Musings from my first few trips

[JayBauman]

This is my first post in this forum.

After 6 years of camping with Airstream travel trailers, we recently jumped to a Freightliner-based Dynamax. In a few short trips over the last month, I've noted some poor quality issues, one or two "interesting" design choices, and a few mind-boggling artifacts. We love the coach, so I'm not complaining here; I'm merely noting a few things to get some feedback on. Perhaps my take is incorrect on a few of these things, but here's my unvarnished reflections.

The small cabinet behind and above the driver seat contains the control panels for the 3 slides. It is quite nice that they added a strip of LED lights. However, they put the strip on the front-side, so opening the cabinet when the slide is closed results in 1.21GW of retina-destroying light hitting my eyeballs. If anybody at Dynamax comes across this post, they might want to consider putting the LED strip along the rear side of the cabinet--you'll still get the light but you won't blind the operator.

I have tried to use the XM radio, but I keep getting and error message that says the antenna is not connected. I'm not interested in tearing apart the dash to find the missing connection, but I can't help but wonder how that ever got through QC.

Speaking of the radio head unit...I really like the RV-specific GPS--when it's working. At times, there is some malfunction where the unit thinks I'm hundreds of yards (or a few miles) away from where I really am. The directions go crazy trying to get me back to the instructed path, even though I'm already there. Sometimes this problem lasts for a few minutes, sometimes it lasts for hundreds of miles. Eventually it corrects itself and it shows my correct location. Has anybody else seen anything like this? What could be throwing off the GPS signal?

The worst thing I've found is the fuel gauge. This thing is as reliable as one of the Magic 8 balls we had when we were kids--and it's just as consistent. When I bought the coach, I was somewhat disappointed that they only gave me 1/4 tank of fuel. I filled up the tanks as soon as I departed the dealership, but I could only fit 36 gallons of fuel between the 2 tanks. On our first camping trip, the I let the tank go down to less than 1/4 tank. I filled both sides to the absolute top where I could see the top of the fuel level. The pump read 42 gallons total. This past weekend, same thing. 1/4 tank remaining, and it will only take 41 gallons until the fuel is at the top of the tank. Oh year, I forgot to mention, when both tanks are absolutely filled to the brim, the full gauge reads somewhere around 3/4 full. Can this be fixed? is this a Duramax problem or a Freightliner problem? If the generator stops pulling fuel at 1/4 tank, does that mean that it will stop running even though I probably have 60 gallons of fuel left?

Here's one for the inconvenient but fixable category. When I had the RV welding shop set up the flat-tow arrangement for my Bronco, they found that the 7-way trailer plug was missing any signal for running lights. Everything else worked. They were able to pull a wire from somewhere to fix the missing signal, but this defies logic. It appears that the wire for running lights was never added to the 7-way plug.

We're loving the bed and the theater seats. These things are as comfortable as one would hope. The air-ride driver and passenger seats are next-level bougie. After years of absorption fridges, we're digging the size and features of the residential unit. My wife and I can now pack enough food so we don't have to restock to keep our 2 teenagers from dying of hunger on the trip. We have tried to outlast the Aquahot water heater, but it wins every time. Nary a cold shower in the joint. With every other RV we bought, we would find lots of nuts and bolts and light fixtures and other mystery parts on the floor after each leg of the journey for the first 6 months. In the DX3, nothing has rattled loose in the first 2500 miles.

Anyone else experienced any of these things? Let me know what I'm getting wrong here. Thanks, everyone, for your support.

 

[Odyknuck]

I'm sure you paid plenty for it so I would not expect loose and falling nuts and bolts!

 

[halla]

So XM Radio is most likely the connection to the Sirius XM box, mine is behind the passenger side dash, pretty easy to remove, there is a chance it just vibrated loose.

The Radio GPS is most likely the GPS antenna, small block hooked to a wire, it is supposed to be mounted ontop of the dash, center right against the windshield, sometimes they dont get put in the right place, or they were not stuck down with the tape and fall under the dash causing the issues. (There are a few posts on this forum about this already).

There are hundreds of posts about the fuel gauge, do some searching and you will find them. We have had three Dynamax units, none of the fuel gauges are accurate, a known Freightliner problem. I always make sure I fill the passenger side first and that seems to help. I also bought a diesel scan gauge, I use (miles to empty) and when it is 180-200 miles to go, I fill up, the empty light has been on for hours at that point.

Glad you are happy with everything else. Enjoy and welcome to the family.

Aaron

 

[bclemens]

I think I already mentioned the LED light to production.

What is interesting, is I felt the wet bay light was in my face, so on ALL compartments we started mounting an LED strip, above the cargo door shining in. We also started dropping the front cabinets styles 1/2", to do the same. It might just be 2025 model year. Not sure when we completed the change.

GPS: my phone does the same thing. I am not sure why it is so far off, but with the overhand of the RV, I was wondering. Or maybe the metal framed shell??? It was weird on my rally trip, could never figure out why.

Glad to hear it on the nuts and bolts.

 

[Tucson Steve]

Regarding your diesel generator question: That has nothing to do with the fuel gauge, so it is not affected by inaccurate gauge readings. The gen draws from the driver's side fuel tank, and the pickup is mounted at a height where it will stop drawing fuel at a certain point, supposedly when there is about 1/4 tank left, but I'm not sure how accurate that is. Same thing for the aqua hot, but on the passenger side tank.

 

[roonabeck]

For sure, the generator and aqua hot both continue to work fine when the freightliner gauge reads below 1/4. They still work when my refill takes 70 gallons of fuel. Not sure how few gallons have to be left in the tanks when one or the other might actually stop working.

To get my gauge to read all the way full, I have to top off the tanks until fuel is sitting in the filler neck.

 

[bclemens]

It is neither a Dynamax issue or really a Freightliner issue. They just have a HUGE reserve tank, so you do not get stranded running out of fuel I assume.

I think some of it might be that the tanks are 100 gallons, but where the fill is (not at the very top), it has a built in air gap at the top for expansion, that is likely more than the 10% required.

Then, the way the fuel pick up is....it's just a float mounted at the top of the tank. By giving us fuel take offs, it raises that pick up about 1/2".

For me...when the light comes on, I am ready to stretch my legs anyway.

 

[JayBauman]

For me...when the light comes on, I am ready to stretch my legs anyway.

That's always the plan for us. Everyone else is able to stand up and stretch for a moment when we're on the road. Not so easy for me, since I'm the only driver. (On an related note...anyone have a good plan for convincing my wife to learn to drive this beast?)

I'm more concerned when we go to places like western Wyoming where truck stops that accept my Open Roads account are few and far in between. Heck, people are few and far in between in that part of the country! I'd like to know how much fuel I really have in the tanks in that situation.

I think a ScanGauge, or something of that ilk, might be the simplest mitigation.

 

[MVD]

That's always the plan for us. Everyone else is able to stand up and stretch for a moment when we're on the road. Not so easy for me, since I'm the only driver. (On an related note...anyone have a good plan for convincing my wife to learn to drive this beast?)

I'm more concerned when we go to places like western Wyoming where truck stops that accept my Open Roads account are few and far in between. Heck, people are few and far in between in that part of the country! I'd like to know how much fuel I really have in the tanks in that situation.

I think a ScanGauge, or something of that ilk, might be the simplest mitigation.

I had a retinal tear outside of Austin, Texas in April when we were in our way back home to Carlsbad, CA. My wife had only driven our previous Sprinter based coach about 200 miles in the 8 years and 70,000 miles we owned it. She learned quickly, out of necessity, and drove 1,600 miles home (mostly I-10). We have logged about 4,000 miles in the past 33 days on our current 15,000 mile adventure. She hasn’t driven yet on this trip (and probably won’t), but she is now confident she can if necessary.

 

[malmz]

I have been researching the scangauge d and am considering it for DTE. It appears when you fill up you set the full total gallons and somebody said to enter 90 gallons for the 10% factor. From there it pulls consumption from the computer and determines remaining fuel.

Correct me if that is not accurate.

Based on that, if you are running the genny at all while parked or driving down the road for coach AC, that would completely throw off the remaining gallons and DTE. Any personal experience here?

Who installs the take off spacer at the sender, freightliner or the chassis unfiltered? When that is done is the sender adjusted at all? 1/2" can be a big difference on a swinging sender arm. I wonder if anybody has tried a linear sending unit, we used to build those into diesel cleaning machine tanks years ago.

 

[malmz]

I am going to add to my own thoughts. When I search for M2 106 sending units, both rod and linear sending units come up. I am assuming we have rod based on responses. When does Freightliner use each style? I may see a reference to linear on rectangular tanks, but not entirely sure. I will look more when I am behind a computer.

 

[Air Cooled Nut]

(On an related note...anyone have a good plan for convincing my wife to learn to drive this beast?)

Have a mild heart attack. That's what happened to my dad (he later recovered just fine) so my step-mom suddenly had to drive the TT to his doctor.

When my wife has balked about getting behind the wheel I remind her of dad and argument over

 

[gremlin]

My wife has driven all of our RV's more than I have, and when we were buying two of them from out of state she went and did the test drives while I stayed working. When we had our Monaco Windsor 36 which measured closer to 38 and towed a 20' box trailer she had no issues driving that. I would say remind your partner that it doesn't take muscle to drive them all it takes is knowing where the corners of the vehicle are. Both of us have found the Dynamax way easier and more comfortable to drive then any of our previous 3 class As. I would say the other big tip is look way ahead down the road, that will calm down excessive steering inputs and make the rig go side to side a whole lot less.

If you can find a section of road with less stuff on it that's a great place to start, just pull of at an exit and switch drivers on the side. Hell we even had my then 17 year old daughter drive our previous class A on such a stretch on our way from Seattle to Bend, Or and while my wife was turning a little white with fear she did just fine.

Ditto all those that say, emphasise that it's a matter of safety, both if something happens to the primary driver, and honestly just in switching off throughout a longer day. My wife and I usually do two hour-ish shifts when we do longer days, enabling each person to relax a bit.

 

[RobbieH]

@gremlin - Interesting. My wife would drive our Super C, she will drive our truck and travel trailer, but she wouldn't have anything to do with driving our Monaco Safari Gazelle 40PBT. Super C's are easier to drive for sure, you aren't driving the windshield like in a Class A, and the steer tires are in the normal position instead of under/behind you.

 

[malmz]

Back to fuel senders. There was no input to my last couple of questions above, so I would assume there is no direct experience on the scanguage DTE being accurate if the genny is used either when camping or on the road. Also on the fuel sender type.

When I have some time I will look at the sender as they seem to have both rod and float and linear senders used on the M2 based on the tanks used. I seem to see references to rod and float on round tanks, we have square.

I looked at the top of the sender this morning.. I don't see a spacer with hoses for genny fuel and return ther e that would be lifting the sender, so I may have misunderstood where that is. Not beinging where expected, I dont see how that would change gauge accuracy. Picture included of 2024 32KD on non-plus chassis.

Any thoughts? I will trace the genny fuel hose(s) later
I just want to understand everything better.

 

[gremlin]

My understanding is that the scangauge is getting fuel flow from the engine computer so is only going to measure fuel burned by the engine not the generator. I believe my searching showed the generator burns around 1 gal/hr at full load, so if you just assume that you'll be good, but there's no good way to measure it, I've never seen a rig that would do that.

Theoretically I guess you could make your own version of the ScanGauge that got fuel flow from the engine, then put a flow meter on the generator inlet fuel line and have it measure that flow as well, then it could do this, you'd need to come up with a microcontroller which could read whatever format the canbus on the Freightliner chassis is.