Wondering about wild grapes

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Wondering if the RV is ready now.


I replaced the burned out clearance light last evening.  It was a much bigger job than I thought it would be.  But everything is easier thinking about doing than actually doing, don't you agree?  OK, can you tell which light was replaced?
 

Yep, you are right; of the three center clearance lights, it is the one toward the passenger side or the one to the left on the picture.  It is the one that is not faded and appears a bright amber color.

There wasn't a lot of slack to the wires.  I assume that when it was manufactured, the wires were pulled tight from the rear before the overhead cabinets and ceiling were installed.  The shortness of the wires caused some difficulty.  You know I am not as good a fixer of things as is Billy Bob and he is over a couple of hundred miles south of me at this time.  So, I had to do it myself.  But I am like that. . . "Mother!!  I would rather do it myself!!".  And before you ask, no, they didn't have an "h" to replace the missing letter on the front of my coach.


I considered just climbing up the back ladder and then I could lay on the roof and lean over a bit to replace the light, but it was a hot day and I don't work to well upside down.  Sure glad I didn't.  I would have been worn out.  I always forget a few things I need to do a job.  I was up and down that ladder a bunch of times.


Since the original lights were hard-wired in, I had to cut the wire to the old one.  I cut it as close to the old light fixture as I could and pulled as much slack as I could to get it out of the hole so that I could splice the new one in.  I used a crimping splice along with a crimping tool.  And before you ask, before I put the light back in place and caulked it, I did test it to make sure it worked when the running lights were turned on.  I even checked the wires with a VOM meter before I spliced the new one in just in case the old bulb was good and the circuit was bad.  Sure glad it was just the bulb.  BTW, I bought all of those bulbs that they had in the store; four of them.  I figured they may be needed and I may be somewhere where there is no place to buy them.  You know how it works, if you are prepared and have the parts, you will not need them.  Even if I do, it works out either way (grin).  Now, you all have a great day, you hear?

17 comments:

  1. I'm proud of ya Dizzy. Not for make'n the repair, but for not fall'n off the ladder.
    I see a road test of the new light in the near future.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    2. Don't know what is wrong with me this morning, my brain ain't working too well. My appointment is for September 16th. Sorry about that.

      Delete
    3. Appointment is not a road test. It takes MILES for a real road test.

      Delete
    4. I still have to make the appointment to have an officer ride along and grade me on my performance. The main trouble is that I have to go where he tells me and one place is an abandened weigh station where they set up cones and make you parellel park there so if you go over the line you will not hurt anything.

      Delete
  2. A fresh Marks a Lot could fix up your missing H.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Barney, I was going to do that but if I can get a raised letter to match the rest, that is what I will do.

      Delete
  3. Strange hood ornament you got there, oh, that's you, DD. For a moment I thought that was Chief Pontiac from a 1955 Pontiac Fire Chief 2-door sedan.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No, I am not even chief cook and bottle washer. I guess I am chief goof-off. I can always find trouble to get into.

      Delete
  4. butterbean carpenterAugust 20, 2013 at 12:34 PM

    Howdy DD,
    For a feller that's always worked for hisself, you sure ain't takin' care of that feller, standin' on the TOP of a wobblin' step-ladder !!! A TALLER step-ladder would have been a lot SAFER, but you got'er-dun !!! BB would have done the 'lay-down on the top' scenario !!! Why do you need the H anyway, you've got a NEW brand, this way !!! Where were you going that you have to wait until November to get a place??? Come up here and I'll put you in he West pasture, with the minis and you can do a whole lot of wonderin'...

    Hope you don't fall off of the first step on the patio, but have HAPPY DAY, anyway !!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. OK, sorry about the date. My appointment to take my driving test for a class-B license is scheduled for September 16th. I never knew I was driving my RV illegally. I will even have to parallel park it. Never did that before.

      Delete
    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
  5. Well, you got me to thinking... (bad, bad, bad). You live in Texas, right? You have a Texas driver's license, right? What kind of license do you need to drive your rig? As I've written, we became Texas residents last year... we have a 27' motorhome and tow our Scion. Bill has a Class A CDL Texas drivers license. I just have a run-of-the-mill everyday drivers license. While I don't usually (if ever) drive the rig, can I drive it legally? Okay, let's not even discuss whether or not I CAN drive it... of course I CAN... but I sure as heck don't want to cut my corners too close. Anyway... why do you need a special license? I must have read too fast over that blog ;-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My RV weighs over 26,000 pounds and when I pull my Jeep the total weight is over 10,000 pounds. Any of these weights puts me in a class where I need a class-B or a commecial cdl llike my son has to drive it. I doubt whether your rig is over thise maximums.

      Delete
    2. Oops, another typo. The total weight is over 30,000 pounds. Sorry about that.

      Delete