Date codes

Every tire has this code on the sidewall. It gives the date that the tire was manufactured but it doesn’t just spell it out right. You have to know what to look for and how to read it. It’ll be something like this: DOT PDML AZOF 0508. It’s on one side of the tire, so you may have to crawl underneath to look at the inside of your tires. The date code always starts with the letters DOT and ends with a 3 or 4 digit number. The first two numbers indicate the week of the year. 52 weeks in a year so that is the max. The last one or two digits tell you the year. In this example, 0508 means the 5th week of 2008, or the first week of February 2008. With the year 2000, the date codes have two numbers for the year. Only one for years before. A date code of 157 would indicate the 15th week of 1997 or you are lucky to be alive if this tire is still in use.

Ask to see this number when buying new tires. You really don’t want to pay full price for a tire that has already sat somewhere and deteriorated for a year. You probably won’t get one that was made last week, but you should expect it to be within the last several months. The tire dealer may look at you as an oddball or pretend to not know what you talking about. That’s when you check the number or get ready to find another dealer.

Tire Size

If you’ve bought new tires or looked at your own, you’ll see the mess of letters and number on the sidewall. It could be like this one my smaller RV.

LT225/75R16
Type-Width/Ratio of width to sect height-Radial-inside diameter

The first letters indicate the type of tire: P for passenger car, LT for light truck, and ST for special trailer. You won’t find anything special for bus and medium-duty truck tires. The number 225 in this case, is the width of the tire, given in millimeters, followed by a slash. The number after the slash is the ratio of width to section height. Then you have a letter. R for radial ply or D for diagonal (or bias) ply. That is followed by a number which gives the inside diameter of the tire in inches.

Load Range

The load range of a tire is a letter, A through E, and is on the sidewall of the tire. You will want to make sure you get the right range rating for your type of trailer or RV.

How Do I Decide?

The easiest way is to start with what is already on your axles, assuming these were the new tires from the factory. If you were not the original owner, then you should double check the vehicle plates and documentation for what should be on the vehicle. Someone may have put the wrong tires on there before you. If specs and everything checks out and they have done well for you, get another set of the same. You can probably find the same tire or a newer equivalent. Or you may want to ask what is the next best step up for the same tire. Or get the same specs on a tire of another brand. Don’t jump wildly based just on price or brand. Start with the current specs and see what is available.

There are many different tires out there because there are many types of vehicles and uses. Passenger car tires are more for a soft ride on your daily drive. They grip the road well and are for your average weather situations. Light truck tires are built with stiffer sidewalls to carry heavier loads. They are also for daily use so they have decent handling and are fine in average weather and storms. When you get into trailer tires, you can expect them to be designed for a soft ride and some give to slide sideways. You should stick with trailer tires on trailers. Don’t truck tires or off road tires on a trailer just because they are better or more expensive. They are not designed for the unique needs of trailer loads and handling.

1. Open the engine compartment and inspect hoses and fuel lines. Everything good little critters love to eat to grow big and strong.
2. Check the air cleaner. Hopefully you covered it with screen or foil.
3. Clean out any rodents or birds nests that you find.
4. Reverse out any storage things you may have done. Mothballs, fabric softener sheets, vent covers, etc.
5. If you are using the RV soon, turn on gas and test out stove and fridge for proper operation.
6. Check tire pressure and tire condition.
7. Check water in radiator.
8. Check batteries and reconnect as needed for operation.
9. Check transmission fluid.
10. Change oil and filter.
11. Disconnect coil wire or check manual and turn engine over for several seconds to get oil up to valve drain. Reconnect coil and start engine.
12. Check brakes thoroughly before hitting a road. Critters may have eaten some lines for desert and you don’t want to find out while driving.
13. Before driving, run through all gears a few times making sure it shifts fine.
14. Remember to double check all outside mirrors, rear view cameras and seats as they may have shifted during your storage period.

Get out there and enjoy the RV!

Remember that there are many phantom loads these days. Phantom loads are things that consume power even though they are off or not being used. Some examples include

• digital clocks in radios, vcrs, tvs and elsewhere
• TV antenna boosters (switches may be hidden in cabinets and easy to forget in many rvs)
• TVs and Radios (power holds those preset memories)
• Refrigerator circuit board (may use power even if fridge is off)
• Automatic gas valves
• Electric steps (some have lights or are always monitoring the door to see if they need to be in or out)

Also always double check any cabinets or closets where lights turn on automatically when you open them. They may not be shut all the way triggering the light to be left on.

Your motor home probably has an overall kill switch which shuts off overall power. We have found in a AllStays.com RV that this isn’t always complete because something like the steps or a cab stereo may be wired to the chassis or engine battery. So even though you turned off the “kill switch” and think everything is fine, you come out to a dead engine battery.

Pulling fuses will eliminate suspect loads. You can also disconnect batteries completely. You can install devices such as Priority Start, trickle chargers, battery minders or a solar panel to keep batteries topped off. Your RV converter is probably not the way to go unless it is definitely an adjustable, multi-stage charger. Most RV converters will just kill your batteries by overcharging them or not charging them enough.

Disconnect your water pump and get any water out of the pump. Water pumps will freeze and this can damage the pump if there is water left in it. Drain your water heater as well.

Attach a blow out plug with a tire type valve on it to your water input valve. Then one at a time, open a faucet handle, turn on your air compressor and it blow out the line. This will remove any water and crud in the line. Open the next faucet a little bit just before closing the previous one. You don’t want all lines closed with the compressor running because it could blow a line. That’s not good. Always having one open a little bit will let that pressure run through. Close off the previous faucet and fully open the next. Repeat this until all water lines are cleaned out. Shut off the compressor before closing the last faucet.

Remember to drain or disconnect the outside shower. This is usually the first one to freeze and break.

Parking is becoming one of the biggest obstacles to owning an RV. Either your community won’t allow it or you don’t have an ideal spot for it at your home.

We have seen a dramatic increase in RV storage theft. This is due to a combination of factors. There are more of them out there now. They have nicer elements inside such as LCD tvs, GPS devices and DVD stereo units. A bad economy doesn’t help. RV storage places usually don’t have much security day or night. Even if there are measures for locks, someone could easily pay the lowest storage fee and then get access to other rigs as if they belong there.

Having it at your home allows you to keep an eye on it. You can monitor it in storms and deal with critters that may get in and cause damage before it gets even worse. You may also consider people that you know. You may have a friend or relative that would let you park it at their house. Or you could even set up a cheap rent deal with them so everyone gains something out of it.

The RV should be parked as level as possible. If you do have a slope, keep the fuel tank at the lower end so the fuel doesn’t shift toward the engine end. It’s also better to store it fairly level just in case you should have to use it as a guest house, a quiet nap, run the refrigerator (propane fridges should be level as to not cause damage) before a last minute trip or maybe someone has to stay in it during an emergency situation. You may not want to or be able to move it to a more level spot at the last minute.

Use leveling blocks or landscaping when storing your RV. Do not use hydraulic jacks in storage. They may leak, malfunction or get stuck in the up position. That is not a problem that you want to have if you can avoid it.

Disconnect your battery to prevent those slow voltage drains. Even with everything shut off per manufacturers instructions, there is usually some kind of tiny drain that will kill your battery over time. It’ll happen even faster in freezing temperatures. Even with everything “off” my batteries used to die in a month of winter. You can manually disconnect it or install a battery switch to make this easier. You can buy them at most auto parts stores. There are also devices such as “Priority Start” that will monitor your voltage and just disconnect the battery automatically so you always have enough to start the engine.

RV covers may not be worth it. They are expensive. They rip easily and may cause more damage flapping in the wind against an antenna or your paint job. The other issue is that they seem to attract rodents, bees and birds. If they can find a way under it and use it for protection from the weather, they will. And they will provide you with a nice surprise when you go to uncover your RV.

You don’t need to go out and start the engine every couple of weeks. This isn’t necessary or good for your engine or transmission unless you are actually driving it. If you can drive it to the grocery store or on errands once in a while, great. If not, you are better just to use a automatic battery charger and charge all your batteries individually.

The best solution is to install a solar panel to keep your batteries topped off. We have more on that in other posts but a proper solar set up is the ideal investment for your RV on many levels. Not worrying about batteries is one of them.

The fact is that this isn’t necessary. Doing this only causes more wear and tear on the engine. You should only start a engine if you are ready to use it. Only start the engine if you are moving it both forwards and backwards. Ask what your dealerships do. They usually start and move cars around every few weeks or months.

Okay, you want to keep the batteries topped off but this isn’t the way to do it. It’s the most inefficient way to charge a battery. The starting battery will be fine in a few minutes after starting but you are most likely trying to charge the house batteries. Running the engine for a bit in the driveway isn’t going to do much at all. You need to be running down the highway for a while to do a good charge from the engine. It is better to either plug in your RV to a hookup or hookup the batteries separately to a battery charger. Or for the best option, you can add solar panels and a good multi-charger to keep them in great shape all the time. We have much more on that in other posts.

What do you think? Do you do this common method and how does it work for you?