Trying to juggle a few issues out here in the desert heat. Let me know what you think of the propane guy not completely tightening the tank valve. I feel like it could’ve been a major issue if the valve got bumped in transport. Do you think I’m paranoid or do I have a point? Check out the blue driver device I’m talking about in the beginning of this video here: amzn.to/3U4fzYy I think it’s really awesome so many people want a Dodger update. I will get to it within the next couple of videos. I just need to process some things myself first…
I live by a rule of “ if I didn’t do it I will check it!” So you should always check behind people that do things on you or your property. So checking the valve was your responsibility. Yes he should have tightened it and yes you should have checked it.
Theres a safety valve so it won't leak even if open. However if you leave the valve open while you screw the valve to your rig you will get some leakage till it's tight
Your trucks intake manifold might need to be replaced, miss in the engine was cracked on ours,#1 cylinder, sounds Crazy but that was the problem, diddle works in LAPAZ valley got it done
Change your bad plug and head up to ashfork or Williams Az nice cool weather great for the dogs. It’s already 100 here in Havasu at my house am getting ready to head up north with my dogs to cool weather.
Heat tolerant tape is necessary because it gets so hot! Good call. I tried using tape to attach pieces of the cottage cheese lid to the reflectix and it worked very well until the tape melted.
i'd go up to the flagstaff area to get out of the heat... there's blm there and flag is a fun town with lots of services and oak creek has a lot of great hiking and trails
Hey have you ever watched Steve Willis’s channel? Stealth camping in the craziest places… his latest is camping in a storm drain. I died laughing… if we think camping in our vans, rv’s tents are hard , watch him😂
i always had a bicycle with me when i was "vehicle based" (aka homeless)... that way i always had a way to at least bike somewhere and/or carry stuff... nowadays, they got those real cheap 49cc motosychos (they got a couple on amazon for less than $300) which you can haul around pretty easy
Bleed the air out of the system by lighting your stove. Then the fridge should fire right up. You walked out of the camper and the fridge still isn’t on.
I’m always saving the lids and using them for random stuff. I throw away the containers which you would think would be more valuable haha let the dogs lick them clean of course…
Hello dude, I enjoy your videos. you are awesome for taking care of your dogs like you do. I'm a dog guy as well. You are a nomad and thats a cool life path. The desert is too hot in the summer so follow the path of nomads over the years and look for cooler spots. They are not too far from where you are now. I am an Idaho boy and have been in the AZ desert for almost 40 years. I can't take the heat anymore and am moving back to Idaho. Good luck my friend!! keep posting and God Bless you for what you do!!
Wow thanks Tom. We camped in Idaho on the way down before winter. Headed north soon to the mountains for cooler weather for the dogs. I’m still learning the path of nomads over the years…
My husband and I were on the road full time until he passed last June. We had tons of sticky situations during our nomad days, including téminal illness and death. There is always a solution,might not be the one you want but things tend to work out. I would not trade those 5 years of traveling, and boondocking for anything. I am currently stationary and it is driving me crazy.
@GotOut we have dogs as well and they keep me going. We were stuck in Yuma AZ in June during covid. It was 118 in the day and went down to 100 in the evenings. Even though we had air conditioning in the RV park our dogs were getting legaric because of the heat. The ground was so hot when we took them out to do their business. You are right to be concerned but you will find a way.
Just watched your recent video. You might, if you can get to it, check the condition of the connection to that one spark plug. May just be a corrosion issue and if so, a little clean up could put it back online. We love watching you and the dogs.
I once drove out of a tire place and got a shimmey when I was on the street. I pulled over and found the lug nuts all loose on one of the tires! I was pissed and tightened them myself, drove back and gave the manager a piece of my mind. It doesn't hurt to check, like that propane bottle.
Omg tire shops I always double check their work. Usually something is wrong. Lots of time loose hubcaps. Loose lug nuts is so bad! They do not double check! I e had great luck with their patch jobs though.
Daily stressors over propane and water etc. is there sure but it's part of the life.....free.....yes .. of rent mortgage and that sort of stuff has you chained to it ... your not chained to it on this life style...water propane and waste management is a small portion of it.... but I can see a new horizon anytime I want.... desert... mountains.. beaches...so tuff...lol
If you can take a plug from a cylinder that is good and switch plugs with the bad one that is showing misfire and see if the problem moved to the good cylinder that will tell you if it’s the spark plug that is bad Usually the coil or plug wire is the problem
Been broke down in the national Forrest for almost two weeks. Never seen another living thing in those two week so I know how it feels. Glad to see Doger is doing well. May the good Lord watch over you and your family and friends. Peace and Love 😊.
I understand your concern with changing your spark plug and breaking it off but if that did happen you could still drive the truck/tow the trailer just ground out that plug wire, it 'll be alittle down on power . Just for short term will be ok
having ice water to soap a towel for the back of the neck is really, really nice in super hot Arizona weather. I used it cause I don't have car air conditioning and the day I arrived it was brutal.
When our tow vehicle has broken down we we have rented a local U haul truck with a hitch and used that to get the trailer to a campground if we have not wanted to use our Good Sam roadside assistance. That has worked really well for us. A few times that has happened luckily my son was visiting us on our trips and he had his car so we could get around. When you travel a lot and camp a lt stuff happens. We were on a trip once to my boyfriends son's wedding and we broke down in Georgia and had to get to Charleston SC. The van broke down at 5pm and we had 5 dogs with us and it was an end of the month weekend so we could not get a u-haul truck. We ended up getting towed their. The tow truck driver decided to use his diesel truck instead of the tow truck and it cost us $800.00 but we had to get to his sons wedding. We had no other choice but we made it their to the campground with the 5 dogs and our camper. Then we rented a car. We had to rent a u-haul truck to get the trailer back to Georgia to pick up our van but it didn't coast nearly as much. We've been all over the country for 9 years so stuff happens. We just go with the flow and laugh about it all later on.
It takes up to 24 hours to fully cool when it has been off. You have two tanks. Should never run out of propane. The tanks automatically change over when one goes empty. You don’t have to manually “flip” the black lever. It will still show red if the tank is empty that the delivery is pointed towards, even though it will run off of the opposite tank. Always leave both tank valves in the open position so it can switch tanks when one goes empty.
@@GotOut yes sir, when one tank is empty, it’ll automatically draw off the other tank, but it will still indicate red so you know the other tank is empty. When you noticed a red indicator, just flipped the lever to the full tank and unhook the empty and refill before the full tank goes empty.
With the forecast for Sunday AND TODAY BEING 97 Degrees, it was time to go. I packed up the truck and trailer and headed notrh to Coconino south of Flagstaff. 71 today. dropping down to 50's and 60's over the next week. Cool temps at night perfect for campfires. Plenty of free wood all over. Early enough in the season that its not crowded yet. Couldn't ask for anything more.
@@GotOut hopefully your vehicle issues will be solved soon and you can hit the road again. Word of advice if you're heading this way. I-40 is a pothole ridden nightmare and I-17 has construction going on just north of Phoenix. Sat in stop and go about 45 minutes and it was hot. 🥵
Ooh thanks for the tip on not leaving the scanner in. Love Scotty Kilmer! I will research that! Just diagnosing the plug coils first. I do t want to pull any plugs hopefully
I catch your drift, but it's not necessary to overtighten the shut-off valves. Buuuut I kno you'll always do it. I traded one out once at Walmart that I couldn't open. I even pecked at it with a rubber mallet. So, like I said, it's not necessary Superman. Lol😆
That’s good! As long as it’s all safe. I hate having an issue with my truck knowing I have to pull my camper. As long as it works for the short term that’s awesome! Great job!
A 1/4 turn on the valve on your propane tank is all you need. It doesn’t have to open all the way. Plugs are easy to remove when the engine is a little warm.
Ford, I believe the 4.6, 5.4, & 6.8 liter engine's are prone to fouling and physically blowing out the plug on the right rear of the block. That plug location is from you sitting in the drivers seat. If you are looking at the engine from an open hood at the front of the vehicle, the plug is the one on your left closest to the firewall. I believe that's the number 4 plug. They are also noted to seize in the head and strip out the plug threads. If it was me, I'd buy a plug and see if I could remove and replace that plug to see if it cured the problem. Perhaps buy a single inexpensive plug wire for that location and if the plug doesn't cure it, try the wire. If you're going to try this, also get some anti-seize compound and apply it to the new plug threads to keep it from seizing in the threads in the future. If the plug threads are strip out, the shop you plan on taking it to can get a kit that can replace the threads without removing the head from the block.
@@GotOut Not without seeing it for myself. I hate to ask such a dumb sounding question, but are you sure you have the right size socket for the plug? With this new information on the rust and water, If it still runs leave it alone until you can get it in the shop. Two weeks wouldn't be an unreasonable wait as long as you can tolerate the heat and don't need to go anywhere. You can call the repair shop and ask to be added to a will call if they have a cancellation before your appointment.
To keep my car cool (and the fridge and freezer inside) I do the same but for passenger and driver windows I put a white towel on the outside jammed in the door.
As someone who is going to be giving the RV lifestyle a go in the future, it's good to get some insight into the pros and cons, and potential problems. I was slightly confused with all this talk about the heat until you mentioned you were from Seattle, and then I said 'aha!' We live in SC, and please let me advise you to stay out of SC from late May through September. It's very humid most of the time, and summer days with heat indexes over 100 are quite common. 80 degrees in the desert where it's dry and a breeze blowing sounds like a picnic (to me). Have you thought about putting some solar and batteries in? Wishing you some good luck.
Ha yes I am used to cooler weather. I do enjoy the heat myself it’s just the dogs and I don’t like driving in hot weather. I have solar on the trailer roof.
I just left Quartzsite. That breeze is straight hot air blowing from the south. Like blowing a hair dryer in your face. A/C is not the greatest in that dry desert heat. Swamp cooler works best.
FYI, If you try to change the plug yourself and break it, the truck will still run on 7 cylinders like it probably is now. could be a coil you can test that. If you dont break the plug you will save that money. good luck!
Good advice. Testing coil was actually what I was doing in this video. I swapped coils to see if the code jumped. I just didn’t want to explain the details too much of vehicle repair as I figured most people not interested.
@@GotOut I have confidence that you can fix this yourself! You'll never know until you try. Most things are not as hard as we think they are but are very rewarding when we fix them ourselves. Do you generate enough solar to run the fridge?
Nope, you're not overreacting. Glad propane arrived ;-) Also, glad to hear you can fall back on plug-in to keep you and pups cool and wait just that week for good help. Hope all is cooler now ;-)
Going to RV PARK and have an electricity for the air-conditioning is good however keep in mind your air conditioner will only cool it 25° maximum from the ambient air temperature. So if it’s 110° outside, the coolest RV will get is 85. Don’t get me wrong 85 is a lot better than 110.
I liked your cottage cheese lid solution. That's something I would do. LOL! Good enough! Maybe next time cut the reflectex so it has tabs to go over the top of the window as well as slide in along the bottom? I also chuckled about the social interaction. Even though I live in town with close neighbors, I often go weeks without talking to another human (the dog was enough for me, lol), so I do tend to get a little chatty on that rare occasion I interact with others. It's like, "Yay! An actual 2-way conversation!" LOL As for the spark plugs, I think parking at an RV park where you have AC and close access to parts and tools is a good idea. (Maybe someone else will tow it there for you, if you're worried about the truck?). But I think I'd swap out all 8 spark plugs just so I don't have to think about it again for awhile. (I'm kinda anal about maintaining my truck. I admit it...) And yes, they can break. But I've never had one break on me and two of the plugs in my Wrangler were a real PITA to get to, so if it was going to happen, it would have been on the Wrangler. I think when they break there's a reason: like they're the original plugs and no one changed them for 200,000 miles so they're really corroded in there. Or they were using the wrong tools and then really cranked on it. But if it looked clean and not corroded, I wouldn't hesitate to tackle the job.
Good enough! That makes me laugh! You know your stuff about engine work! Let me Say your warning about corrosion on the plugs you are exactly right about…. Just finding out about now…
Do you idle a lot? I do 🙂 Which can cause spark plug fouling, and cause misfires. I just found out quickklean engine and fuel system cleaner can extend the life of spark plugs. You should use it if you idle a lot.
Strong magnets to hold the reflextix to the metal window frame. AAA plus is pretty cheap and great for peace of mind. One tow, gas run, lock out, flat tire, etc you’re ahead financially. Heat is definitely concerning with pups! I have totally been broke down on the side of the road in high heat with a pup panting her behind off from stress and heat. It is responsible to take heat seriously. Live would be fun🙂
@@Eph1-4 I was given a choice I could pay $250 cash with no receipt or I could pay 500 cash with a receipt I didn't have 500 cash I got robbed AAA does not services area
Yes I will be sticking it out in Q but I want to find a rv park for about 2 months If anyone knows some lesser expensive park could you help me please and thank you
I've always seen propane tanks on trailer tongues like this but never up-close. How do you prevent someone from just walking off with your tanks? Do they actually lock in place somehow?
Only usually an issue when parked closer to quartzsite proper. The transients in town steal from people but they dont have vehicles and its too far to walk for then to steal and carry it back into town. Most nomads and RVers look out for each other.
Good to know. I will probably have a couple of tanks but I think they'll be inside (with propane detectors, of course). My van will be over 20' long and I'm hoping to not add any more length to it.
Think your idea of staying in rv park to run Ac is a good one until you can get truck fixed ... should be able to get a pretty cheap one? What about a Mobile mechanic? or is that too expensive? That heat is brutal in the desert when it goes over 80F for me living in Minnesota
No you didn’t miss the details. Sorry. I’m still learning about sharing info on RU-vid and as problems keep occurring sometimes I just don’t feel like getting into it. I will share that info within the next couple videos. I hope that makes sense. Really cool that everyone cares about Dodger! I told him. He appreciates it. 🌲🌵🐕🐕🦺
Those "nomad thoughts" are the reason I think the perception that you're "free" living this lifestyle is a total misconception. Not to say its not a great lifestyle to live, but just saying its in no way "free".
Free to us nomads refers to the freedom to pick up and leave from wherever we are and travel to a new destination . Its not a reference money. No real responsibilities except those of your own making and freedom from being around people in densely populated cities dealing with all that entails.
@@carolmaplesden916 From experience. I have a tiny camper and love boon docking. There are absolutely glorious and magical moments, but anxiety and stresses about simple things like the truck breaking down in the middle of nowhere or not being able to find a campsite do detract from it a bit for me. Then again I'm a solo camper with no dogs so loneliness is also a factor.
Hey there, just saw your newest video. Please go to an RV park, give yourself a little relief from your worries. Couple weeks and you can get that spark plug replaced. Btw what is living under you RV, I don't think I have missed one of your videos telling us...🙄😂. 🤗🤗 For Dodger and Echo...
Haha thanks for keeping up with our stories! Video about what I found under my RV is coming soon I just need to edit the footage. I get kinda freaked out. It’s embarrassing…
Im new to your channel. Van/rv life will be my future. Your channel gives info, important info and tips. Thank you for these. I'm glad you go over bad times , too. Id love to hear about how you deal with storms; hail, tornado/hurricane, and desert wind storms. You probably just leave. Lol. But what if you dont have time or find a place to stay last minute. And what is your wattage to run your AC in the trailer? And do you bring your dogs to stores, in town or even one at walmart or a home depot, etc. Some say they dont have issues, except restaurants, which makes sense. But other public areas and some stores....?
