Bobbie T Goes To The Repair Shop

Shipshewana, IN.

73 deg. clear, no wind.
Forecast = mostly cloudy, with a 40% chance of rain. W. wind @ 5 to 20 mph.

We left the Beaver Ridge CG in Lakeville about 8:50 and after returning to US 31 followed it North up to the South Bend, IN area where we turned East on US 20. 20 then took us to Middlebury and to Fox RV Inc.

It was 9:35 when we pulled into the lot so it took us just 45 minutes to travel the 37 miles over there. Not too bad when you consider that we had some minor road construction slowdowns East of Elkhart.

In the photo below, you can see Bobbie T backed up in front of the building where they are working on repairing the upper awning arm bracket mounting bolts.

This is the compartment that they had to work in to check out the dinette slide motor/brake assembly.

Besides, the slide motor brake and the awning bracket bolts, Jim also had them check on a propane problem. You see, when the water heater was on and Linda was using the burners on the range, it seemed like the propane pressure would drop and both flames would be low, resulting in the water heater kicking off and relighting from time to time. The problem ended up being a blocked screen at the inlet of the pressure regulator, which Larry Fox (the owner), said happens sometimes when an RV is not used for a long time.

As for the awning bolts, after taking out the old ones, cleaning up the mounting areas, and installing new longer , thicker bolts, the brackets were secured and everything in the areas were re-caulked.

Now, for the slide brake problem, that was the main reason that Jim brought Bobbie T up here.

Well, first of all, it was determined that the brake on the motor/brake/gear assembly was definitely defective. So, that meant that a new assembly would be required. There was only one problem. They couldn't remove the assembly!!!

Why, you ask???? Well, when Bobbie T was manufactured, they didn't cut the hole in her main floor in the right place. It's off to the front about 2 inches. The motor assembly has to be unbolted and slid back out of the bracket, but that can't be done because the hole in the floor it too far forward and that makes sliding the motor to the rear impossible!!!!

The only way to remove that motor assembly would be to remove the complete slide out, enlarge the hole in the main floor, remove the motor, and then put everything back together again.

A new motor assembly would cost about $260.00, it would take 4 to 5 hours to remove the slide out and enlarge the hole in the floor, (at the shop rate of $100.00 per hour) and put everything back together again.

So, Jim and Linda were looking at a repair bill, (just for the slide), at somewhere around $700.00!!!!!! :-(

Larry said that since the motor and gear assembly seemed to be in good condition, he suggested the purchase of a Slide Lock, which is around $40.00!!!

He said that it should work fine and that if Bobbie T was his, that's what he would do. "If", someday, the motor or gear assembly should go bad, then the slide out will have to be removed, but in the meantime, this $40 slide lock will work very well to keep the slide from moving out when traveling. ;-)

By 2:50 PM all the work was done, the bill paid, (very reasonable on all the repair work), CLT was hooked to the back of Bobbie T, and we were pulling out of the Fox RV lot.

Both Jim and Linda figured that we'd be staying at Fox RV overnight, but being that the repairs went so quickly, we headed for the RV park that Jim had selected for the nights after the repair was completed. The park is the Shipshewana Campground North Park.

From Fox, we continued East on US 20 to Shipshewana, and then turned North on SR 5. 5 took us through Shipshewana and up to SR 120 where the park is located.

It was 3:20 when we pulled up to the office, so it took us just about 1/2 an hour to travel the 12 miles over here. (lots of delays in Shipshewana). :-(

This is a nice park. Quite different from the South Park that we had stayed at quite a few years ago. The South Park is a very large park and is all open with no trees while this one is smaller with some nice pine trees. Both campgrounds are quite expensive, but then, we are in a tourist area.

This post is getting pretty long already, so I'll tell you about the downpour of rain and more about the park  next time.

Stay tuned!!!! ;-)

Did you know that more than 100 species of trees are native to Indiana? Before the pioneer's arrive more than 80% of Indiana was covered with forest. Now only 17% of the state is considered forested.

Woof!!!