Issue 1363
Welcome to another edition of RV Travel’s Daily Tips newsletter. Here you’ll find helpful RV-related and living tips from the pros, travel advice, a handy website of the day, tips on our favorite RVing-related products and, of course, a good laugh. Thanks for joining us. We appreciate you. Please tell your friends about us.
If you shop at Amazon, please visit through our affiliate site or https://rvtravel.com/amazon (we get a little commission that way – and you don’t pay any extra). Thank you!
NEW NEWSLETTER COMING IN JULY: A brand-new Monday through Friday newsletter for aspiring or novice RVers is coming from the editors of RVtravel.com. Read it for six months and you’ll know everything you need to know about buying and using an RV. Tell your friends who are planning to buy an RV to sign up. Do it here.
[activecampaign form=34]
Today’s thought
“You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore.” ―
Need an excuse to celebrate? Today is National Fudge Day!
Recent RV recalls
We posted these in last Sunday’s newsletter, but in case you missed them, there were a lot of recalls during the previous week. Here they are again.
• Jayco recalls some RVs. Window glass could fall out.
• Forest River recalls some travel trailers. Safety chains could fail.
• Jayco recalls some 2020-2021 Sprinter motorhomes.
• 350,000 Ford F-150 trucks recalled for faulty brake master cylinder.
• Ford expands F-150, SUV, sedan recall to 2.15 million.
• Thor recalls some Sprinter motorhomes. Wrong info in owner’s manual.
• Keystone RV recalls some Springdale trailers.
Tip of the Day
Customized shelving for your RV cabinets
By Dave Helgeson
How many wardrobe closets, tall overhead cabinets and floor-to-counter storage areas does the average RV really need? Evidently plenty – based on the designs you are likely to see when shopping for a new RV.
I don’t know about you, but when I go RVing I am not taking along piles of dress clothes that need to be hung in a wardrobe, nor am I packing a dozen (foot-plus tall) cereal boxes that need storing in a tall overhead cabinet. Read more.
Do you have a tip? Submit it here.
“Easy-lube”-ing your RV axle bearings? Take note!
Much has been written about the wisdom of pulling your trailer wheels apart every year or two and taking the time to inspect and repack the axle bearings. Oftentimes you’ll hear a response like: “Why waste the time? Just put on a lube system that allows you to pump fresh grease into the system.” Find out why a manual bearing lube job may be well worth the extra work — for more than one important reason.
Yesterday’s featured article: RV Mods: Screen your engine for protection
Reader poll
Would you go RVing in/around Iceland if you had the chance?
Fly on over here and vote.
Quick Tip
Don’t use stabilizer jacks for leveling
Don’t try to use trailer stabilizer jacks to bring your rig up into level – most are designed simply to give more stability to the rig once leveled. Using these to try and level a rig can cause damage.
NEW FACEBOOK GROUPS: RVing with a Disability • RV Travel Tips • Trucks for RV Towing
Random RV thought
The quote “Not all who wander are lost,” by J.R.R Tolkien, feels like it must have been written for RVers. We are the ultimate wanderers and, unless the GPS loses service, we are never lost (and, heck, if we are we’re usually okay with it!).
Website of the day
And the Survey Says…
We’ve polled RVtravel.com readers more than 1,500 times in recent years. Here are a few things we’ve learned about them:
• 42 percent have worried their RV may blow over in a wind storm
• 40 percent will use an RV park’s pool on a hot summer day
Recent poll: Do you believe the worst of the Pandemic is behind us now? Vote here (and read almost 200 comments on the topic).
Trivia
The very first TV commercial aired on TV on July 1, 1941, during a Brooklyn Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies game in New York. The simple ad showed a silhouette of the U.S. with a watch face and a voiceover saying, “America runs on Bulova time.” The ad cost $9.
*Yesterday we told you about a contest in Arkansas where you compete by doing what?
A.) Sewing as many buttons on a piece of fabric in a set amount of time
B.) Swimming backward for a distance
C.) Quacking like a duck
See yesterday’s trivia section for the answer.
New 2021 edition Rand McNally Motor Carriers’ Road Atlas is a must-have!
The new edition of the premier guide to off-limit highways for large RVs will soon be published for 2021. Not only does it offer best routes for big rig trucks and RVs, but it lists low bridges and tunnels you should avoid. It should be a must-have for RVers who travel in unfamiliar territory with RVs over about 11 feet tall. Read more.
Readers’ Pet of the Day
“We were visiting White Sands National Monument on a bright sunny April day a couple of years ago and our traveling companion, Maggie, perked right up when we put sunglasses on her.” — Dale and Sandra Watkins
Send us a photo of your pet with a short description. We publish one each weekday in RV Daily Tips and in our Saturday RV Travel newsletter.
SMART PLUG ADAPTERS. Make life easy and your connections secure. Click
Leave here with a laugh
I’ve always enjoyed spending time outside. As a kid, my brother would roll me down hills in old tires we’d find in the junkyard. Those were Goodyears.
Did you miss the latest RV Travel Newsletter? If so, read it here.
Oh, and if you missed the latest Sunday News for RVers, make sure to catch up here.
Become a Member!
This newsletter is brought to you Monday through Friday by RVtravel.com and is funded primarily through voluntary subscription contributions from our readers. Thank you! IF YOU APPRECIATE THIS NEWSLETTER and others from RVtravel.com, will you please consider pledging your support? Learn more or contribute.
RV Daily Tips Staff
Publisher: Chuck Woodbury. Editor: Emily Woodbury. Senior editor: Diane McGovern. Social media director: Jessica Sarvis. Financial affairs director: Gail Meyring. IT wrangler: Kim Christiansen.
This website utilizes some advertising services. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Regardless of this potential revenue, unless stated otherwise, we only recommend products or services we believe provide value to our readers.
Everything in this newsletter is true to the best of our knowledge. But we occasionally get something wrong. We’re just human! So don’t go spending $10,000 on something we said was good simply because we said so, or fixing something according to what we suggested (check with your own technician first). Maybe we made a mistake. Tips and/or comments in this newsletter are those of the authors and may not reflect the views of RVtravel.com or this newsletter.
Mail us at 9792 Edmonds Way, #265, Edmonds, WA 98020.
This newsletter is copyright 2020 by RVtravel.com
Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken”
https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2015/09/11/the-most-misread-poem-in-america/
Tolkien’s “Fellowship of The Ring”
https://www.drinklings.coffee/blogs/mission/why-not-all-who-wander-are-lost-doesnt-mean-what-you-think-it-means
“Don’t use stabilizer jacks for leveling”
Just clarifying….
If they are strictly stabilizers (manually or in some cases, electrically operated), then your tip seems to be accurate. They are not likely designed for lifting and require the rig to manually leveled with boards under the tires first.
But for hydraulics, then I guess it really depends on your jack configuration and RV manufacturer. I contacted LCi (Lippert) today (06/15/20) to confirm my hydraulic ratings on our 42′ rig. They confirmed that the front 2 jacks are rated at 18,000# each. And the rear jacks are 8,000# each. A total of 60,000# lifting capacity. I calculated 68,000# but the Representative stated 60,000#. Either way, it’s more than rated to “lift” the RV for leveling purposes. If you are using “stabilizers”, they may be rated differently.
One may want to confirm the specific ratings and the design application with their RV manufacturer and/or Jack manufacturer. Here is the email and telephone number for LCi:
https://support.lci1.com/
574-537-8900
You can also go to their website and use the CHAT feature.
In their advertisement for Levels and Stabilizes (hydraulics):
“With the push of a button, Ground Control® 3.0 levels and stabilizes your RV quickly and accurately…”
https://store.lci1.com/ground-control-30-grnd-ctrl-3.html
One word of caution…EVEN IF your rig is designed to “lift” your rig, ALWAYS use the properly rated jack stands under the frame if you are performing work on the wheels, brakes, axles, or springs. One hydraulic hose break or jack failure can cause the rig to drop suddenly resulting in a potential loss of life or damage to the rig.
Reference the quote “Not all who wander are lost“: For decades I have said as long as my fuel is 1/2 or over, I am not lost just exploring. That has been very fun since I had a 116 gallon auxiliary fuel tank installed on my truck. So we can explore from 600 to 1200 miles without worrying if we’re lost, depending on whether or not we’re hooked to our 5th wheel.
July 1st, 1941 the “LA Dodgers” did not exist. That would have been the “Brooklyn Dodgers”. Just saying…..
Also, I think the Philadelphia Athletics.
Thanks, Mike. I just looked it up and several sources say it was the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Philadelphia Phillies. I’ve put the Dodgers back into the correct city. (When I proof stuff like this, I usually just have time to check for obvious typos, but don’t have time to research what someone else has put in. Sorry.) —Diane at RVtravel.com
Thank you, Randy. It’s been corrected. —Diane at RVtravel.com
Maggie’s dark glasses look like they were custom fitted! Her smile is great too.
FYI you are including an ad for SwissKlip
Stainless nail clippers. I decided to try.
Pricey at almost $40 which includes $10
Freight.
It arrived in small black bag NO directions
And no label of country of manufacture so
I wrote and asked them. Swiss is misleading:
They say “engineered” in Germany but its
Made in CHINA!
Seems to work ok but why is their info
Misleading?
Most companies seem to do that now. There’s a company I buy from in Utah that sells outdoor equipment that say’s the same thing about most of their products. I WILL not buy ANYTHING from China again until until the CCP is dead.
So far I’m boycotting the virus, God willing I’ll be successful.
I purchased a box of masks from Amazon that were clearly marked as to be shipped from Montreal, Canada. There were other products at less $ to be mailed from China and I did not choose one of them.
After a week, I received a notice from Amazon that my masks were shipped – from CHINA!
It is now 6 weeks later and no sign of my masks. It’s very obvious that amazon can’t be trusted.
HaHaHa! That’s a good one.
Hi, Jeff,
The SwissKlip nail clippers was an ad from Google AdSense. These ads are auto-injected around our site (and every other site on the Internet). The only ads that we place, for items we promote ourselves, are our “text ads,” which are the ads you see with the dark red headline (you’ll see the ads in this newsletter for Wholesale Warranties, Industrial Lock & Hardware, the new Rand McNally road atlas, and the Smart Plug Adapters are the only ads that we have placed in this newsletter, note the red headlines.). If you see another ad, especially for something that is not RV-related, without a red headline, it’s an auto-placed ad from Google. Most often these ads reflect your search history on your computer or phone, so the items will seem relevant to things going on in your life.
Sorry for the confusion. Best, Emily –RVtravel.com