RV breakdown 101: Don’t let this happen to you! Be Prepared For RV Breakdown Check List
It happens to everyone at one time or another. Your RV or towing vehicle breaks down and you are hundreds of miles from home…now what are you gonna do? Hopefully, you are not driving when something goes wrong. That would be a disaster. You can’t hide but you can be prepared! Here are a few things to have along for the ride, just the basics now; you can’t take the whole garage or workshop:
• Set of combination wrenches open and box ends
• Flashlight and extra batteries
• Screwdrivers, flat and Phillips, several sizes
• Spare electrical wire in different gauge sizes, wire crimper, connectors and wire splicers
• Ratchet & socket sets
• Pliers, needlenose, regular, slip-joint water pump, locking pliers
• Heavy duty jumper cables, the longer the better
• One pound hammer
• Spark plug socket (get one that fits your engine’s size)
• Electrical test light or volt-ohm meter
Okay, you have the tools, but they won’t do you any good unless you have a small arsenal of spare parts. It’s a good idea to take along:
• Roll of duct tape and rags
• Can of radiator stop-leak
• Fuel filter just in case you get a tank of dirty or water-contaminated gasoline
• Engine drive belts, very inexpensive, and if one breaks, you are stuck
• Upper and lower radiator hoses, clamps and a few feet of heater hose
• Fuses and fusible links
• Motor oil and automatic transmission fluid, brake fluid, antifreeze
• Last but not least a starter
Are you wondering why anyone would need to take a “starter”? Well, if you sorta, kinda think that your starter could just may be on its last leg you better replace it before you leave or carry a spare. If it sounds like the voice of experience here, you got that right! We were overnight in Tennessee on our way to Florida, got up at 5:00 a.m. to be on the road early, and click, click, no starter. Lucky for us it gave up while we were parked at a campground and not on the side of the road, or at a restaurant. And since I never go RVing without my handy-dandy-hunky mechanic (a.k.a. husband) our delay was only about 45 minutes long. Fortunately for us, we had a junior mechanic along to help out!
The moral of this story is, if you sorta, kinda think something could go wrong you may just want to fix it before you leave home!
Cleveland RVing Examiner
• Set of combination wrenches open and box ends
• Flashlight and extra batteries
• Screwdrivers, flat and Phillips, several sizes
• Spare electrical wire in different gauge sizes, wire crimper, connectors and wire splicers
• Ratchet & socket sets
• Pliers, needlenose, regular, slip-joint water pump, locking pliers
• Heavy duty jumper cables, the longer the better
• One pound hammer
• Spark plug socket (get one that fits your engine’s size)
• Electrical test light or volt-ohm meter
Okay, you have the tools, but they won’t do you any good unless you have a small arsenal of spare parts. It’s a good idea to take along:
• Roll of duct tape and rags
• Can of radiator stop-leak
• Fuel filter just in case you get a tank of dirty or water-contaminated gasoline
• Engine drive belts, very inexpensive, and if one breaks, you are stuck
• Upper and lower radiator hoses, clamps and a few feet of heater hose
• Fuses and fusible links
• Motor oil and automatic transmission fluid, brake fluid, antifreeze
• Last but not least a starter
Are you wondering why anyone would need to take a “starter”? Well, if you sorta, kinda think that your starter could just may be on its last leg you better replace it before you leave or carry a spare. If it sounds like the voice of experience here, you got that right! We were overnight in Tennessee on our way to Florida, got up at 5:00 a.m. to be on the road early, and click, click, no starter. Lucky for us it gave up while we were parked at a campground and not on the side of the road, or at a restaurant. And since I never go RVing without my handy-dandy-hunky mechanic (a.k.a. husband) our delay was only about 45 minutes long. Fortunately for us, we had a junior mechanic along to help out!
The moral of this story is, if you sorta, kinda think something could go wrong you may just want to fix it before you leave home!
Cleveland RVing Examiner
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