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1

General Discussion / Re: Tow a Grand Cherokee with a PC 2350 (Ford)?

« on: December 07, 2013, 07:39:08 am »

Thanks everyone for your responses. Much appreciated.

Steve

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General Discussion / Tow a Grand Cherokee with a PC 2350 (Ford)?

« on: December 05, 2013, 12:53:56 pm »

We have a 2012 2350 on a Ford E350 frame. We're thinking of trading in our Jeep Wrangler (our toad) for a new Grand Cherokee. The published weight for the Grand Cherokee is ~4800 pounds. I would be grateful for any advice on whether or not the PC will/can/should tow a Grand Cherokee or not.

Thanks!

Steve

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General Discussion / Re: Which shocks come standard from the factory?

« on: October 27, 2013, 07:01:08 am »

Thanks, Bob. I'll give that a try. I've been keeping my tires inflated to the PSI posted inside the door frame. I'll lower the front a bit and see if that helps.

Steve

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General Discussion / Re: Which shocks come standard from the factory?

« on: October 26, 2013, 11:23:19 am »

Thanks, Ron. I confess I'm still overwhelmed by the choices and options to choose. I've been to Bilstein's website and can't figure out which is the right HD shock for my 2012 E350 chassis. Any ideas?

Steve

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General Discussion / Re: Which shocks come standard from the factory?

« on: October 25, 2013, 04:53:28 pm »

Upgrade complete. Had the Safe-T-Plus steering control and (anti?) Sway Bar installed. The unit (2012 2350 on Ford chassis) still tends to "meander" a bit between the white lines, albeit less so than before. However the back-and-forth side-to-side "wallowing" it did while driving is now thankfully gone. It drives solid and straight without the lateral "rolling" it used to do.

I opted out of having the shocks replaced and am now not sure whether or not adding HD shocks to the equation would have made any difference. I'll have a better idea once I get some miles on the rig with these new changes. Maybe I'll get bold and adventurous and try to replace the shocks myself!

Thanks again for the assistance.

Steve

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Adventure Anywhere / Re: Blue Ridge Parkway October 2013

« on: October 15, 2013, 06:00:42 pm »

I tried to access Skyline Drive at Front Royal last week and the gates were closed. I assumed the whole thing was shut down. Guess not!

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General Discussion / Re: Which shocks come standard from the factory?

« on: October 11, 2013, 02:50:02 pm »

Thanks, friends. I appreciate the info and advice.

Best regards,

Steve

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General Discussion / Which shocks come standard from the factory?

« on: October 10, 2013, 04:58:47 pm »

Hi Folks:

I have followed all the threads on steering stabilization and improved handling for my 2012 2350. I went to Camping World today to schedule the work for stabilizer, sway bar, and shocks. The service desk technician told me that newer Ford E350s come from the factory with heavy duty shocks already installed (not sure if that's Ford's factory or Phoenix Cruiser's) and to double check before I replaced the stock shocks with HD Bilsteins.

Can anyone confirm this? Does a 2012 2350 benefit from upgraded Bilsteins, or does it indeed arrive already outfitted with HD shocks?

Thanks in advance to all.

Kind regards,

Steve

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General Discussion / Re: Replacement coach batteries

« on: November 27, 2012, 10:11:36 pm »

The coach batteries on my new 2012 Ford 2350 were near useless on day one. I had them replaced with two Deep Cycle Marine/RV Battery GPL-4CT from Impact Battery which has greatly increased the reliability and duration of charge.

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General Discussion / Re: Solar output

« on: December 01, 2011, 07:23:32 pm »

Great recommendation (and link!); thanks, Ron. The inverter in the 2012 2350 is an 1800 watt Xantrax, but I'll read the manual and do some probing around in the morning to see if I can find a similar switch on it. Kermit is away at a show today, but I hope to speak with him tomorrow and learn if he has any other ideas. Will post if he does.

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General Discussion / Re: Solar output

« on: December 01, 2011, 04:42:47 pm »

Ron -- We live in Virginia, so have a mix of weather year round. We mostly dry camp. We installed a solar panel on our previous coach (Roadtrek) and found it to be invaluable. I knew when I was considering the PC (or any other motorhome) that I would have solar panels installed. It's one of those things that once you get accustomed to, can no longer do without. With solar power to keep the batteries charged, we found that the only limitation to camping became the amount of water and food (and beer!) we had on board. The batteries fully recharged every day (weather permitting), even with our son playing XBox and watching TV.

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General Discussion / Re: 2350 TV

« on: November 30, 2011, 04:29:07 pm »

Thanks, Barry.
Steve

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General Discussion / Re: Solar output

« on: November 30, 2011, 04:27:18 pm »

Did you shut off the inverter using the switch by the entry door, or at the control panel, or did you shut it off using the switch on the inverter itself.

Ron -- I turned off the inverter at the inverter switch located behind the driver's seat (near the generator start button). The switch at the entry door is the battery disconnect, which I did not turn off (assuming the battery won't charge in a 'disconnect' state).

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General Discussion / Solar output

« on: November 30, 2011, 10:44:53 am »

I have a new 2012 2350 (Ford) on which I had a 120 watt solar panel installed by the factory during construction. The standard coach batteries are 2 deep-discharge type 27 lead-acid 12 volt batteries wired in parallel.

My concern is that either I'm not getting full output from the solar array or there is a phantom load draining the batteries. The maximum output I've ever recorded from the array is 12-14 volts (bright, cool, sunny day) at approx 1.4 amps. While that will just barely restore the battery to its bulk capacity (13.6 volts), by the next morning the batteries are back down to about 11 volts. This seems excessive. I have unplugged every outlet, turned off every appliance, and shut off the inverter, but there is still considerable (or is it?) voltage reduction on the batteries each night.

My previous coach (2007 Roadtrek) had an 80 watt array and kept the coach batteries fully charged all the time. I expected the same or better peformance with a 120 watt array. I don't know if a 2 - 2.5 volt drop in the coach batteries each night is normal (it doesn't seem so). I also don't know if 12-14 volts max output from the solar array on a sunny day is normal (seems it should be more).

Any advice would be appreciated. Phantom load? Insufficient solar output? Both?

Thanks,

Steve

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General Discussion / Re: 2350 TV

« on: November 29, 2011, 08:09:33 pm »

Got everything apart today. I consider myself a reasonable geek/techie, but was moderately surprised at what I found. HDMI to/from the DVD player (which is the foundation for the surround sound system). Optical audio from the TV to the DVD player. Composite audio and video (video is the "yellow" cable) between the TV and the "connection station" in the right front glass cabinet.

I will make some changes tomorrow and post the results (e.g., replace all composite with component and/or HDMI). Note that in order to get anything to play through the surround sound setup, it needs to connect through the DVD player (that's what the six surround sound speakers connect to).

I wish I had read more closely about short cable connections to the TV. The HDMI cable connection into the TV bent to the point of snapping as I removed the TV from the installation brackets. I might have to replace that (my own fault).

All in all, a nice job by PC. I might have done it a little differently, but the installation defaults are perferctly reasonable.

Thanks,

Steve