rv's before.(oh and a couple mobile rv guys)

I've had midas work on my vehicle 2 or 3 times and a place called christian brothers, they only do the chasis but not the back.

I was hoping I could take it into a qualified place and go...."here, make it fun for a long time."

Are my expectations wrong? Or am I just taking this to the wrong place.
I'm scared I made the wrong decision and maybe I should do tiny house, but the desire to travel is so great.

(btw. otherwise I love the vehicle, I've mostly been sitting on a pad in an rv resort the last 7 months trying to get everything sorted)

Please please help if you have any tips. thanks.

Steer well clear of Camping World.

Water pump: check hose and connections between water tank and pump, including any filtering unit. It is likely ingesting air from a leak.

Where are you at?

[booster]

It is painful to see posts like this from those that have gotten into something, unknowingly, and wind up in a very tough position.


Regardless of mileage, any and most 25 year old vehicles are a bit of a lottery as to what you get. They generally have had quite a few owners, even more different people fixing them (or not) and often sitting for long periods while getting that old without have 500K miles on them. Anyone other than an experienced older vehicle buyer and hard core DIYer can easily be overwhelmed. My "driver" is in a 1996 that I have had for 8 years now, and on this one I was pretty lucky that it turned out to have had quite good care and from a non rust area, but that isn't often the case, and I still have been methodically updating/replacing things to get it as good as it will get.


Add all the 25 year old RV parts and it can get even tougher for new owners. Plus a lot of the parts are obsolete and not repairable.


All this said, there are ways to try to improve how to address the issues that come up and can't be handled by the new owner.


Top on my list would be to stay away from most of the mainstream RV and even chassis repair shops. There are few chassis shops that know much about the Dodge vans anyway, as few were sold compared to other van brands. It might be time to get out of the RV resort and go to some smaller campgrounds in state/county/national parks to try to find some that have a number of class b RVs in them. Talk to the owners and find out where they get service for both the RV and chassis. There are still a pretty good number of older Dodge Roadtreks on the road, so depending on where you are you may find a few. Unfortunately, finding a knowledgeable repair shop for either the RV or van sides of a 1996 Dodge Roadtrek in the yellow pages or online are very, very, low.


I am sure we all wish you success in your endeavor, as it is a big leap to go from fixed residence to fulltiming. Finding decent repairs shops is one of the top questions we see on this forum, for a very good reason, so you are certainly not in the minority in having difficulty, and probably right in with very many of other RVers.

[Morkani]

Originally Posted by SteveJ

Steer well clear of Camping World.

Water pump: check hose and connections between water tank and pump, including any filtering unit. It is likely ingesting air from a leak.

Where are you at?

I'm in Florida right now, DESPERATE to get out west before it gets any more humid, but i'm stuck here till mid may.

[SteveJ]

Originally Posted by Morkani

I'm in Florida right now, DESPERATE to get out west before it gets any more humid, but i'm stuck here till mid may.

I totally understand the wanting to get outta here.

PM sent.

[Morkani]

Originally Posted by booster

It is painful to see posts like this from those that have gotten into something, unknowingly, and wind up in a very tough position.


Regardless of mileage, any and most 25 year old vehicles are a bit of a lottery as to what you get. They generally have had quite a few owners, even more different people fixing them (or not) and often sitting for long periods while getting that old without have 500K miles on them. Anyone other than an experienced older vehicle buyer and hard core DIYer can easily be overwhelmed. My "driver" is in a 1996 that I have had for 8 years now, and on this one I was pretty lucky that it turned out to have had quite good care and from a non rust area, but that isn't often the case, and I still have been methodically updating/replacing things to get it as good as it will get.


Add all the 25 year old RV parts and it can get even tougher for new owners. Plus a lot of the parts are obsolete and not repairable.


All this said, there are ways to try to improve how to address the issues that come up and can't be handled by the new owner.


Top on my list would be to stay away from most of the mainstream RV and even chassis repair shops. There are few chassis shops that know much about the Dodge vans anyway, as few were sold compared to other van brands. It might be time to get out of the RV resort and go to some smaller campgrounds in state/county/national parks to try to find some that have a number of class b RVs in them. Talk to the owners and find out where they get service for both the RV and chassis. There are still a pretty good number of older Dodge Roadtreks on the road, so depending on where you are you may find a few. Unfortunately, finding a knowledgeable repair shop for either the RV or van sides of a 1996 Dodge Roadtrek in the yellow pages or online are very, very, low.


I am sure we all wish you success in your endeavor, as it is a big leap to go from fixed residence to fulltiming. Finding decent repairs shops is one of the top questions we see on this forum, for a very good reason, so you are certainly not in the minority in having difficulty, and probably right in with very many of other RVers.

EDIT: it's the chevy model.

This makes me feel better I'm a little less anxious now....I just keep thinking this is going to go on forever lol.

[RAA357]

Where in Florida are you now. If you are near Daytona Beach call Robbins RV located in Ormond Beach, they are very very good. Very very honest a do not charge an arm and a leg. Ask for Doug the Service Manager.

[Morkani]

Originally Posted by RAA357

Where in Florida are you now. If you are near Daytona Beach call Robbins RV located in Ormond Beach, they are very very good. Very very honest a do not charge an arm and a leg. Ask for Doug the Service Manager.

I'm in Tampa, but I'd drive if I can get this thing fixed enough to drive there, I'd rather have a reliable person go over the vehicle before I do major driving.

[Morkani]

(follow up question for anyone who may know....I wanted to have some sort of solar power without putting holes in the roof, so I got a briefcase panel & had (camping world...i know bad bad, won't do it again), had them adjust the wiring in the back. (the battery was bad) had him replace the battery & add a 2nd battery, he put in 2 AGM Deep cycle batteries and wired it up somehow (I don't understand it) and hooked up the controller and gave me a 12 volt female plug I can plug in to get power. I also wanted the solar to be able to charge the batteries. in case I was out of gas or something, finally I had hoped that I could use the solar as a supplementary charge with the generator so I use less gas.

I read somewhere that deep cycle batteries are not recommended for automobiles or generators because they are not recommended for trickle charge or something like that? I'm concerned that the front & back are connected and maybe my deep cycle AGM batteries messed up my alternator?

(basically, 3 part question,
1.. can I have AGM Deep cycle in the back.
2. is the front and back connected? (generator can trickle charge front battery, alternator can trickle charge car battery?)
3. Can I have the solar do the things I want it to do?

Thanks again. ya'll so quick and responsive and helpful it's already putting me at ease I appreciate it so much

[jakegw2]

Hi Morkani,

I understand your frustration, it is exceptionally difficult to find reasonably-priced and / or competent RV repair. My strategy has been as follows:

1. Bite the bullet and figure out how to do things myself. My biggest challenge here was overcoming my reluctance to make irreversible changes to an expensive and fairly new unit. Yours is probably the fear of breaking something that is at least partially working. The good news is that if you take it slow you can watch plenty of YouTube videos to get a good idea of what you need to do before you start. As long as you can tolerate the end product not looking perfect you can have a lot of confidence that anything you do, even if you make mistakes, can be fixed to work again. Most RV systems are actually pretty simple once you dig into them and you can always get advice from this forum when you find yourself at a roadblock.

Buying the right tools for the job is an unavoidable expense, so don't hesitate to make the investment. It will almost always still be much less then the cost of having someone else make the repair. The downside of course is where to store them when you are done. Not sure what the right answer would be for you, but perhaps keep some and sell others on ebay after you use them?

2. Chassis work is best done at a regular garage. Driving an older vehicle means you will pretty much always have a backlog of things that are broken and need fixing, or things that need replacing. If you drive it regularly you should plan on around $3-4k a year for this expense. This isn't an investment per-se, it is just the ongoing cost of keeping an older vehicle on the road. You might spend less for a bit, but you will make it up eventually when the transmission needs repair (or the chassis AC compressor needs replacing, or...).

[Morkani]

Originally Posted by jakegw2

Hi Morkani,

I understand your frustration, it is exceptionally difficult to find reasonably-priced and / or competent RV repair. My strategy has been as follows:

1. Bite the bullet and figure out how to do things myself. My biggest challenge here was overcoming my reluctance to make irreversible changes to an expensive and fairly new unit. Yours is probably the fear of breaking something that is at least partially working. The good news is that if you take it slow you can watch plenty of YouTube videos to get a good idea of what you need to do before you start. As long as you can tolerate the end product not looking perfect you can have a lot of confidence that anything you do, even if you make mistakes, can be fixed to work again. Most RV systems are actually pretty simple once you dig into them and you can always get advice from this forum when you find yourself at a roadblock.

Buying the right tools for the job is an unavoidable expense, so don't hesitate to make the investment. It will almost always still be much less then the cost of having someone else make the repair. The downside of course is where to store them when you are done. Not sure what the right answer would be for you, but perhaps keep some and sell others on ebay after you use them?

2. Chassis work is best done at a regular garage. Driving an older vehicle means you will pretty much always have a backlog of things that are broken and need fixing, or things that need replacing. If you drive it regularly you should plan on around $3-4k a year for this expense. This isn't an investment per-se, it is just the ongoing cost of keeping an older vehicle on the road. You might spend less for a bit, but you will make it up eventually when the transmission needs repair (or the chassis AC compressor needs replacing, or...).

You're probably right, my self reliance confidence has been shattered for like the last 20 years (getting gradually worse to where I was nearly an agoraphobe), I took this move in an attempt to overcome this lol. But you hit the nail on the head, it's all lack of confidence. (I'm also especially worried about having propane in my vehicle, stove seems fine, but I was afraid to make the fridge work on it (ie: what if I turn on the propane and it doesn't light, will it explode? what if the pilot light blows out?, (anxiety disorder doesn't help lol)

I'm glad to hear about the 2-3k/year.....that's about as much or cheaper than a house so that's not unreasonable.


I have a followup question for you or anyone familiar with the roadtrek electrical design.
I hear generator can trickle charge both the battery in the back, and the car battery, and that the alternator can also trickle charge the batteries in the back.

I've also heard that generators & alternators don't like trickle charging deep cycle batteries. I don't know what the original battery was in the back, but it was bad and when camping world replaced it they put in 2 6v deep cycle agm batteries. My (new) alternator just went bad.....I'm worried that if it's connected to the deep cycle batteries AND if the information I read somewhere is accurate.....I might be setting myself up for failure yet again. (ie: tell camping world that his battery choice is ruining my alternator? (or it could be something completely different)

[SteveJ]

Originally Posted by Morkani

I have a followup question for you or anyone familiar with the roadtrek electrical design.
I hear generator can trickle charge both the battery in the back, and the car battery, and that the alternator can also trickle charge the batteries in the back.

I've also heard that generators & alternators don't like trickle charging deep cycle batteries. I don't know what the original battery was in the back, but it was bad and when camping world replaced it they put in 2 6v deep cycle agm batteries. My (new) alternator just went bad.....I'm worried that if it's connected to the deep cycle batteries AND if the information I read somewhere is accurate.....I might be setting myself up for failure yet again. (ie: tell camping world that his battery choice is ruining my alternator? (or it could be something completely different)

As equipped from the factory the chassis battery will not charge from the genny.

As to whether the system is designed to charge well discharged batteries my recently sold 2000 Chevy RT had 222,000 miles on it when I sold it. I didn't have to replace the alternator in the 100k miles that we owned it and saw no evidence that previous owners ever replaced it. We almost always boondocked, BTW.