Newell Renewal - Day 13 - There is always one more, right?

6:55 am - Thursday - April 30th - Wittmann, AZ - 73° F, 32% humidity, wind 4 mph out of the east by northeast......partly cloudy today, but it will get to 99° F.  On this day in 2013 we were walking along the National Mall in Washington D.C.....

We continued our waiting game Wednesday for the tail lights, and flange gasket.  Glenn and I left the Newell House compound early to drive into Phoenix to Fleet Pride to pickup his new 'low air pressure sending unit' to replace the one about which I wrote yesterday.  On the way I decided that even though mine is working fine, I should by one of these obscure units for future use should the need arise.  We arrived at the Fleet Pride in Avondale, AZ in about 35 minutes to find the part awaiting our arrival.....they did not have a second one of these.....

.....but their sister store about 9 miles away did have one in stock, so Glenn and I headed there next.  After picking up the second one for my personal inventory we stopped off at the local Napa to acquire a few more things....for me a couple of spools of 10 and 14 gauge stranded wire, and some buss buses (20 amp and 30 amp), also for my personal inventory.  We were back at the Newell House compound by 10:30 am.

There were only a couple of things for me to do this day, so I got right to them.....first up, install the two 'Power Pulse'* units gifted to Glenn and Laureen by Tom.  These units help extend the life of your batteries......

 
.....I've been using them for over 10 years, and have had great results.  Tom uses them on his Newell, and many of our Newell buddies do the same.....

There's this little, red LED light which 

blinks so you know it's working

.....next up was the task Laureen had assigned me....cut a couple of inches off the 'lip' on the shelf in one of their storage bays.....it was too tall, and made it difficult to get things in and out of the shelf.....

.......I used my handy, dandy rotary saw attachment on my Craftsman drill to cut the 2 inches off, and then used the drill attachment to screw it back on the 1/2" plywood piece.

Laureen finished the re-installation of the padded dashboard, so the interior is basically back together once again....

....while she was engaged with that Glenn installed the new 'low air pressure sending unit' after which we hoped there would be no more leaks, but, of course, there is always one more, right?  Tom loaned his 'leak sniffer' to check both of the six packs (front and rear) which control the ride height of the coach, and the leveling function......

Lookin' for air leaks

.....the front six pack (where Laureen is here in this picture) checked out fine, but a slow leak was found in the rear six pack on one of the Mac valves which controls the right height of the left rear corner.  This makes sense since the left rear was slowly settling once again.  The good news?  We are down to very small leaks requiring the use of electronic equipment to detect.  Glenn and Laureen will work on fixing that, hopefully, final leak on Thursday.

We are also hoping the tail lights will arrive as promised on Thursday via USPS, so we can install them.  Then we will just be awaiting the imminent arrival of the elusive flange gasket via FedEx to finish the installation of the rebuilt Leece-Neville alternator on Friday.  So, we are just days, and perhaps hours from rolling our wheels to cooler climes.   The high temp Wednesdeay was 102° F.....time to be moving!

Thanks for stopping by!

*Power Pulse:

"PowerPulse is not a charger. Charging doesn’t eliminate the main cause of battery failure – energy robbing lead sulfate deposits on battery plates. During this process, the plates gradually become more and more clogged with microscopic lead sulfate deposits. These deposits eventually limit the surface area available for energy transfer and cut back the battery’s ability to accept, store and release energy.

PowerPulse is a performance device designed to help batteries charge faster and provide maximum performance and power by generating an intermittent, optimized high frequency pulse that reduces existing sulfate deposits and keeps them from building up again. The patented Pulse Technology circuit has been scientifically proven by researchers at two major universities to improve battery performance and longevity."

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Newell Renewal - Day 12

7:10 am - Wednesday - April 29th - Wittmann, AZ - 74° F, 28% humidity, wind 6 mph out of the east.....clear, blue, sunny, very hot skies today with a forecast high of 102° F.  On this day in 2016 we were high into the Eastern Sierras on our way to South Lake Tahoe for the summer.......

.....here we are at the Crowley Lake vista point about 15 miles from Mammoth Lakes, CA.

Right now we are playing a waiting game....waiting for parts to arrive, that would normally have been received within 2-3 days of their being ordered, but the world has slowed considerably in the past month.  We hope to have the needed parts to install the rebuilt Leece-Neville alternator, and to install the new tail lights by Friday, but who knows for sure.  

In the interim Glenn, Tom and I drove into Wickenburg to the local O'Reilly's to retrieve the four new 8d batteries ordered on Monday......

 ....here I am helping the store manager to carry the old batteries inside, and bring the new ones out to Glenn's 2008 Honda Element......

 The new 8d batteries

.....we were back by 10:30 am and quickly had the new batteries installed in their respective cubby holes.....

....you will recall we installed the new control board in the Dometic Classic absorption refrigerator a few days ago.  The temp in the freezer quickly got to about 9° F, but the fridge part only got down to 41° F.  We found out that there is a little blue control knob on the control board which can be adjusted.  The factory setting is at #3, so we moved it up closer to #5, and then let time takes its measure.....

......and after a couple of adjustments we got the fridge down to 38° F.  We are hoping it will get down to 35-36° F eventually.

While I was getting a bite to eat, and a nap Tom and Glenn aired up the '84 Newell to see if there were still any air leaks, and there was still one.  It turned out that the LOW air pressure sending unit above the rear air supply tank was leaking....

....so it had to be replaced.  Fortunately, Tom was able to find one at 'Fleet Pride' in Avondale, AZ which is about a 30 minute drive away.  We will get the new one Wednesday, and that should wrap up the search for air leaks, of which there have been many.

.....of course there is the ongoing mystery of the 'marker lights' not working, so Tom, Glenn and I began tackling that.  After a couple more hours of trouble shooting we found the wire from the fuse block to the on/off switch had a short, and that solved the problem of the blown fuses, but we still had no power at any of the marker lights.....  

.......the final solution will have to await another day as we need to button things up so we can be ready to leave as soon as the aforementioned parts are delivered.

And thus comes to an end day 11 of the 'Newell Renewal' project.  We are ready to escape the gravitational pull of Wittmann heat......it is starting to heat up considerably, and it is not cooling off at night.  I woke up this morning to 74° F....way to warm for first thing in the morning!  Oh, and by the way, we are all still asymptomatic to the Wuhan Virus.....life is good.

Thanks for stopping by!

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Newell Renewal - Day 11

7:10 am - Tuesday - April 28th - Wittmann, AZ - 67° F, 25% humidity, wind 6 mph out of the northeast.....clear, blue, hot, sunny skies again today with a forecast high of 99° F.  On this day in 2014 we were staying at the fairgrounds in Sioux Falls, SD.......

.....on this day I installed the new faucet in our bathroom.  It ended up being all day affair as I worked in very tight spaces to stop one leak after another.

After a day off Sunday, we were back at it Monday finishing up the solar install.  Now that we had the additional 2 gauge lugs Tom and I got busy installing crimping them on to the black cable.......

.....once that was done it was time to connect all the remaining wires to the appropriate lug nuts....

......we will pick up the new 8d batteries on Tuesday, then the 12 volt electrical system will be operational once again so we can test out the new solar system.

I spent some time Monday cleaning off the front of the 1984 Newell Classic......the insect residue from their drive through southern Arizona was still present.......

 Bugs be gone!

....meanwhile Tom was busy under the coach running new air lines from bag to bag.....

....it took a little longer than he expected, but he got it done, and now we can take the coach off the four 22 ton jack stands and air the system up once again with, hopefully, no air leaks!

Meanwhile Glenn and Laureen began to put things away inside the coach, as well as finishing the reattachment of the dashboard underlayment with screws.....no nails, or staples will be used this time!  They'll reinstall the padded top of the dashboard on Tuesday.

Depending on when the new tail/turn signal/brake lights arrive (sometime between Monday and Thursday), and the new flange gasket for the Leece-Neville alternator arrive (sometime between Monday and Friday) we could be rolling our wheels as early as Friday, but it is looking more like Sunday morning.  We are more than ready to escape the heat of southern Arizona.

For dinner TLE and Laureen put together a platter of cold cuts, which we consumed in the salon of our 1982 Newell Classic.....kind of a preview of things to come over the next few months.

On another note, my good friend, Claude Banker, called me the other day to let me know he was hitting the road again in his 1984 1/2 Bluebird Wanderlodge in early May and wants to hook up with us somewhere along our journey to the northwest.  Below is a picture I took of his rig at Morro Bay back in 2009.....

....it also is powered by a Detroit Diesel 6v92, and is 36' long just like our 1982 Newell.

Thanks for stopping by!

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Newell Renewal - Day 10 - Rest Day

6:39 am - Monday - April 27th - Wittmann, AZ - 69° F, 36% humidity, wind 5 mph out of the north......partly cloudy day today with a forecast high of 98° F.  On this day in 2016 we had arrived in Lone Pine, CA on our way to South Lake Tahoe for the summer.....

.....behind us the iconic Mt. Whitney standing at 14,505' in elevation.....the highest mountain in the Continental U.S.

As I alluded to in the last post we took off Sunday to rest our weary bods from 9 straight days of work on Glenn and Laureen's 1984 Newell.  I puttered around in the morning washing the Beetle, and then dumping our black tank for the first time in 10 days.....I love how easy it is to pull that dump valve handle upward.....every time I do I remember how hard it was the last couple of years, and makes me happy I spent a whole day fixing it.

Around 10:30 am TLE, Glenn, Laureen and I hopped in the Beetle to drive into Surprise.  We needed some time away from Wittmann, and the ever present Newell Renewal.  Initially we stopped off at Home Depot, but when we saw the line was several hundred yards long we decided to find the things for which we were looking elsewhere....namely Target.  Glenn and Laureen needed to replace the fire extinguisher they used to douse the smoldering circuit board when they first arrived in Wittmann, and found that at Target.  I bought a plastic storage container for the trailer, and we were on our way to our next stop.....O'Reilly's Auto Parts to pick up those missing copper lugs we need to finish the solar project.  I also picked up a gallon of antifreeze for our Kohler generator.

By this time it was approaching 100° F, and we were all ready for some cold drinks, so we headed directly for Starbucks (located next to the In-N-Out Burger place we have visited previously) to utilize their drive through line.....of course I got a Venti Mocha Frappuccino, whilst TLE got a Vanilla Bean Frappuccino, and for Glenn and Laureen two Iced Chai Tea Latte's.  We sipped on those deliciously cold beverages on our way to Trader Joe's, and while we stood in the pretty short line to get in the store.....they allow 20 people at a time inside the store.....Trader Joe's will never be more uncrowded.......

.....of course, we were all wearing our masks and giggling as we walked up and down the well stocked aisles.

We were home by 1:30 pm with big smiles on our faces.....we didn't buy a lot, but we enjoyed our time away, nevertheless.  I personally spent the rest of the afternoon estivating in my recliner watching 'The Martian', and then the end of 'Annie Hall'.....I'm pretty sure there was at least one long nap along the way.  TLE and Laureen played cards with Darlene, and I'm not sure what Glenn was doing, but we were all doing something other than working on the Newell.

Laureen made dinner for the four of us using the kitchen in Tom's mancave, and we ate that wonderful dinner in their Newell.......

.....I cannot tell you how good it is to see Glenn and Laureen smiling again, and how good it is to see the interior of their coach usable once again.......

......and that my friends was our very relaxing, restful Sunday.....thank you so much for stopping by!

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Newell Renewal - Day 9

7:07 am - Sunday - April 26th - Wittmann, AZ - 63° F, 34% humidity, wind 4 mph out of the north by northeast......high, wispy clouds today with a forecast high of 100° F.  On this day in 2018 we were visiting the St. Louis Arch......

.....it twas a beautiful day to see the city from on high.

Numerous notable things occurred Saturday.  First of all we closed up the generator, and reinstalled the chrome front bumper........

.......Tom installed all 8 of the new Firestone airbags, and we gathered the old ones together in preparation for their disposal......

 Two of the 8 new airbags installed

.....Laureen began to put the dashboard back together.......

......Tom, using his hydraulic 'crimper', installed several cable lugs at the various junctions in the red and black solar cable.  Below he is installing the 'ON/OFF' switch for the solar system.....

The 'ON/OFF' switch

......I sealed the hole resulting from the removal of the Winegard batwing TV antenna over a week ago.....

.....I finished the installation of the XM radio antenna........

......Glenn cut a hole in the floor under the couch so we could run the black and red cable into the house battery compartment.......

......Glenn installed the breaker switch and the 'shunt' in preparation for the connection of the black and red cable.......

.....I removed one of the 8d batteries to make room for the breaker and 'shunt' installation.....it was later determined through the application of a 'load test' that all four batteries (2 house, and 2 engine) need replacement so this battery will not be returned to its cradle, and 4 new batteries have been ordered....

.....I cut the cable, Tom crimped on the lugs, and I connected the red cable to each terminal on the breaker.....

.....Laureen installed the Victron charge controller and plugged in the cable to the appropriate lugs.....we came up 2 lugs short of finishing the solar installation, but those will be acquired on Sunday, and installed on Monday.......

.....and Tom began polishing the ALCOA wheels on the 1984 Newell......

....she's beginning to look 'purdy' again!  Finally, Laureen discovered a blown inline fuse on the CB radio, so the mystery of  it not working has been solved.  We finished our whirlwind day around 4:30 pm.  It was our 9th consecutive day of the 'Newell Renewal' project.  We are within a few days of wrapping up the many projects we began 9 days ago.....we have maybe 2-3 more days of work, but we will take a day of rest on Sunday....I think we've earned it!

I caught this cool picture of the crescent moon hanging out below Venus.......

.....thanks for stopping by!

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Newell Renewal - Day 8

7:31 am - Saturday - April 25th - Wittmann, AZ - 72° F, 24% humidity, wind 2 mph out of the north......clear, blue, hot, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 98° F.  On this day in 2018 we found ourselves in St. Louis, MO visiting TLE's brother, Creig, and his wife Kay......

....we stayed at the St. Louis Elks Lodge just a short distance from the Mississippi River....

About mid morning Friday Tom and I drove into Wickenburg to the local Napa Auto Parts store to pick up the 8 Firestone airbags Glenn had ordered for his 1984 Newell......

......this small town of 6,677 residents seems largely unscathed by the pandemic.....you don't see anyone wearing a mask, or gloves.  Life seems to be going forward...sure the restaurants and the one single screen movie theater are closed, but otherwise life goes on.....

.....we were back at Newell House within 90 minutes unloading the new airbags......two per corner, and then it was back to work crossing things off the long 'TO DO' list.  While we were gone the FedEx truck had delivered the new Dinosaur Board for Glenn and Laureen's Dometic Classic absorption refrigerator.  I took a picture of the old board (below).....

.....before I unplugged the 12 wires connected to it.  Then using that picture I reattached all the connectors.....

....and then went inside the Newell to turn on the fridge......it takes about 4 seconds for the LED lights to appear.....it seemed like 4 minutes, but come on they did.....we now have a functioning refrigerator once again.....

.....while in town we picked up the new coolant reservoir for the Kohler generator, and a new coolant hose.....it was my task to install them. I first had to drain out the coolant from the system before removing the hose.  I then installed the new reservoir, and poured in the coolant I removed a few days ago.....

 The new reservoir....

 ....the old reservoir

....next up was the new hose which was a perfect fit......

......when Glenn and Laureen left Austin, TX they had mentioned in one of their phone calls that the cruise control was not working.  Upon their arrival we discovered that the air line connected to the air operated Bendix cruise control line was kinked, and no air was getting to the Bendix....I removed the old, kinked, red hose and installed a new one free of kinks.....

.....and with that task my work day was complete.  I took a break and began to cross a few items off the 'TO DO' list I created on my Samsung Galaxy Note 5 when Glenn and Laureen arrived last week....

....there were 14 items on that list when we began, and now we are down to 7.  We have the air bags, and the alternator.  We are awaiting the arrival of the new tail, turn, brake lights, and the flange gasket for the alternator.  The solar will be mostly finished Saturday along with the installation of the airbags. In fact, as I write this morning (Saturday) Tom is busy doing just that.  Glenn, Laureen and I will also tackle the final elements of the solar installation after I finish with today's missive.  So, things are coming into focus, and most of the major issues have been resolved.  We are hoping to wrap things up by the end of the coming week, and then begin our trek northward to cooler climes.

Thanks for stopping by!

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which over the course of a year adds up to enough to by a tank of diesel for which we thank you very much!