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Old 06-14-2009, 06:44 PM   #1
MuddyPaws
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Lost drain plug

I drained all the water out of our 2955 and in my haste somehow lost the white plastic cap that goes on the hose which hangs down on the driver side rear. Without this cap water just pours right through.

CW doesn't carry them, never seen anything like it. Has anybody here had to replace one? Where can they be obtained?

Not a good trip. I discovered that the linolium in the bathroom is coming up, all the way from the edge to mid floor. The floor does not appear to have any water damage that would have caused this.

The biggest day/night shade (4 string) frayed a string and cannot be moved. CW told me these cannot be repaired. I know better and have the instructions and pictures from this board to prove it.

It seems that every trip is punctuated by something breaking or wearing out. My DW is ready to forget this RV'ing thing altogether and stay in 5-star hotels. She says we should have let it burn when it caught fire.

Thanks,
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Old 06-14-2009, 06:56 PM   #2
Trailer Trash 2
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The shade can be repared so dont believe what CW told you. I have a DN Shade that is doing the same thing and the RV dealer service section that I bought the Monty from told me to remove it myself to save money , bring it in and they will send it to the company that makes them it will cost me about 48. per shade far better than buying new.As for the dran plug a good RV Parts house will sell the cap for that drain hose.
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Old 06-14-2009, 07:46 PM   #3
Art-n-Marge
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Where is this CW that you go to? They are worthless, clueless or lazy. I think they are suffering from "growing too big too fast" and losing the employees that knew everything.

For your drain plug you can borrow a shutoff from another drain and take it to your local hardware store for something comparable if you cannot find an RV store nearby. It does not have to be a fancy expensive RV type. Look for a replacement that pressure fits into the proper size plastic pipe and uses a compression fitting. It does not have to be a cap. You can use a ball type shutoff. Be careful not to cut any of the piping too short.

For the floor that could be an environmental problem. Remove the molding at the perimeter of the floor and wall where the flooring is coming up. Then check the fit of the flooring. Sometimes if the linoleum was installed in a cold environment the installer may leave the material too big when cutting to size, then in a warmer environment it expands and since the wall prevent expansion, it will separate in mid floor. To fix this you could then cut a sliver off the edge using a VERY sharp exacto-like knife, then refit and reglue the section back down. Then reinstall the molding (the molding is cosmetic and hides these cuts and edges). Be careful to control the knife carefully, to prevent unsightly cutting accidents of the material or your body parts for that matter.

The strings CAN be replaced and you can repair them yourself, but IT CAN BE TRICKY - admittedly I have changed single string systems, not double string systems, but I am mechanically inclined and can probably figure it out. It sounds like your DN shades are suffering from another Manufacturing anomaly whereby they tighten the strings too tight so that during transport the shades stay on. I have had to go throughout my whole rig and loosen EVERY string so that it doesn't break because they were so tight. Do an internet search for how to repair and adjust your shades. They are great when they are working right, but can be tricky to get them there. I will look for the websites I used for this information and post in on this topic ASAP.
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Old 06-15-2009, 12:45 AM   #4
jimcol
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Try this location for D/N shade repair instructions. http://www.dirtyblindman.com/
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Old 06-15-2009, 01:38 AM   #5
HamRad
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MuddyPaws,

I agree with what the others have said. Do not believe CW. They should have those hose caps in stock or can order them for you. I just had that done a few months back. Absolutely no problem. As for the shade thing...... there is currently a very good description of how to do them here on the MOC Forum. I believe it even has pictures to help you.

Best advise I can give you is to stay away from the CW that told you the bad info. They do not know what they are doing.

Good luck.

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Old 06-15-2009, 02:09 AM   #6
kdeiss
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I would just add a valve to replace those cap's. All you need is a valve,fitting and a hose clamp
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Old 06-15-2009, 03:19 AM   #7
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MuddyPaws,

Kdeiss has a good solution to your problem for the missing Pex Cap for your drain. I needed a cap and went to CW and they wanted $7 each for them. I said no. I found several at a small campground for about $1.35 each.

Before I found the cap I used a 1/2" pvc coupler with a pvc plug in the end. Worked just fine.
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Old 06-15-2009, 03:56 AM   #8
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Some ACE Hardware stores have a good selection of the pex fittings. Bill
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Old 06-15-2009, 06:19 AM   #9
KTManiac
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The brand of cap that you need is Flair-it, Flair-it PEX fittings. Most any RV parts department will have them (not Camping World though).

Flair-it

You need the 1/2" cap, or you could put on a valve like the ones used on the low point drains.

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Old 06-15-2009, 10:14 AM   #10
MuddyPaws
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I found the pex fittings I needed.

I was told that most RV manufacturers do not glue linolium down. They depend on the mouldings & thresholds to hold it. But they trimmed it just a tad too short. I've peeled up enough of the floor to know there has never been a drop of glue under it. And the more I think about it the more I think there may be a reason for that. Perhaps the movement would cause glued linolium to buckle?

No signs of water damage.

I'm ordering a kit from dirtyblinds, actually two kits because my camping buddy has a broken one too. If I can't re-string the shades I'm going to burn my 'I can fix (almost) anything' sign. The 'almost' is there because I tried to fix my attitude but that failed horribly.

It looks like the CW near me has laid off anybody who knew anything. I only saw one 'old timer' in the whole time we were there. And the person working the parts counter was about 25 years old and not someone we've ever seen there before. Not to imply that a 25 year old couldn't know anything about RV's. Just that one!

MP
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Old 06-15-2009, 03:53 PM   #11
racerjoe
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Our bathroom floor did the same thing. It curled up along the wall. just a little to short for the molding to hold it down.
What we did was remove the floor molding at the curl, Then I bought a clear plastic corner protector,put that down to hold the linolium flat,used finish nails to hold the clear plastic down,then replaced the floor molding which just about hid the clear one. but by using that,it does not show. almost looks like I thought of it before fixing.
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Old 06-15-2009, 04:26 PM   #12
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The linolium in my 2005 2955rl has done the same thing in both the kitchen and bathroom. There are two reasons for this. For one, the installer cut the linolium too short for a perfect fit so there is a gap between where the flooring ends and the wall. The second problem is the installer used very little to any linolium adhesive for the flooring. The result is when it gets cold the adhesive shrinks and looses its adhesive properties. The flooring then floats on top. When it get warm the flooring settles back down, but is still loose. The only solution for me is rip out the old linolium (cheap stuff) and replace it with quality flooring, making sure to cut it so it fits right. Poor quality assurance from the factory in these rigs. Montana is not standing alone with this. I have seen this in many other brands as well.
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Old 06-16-2009, 05:11 AM   #13
MuddyPaws
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I'm inclined to believe that 'they' don't use adhesives under the linolium in RV's for a reason. I fixed mine by replacing the thin moulding Keystone installed with Oak cove moulding that's much wider and will hold it down intil it shrinks another 3/8".
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Old 06-16-2009, 08:43 AM   #14
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Having spent a lot of time during my flooring career installing all kinds of vinyl flooring I can tell you that every Montana I have seen from the factory comes with a perimeter glues floor. Perimeter gluing is best if the floor is not exactly flat and handles flexing very well. All vinyl shrinks ALWAYS. When the vinyl is installed it may have a slight looseness or "bag" to it. The perimeter glue should not release, it is a very strong adhesive. Once the glue is applied to the perimeter of the floor it is also applied to the perimeter of the vinyl. It is set aside to "tack up" which means to dry some of the liquid out of it. Once it has dried to the point that you can touch it without it sticking to your fingers the vinyl is set down center first and lined up for the install. Once it is lined up the perimeter is pressed down to the floor and it sticks fast. You cannot reposition it after it sticks. One side it stuck first then it is light stretched to the other side and pressed down, the same goes for the ends of the lay. A lot of times there will be a slight bag in the vinyl which will go away after a day or so of warm weather or heat. If you vacuum the center of the floor you can feel the center areas lift up to the vacuum because they are not glued. When we went through the factory I noticed they do all the vinyl work before the cabinets are put in, this being much easier than having to cut around all the cabinets and there is no need for trim around the cabinets. I have seen several units with trim and when asked why was told that the floor was replaced. Which means the old vinyl was cut out around the cabinets and the new vinyl was perimeter glued up to the cabinets which left a raw edge visible. Full surface glue is good but if there is any lateral movement in the frame or sub floor it will show up as a wrinkle or tear... Dave
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Old 06-16-2009, 04:14 PM   #15
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Dave, Thanks for the great info on how they install the vinyl flooring. So far our 2006 has had no problems with close to 25,000 miles. I only hope when I have a problem I'll remember this info.
Jim C.
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