2012 Vista 30T

[Still Bill]

Originally Posted by ghutch

Pertaining to the siphoning action of the overflow line of the water tank, WBGO installed a ~6 ft pex loop between the tank and the original overflow line. It ended my loss of water while driving.
Had it done at the factory, on a trip to Wy. Not sure if later production units have this, but they are aware of the problem.

Ah ha! This is what I needed. An approved WBGO fix for the issue.

Thanks Gary.


Good that I finally found this string for the 30T. Was wondering where everyone has gone to...LOL

Bill

[TeJay]

Gary,
I don't remember you mentioning the fix that you had done in FC (factory) for your water overflow. Oh well!! I'm going to do as dezrtracr did to get the tank to overflow. Just fill from the gravity fill on the passenger side until the water comes out of the overflow. Then you'll know that you will have the problem and that WBGO didn't address the issue on your unit. He said that once the flow (siphoning action) starts it will continue until you get below 1/3 to a 1/4.

TeJay

[TeJay]

tomrx1,
Interesting about the new tires. I have experienced a better ride when going to a good quality tire on passenger cars. I think I'll wear these out first unless Uncle Sam stops asking me for more taxes but that's not likely.
I hope to have an F-150 sold in the next few days. When that happens I'm going to order some things.

Shock Warehouse has a decent price on Koni's They are $160 each but they have free shipping and there is a thing on their sight about 25% of Koni's. I'm going to call them this morning to get the up to date skinny on the sale. I'll start with the fronts and go from there.

Also going to order the 5 Star Tune. I've read nothing but great things about it.

I really enjoy sharing MODS for the 30T coach. It's a good coach with a real good floor plan. We couldn't be happier. Well the DW would be if it had wings and could fly. It doesn't have wings and I'm not about to add that MOD but since I do all the driving I'm going to have a coach that drives/handles as well as I can afford to get it to.
Our return trip from FL a few weeks ago was not to bad but the wind was awful. Even she was tense and does understand how difficult it can be driving with wind gusts when traveling on construction cluttered narrow expressways.

TeJay

[ghutch]

TeJay,
We were covering a lot of topics, sorry just didn't think of it. How the XM install coming?

[TeJay]

For those considering adding an XM radio to their coach. We already had one in the car and I wanted to use it in the coach but not have to pay for another monthly prescription. So I got a portable unit. I wanted the base unit to be mounted to the dash. Sticking it on the dash won't stay with the suction cup. So I did. All the wires were hidden except I needed power.

The power cord is big and fat looking. I later found out that's because there's a circuit board inside which lowers the voltage to 5-V and probably does some other stuff as well. I looked at the plug in power cord and saw that it had a center + connection and the outer looked like a ground so I decided that it must have two wires in it. WRONG. When I cut it there was only one. I even called my brother who knows electronics better than I and he was stumped. So I finally figured out how to hook it up by connecting the center to positive and the coax shield to ground. It worked but when the engine is running it made a horrible high pitched noise that I couldn't hear but the DW sure did. As long as we were parked it was fine. Start the engine and noise. I know where the noise is coming from (ignition) but in doing the wiring I cut that little tootsie roll looking thing (noise suppressor) off. When I tried to re-connect it later it still didn't work. I had to buy a new power plug (Amazon for $9). I've hooked it up from behind to dash to the original cigar connection but have not tried it yet.

To hook up the power to the plug I soldered a positive wire to the center and a ground wire to the outer part.

TeJay

[Still Bill]

Hi Tejay,

Ah yes, the portable XM Sirius radio is on my radar too. Thanks for saving me from thinking about messing with the power cord.

Not understanding what "So I did" means.

Bill

[TeJay]

Still Bill,
I think the "So I did." comment was part of a sentence that I failed to erase when editing the post. First, NO second mistake for the hour!!!

If you are considering adding the mount and XM to your rig consider this. Not only did I keep the tootsie roll filter to avoid any ignition noise I also choose to connect to the same wires that are used to feed the cigar lighter plug on the front center of the dash. I had already used that plug and the DW didn't complain of any noise so I assumed that it was a clean voltage.

Sometimes the engineers pick a voltage source that is either filtered or not contaminated by any possible ignition stray noises. That's why I used that for my voltage source.

Let me also suggest this. Get a female connector. Then wire it in to the same power wires for the lighter plug on the dash. Now plug the XM power cord into it. That would be a cleaner hook up than what I did. Soldering to that plug is not easy and things get hot and melt.

I did run the radio and engine today and didn't hear any noise. Oh yea, I couldn't hear the noise anyway. Actually I did have my hearing aids in and still couldn't hear any ignition noise. Ain't life grand???

TeJay

[Still Bill]

You be both smart and funny too...LOL

Bill

[Peter27C]

Hi Guys, sold my 27C Sunova last year a bought a new 30T. Have 6500 miles on it now and love it. Currently traveling from Seattle to Forest City for slide repairs, then to Atlanta Ga. Did the CHF and like it. Am thinking of putting 1" thick alloy spacers behind the sway bar mounts on the front to reduce the angle of the sway bar links, also I think I can redrill the upper mount holes further back also reducing the link angles. Any comments?
Put Home Depot slide out baskets in the cupboards, huge improvement for $20 per cupboard!
Extended the overflow pipe upward under the basin, that fixed that problem.
Built a spare wheel mount under the rear of the chassis, but have not located a spare wheel for a reasonable price yet!
Looking at self installing MCD blinds in front, any tips?
Pete

[TeJay]

Pete,
Good idea on the spare tire idea. Here's also another thought on the tire. Usually but no always if you just carried the spare tire without the rim most any shop can install your tire on your old rim. That's a little lighter and easier to wrangle around that the entire unit. I've go my 6 tires off right now. When rolling one of them over to clean it I thought, "I don't think I can lift this tire off the ground. I know I can't lift the tire off the ground."

We had the MCS shades installed locally. I wanted to do it but thought about it and didn't want to try. However the guy who did the install made some mistakes which I had to correct. Once i did that I decided that I should have done the install.
When you buy the shades they will provide you with install instructions. Peggy is the main gal there and she is very helpful.
Once you get your shades and instructions I can give you some ideas on how to do a good install. Oh!! When you order the shades ask Peggy to sell you a piece of black 90 degree plexiglass used to slide and support the shades down the front corners. That's $40 extra.
Here are the problem(s): There's only one straight reference point in the Vista and that's the line formed by the bottom of the cabinets over the front window. You have to use that line and measure forward towards the curved windshield (WS). Now you have to locate the blind attaching clips as far forward as possible to get as vertical as possible while not hitting the WS with any part of the blind.

The installer didn't do that so eventually since they didn't hang vertical eventually they began wrinkling at the corners.

Next problem is locating the clips. I used some painters tape to mark on so I wouldn't mar up the leatherette material. Take out some screws holding the ceiling covers in place and try and locate the clips so the screws will go into some real wood. That's fun.

When we ordered the coach we did not have sun shades installed. They never stay up and i new I was going to use the MCD shades and i didn't want the extra holes to deal with. That's probably to late for you.

Think about what I told you so far and get back with me when you get your shades.
Oh yea, you'll have to follow the instructions first and get some accurate measurements for your unit.
Changing the upper link mounts to adjust the angles is a different approach. My angle is decent on the fronts since I extended the links and the bar is level. the rears don't need extended and the angle is good as well.

PM me and send me your home e-mail address. I'll send you pics of my install on the shade and help you any way I can.

TeJay

[jazzerjump]

Pete
We have a spare with our 2012 30 T located inn the bedroom slide storage bin that i want to move underneath the coach. Would it be possible to send pictures of what you did and any tips. Would appreciate it.
Sorry i havent updated our signature since we took posession of our "new" coach but was waiting until we took a trial run

[Peter27C]

Sure, I will take some pictures today. PM me your regular email and I will email them to you.
Pete

[TeJay]

Pete,
Just sent you an e-mail. Remarkable I did remember that you have a Vista 30T.

TeJay

[Peter27C]

Hi again Jazzerjump, I have taken a bunch of photos of my spare tire hoist and rack. If you pm me your email I will send them

Pete

[jazzerjump]

Pete I did sent a PM, I hope. Haven't used that until now so hope I did it right. Let me know if you received-thanks

[Peter27C]

I guess I am going to learn how to post pics here!

Pete

[Starfire5]

Hi all, we recently traded in our Outlook on a 2013 Sunstar30T. We love the foorplan and are fulltiming in it for about 6 months due to our house selling way faster than we thought it would. We bought it with only 5000 miles on it. We haven't taken it anywhere yet, only drove it from the dealership to the campground. I've read this entire thread, but as a female I have no idea what any of this means. I've read enough to know that this coach probably won't handle as well on the highway as the Outlook did (it had ALL the bells and whistles), so tell me what we need to add before we take this up to Atlanta the first time. Thanks in advance for any and all help.

[Peter27C]

Hi Janet, I think you have made a great purchase in buying a 30T. We bought ours brand new last August and now have 6700 miles on it.
If you don't know already, when you ask a question on the Internet, eventually you will get the answer you are looking for!
I have owned a number of gas RV's over the years and I have found the this 30T handles better than any other I have owned, so I believe you are at a good starting point.
However I have read plenty of posts that condem the 30T as "unsafe to drive".
If you or your partner/husband are reasonably hand with tools you are most of the way along the path of ending up with a easy to handle RV. If you have lots of cash to pour into your RV, then do all of the mods suggested. If you have better things to spend your money on, but will do what's necessary on your RV read on!
When I did the cheap handling fix last week, I found a missing bolt from the RH rear sway bar saddle. So my first suggestion it to check the sway bar mounts and linkages, and check tighten all of the bolts. I would then check and record what tire pressures are in all of the tires. If the fronts are even and around 80 - 85 and the backs even around 85 to 100 I would take it on the freeway with about the load you will run with, and feel how it reacts to big trucks overtaking you. Does every truck that goes past you push you around so you feel out of control, or do they just rock you a bit. On a flat section of road, ie minimum camber, if you lighten up on how you hold the steering wheel , does the RV run straight or try to run off to the left or right. Mine was pretty stable straight from the factory.
Have a look at the tread on your front tires. Don't rush out and get a wheel alignment. (I have 40 years in the motor trade, including several years working a wheel alignment machine and a lot of money is spent on wheel alignments that are not done correctly!) Accurately measure and record the tread depth across all of the tires. (Some one may have fitted a couple of rears onto the front to mask an alignment problem.) if the RV steers straight on a minimally cambered road and the tires are wearing evenly after several thousand miles you don't need an alignment. If the ride seems reasonable, and the tire pressures are in the ranges suggested, then the reason for recording them is that after experimenting, you can come back to these pressures if you have no improvement or the ride seems to get worse.
Let's hear how you get on, but there are still free things that can be done. I like to do things step by step so I understand what changes did what.
Pete

[dezrtracr]

Peter27C, I was looking at the pictures of your tire carrier mount - ingenious! You should market it!

[Peter27C]

Thank you, but no thank you! If anyone is serious about making one, I would climb underneath and get the measurements again and talk them through making it.

Pete