Sylvania SilverStar Headlights: A Brighter Idea
Bruce W. Smith
May 15, 2013
It’s late at night, you’re towing over an unfamiliar stretch of two-lane blacktop toward a new campground, and your nerves are on edge because the headlights just don’t seem to be lighting up the highway like they should. You aren’t alone. Many RVers face the same situation when they hit the... Read more »
Bearing Down: Repacking Wheel Bearings
Tom Morr
April 18, 2013
Greasing wheel bearings isn’t the most enjoyable way to spend your free time. However, this messy maintenance saves you from bigger bills later. Over time, grease breaks down. Heat produced by brakes speeds up the process. Since the trailer’s weight rides on the wheel bearings, keeping them well... Read more »
Auto Flex Air Ride Suspension Swap
Bill and Jenn Gehr Photos by Jenn Gehr
March 13, 2013
Technology has spearheaded many advancements in tow vehicles, but when it comes to light-truck suspensions, time has not been kind. For more than 50 years, there have been only a few major modern advances in that department. Traditional leaf springs seem to be the norm, more than likely because of price... Read more »
RV Medicine Cabinet: A Cool, Dry Place
March 4, 2013
I have a simple solution to keep stuff in the medicine cabinet when on the road. I bought small plastic containers that fit onto the shelf in the medicine cabinet to keep things from sliding around. The second part of my projext was to have the hardware store cut a piece of plexiglass to fit the dimensions... Read more »
Drain the Strain
February 28, 2013
When hooked up to the city water, the hose was always in the way of the valves and controls in the utility compartment. It was always in the way of the controls or valves. To solve this problem, I used a piece of chain to take the pressure off the connections and reroute the hose to the side, giving... Read more »
Slideout Slickers
January 14, 2013
When we got a new fifth-wheel, we ordered it from the factory with laminate wood flooring. We had wanted this type of flooring for a long time. However, we did not know that when the slideouts came in, they actually scratched the floor in places. For a while we used carpet scraps to prevent scarring,... Read more »
Fifth-wheel Handrail
January 7, 2013
To improve the accessibility of the four exterior steps of our fifth-wheel, I formed a handrail out of 6-foot pieces of 7/8-inch aluminum tubing using a conduit bender. First, I attached the tubing to the existing handrail using two 1/4-inch bolts with lock washers and thumbnuts. Then, I detached the... Read more »
Polyurethane Bushings for Better Handling
Tom Morr
December 31, 2012
When the tail starts wagging the dog more noticeably than normal, RV owners often point to their tow rigs’ hard parts: shocks, ball joints and such. But like cartilage in the human body, a tow vehicle’s suspension and steering system bushings absorb movement and friction between hard parts. Those... Read more »
The Battery Mat: Battery Acid Absorber
Bob Livingston
December 27, 2012
The basic yellow Battery Mat can be purchased on the Internet for less than $4. Recently, a friend was working on his batteries neatly mounted in an exterior compartment. He was proud of his system: multiple 8Ds positioned systematically and filling up the compartment with a precision fit. Over the years,... Read more »
Leveling Blocks
December 25, 2012
Most of us level our trailers from side to side by driving on plastic or wood blocks. I found that 2-by-12-inch planks, cut to size, do a very good job. They do not sink into soft soil, nor do they chip from rocky ground. After a time, however, they do weather and split. My solution is to drill from... Read more »
