Hello All,
New to the forum and looking for some advice and answers. Recently with this Lock Down the wife and I are stir crazy in the house, with that said my Father In law offered his Spirit that he recently came into ownership. There were a couple of issues he took care of but never really used it, it only has 38,000 miles on it and pretty much has all the original equipment. We made the drive to Crater Lake and Yosemite unfortunately we ran into two issues a broken belt and a popped tire, I should have found this site earlier because those are the two things recommended to replace. I am pretty sure this Spirit was in storage for a long time because the tires still had a ton of tread but were about 20 years old, still had the dealer plastic covering on the carpet, all the original manuals in sheet protectors. We are planning to do another trip next month with that I would appreciate advice with my questions below, I have read through the manuals several times before our trip and know how to operate most of everything:
Now to my questions:
- Rear Airbag Suspension: I haven't checked the psi on them but I think they might need to be inflated, I scraped the rear bumper a couple of times. I am little hesitant to inflate them because if I inflate them I might break them since they are so old but I know very little of RV Ownership and/or Rear Airbags. Is this a legitimate concern? With time do the airbags dry our and crack? Or should I be fine? What would inflating the airbags help with, I am assume rear clearance.
- Extra Spare Rim: Before we took off for the trip I tried to find a Spare Rim with 6 on 7.25 dimensions, I was never able to find the correct rim, is there any place I could find it?
- Water Pump: My father in-law replaced the Water Pump and ran it a couple of times but I think the seals broke at some point later because every time I run it the water pours out of the rear driver side section.
- Water Tank Inlet: Every time I try to fill the Water Tank most of the water pours back out. I think when someone replaced the water pump system or did something they installed a hose that was too long,for the water tank inlet because I looked behind/underneath the couch and the hose serpentines around underneath the couch, which I believe is the reason the water pours back out. Would anyone know the proper dimensions for that hose? Or possibly a picture of the hose so I could confirm it is installed improperly?
- Engine/Drivetrain: I will perform the proper oil change, hoses, coolants, and spark plugs. We just changed all the belts, however I was wondering if there are any recalls I have to attend to, also the tow truck mentioned the truck had some drive shaft issues. Just want to know what I might have to look into.
- Transmission: I did have a hard time going up hills at certain stages of the drive, and with that I wanted to shift to a lower gear, 2. However I am hesitant to shift in the middle of driving but how does the transmission do while changing in the middle of driving?
I am sure I will have more questions as these are answered but please be patient as I am new to the rv world.
Thanks,
