IdahoDoug

Here are a few update photos. The structure for the entire left side is complete, and I've test fit the fridge (finally got that behemoth out of my way). Need to clean and lubricate the furnace, and install it and a few more details but it's almost time to switch sides and do the kitchen, or the cabinets above it!

In my mature years, I have begun drinking coffee as a utility item. So I use Tasters Choice and one of those new hot water pitchers. 5 minutes and I'm sitting on the porch sipping. The bonus is you can set it to your exact water temp, so you really ARE sipping right away once you figure out your preferred temp. I used to be a coffee snob 40 years ago before it became cool. I had a Dutch hand burr grinder for the beans and did the french press thing - even on camping trips. Dunno what happened to me. Dang a good cup from a shop is a treat, still!!!!

Anyone?

Well, that solves the "getting towed home" issue quite handily, eh? 😆 Seriously, get to know some basics so you don't have minor issues that need major help to resolve. Fortunately, we have Google these days!

They are cheap, get one for each battery. If you don't even know if you have a 2nd battery, that suggests a pretty low level of knowledge about your vehicle. You should spend some time learning about it before relying upon it far from home. It's 35 years old and getting towed home for minor stuff constantly will get old. And expensive.

Consider buying a $20 battery disconnect switch and installing it on your battery. With a 35 year old vehicle, you can easily have something cause a drain, and when your battery is so low it won't start the truck, it is getting damaged each time that happens. Badly, actually. With batteries now $150++, getting a $50 jump pack and continuing to let your expensive battery get damaged is not a good solution. With a battery disconnect, when you park it, you simply disconnect the battery from everything and it should then easily start your truck in several weeks when you return. I have collector cars and they have these switches. It's also a passive anti theft, and there are disconnects that have a key lock on them if your truck is in an area thefts occur.

So, I am looking for an igniter for my furnace - original type with 2 wires. My 1982 model is an NT12LE, and I bought a 525019 igniter off the Suburban website. It's got the same two wires, the same bolt pattern on the mounting plate, and the same 3 prongs on the furnace side (2 igniter prongs, 1 temp probe prong). Has anyone else been able to find a source for these? Mine works, but we plan remote trips and I want to carry a spare. Thanks in advance.

Whatever you choose, buy a couple extra against the possibility one or more fail and the exact model is no longer available to replace. They're pretty cheap.

Get normal bushings, not poly or harder bushings like all the cool kids get. They will rattle your fillings out. Beyond that I dont know p/n or further.

That's a clever idea - gave the oil time to thoroughly migrate into the bearing. So, today I got the 90 degree wall next to the bath unit mostly done. It friction fits in place and is held in by itself. I need to paint the back side of it, and cut a hole for a 120V wall plug. I'm putting one in the master closet (this is the forward wall), so we can charge things in the closet like laptops and cell phones out of view. Everyone seems to want to charge their stuff out on counters, but if I'm away from the vehicle, I'd prefer some concealment. This will have several USB ports as well as house current. There will be several other outlets around the RV as well, of course. Looking forward to installing this soon.

It may be a while. Last time I looked for it I could not find it. I was ordering some bearings from a place back east and was $6 short of free shipping. Ordered this little syringe with a tiny flattened and stiff plastic nose on it. You can push the rubber weather seal back with the nose, and squeeze oil/grease into the bearing. Do this in a few spots and a noisy bearing is good to go. I've used it on engine belt idler pulleys and a few small appliances. Google the term "Bearing grease syringe" and I now see others have similar products. It's the stiff tip that lets you momentarily displace a typical bearing's rubber weather/dust seal. If I can find mine later, I'll post a picture. If I can't find it, I'll use a syringe modified with the heat of a match to flatten, and perhaps sandpaper to narrow it to accomplish the same thing. HTH.

Good point. I opened the burner up last night and it looks brand new - zero soot or blackening. Wonder if it was barely used since the vehicle has only 32k on it? I'll look at the fan/bearing very closely. Even light use would not make up for bearing grease/oil that's hardened with age. Perhaps I can sneak a lot of oil in there. I have a device that helps lubricate bearings by pulling the tiny rubber seal back and pressurizing it. Yeah, looking for a quiet motor.....

Pulling the heater apart to do some maintenance on it. Brought it to an RV dealer, hoping he might have some NOS dual wire igniters. Mine works fine, but I want to clean it inside, check for leaks, eliminate the gas on/off switch, lube the fan motor, and carry a spare igniter. I believe I found one on eBay - will be here next week. Mine worked just fine before I gutted the Sunrader. I will clean the glass view port, the burners, put new gaskets on the access plate and igniter, and it should be good for years. He knows classic Suburban heaters and says the NT12LE is a very solid and dependable model. He gave me valuable suggestions to refurbish it for long term durability. It's a pretty simple appliance, really.

Wow, looks like you're doing more than "thinking about it". It's done!

Thanks. Fortunately, it's the kind of hobby vehicle I can physically enter to work on, lending itself to a couple years of on again/off again work. During this, our daughter got married and I finished restoring an '88 Supra, plus built a very large deck. As many of you know, sometimes a project gets exciting and rivets your interest again. That's where I am right now. Here's the other wall abaft of it, precut and ready for install. Don't be impressed that I did that so fast - I cut those out last fall and they sat as I realized I had to do the bathroom wall first. The skinny piece sticking horizontally out is a chunk of the baltic birch ply I'm using. Wanted to see if I left the right amount of room for a right angle wall to fit between the bathroom wall, and the unmounted wall - it's a friction fit! (for that, I'll take a bow...) Now I need to service the furnace, and lay out some new plumbing. Kinda bummed the water lines need to go right through the box where I'm installing all the electronics, but it can't be helped. Power center, fuse box, inverter, charge manager, etc. I may find a way to use a split PVC pipe or similar to isolate the water lines as they pass through there. Can't imagine having $4000 worth of electronics ruined with a simple water leak.