36CKTS waste plumbing

[DKRITTER]

Does anyone by chance have a picture(s) of the plumbing setup from the tanks out?

Once the weather warms up a little I'm going to redo the 3 valves and I'm curious how big of a can of worms I'm opening.

I'd really hate it if a sawzall is the tool of choice.

[cavie]

Originally Posted by DKRITTER

Does anyone by chance have a picture(s) of the plumbing setup from the tanks out?

Once the weather warms up a little I'm going to redo the 3 valves and I'm curious how big of a can of worms I'm opening.

I'd really hate it if a sawzall is the tool of choice.

A sawsall is the only tool of choice. Why are you wanting to change the plumbing??

[donniedu]

Valve changing is really pretty simple. Drop the plastic underbelly. A power driver works just fine. Once the valves are exposed all you should need are a couple of 7/16 wrenches and maybe a ratchet strap. Possibly a screw driver. The valve blades are put together with 4 screws and nuts. Take them out, pull the pipe apart slip the old blade out along with the gaskets. Liberally grease all the new parts with plumbers grease and reinstal. Be sure to tighten the screws evenly and not over tight. Being all plastic you could pinch the blade if you tighten too much. On the sewer valve you might need to use a ratchet strap to gently pull stuff apart enough to droop the blade out. There is likely a slip joint near the black tank that if you loosten the clamps will allow the pipe to slip a quarter inch or so.

[DKRITTER]

Originally Posted by cavie

A sawsall is the only tool of choice. Why are you wanting to change the plumbing??

HaHa "wanting" is a very loose term


All 3 valves have been horrible since we bought the trailer new, at Christmas one of the valves finally failed. So faced with this I am going to fix this correctly rather than throw it together like FR did.

I have 3 choices, New solid wire Valterra cable kit, complete replacement to Valterra valve kit or go to electric valves.

I'm tired of almost every time we get back from someplace having to repair something because this trailer was poorly constructed.

[cavie]

Originally Posted by DKRITTER

HaHa "wanting" is a very loose term


All 3 valves have been horrible since we bought the trailer new, at Christmas one of the valves finally failed. So faced with this I am going to fix this correctly rather than throw it together like FR did.

I have 3 choices, New solid wire Valterra cable kit, complete replacement to Valterra valve kit or go to electric valves.

I'm tired of almost every time we get back from someplace having to repair something because this trailer was poorly constructed.

Never used a cable kit but do understand how they work. I would stay away from them. the slightest friction on the valve end is amplified on your end. If you can't do manual go with electric. Manual would be my choice. KISS.

[DKRITTER]

I guess I have a simple mind, but why would someone use braided cable for a push/pull valve? I would seem to me the braid would want to expand when pushed and contract when pulled.


My wife just said "cause they are $.04 cheaper"! Silly me

[mlatter]

I am in the same boat. All three valves have been hard to operate since new so I will also have to go into the belly to see what can be done. I like the idea of electric, but they are pricey, and if one fails, you're back in the belly again.
I read once that the stock cables work just fine if they are routed properly, which apparently doesn't happen at the factory.

[jessa82]

May I ask what happened when your valve failed? I am a fairly new RV owner and still learning. My black tank valve (on my 3-month-old Cedar Creek Silverback) is very hard to open and gets worse each time.

[mlatter]

Typically, the cable or connection will snap when trying to open the tank to dump, leaving you with a full tank and no way to dump it. You will have to take the trailer bottom panels off and open the valve manually... somehow.

[DKRITTER]

In my case moving the cables in or out have always been hard enough so I don't think my wife could open or close any of them. Despite having a dealer work on this it hadn't really change. I just had to lean into it pretty good to open or close them.

On our Christmas trip I opened the grey water valve for the bath to drain it, when finished I shoved it back in and the plastic sleeve that is inside metal sleeve at the wet bay came out and the braided cable had nothing to work against. Thankfully it was stuck open, since all the valves leaked a little from day one I have always had on a twist on valve at the end of the sever line. So it was an easy work around.

We went to home depot and bought some heat tape and insulation and wrapped the black sewer pipe from where it came out from under the trailer to the end and really had no issues.

I just know when I get this thing apart I'm going to look up there and say why in the heck did they do it that way.

Maybe this weekend.

[spock123]

I was told by someone that used to work for Cedar Creek that the workers tend to cut the cables a little long. Orvan fixed my black water cable at the factory, nothing wrong with the valve just the cable to long. My grey valves are getting hard to open and close, I’ll get Orvan to fix them when I take camper in

[FordHauler]

The reason the valve cable is so hard to work is the length. The factory buys in bulk so all are the same LONG length. You can shorten your cable and solve the problem. When you take it apart at the valve end measure the cable length sticking out of the protective sheath, decide the shortest length that will work for your RV and adapt it. While it is in your hand liberally apply a moly lubricant and put it back together. If you want the measurements before you disassemble call Orvan Fry at Amish Family RV Service. The factory uses Orvan to do all sorts of Cedar Creek repairs at the Rally and all year long. He has a number of folks in his employ that worked with him at Cedar Creek for years. If he works on your RV it will be done right and better than new. His phone is 260-593-0951. If your cable is the braided type start your repair by ordering the type with stainless steel. Your repair will be permenant.
Travel safe

[mlatter]

Originally Posted by DKRITTER

I just know when I get this thing apart I'm going to look up there and say why in the heck did they do it that way.

Maybe this weekend.

I have been searching around and I could never find this repair documented. It would be great if you could take some pics and let us know the new parts you use, etc.

Thanks

[ttanous]

Solved mine by replacing with electric. Works so nice. No more pushing and pulling hoping it will work. Now ready to do the grey tank valves next and I will be done with cables.

[spock123]

Originally Posted by ttanous

Solved mine by replacing with electric. Works so nice. No more pushing and pulling hoping it will work. Now ready to do the grey tank valves next and I will be done with cables.

Where do you buy the electric ones at? I might be interested

[FordHauler]

eTrailer has Valtera electric valves.
Travel safe

[ttanous]

Amazon has them also.

[DKRITTER]

What a rat’s nest!! Still it just boggles my mind how they throw these trailers together.

It warmed up for a little while yesterday so I crawled under the trailer and took a couple of the plastic panels down. To say I was disappointed would be a gross understatement. The electrical wiring, hydraulic lines and everything else were just thrown into the bottom of the trailer. It looked like spaghetti.

The 3 valves are not that hard to get to, they are about halfway between the dump and the wet bay. I unscrewed the black tank cable from the valve and the valve itself is like butter, very smooth, no issues. However, my wife couldn’t pull the valve open from the wet bay.

The cables were several feet to long, they snaked from the valve across the trailer almost to the other side, then they made a 180+ degree U turn, then they turn a hard 90, and go towards the wet bay where they turn another hard 90. No wonder they don’t work.

Cold front started coming in so we baled.

Simple answer is to shorten and re route the cables, (not sure they can be shortened) since the problem isn’t in the valve itself. Hard answer is to replace all 3 valves with either better solid wire cable valves or go electric. Either way taking the valves off is doable but a PIA.

Does anyone know if I can buy new cable(s) (one is broken) for the LaSalle Bristol valve? I’ve done a google and only come up with Valterra and I don’t think (not sure) if they will work.

[Rich5117]

I replaced two of my braided/twisted cables with Valterra solid cables after our black braided/twisted cable broke and the other one took two men and a boy to pull open. When I got the original cables off I found that the valves themselves were very free moving. Have said this before, can open and close both the repaired ones with two fingers.

I am going to replace the third one when we get home in spring.

Not sure which valves you have, but Valterra has two size pull cables. The Lasalle Bristol use the small size cables they fit right into the valves.

[Forbes]

We had the problem with all three also, at Goshen this year they replaced the cables only, nothing wrong with gates, the old cables where solid and rusted up. Easy change in cables and you do not have the mess. Remove the clamp screws and unhook cable, reattach new cable and replace clamps.