Friday, October 3, 2014

Adventures With The Guppy


Last week we left home with The Guppy. We had The Old Lady's car in tow behind it. I expected the gas mileage to suck, but wasn't quite ready for how bad it did suck. I had expected close to 10 mpg and what we got was under 7 mpg. 

700+ miles later we were at The Kid's place in Missouri. About the only problem we had was the tires are flat-spotted and made noise. It was noisier when the tires were cold. For the first 50-60 miles it was fairly loud and then it was only noticeable every once in a while. While we were at The Kid's place I changed the right front tire as that was where most of the noise was coming from. On the way to the campground where we are at for the month, it was better. The spare couldn't have been flat-spotted as it had never been used, it still had pieces of rubber sticking out in the tread area from the mold. It's also possible the spare tire is the oldest one on the vehicle and may in fact be one of the original tires for the motorhome.

Another problem we had was the console on the engine cover came lose. When we started we were able to put our travel mugs in the cup holders, but when it came lose, we were kinda shoving it back in place to keep it from falling on the floor. It was held in place with a couple of screws like drywall screws and they had pulled thru the engine cover. There were multiple holes from where the screws had been. Yesterday we went to a hardware store and I got some stovebolt type screws, washers, and locking nuts. I used fender washers to make sure they wouldn't pull thru the engine cover as it basically made from thick pressed paper.

Here we are set up in the campground. In the couple of days that we have been here we have figured out some of the things we forgot to bring or didn't realize we needed. Some of the things we will buy here and some will be put on a list so we can include them in The Guppy before we head out again next year on another adventure. (One of the things is a couple of new tires for the front.)

We are being amused by the trout fisherpeople and their get-ups. This park supposedly has some of the best trout fishing in the state. It should be good because there is a fish hatchery here and they stock the river with fish everyday. Maybe next week I'll check it out, but this weekend will be a madhouse because there is a fishing derby going on.

7 comments:

  1. Hoping for 10 MPG, hahahahaha..

    If you got close to seven be happy.

    It is unusual for tires to keep flat spots in them after just a couple of miles, mine only bounce for a mile or less.

    First time I noticed it is on a van chassis, I hate working on them.

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  2. These tires are over 10 years old. The previous owner only put about a 1000 miles on it in 6 years, so it has sat for a long time. I think the tires have taken a permanent set.

    My brother had a set of tires on his car flat spot after only several weeks (a month or two) in a long term parking lot at the airport.

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  3. Your brothers car had bias ply tires on it?? If radial tires did that I would be very concerned about them and replace them.

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  4. bring your guppy here next Labor Day..our 4oth anniversary..we have rv parks right by the grounds..

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  5. My brother's car had radials and he had them replaced. The tire dealer he bought them from replaced them on a pro-rated basis. About half the tread was worn off, so he got new tires for half price under the warranty.

    I think if they are steel-belted they can take a set. Sometimes you get steel-belted squirm when the steel-belt shifts from side to side. That is usually noticeable at slower speeds, but it will shake the car considerably.

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  6. Hum, I've never had radial tires do that. Two of my trailers have bias ply tires and sit a lot and will thump for maybe a mile.

    When they 'cook' in the mold a radial tire it is on its side and sometimes the plys will slip, if one side slips it will wobble, if the whole thing slips it will pull one direction all the time.

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  7. I worked in a tire shop for five years as an alignment man so we were always dealing with tire problems that most folks haven't even heard about.

    One day a car came in for four new tires and an alignment, during the test drive I discovered that it pulled to the left, I rechecked the suspension and alignment four times and keep arguing with the tire men that one of the new tires was the problem.

    After replacing all four one at a time it still pulled to the left, we argued some more, they finely put a whole new set on it, problem solved.

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