New owner advice

[Dalley24]

I just bought a 2006 Flagstaff 524SS popup with side slide. I was surprised to see no info in the manual for routine maintenance. What needs done and how often for example, do I need to pack wheel bearings, lube lift gearbox, lube the corner jacks, etc?

[donn]

Glad you have joined the camping fraternity.
You are not alone, RV owners manuals are very generic and generally worth less.
As for packing the wheel bearings? Unless they have a "neverlube" type axle it is generally recommended to repack the wheel bearings once a year. As for the rest of the stuff? Personally i would use a "dry" type lube on the rest of the components a couple of times a year. But not being a tent trailer owner I am sure will chime in with their thoughts soon. Does the trailer have brakes on it? If yes, then you also need to adjust the brakes a couple of times a year, depending on how much traveling you do. Summer camper, then do them in the spring when you do the wheel bearings and you should be good to go.
Don't forget in the fall after the last camping trip to winterize the water system. And in the spring to dewinterize and sanitize the system. The rest will come with experience and common sense.

[Dalley24]

Thank you. Yes I do have brakes so I need to find instructions on adjusting them.
Now I have another question on dewinterizing but I'll post that separate.

[Idle_Idylist]

and when winterizing dont forget the outside shower if you have one. seems pretty common it gets forgotten in this process.

[donn]

Originally Posted by Dalley24

Thank you. Yes I do have brakes so I need to find instructions on adjusting them.
Now I have another question on dewinterizing but I'll post that separate.

Brake adjustment is a cinch. Go to the auto parts store and ask them for a brake spoon. With this tool and a good hydraulic jack you are ready to adjust the brakes. jack up one wheel at a time and crawl under the trailer. At the bottom of the brakes backing plate you will see a rectangular rubber plug. Pry it out. Look inside the hole and you will see a small star wheel. Now with the brake spoon reach in and turn the star wheel. Start with the tool up and push down. That should tighten the adjuster. Keep doing that until it gets tight and you cannot spin the tire. Now, the tricky part. Going in the opposite direction start backing off the star wheel. Start with 8 clicks. If the tire is still really hard to spin go two more clicks. You should feel some drag of the brakes as you spin the wheel. Lower the jack and go to the other side and repeat the process.

As for dewinterizing, pour in about a cup of bleach into the tank, fill with water, turn on the water pump and run water through every faucet until you get a really strong bleach smell. Turn everything off and go watch TV for a couple of hours. Drain the water tank, refill it with fresh water and again flush water through all the lines. Drain the tank and repeat step two. Drain the tank one last time until you are ready to go camping.

[Dalley24]

Thanks again for the help. My problem with dewinterizing is I am not getting any water into the tank. I connected the hose and ran through the faucet but the tank didn't fill at all. Can't see any valve that would prevent the tank from filling.

[dimurrrw]

Where is the tank located and what does it look like? Do you have a 12 volt water pump or do you have a handle on the faucet that you push/pull to pump water through the faucet?

[ittle dew]

I don't know your specific camper, but ours has two water fills, one for the tank and one for city water. You may also have a city water connection and a separate fresh tank fill. On ours, city water runs on pressurized water and does not use the pump, fresh tank is not pressurized and uses the water pump to move the water.

Two separate systems that share an ending point. I hope this helps,

Happy camping

[Dalley24]

Thanks. I have a tank under the sink area that is a large cube (maybe 20 gallons?). It has a small valve in the corner for draining. Yes, I do have a 12 volt pump and can run from it or city water pressure. Didn't think of having two separate fill points. I'll look for another one. Is it also a standard hose end fitting?

[ittle dew]

Mine has a hose fitting for city and a larger fill for fresh. My water hose can actually slide into the filler with a little room to spare.

[Dalley24]

That was it. Thanks. There was a large inlet on the other side of the camper that filled the tank. Bleach water is soaking in there now.
Thanks to everyone for their help. So glad I found out about this forum.

[ittle dew]

You're welcome,

Glad we could help, just remember to flush the bleach really good, it's not good for breakfast.

Happy camping