Well we just got back from what was planned all year as going to be a great time.
Started out leaving home got 10 miles from home and the turbo boost hose blows off, well no problem grab tools and to hell with the torquey spring I tighten this thing as tight as I can. Continue on the journey get 100 miles from home at the top of little Satus Pass and the lower radiator hose blows off the radiator and looses all the coolant. Have to walk a couple hundred yards to a home to get water, not to bad but only have a 1 gallon jug so I do this 6 times. Finally get off the mtn. and stop in Goldendale Wa. at a store buy a new hose clamp and anti-freeze for truck and with flashlight in mouth and screwdriver in hand put on new clamp Laying in wet parking lot. Again continue on to first reserved camp site in Wilsonville Ore. It is late at night now and raining with a nice warm 30 deg. wind blowing. Get 5er all hooked up and leveled and jump inside and the heater won't work ( I had ran it for a full week before leaving to make sure it worked) too damn cold and tired to work on it. So we start the electric fireplace and the burners on the stove, crack a window and go to bed.
Next morning get up and head out to fix furnace and now it works..GREAT. thing is working. Continue on to the coast get to 2cnd destination in Depoe bay Ore and while un hooking discover that new 5th Airbourne Sidewinder hitch has been hitting trailer brackets while turning and has bent the brackets out. So I wrestle this 160 lb. behimouth by myself to the next set of mtg. holes 1" lower. ( skinned the heck out of my hands doing this tight quarter job with standard breaker bar since the guys used and air impact when installing it.) and hammered the brackets back in place..
6 days later move on to final camping destination in Charleston Ore.while un hooking I notice the trailer was not quite level went to raise landing gear to add anouther block of wood and the left legg whould not move!! It was stripped inside and would not go up or down. Now I can't even un hook my truck. So we call a rv repair dealer and he can only get a new set in before New Years with a special order for 180.00 dollars more, we tell him ok do it. 2 days later guy calls and new gear is in but he won't come out to replace it because it is too windy.
Next day which is New Years Day repairman shows up and installs new gear. Installs switches up side down so I re do them after he leaves only cost 1,259.00 dollars for this..
Next day is Jan 2 ,head for home as a major storm is coming in and 1-3' of snow is expected in mtns. and 3-6" of the white stuff is expected at home on the following day of Jan.3. We pull into Springville Ore to get a pop at gas station, head back out to Interstate 5 freeway and I see in the mirror my trailer tires are smoking. I stop to check and my front axle spring is broken and the front axle has slid back into the rear axle. I walk back to the gas station and get a phone book and call all the rv, repair dealers, reg, dealers etc, none are open, call tow trucks and none will come out because my 38' trailer is too big!! One tells me call Les Schwab tire, so I do and there service guy comes out.. He can't help us dosn't have the equipment to fix it... We have now been sitting on the freeway on ramp for 2 hrs.
My wife notices a International truck dealer a block away and looks up there phone number. We call them and they tell me the repair truck just got back and will be right over as soon as I give them my credit card # to gurantee payment.. ok 45 minutes later guy shows up... he dosn't have a clue how to fix this. I tell him jack up the frame and pull the axle forward with a come-a-long.and then we just chain it to the shackle. This works. Now I am on the freeway on ramp 1 block from shop but we can't back up so we have to drive 5 miles down the freeway to next exit and then 5 miles back to shop with this chained up axle. Carefully we navigate this and make it to the shop.
Shop foreman says he has some mobile home springs he can sell me at his home, this is good news since all the stores are closed ( keep in mind Springville and Ugene are divided by the freeway and combined population is over 100,000. not a small town) Foreman call his wife and she goes out in the mud and measures springs they are a match. We make a deal and walk over to a resturant for dinner when we come back 2 hrs later they are just finishing up. I pay the bill of 562.00 dollars and we head off. I get out on the street and look back in mirrors and both sides of the trailer are smoking..
I have too back up thru traffic and the guy helping me lets back under the trees along the street scratching the full lenght of the trailer. We get back in the shop and discover the guy grabbed the wrong springs they are 1" too long. So he drives home again which is 18 miles away and now the traffic is bad.. Finally leave 8 hrs. later on our journey home. Cross Satus Pass again it's midnight and 20 deg out. I hadn't winterized the trailer so I stopped and started the heaters in the trailer. fell on a$$ on the frosty road. The fog was so thick you could only see about 30' at best finally made it home and drained and winterized trailer crawled into bed at 4:00 AM...

 

sounds like you had a good time, aren't vacations great? All you needed was 3 screaming kids in the back.

 

Look on the bright side. 20 years from now you'll be able to laugh at the experience!
Any time form now on that something minor happens you'll be able to appreciate the true insignificance of the minor glitch compared to the problems you had on this particular trip.
Hey- just tryin' to put a positive spin on a truly trying experience!
Glad you made it home in one piece. Believe it or not, it could have been worse.

 

ahhh the relaxation of a nice vacation!
I think airline tickets and hotel in Hawaii might be cheaper.

 

Do what I did Buy a bus conversion, no smoking axles, built to DOT specs, brakes are better than a semi, made to hual 44 people for a million plus miles. We have driven it all across the US with almost zero problems. 10 mpg Detroit 8V-71. You tow the truck or a car behind it. Whooo-ra

 

Doug,

Dr. 00BOR's prescription is to take a vacation FROM your vacation!
That sounds like one heck of a trip.



I think I can 'top it', though.

Here's my vacation from the Devil's House:

I had been married for less than 8 months, to my first wife.
We went to the beach for two weeks, for vacation.
(Mental picture - It's 1979, and I'm 24, and in probably the best physical condition of my life. My first wife was a GORGEOUS blond and 20.)
Sidenote: Her looks and smile were her greatest attributes. She was later known as "Miss Personality". . . because she was MISSing a personality!


Anyway. . . I digress.

30 minutes after we arrived, her MOTHER shows up, and stays the ENTIRE time!

THAT was a vacation from the devil's house.

ETA: Wait a minute! I JUST figured it out! My first wife WAS the Devil!!!!!!!

 

Lets hear it for stupid RV tricks...

I've had my share of them, but nothing quite like that. I agree you need a vacation from your vacation.

 

Thankfully no one was hurt or injured. That being said........you have my sympathy for what happened and admiration for not physically abusing / shooting anybody. (that is, if you didn't)

 

Prior proper preparation prevents **** poor performance period.

You are either incredibly unlucky or unprepared.

 

I don't think that that's entirely fair - it is pretty hard to predict what's going to fail on a RV. He might have been able to predict the radiator hose, but the spring?

 

Wow, what a trip!!

 

Poop Occurs!!!

 

I spent lots of time preparing, in facts weeks, went clear thru the undercarriage new axles, wheel brgs, shacles and bolts, shocks, tires, brakes, re did any electrical connections I could find for the 12 volt system with solder and shrink tubing, checked and oiled all the fans, even oiled and greased the landing gear and motor.Not too mention fresh water sewer tanks valves, brakets, slide outs, awnings,trim screws, cabinets, gas lines, cleaned all vents for fridge,stove water heater, and main heater.
I had just done an egr. delete and full service on the truck, front end alignment, new tires, replaced all the fluid with synthetic oils.
I carry full set of tools metric and standard combination wrenches, 1/2" drive, 3/8" drive, sets, drill and bits, tow chain ratchet straps, tire chains for truck (all 4 tires) tire chains for rv, road flares, fire extinguishers, extra fuel, and motor oil, spare fan belts.
I felt I had gone over these rigs extremely well and had tested them in use for 2 weeks before leaving on trip. And I had spent close to 6,000.00 dollars prepping the 2 rigs.
I would say I was VERY UNLUCKY ....I have friends who never prepare, they just hook and go. They don't even check tire pressures!! and never have a problem....
But I will be adding the winch to the front of my truck this winter, and will start carrying hyd. bottle jacks too.. And since I just ordered 4 new 3,400 lb. springs for trailer I think I will throw 2 of the old ones in the trailer just in case... yes a little paronoid now...lol... and true it could have been much worse if someone would have been hurt, but I have too laugh at all the nightmares and how they holidays compounded them. I am upgrading my Good Sam membership to include emergency road service, so I just call them and they find the assistance from their list of providers...If I had been smarter and not so cheap I would have already this...As my father in law always says BE OF GOOD CHEER....

 

I do lot's of prep work too.
I've already had to replace the axles on my Cedar Creek 36 RLTS because the originals bent and wore out the tires.
Power supply blew up in the middle of Utah and I had to mickey mouse a different one in just so we could finish the vacation and have power.
You're not alone.

 

Dan I like your fix that is really clever!! I figure there has to be lots of other stories out there. My axles were bent too, and wore out the drivers side tires on the inside edges. They were Alko axles and I had read they have a history of that, so I baught Dexter axles. That is also when I discovered how wore out the shackles, bolts, bushings and bolts were. Mine is a Everest 364 Q. Which is a heavy rig like the cedar creek models...
may better trips be ahead...