Preventative Maintenance Schedules; normal lifecycle of components

TxCowboy

Well-known member
We have some real talent on this Forum from the folks that are writing all of the user-friendly owner guides found under the Tools link at the top of the page.

What I was wondering is this -- has anyone here developed a general, inclusive preventative maintenance guide? This would be an excellent reference to have.

What I'm attempting to describe is similar to what we have all seen in our automotive owner's manuals -- a table that prescribes when certain maintenance events should occur. Clearly, something such as "visually inspect the brakes" would be a "pre-departure" check but something like "repack the wheel bearings" should be a mileage/timed interval item, e.g., "every 5000 miles or annually, whichever occurs first".

Other examples might be "apply a slide seal protectant to the inner and out slide seals every 6 months" or "visually inspect the slide support rollers every three months or 20 slide cycles (openings and closings), whichever occurs first."

This is probably a bit of my military background coming through (the military LOVES preventative maintenance) but I think many of us would benefit greatly from this type of tool and we have the benefit of some truly exceptional talent on this Forum to make it happen.

What are your thoughts on this idea?

EDIT: The thought here is a comprehensive checklist, not a massive procedures or "how to" guide.
 

cookie

Administrator
Staff member
So you are looking for a written, documented maintenance schedule.......one each.
I think that most people tend to ignore routine maintenance other than just doing a visual.
You mentioned repack at a timed mileage. That is already in the axle manufacturers guidelines, and I've read too many posts by people that don't agree with what the manufacturer recommends, so a document would do no good in those cases.
What would be good is if we all made up our own maintenance schedule that fits our own needs and ideas.

Peace
Dave
 

TxCowboy

Well-known member
No disagreeing with you, Dave. I think some of us really don't know what to look for or don't know where to start. What I'm suggesting is just that -- a place to start -- a consolidated reference tool.

Let me give us an example -- there are some fine, fine PDI checklists on this Forum. People put in a lot of time and effort to make that document and it has paid huge dividends to those who have use it.

I'm thinking something similar to the PDI checklist but used for preventative maintenance.

Yes, it won't be perfect and, yes, some folks may disagree with some of the intervals -- mileage, time, cycles, etc. But it may provide needed reminders on items to check that otherwise might be missed.
 

danemayer

Well-known member
For a start, you could use the attached pages from the Heartland Trailer Manual.
 

Attachments

  • Trailer Maintenance Checklist.pdf
    186.6 KB · Views: 82

MTPockets

Well-known member
I think I understand what you're suggesting. When we brought our Big Horn home I went through all the manuals and from each of the recommended service timelines I made my own chart that I use as a reminder; and I insert the date I actually did the job. I do this also for my truck oil & filter, fuel filters, air filter, tire rotation, coolant checks etc. Making a list to suit you're style is what I suggest.
 

TxCowboy

Well-known member
MTPockets, exactly what you said.

When you think about the shear number of items on an RV that need to be checked periodically, having a working document an owner could use would be a great benefit. It is also a great tool for tracking things specific to your RV, for example, the filter number for your whole house filter or the type of rod needed for your water heater.
 

Crumgater

Well-known member
I was thinking we needed something similar here, too...

For example, our last trip of the summer we came home and found our bathroom vent lid had disintegrated somewhere along the last 150 miles of highway.... what pieces were left on the hinge were VERY brittle. It would have been nice to know that those have a 3-5 year lifespan - this was at 5 years, and we park in the Seattle area, not exactly high sun-ray exposure much of the year. Luckily it was not raining during our drive home, or we would have had a major mess on our hands.

We also just replaced the electric heating ELEMENT in the water heater... we check the anode rod every year, and it was in good shape, but the element itself was pitted and shorting out (causing excessive electrical draw on our power circuits, too).

I'm wondering what other items we should be budgeting for in the near future... we've already replaced the tires (2 years ago) after reading too many horror stories about the stock tires here on the forum.
 
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