Southwind by Fleetwood – sporting its new paint job
I wasn’t sure about the maintenance history of my Onan, so I decided to look at everything, Oil and filter change, new air filter, new plugs, and check the brushes and slip ring. This is a model 5.5BGMFA26105H I ran the generator for 20 minutes to warm it up, then Continue reading Onan Marquis 5500 Generator Service
UPDATE – October 2023. I bought two new Toyos and installed them on the front. I rotated the old front tires to the dullies, replacing the two oldest tires. The two Toyo’s were right at $1,000, mounted and balanced. UPDATE – October 19, 2020. I just bought two more tires, Continue reading Baby’s got new shoes.
I haven’t counted, but I think there are 14 exterior baggage compartment hatch covers. All of these use a gas spring to hold the cover open, and also help hold it closed. At 17 years old, most of these gas springs have lost some of there springiness. The larger doors Continue reading Exterior hatch cover gas springs
This Southwind has been a wonderful learning experience. Our previous 2 motorhomes were very simple, entry level vehicles, with no fancy or automated features at all. If I wanted to disconnect the battery, I’d go out with a wrench and remove the cable from the battery post. 
Learning acronyms: Continue reading Chassis battery disconnect doesn’t work Coach disconnect OK
In the last article, I removed the jack, disassembled it, and evaluated it for repair. The main problem was that the top shaft guide broke and separated from the top of the shaft, failed and broke apart. READ HERE. Power Gear doesn’t support this jack and have deemed it obsolete. Continue reading Power Gear 500384 hydraulic jack re-assembly
When we bought the Southwind, there was damage to the left rear were the previous owner had made a sharp turn and the rear end swung around and hit a pole. Fortunately, the damage was limited to the trim, but the trim also acts as the hinge for the compartment Continue reading Repair rear exterior damage
Weather was great, so got a lot accomplished on the Southwind. REAR TRIM Replaced the rear trim above the water compartment door. This was damaged by previous owner. I bought 3 ft of used trim and cut it, fixed the door, and in stalled the trim pieces. Looks good. FRONT Continue reading Great weekend for working on Southwind
During our pre-purchase inspection of our New-to-Us Southwind, I noted the two front jacks were different, 500384HR on the passenger side, and a 500384 on the drivers side. I also noted that the drivers side foot pad stuck down a little farther than the passenger side. At the time, I Continue reading Power Gear 500384 hydraulic jack teardown
After inspecting the shocks, the rear ones were original, but there was some question about the age of the front ones. They are a Bilstien yellow and they may have come on the F53 chassis when it was new.. I decided to replace both front and rear with new KBY Continue reading F53 – Replace Shock Absorbers
I removed the front wheels with the intention of installing new brake pads. But when I looked at the old pads, they were like brand new, very little wear and they were not old and brittle.. They had obviously recently been changed. The slides were clean and had fresh lube Continue reading F53 – Brake pad inspection