Gary t

I had that problem with my Encore It looks like a starter solenoid but is not the same Its called a contionus duty solenoid and conects the hous battery and Truck battery when you turn on the ingition so the house battery is being charged while the engine is running . when you kill the engine surn off the ignition it is then isolated from the truck battery so you can run lights ect. on the house battery wint out killing the truck battery . To charge it when you are parked some motor homes have a bulit in charging system when you plug it into 110 . At least that is the way mine works. Gary

Hi DR just wanted to add that you can get at your local RV place a fixture that will screw on to your hose it has a valve on it and a 6 in or so plastic hose that is made to go in the opening for filling the water tank . this works better than trying to put the eater hose in there in leavs room for air to come out . if the hose you use to fill it is to large all you wind up with is water on the ground.You use the pump when you want to use water from the tank the hose conection on the side bypasses the tank and allows city water to be used no pump required. I have a Encore 2 that is the way it works I had a larger motor home brfore it was the same way I think most of them are . hope this helps.

Good idea I like it too

Springs are good I would use the extra springs its heaver than you mite think the big deal with the 5 lug axel is it can not handle the extra weight . My 83 was upgraded back when the recall came out with a factory new axel it came with new springs The orignal owner had it done I got the paper work on it with the RV when I got it this summer .

Looks like a good deal to me low miles nice coach I paid 3800 for one with a fair coach and need of some work have 5000 in it now it has 100,000 miles on it . you are doing great have fun .

Looks like a nice rig good price . I would make sure it has the 6 lug rear axel upgrade . I was lucky when I got my 83 it had the new axel . Did not know it was a issuue untill I found in the paper work that came with it it had been replaced with a new one because of a recall .

I guess I should get my 1983 Encore I weighed the Owners manual that came with it says Dry weight is 4630 and they say 900 lb payload which makes a 5530 gross wt . My springs are arched not flat like the ones in the photo. on flat ground in looks like its going down hill all the time . Had the 6 lug axle done in 91 . We just took it through the Rockies and Cascade mountains . braking was no problem it has better stopping power than the Dodge motor home I had before I got this one . handles better on the road more stable has a harder ride. The best part is I can park it in about the same space as a large car.

I had a blow out a couple weeks ago and got Lucky I guess got 2 new Nankank 18R-14/8 N810 tires from The LES SCHWAB dealer in Davenport , WA they were the only 2 he had I had considered replacing all 4 rears . HE checked there system and said they had 100 of them company wide and could have them in a few days . As we were on our way home we passed on waiting the rest of the tires are still pretty good . but if you are out west LES SCHWAB has or can get them.

Found the Colman cooler on Ebay its a 40 qt Coleman thermo electric cooler 22x15x17 I think the model is 5644-707W . I tried to attach a photo of it not sure I did it right Saw one on Ebay today they are arouns $100 after shipping . Worked great for us . Always had shore power at night so do not know how ling it will go on the battery . Dosen't seem to draw much there is no thermostat so you do not want to leave it running all the time in cold wether . My brother has a simlar one on his boat and has frozen stuff in the winter.

WHen I got my Encore the frig had been remove so all I had was a hole we put a large DC colman cooler there it sits pu on end like a frig and has a shelf in it , wired it in to the DC power with a switch to turn it off its a little smaller than a frig but on our trip it worked just great we let it run all the time .its made to plug into the lighter dose not draw much juce abour 3 amps or so Kept every thing cold even in 100 + weather .

We have a 20 ft 1983 Encore with a 4 speed 22R and the 6 lug rear end just fished a 6000 mile tour with all kinds of driving we ran at 50/55 mph and got an avarage of 18 mpg with a low of 15 and a high of 22 . wind made a large difreance . Mountan driving did not do to bad we made up for what we lost going up when we went down the other side . I am pretty happy with how it did . Our former Motor home was a 20 ft Moble travler with a 318 dodge it go around 10 no mater what .