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str8strm · 02-21-2007, 07:57 PM

Brad and Susan:
Welcome to the Classic AS Moho family. That's a great looking unit. In May we will have owned our 345 for two years. We had some small electrical and mechanical issues over the course of our first four or five outings. Nothing drastic, just annoying. Now, everytime we go out we remark on how problem free this 22 year old coach is. We wouldn't trade it for anything and plan on keeping it until we can no longer use it.
I enjoyed your story about "inner city Detroit" and your positive outcome. I think this speaks to the misconceptions and generalizations we all tend to make. We had always heard terrible horror stories about the Federales in Mexico. The only time that our coach broke down on the road, we were in Mexico. We had sheared a bolt on the alternator and lost all of the belts. I had spare belts, but no bolt. It was a pair of Mexican Federal Police officers who stopped and assisted us. They allowed us to use their cell phone (ours couldn't get a signal). In about two hours we had a mechanic on scene and were on our way.

Ron

Auretrvr · 02-21-2007, 08:49 PM

Yes, it was the Krylon for plastic. I had read some good things here on the forums, and gave it a try (just do a search under "Krylon"). I did take out the cabinet so I wouldn't have to worry about overspray. There are some potent solvents in Krylon, so you need to be very careful to ventilate. For the toilet base, we had the loo out for replacement, masked out the area, and my husband rigged an exhaust that pulled the fumes outside.

We have drilled some holes to stop some cracks. Chaplain Kent (a wonderful font of useful moho info) mentioned that the bins may be out of "square" and that getting that fixed may prevent future trouble and we can get to the repairs. We hope to meet him this spring and may learn more.

Love the Detroit story! Reminded me of the time we were driving in the mountains of Colorado in a '83 Peugeot (my husband had a Peugeot fetish for many years), and had engine trouble he couldn't fix. We came upon a true Peugeot repair station, in the mountains, in the middle of nowhere! (Cue the angelic chorus and lights beaming from above). They got us right back on the road, and we still remember it with utter amazement!

Al (uminum)...love it!!

str8strm · 02-22-2007, 08:24 AM

We have a filter from the city water source and have never had any troulble or bad tasting ice from our icemaker. They were pretty amaizing coaches for their time!

3Ms75Argosy · 02-22-2007, 11:04 AM

... ok, gotta see pics of that car! What a wife! My wife and I use to race indoor Karts for fun (I used to do SCCA autocross as well). My only chagrin was that she got faster than me!

Sigh... my ego's not that big.

Still saving up for the shifter carts (his and hers)
Marc

bkahler · 02-22-2007, 01:13 PM

How funny--I started as an SCCA autocrosser, got into vintage racing and never looked back! I enjoyed it thoroughly, but to me, it just doesn't compare to wheel-to-wheel racing.

That's awesome about the shifter karts--I hope you get to fulfill your dream soon!

We will be towing this guy behind Big Al (our 310), probably starting in May when we go to an event at Road America. This is me at Mosport in Canada a couple years ago. That was the trip where the Winnebago broke down in Detroit...

Susan

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3Ms75Argosy · 02-24-2007, 09:03 AM

You go girl! Any new news on the MH?
Marc

Auretrvr · 02-24-2007, 09:39 AM

We have a filter under the sink that runs to a dedicated spout, so it seems like a redundancy to use a filter from the city supply (if I am understanding you correctly). My husband was wondering if a filter could be attached just to the icemaker, like what we have for our home fridge water line.

This is all so ironic as we have nearly 1/4" of ice clinging to our windows from a treacherous winter storm in progress. Glad we got Ernestine back to her "bunker" yesterday!

bkahler · 02-24-2007, 10:07 AM

Not a lot of new news on Big Al, but Brad took him to State Farm yesterday for them to inspect, and the only thing the guy noted was the pinstriping that was all shreddy up top!

Brad was checking out the soot deposit from the hot water heater and just came in and reported that it is burning clean now. I am guessing it just had junk in the chambers from sitting up for a while.

And it's very sad--we lost our beloved, sweet, goofy dog Wednesday afternoon to poisoning. The vet misdiagnosed and treated him for a bacterial infection. That has really put a damper on our joy with Big Al. Each day is a little better, but it still hurts so much.

We'll probably be putting work on Big Al on hold for a while so we can get the racecar fixed for our next race in March (think I lost the clutch in the last event). But we'll update as we have news! Thank you all for your enthusiastic support! It means a lot!

Alumatube · 02-24-2007, 04:28 PM

Hi there! This is Susan with her own account! Poor Brad was always saying, "Did you post in such-and-such a topic?" and "You have a PM," that I thought I should go ahead and do it to give him some relief!

We just had a toad-strangler of a rainstorm here and checked Big Al for leaks. Unfortunately, it looks like the rear a/c seal has let go and there was water all over the back where it looks like it ran along the aluminum inner panels and dripped at the seams between the a/c and the back window.

One of the dinette windows has a leak as well, but only a few drips got in there. And Brad has found that now he has fixed the door handle mechanism, the entry door is now not aligned with the rest of the coach, and it looks like he will probably have to replace/redo the hinge pins.

We get all these minor (and not quite so minor) details fixed and Al will be a (more) awesome coach!

Susan

pinkflamingoes · 02-24-2007, 04:34 PM

I love to see titles of posts like "carting home a classic" or "new to us". Congratulations.

I'm really sorry about your dog. That was very sudden.

str8strm · 02-25-2007, 08:43 AM

We use the city water filter because we wash dishes with it, boil water from it, brush our teeth with it, etc. A quick fix for the hinge pins is to use a 1/4" nylon washer and cut a section out so you can slide it around the pin at the bottom of both hinges. You can lift the door from the bottom to create the gap and shim with as many as you need. Also soo sorry to hear about your pup. Our dogs and cat love to ride in the MH.

Alumatube · 02-25-2007, 08:50 AM

Thank you all so much for your condolences--it really helps to have the pain shared! Pet all of your fur people for me!

And str8strm, thank you for your tip about the washers! I will pass it on to Brad (he's down there right now looking into the issue).

Susan

bkahler · 02-25-2007, 08:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by str8strm

We use the city water filter because we wash dishes with it, boil water from it, brush our teeth with it, etc. A quick fix for the hinge pins is to use a 1/4" nylon washer and cut a section out so you can slide it around the pin at the bottom of both hinges. You can lift the door from the bottom to create the gap and shim with as many as you need. Also soo sorry to hear about your pup. Our dogs and cat love to ride in the MH.

I just got done checking out the door and it appears your trick of using a nylon washer will work although ours only needs about 1/8" thick washer. I pulled up on the door while closing and it slid smoothly into the lock guide on door jam. I'll check out the local hardware store this week to see what they have available in nylon washers.

Thanks for the tip

Brad

mcplaidpiper · 05-03-2008, 11:04 PM

Hello! My wife and I bought our first motor home last month...a one-owner 1982 28' Diesel AS MH which unfortunately had not been used in several years; of course it needs a lot of TLC. I am so happy to have found such a great place to find information on my new investment!!!

It's in the shop now having a mechanic give the chassis a good look over. Since it's been in the shop the driver's seat back is now laying back all the way...the wire leading to the seat back recline lever (right side of seat) has become disconnected. My inspection shows the wire leading to the release lever currently has what appears to be a 'hydrolic shock' and a small washer, a hex nut, and threads (it appears a washer and nut may be missing--which connected the wire to the chair-side lever...but I couldn't find any parts on the floor; again it's at a repair shop...and this occurred since I dropped it off...).

Does anyone on the forum know/have experience regarding this type issue? I did a search and found nothing relevant. I will need to have this repaired before it can pass the safety inspection or I can drive it home. Because it's at the repair shop I could'nt really take my time to evaluate the entire situation and/or use any tools, but I couldn't get it to work...even a little...when I put things back together and held them in place. I'm not sure if the wire is broken or I only need a couple of parts (e.g. a nut & washer?) to make it operational again; or might I need a new 'seat back release assembly' if they are even available today (and where would I get one?), or do I need to just replace the captains chairs and be done with it? AND, if I should replace the captains chairs, will that negatively affect future resale should I ever decide to sell her? I would like to keep her as original looking as possible. Any suggestions or thoughts would really be appreciated!!
Thanks!!

str8strm · 05-03-2008, 11:16 PM

Piper,
Investment! Gosh I love that kind of talk. We've got two 345s and sure hope they are investments. But being realistic, I don't think they are. But we love them just the same. We have found, like most others, our initial purchase price was merely a down payment. But now that it's all dialed in; heaven. Haven't had the seat problem that you have, but it doesn't sound like to tough a fix. If you have to replace the seat, I don't think it will make a huge difference, if you are concerned about value. You can probably find something very similar anyway. Have fun with it. They're great coaches. Ron

jking · 06-07-2008, 02:52 PM

Brad & Susan - Thanks for sharing your story, pics, and learnings. We have an almost-twin '84 310 which we've used for 15 years now. Anything that comes up that puzzles you, please ask. The best most wonderful upgrade we have done was LED lighting throughout the interior. Now our batteries last and last and last ...
Jamie & Susan

jking · 06-07-2008, 03:23 PM

My wife has just persuaded me to retell the story of our trip home with our prize. We bought the '84 310 sight unseen, in California, and flew out to pick it up. This was years ago when you could still carry bundles of kitchenware and clothing and bedding and etc... on the airplane. We left about noon the next day for the 3-4 day drive home, and got a whole 12 miles before noticing the engine temp gauge reading off the top. Inspection revealed a plastic "Tee" fitting in the cooling fluid hoses (where the heater core gets its heat) had been replaced with el cheapo non-automotive stuff which melted! If it hadn't been a Sunday ... but of course it was. Found a Ma-and-Pa garage open and got a part, installed it, refilled the radiator ... now it's dark so we stayed right there overnight. Next day off again watching gauges like a hawk. Nothing spectacular, except it was now Christmas Eve and we were crossing New Mexico instead of sitting at home with the family. Long story short, we got nearly home before discovering the next "goodie" which was a propane leak. Turned it off at the tank and went home to bed thinking of looking for a buyer. Morning makes all things seem better, though, and now it's fifteen years later and umpteen repairs/fixes/upgrades and we still love the darned thing. Hope you do too.
Jamie