Wahoonc's 2016 Concord Mod Thread

[wahoonc]

Originally Posted by Lexi2007

Did you sand or somehow treat the area before applying the stick on stuff?

I think all I did was wipe it down with denatured alcohol. What ever it said to do for prep on the stick on tile package.

Aaron

[BlackJeep22]

Originally Posted by gdcoyle

Black Jeep / JJ Others

This may be a duplicate but I saw this chat and thought I would copy my prior questions. I did see JJ you added that Safe T Steer so that questions seems answered and it appears the Concords do have airbags from factory...please confirm.

My other Questions:
Blackjeep22 and/or JJ. Others

I have a 2004 Class A 36' ford V10. Looking to downsize and the 2017 Concord 30DS is where I'm leaning. I also have a 2014 Rubicon Unlimited X Jeep and I don't tow it now but with kids grown I may start towing it vs. trailer with ATV's and Motorcycles.

Questions as you both seem to have and tow jeeps.

How well does this set up tow and have you towed in high Altitude. I live in Colorado at 7500 ft and go up from there camping!

Hitch- Ford unit shows 7500 towing and just want to confirm what the hitch says for tongue weight (500#?) 7500# carrying. does 7500 require weight distributing hitch?

Blackjeep I believe you added a steering stabilizer...why were there issues? I read that alignments on these type of RV's sometimes solve wondering issues. JJ any issues on light front end on yours when towing or solo?

On RV. We dry camp and would like to see roof Solar (I believe they now have a outside plug for ground solar...do you have and how does it work). Anyone add roof solar vs. plug in?

Inverter does not seem to be a option...has anyone try to get coachmen to install? Any dealer installed inverter experience on this unit? I want to run TV's, Sat, and maybe a coffee maker and after market scares me a little with wiring etc...

RV ground clearance. We dry camp in the mountains and alot of gravel roads and dispersed sights that can be a little rough. Class A has alot of ground clearance and I'm concerned Concord maybe low particularly with rear overhang and a trailer out back. Any experience? Does the unit have rear Airbags for towing and leveling?

Storage-downsizing concerns about losing all the large pass through storage but....alot of that stuff I probably can do without. What is your experience on storage. I saw a Winnebago 30J that had huge storage in the rear side with also the large rearend trunk that seemed like the hole back end was storage.

BIG Question: I'm looking at alot of units, Super C, A's etc... Some of the newer super C (Dynamax Isata 5 in particular) tout large 10000 # towing but the OCCC on these is very low 1200# or so. On your units (Ford in particular) what does your yellow stick for out the door OCCC rating give you for carrying items in the RV. I'm hoping its around 2000# maybe a little less but....

Thank you for any input.

Gary

Gary,

The Concords DO come with factory airbags, but only in the rear. I run mine at around 70 psi

I cannot answer your question about towing the Jeep. We're heading out for the first time in 3 weeks. We'll be towing from Portland, OR to Tuscon, AZ and back. I'll be able to answer when I return. John (JJ) has towed his and said it's a piece of cake.

I think you are correct about the Concord hitch being rated at 7500. My Jeep weighs somewhere are 5000 and my tow bar (Ready Brute Elite) is rated at 8000. I did have to buy a 2" step down hitch adapter.

I noticed some wandering just driving down the freeway. John turned me on to the Safe-T-Plus. Makes a huge difference. No more wandering and much tighter.

Wahoonc, (Aaron) has a portable solar panel... you can ask him about that. I don't dry camp.

The Concord doesn't come with an Inverter. I haven't seen a use for one yet. Again... ask Aaron.

The Concord is LOW, but you can easily slide around underneath. It has a LONG rear overhang and I did drag that sewer contraption when attempting to park at my house. I removed the sewer contraption the next day.

Storage is TIGHT. I looked at a Dynamax Isata the other day, and it had GREAT storage with doors that swing OUT instead of UP. Great heavy duty (Dodge) chassis, Cummins diesel, bigger wheels and tires. I looked inside the Dynamax and can honestly say... I prefer the Concord.

I have mine in storage (across town) right now... so can't answer your yellow sticker question.

[wahoonc]

Hi Gary!

JJ and BlackJeep are the go to guys for towing. I use a 100 watt portable solar, the eventual game plan is 300 watts on the roof, with the solar for backup on shady sites. If all else fails run the generator.

Another member on here has done an inverter install. He put his behind the fireplace. That is where I plan to put mine. I am looking at the possibility of putting in a 2,000 watt inverter/charger unit with automatic generator start. However it may end up being just an inverter.

Can't help on the high altitude either... I live 118' above sea level.

The rear overhand will drag, the departure angle leaves a bit to be desired.

Storage is at a premium. My yellow sticker says I have a total CCC of 2051 which includes occupants.

Yes the hitch is rated to tow 7500#, I do not see a restriction that it has to be a WDH as long as the tongue weight is below 500#. FWIW we plan to tow a 3600# sedan or 4500# pickup.

Aaron

[wahoonc]

Went to the Raleigh, NC RV show last weekend. We looked real hard at a Georgetown XL, but we agreed we aren't really ready for a Class A... yet.

We also looked at a $640K Entegra Cornerstone along with everything else.

My one take away from the whole show was "I like the LED's under the counter edges." I have a roll of LED stuff that I got off Amazon for ~$10, stuck some under the counter edge and powered it up. Works for me! So off to Amazon and ordered a roll in the Warm White LED's along with a controller and remote. It is peel and stick. No pictures yet...

We also saw a set of Boogie Lights and will probably add them along the way.

Another take away... from my bride... all of these RV's have A LOT of steps! Yes dear, remember WHY we bought the Concord?

Aaron

[BlackJeep22]

Originally Posted by wahoonc

Went to the Raleigh, NC RV show last weekend. We looked real hard at a Georgetown XL, but we agreed we aren't really ready for a Class A... yet.

We also looked at a $640K Entegra Cornerstone along with everything else.

My one take away from the whole show was "I like the LED's under the counter edges." I have a roll of LED stuff that I got off Amazon for ~$10, stuck some under the counter edge and powered it up. Works for me! So off to Amazon and ordered a roll in the Warm White LED's along with a controller and remote. It is peel and stick. No pictures yet...

We also saw a set of Boogie Lights and will probably add them along the way.

Another take away... from my bride... all of these RV's have A LOT of steps! Yes dear, remember WHY we bought the Concord?

Aaron

Aaron,
How exactly do you "power these up"?

[wahoonc]

Originally Posted by BlackJeep22

Aaron,
How exactly do you "power these up"?

Tap into the 12 volt system. For temporary 'power up' and testing purposes I have a 12 volt power supply that I can plug into 120v. I also have a set of light weight 'jumper' cables made out of 16 ga wire with alligator clips on them, you can go straight to the coach batteries for testing things out.

Aaron

[SSLance]

Gary,

I have towed quite a bit with my 300DS, I have flat towed a 4200# Jeep to NM and AZ in the last 6 months with no issues and also pull a 6100# car trailer with my race car on it quite a bit. 700# of tongue weight with the car trailer gets me very close to max weight on the rear tires of the RV but am still well within overall gross vehicle weight. This is what drew me too the 300DS is it's a bit lighter from the factory and has a larger carrying capacity than most other Class Cs or Class As that we were looking at. I have a weight distribution hitch I'm putting on the car trailer next to help with this issue.

Power wise, it does really well IMHO. On the hills coming up out of Phoenix to Payson AZ there were times I'd get slowed down to about 45 mph but once you find the right spot between speed and trans gears it'll hold speed and even start gaining speed again. I have found that if you hit just about any hill at close to 80 mph it'll maintain that speed up and over the hill in overdrive. The wife acceptance factor on that maneuver is suspect though. Wind is way more of a factor than weight I have found, a good head wind will drag the coach down and kill your mileage while a nice tail wind will let it just fly down the road with ease. I get anywhere from 6.5 MPH to 8.5 MPG when pulling mainly wind dependent.

I'm also the guy that just installed a 2000 watt inverter and a host of other electrical upgrades in my RV including a 200 watt suitcase solar setup. If you dry camp at all these upgrades are a must and I can say I'm loving them so far.

One thing we found when looking at the Super Cs is most of them we saw all have household style 110v fridges which was a deal killer for me since I dry camp quite a bit also. If you have any other questions just ask away, happy to help out if I can.

[wahoonc]

We went to the Raleigh RV show a couple of weeks ago. One thing we really liked about the $650,000 MSRP motor home we looked at was the LED lights under the counter edge. So after a bit of pondering and perusing Amazon I bought a roll of LED's in warm white and a remote control, I saved $649,980

Here are the lights and remote.

The lights are have 3M tape on the back side so they just stick right to the cabinet face up under the counter edge. I drilled a 7/16" hole in a dark corner to feed the wires through. I spliced into the outside radio feed wires. The remote will allow the lights to be dimmed down pretty low. I did cut the connectors off and used butt splices instead. One bonus that I hadn't realized is that the lights help see inside the drawers when you open them up.

Here are a few pictures:

Aaron

[wahoonc]

Couple more pictures of the LED under cabinet install. The bright one is at 100% the dimmer one is at minimum setting ~20%. Loving this idea.

Aaron

[gdcoyle]

SSLance,

Thanks for the great post and info.

GREAT NEWS, sold my 2004 Damon Intruder Class A 36' motorhome yesterday. We bought it new so we had 13 years in the same RV. 900 hours on the generator (lots of TV Time I guess) but the new owner pulled away and 5 miles later the odometer turned 30,000 miles. Living in Colorado we don't have far to go for great camping. Ford V10 with Banks Power and pulled atv trailer it never let me down.

Ok memory lane over.

We are in shopping mode and weighing out the larger Class A (like the Challenger 37YT ? but the $40k difference between that and the Concord makes me wonder and they have the Residential Fridge only. Concord and nice Pontoon sounds better

We don't have a Concord Dealer for some reason in Colorado so hard to go look/drive one. I do travel for biz so I'm hoping I can get to a city that has a dealer.

Biggest concern I have at this point it how low the Concord is to the ground. I emailed Quigley 4X4 conversions yesterday and they can't do a conversion on the 300DS due to wheel base too long but they do on shorter and it lifts 3.5" if anyone was wondering. They are familiar with the Concord and Coachmen products.

On your Inverter 2000 what all do you run with the inverter?....TV's etc.. how did you wire it to sockets, separate wires or does that just tap into the fuse panel or converter? Electric not my specialty LOL.

Gary

[SSLance]

Originally Posted by gdcoyle

We don't have a Concord Dealer for some reason in Colorado so hard to go look/drive one. I do travel for biz so I'm hoping I can get to a city that has a dealer.

Biggest concern I have at this point it how low the Concord is to the ground. I emailed Quigley 4X4 conversions yesterday and they can't do a conversion on the 300DS due to wheel base too long but they do on shorter and it lifts 3.5" if anyone was wondering. They are familiar with the Concord and Coachmen products.

On your Inverter 2000 what all do you run with the inverter?....TV's etc.. how did you wire it to sockets, separate wires or does that just tap into the fuse panel or converter? Electric not my specialty LOL.

Gary

Gary, if you are ever down near Dallas...I suggest taking an afternoon to go to Texas RV Dealer, Used RVs for sale, motorhome sales, new RVs to do some shopping. They have a huge selection of Class B+s and Cs onsite and their prices are not too shabby either.

I detailed everything about my inverter install here. http://www.forestriverforums.com/for...-120461-2.html Electrical isn't really my strong suit either but if you take your time and just remember to double and triple check everything it really isn't that hard to do. If any questions just ask away.

Good Luck on your search...

[gdcoyle]

Yes, I have been watching their website. I actually emailed them this morning as they show several "on order" 3000DS units and a few show in stock so want to get a feel from them for how many they actually have or when new ones on order will arrive.

I don't get to Dallas as much as I used to but going to San Antonio later this week. If I hear back that they have several on hand that my wife and I can walk through for colors, options and take for a spin we can fly down and have a look.

We will also be in Florida this coming weekend and Illinois (Chicago Area) late next week, contemplating seeing about plant tour if they are in the Elkhart/Goshen indiana area. Can't recall if they are there will the many others building there.

Thanks for the info you all provide.

Gary

[jonwisconsin]

I think they build them in Middlebury, IN close to Elkhart, IN about 30 minutes.

[Lexi2007]

Does either of you have the 300TS?

In our 4 years of RVing, we had an overnight guest for the first time last weekend.

Our banquette table collapsed just fine, but I could not figure out how to keep it from popping back up unless someone sat on it.

Is there some sort of latch somewhere else that I didn't find?

I was sober that night, just super tired from feeding and cleaning up for 30 people

[wahoonc]

Originally Posted by Lexi2007

Does either of you have the 300TS?

In our 4 years of RVing, we had an overnight guest for the first time last weekend.

Our banquette table collapsed just fine, but I could not figure out how to keep it from popping back up unless someone sat on it.

Is there some sort of latch somewhere else that I didn't find?

I was sober that night, just super tired from feeding and cleaning up for 30 people

No most of us have the DS which uses a different table configuration. I have no clue how yours works.

Aaron

[wahoonc]

Finally got a couple of days off this past week.

We had a large carport cover installed a few weeks ago, so now I can work on the Concord regardless of the weather.

Replaced the frosted door window with a tinted clear door window with the slide up shade. LOVE IT!

Replaced the bad front marker light and worked on the leaking stove vent issue. Come to find out it wasn't installed properly at the factory and has probably been leaking since day one, also the hole was cut 1/2" too far forward. And to add insult to injury the vent has never worked properly. Come to find out the motor was wired backwards, REALLY? Rocket Science this ain't. Swapped the leads on the motor and now it works very well, just have to decide how I am going to deal with the outer vent not lining up. I think there is enough room to slide it over, or I can do like the factory and just butcher the back of it.

Couple of pictures.

Aaron

[BlackJeep22]

Glad to see you're still at it Aaron. I don't see many posts from you Concord folks. We're still rockin' the 2011 Tiffin Phaeton. Take care.

[AbdRahim]

Originally Posted by jjSpeedwagon

Well I added extra ac over bedroom. Removed fantastic fan and put in dometic 13,500 btu low pro penguin II. Then ordered a roll of the double bubble reflective insulation and cut it to fit inside of windshield and both side door Windows. And WA-LA. A lot cooler. That all I've done and it works great. When my wife and I were in fredrickburge for the 4th. We sat in wide open sun and it was 105 -107. And the original 15,000 btu ac would only cool inside to about 83-84 and my wife had odd look on her face. So when we got home. I got to ordering another ac and something to put in windshield to cut the heat. Our little thin privacy cover that covers Windows didn't do much to hold back heat

How are you powering the second A/C -convert to 50 amp?

[wahoonc]

Originally Posted by AbdRahim

How are you powering the second A/C -convert to 50 amp?

He ran a separate line that he can plug into the 20 amp outlet on the power pole.

Aaron

[jonwisconsin]

I don´t think these things are built for temps over 100. MHO