RV repair questions, answered

Find DOT on the sidewall and follow the string along. The last four digits are the week and year it was built: 3421 is the 34th week of 2021. The full code is on one side only, so look at the inboard face with a flashlight if you can’t find it.

The tire makers and the NTSB commonly put it at five to six years, regardless of tread. A trailer tire spends most of its life parked in the sun carrying a static load and fails from the inside out, where you can’t see it.

The correct pressure depends on the load on each axle, looked up in the maker’s inflation table. The sidewall figure is for the tire’s maximum load, which almost nothing carries. Set from weight, a rig tows straighter and runs cooler.

Roughly every year or 12,000 miles, and sooner after water. There’s no gauge and no warning; a dry trailer bearing announces itself by seizing, and by then the spindle is often ruined too.

Not really. Pumping grease in tells you nothing about the races, and done carelessly it pushes grease past the inner seal onto the brake shoes. We pull the hub, clean it, inspect, pack by hand and fit a new seal.

No. The odorant warns you about a large leak, not reliably a slow one, and people go nose-blind in an enclosed rig. The test is a timed leak-down on a gauge, plus the regulator’s outlet pressure in inches of water column.

Most RV fridges have no compressor and work by gravity, so they need to be close to level. Run badly out of level for long enough and the cooling unit can be ruined. If it’s uncomfortable to sleep on, it’s too much for the fridge.

Shore power is the mains supply from the pedestal. The converter turns it into 12 volt and charges the batteries. The inverter turns battery power back into mains for a few chosen outlets. Three systems, three failure modes, all ending at a socket.

Paper and residue bridge the probes and they read high for good. A proper flush sometimes clears them and often doesn’t. Count days instead of trusting the panel.

Because the failure isn’t visible until it’s expensive. A dried bulb seal stops springing back at the top corners where water runs. Cleaning and treating them takes half an hour and buys years.

Almost always fuel. Ethanol fuel draws moisture and leaves varnish that blocks the smallest jets. We start at the fuel system, not the engine, and the fix for next season is to run it monthly or store it with the fuel treated.

The bearings and the brake magnets. Grease has a service life whether the trailer moves or not, and a magnet worn past spec drags current without stopping much.

We’d rather not guess. A number given blind becomes the number you expect. We can tell you what the diagnosis or inspection costs, or send photos in the chat and we’ll write a range, confirmed when we see it.

Three or four weeks if you can. If you’re inside a week, call anyway, but expect us to be honest about what can be finished properly.

Yes, for inspections, gas tests, batteries, seals and small repairs. Not for anything that needs the rig lifted or weighed, and not for roof work in wind or midday heat. We say which side of that line your job is on before we roll.