New Kid From Colorado

[RaiderRed]

Old RaiderRed is now officially a member of the Four Wheel community. I took delivery of a new Hawk a few days ago at the factory in Woodland. As someone else said, they got tired of being the 9th person to call on a used camper only to find out the first person that called bought it. So I broke down and ordered a new one, much to the chagrin of Mrs. RaiderRed! We drove out from the Mile Hi City and spent a couple of days in San Fran before stopping at Woodland. A slight glitch occurred when we stopped by on the way to SF and found out a key employee had suddenly passed away, and things were in turmoil there. I was delayed a day in picking up the camper, but finally did so on Saturday. Stan helped get me loaded and checked out. We highballed it towards the Rockies and made it back in 2 long days of driving. Only problem was that they didnt have propane so I could not check out the appliances. When I finally got propane in Nevada, as luck would have it,the reefer did not light. Still doesnt! Works fine on 12v or 120v but wont light on propane. I have a guy looking at it tomorrow, so will see what is going on there. I got all of the main options except for the outside shower. It is really a nice rig,and we plan on getting lots of use out of it. Cant believe how light it is on my F-150, 4.6L truck (2005). You hardly even know it is back there when on the freeway. So we plan on heading up to the Colorado Rockies soon to break it in.

 

[mtn-high]

I'm saddened to hear someone in the FWC family has passed.

Congrads on the new camper.

I had problems lighting/firing up the fridge last year when we took delivery of our Hawk. I stupidly waited until the day before a trip to fill/check things out...and major frustration ensued. (am I warm?) I called Stan and he urged me to keep trying....holding that button down/etc. FINALLY...it lit.

Make sure you are perfectly level. Fire up the stove and let some gas run through. Then hold that damn button in til yer finger hurts....then make the wife hold it as long. I held it FOREVER, it seemed...and then got pissed and hit the eletronic ignition button about 50 times in a row....and BAM...there she went...right into the green.

Stan said it is air in the line. whatever it was it finally cleared and I've had no problems since.

good luck

mtn

 

[DirtyDog]

Welcome to the board! Looking forward to seeing some pics of that new camper of yours

 

[RaiderRed]

I tried holding the button in forever also. I practically wore out the sparker. I am convinced that it is not air in the line. One time (last night) it actually lit. I let it run all night and it cooled down the reefer. this morning I cut it off and tried to light it again, but no luck.I was looking for an exposed pilot, which it is not. It is enclosed in a cylinder. So it is slightly hard to determine when it is lit. The stove and heater work fine. All I get is an occasional pop in the fire chamber. At first I thought it was air in the line, but now I dont believe that is the case. We will see tomorrow when the repair guy shows up.I just dont think it should be this hard to lite, unless I am missing something (my wife would agree with the latter!). Thanks for the input.

 

[SunMan]

Welcome to the board...hope you get your refer sorted out. As the Dog sez...we'll be needin' some pics!

 

[DLN]

Welcome to the community, I'm sure the fridge problem will turn out to be something simple. Best of Luck.

 

[chnlisle]

You are welcome here and I know where you can get some running boards.

 

[RonSchon]

Red,

Welcome to the board. I'm in Parker, and have been loving my FWC for a couple of months now. Any plans on doing the Colorado Rally coming up in about 5 weeks?

Also... I think Jay's kids have been playing on his computer - about 5 days ago he said he was going on a 2 week vacation and the next thing we see is that he is "Mr. Pueblo". I don't think he's scheduled to be back for about 9 days.

 

[RaiderRed]

Well the problem with the reefer gas pilot not lighting is partly solved. A repair guy came out and suspected that the gas tube was dirty. He blew it out with a compressed air hose and got a bunch of metal filings and sawdust out of the line. We believe it was from the construction of the camper or from the construction of the reefer, so guess it never got tested once it was installed. The factory said they bench tested it which sounds like it was before it was installed. Also, the spark ingniter does not work most of the time. So one is ordered and should be in a week.In the meantime, I can manually light the pilot with a lighter stick (or whatever those things are called). Moral to this story is dont leave the factory unless you check out everything on the camper. I tried to do this but with it being Saturday, and nobody in the shop, I probably could not have gotten it repaired before Monday anyway. At least now I have a reefer that runs on gas. FYI, the repairman said it is better to never run the reefer on the 12v system, as it tends to ruin batteries by sucking the juice out of them. He said only use that as a last resort, and then for only a short time period.

 

[mtn-high]

glad to hear you got it figured out. Sawdust and metal shavings, huh? Damn...that sucks. Someone needs to invest in a good air compressor

the 12V operation will drain the battery FAST if you stop the truck and leave it on. Even with the solar panel...nope...no way. I learned the hard way on one of our first trips....fortunately I don't think I did any permanent damage. yikes.

now it's time to get out there!

have fun

mtn

 

[DLN]

We learned to same lesson about the 12v draw on our first trip too, a 2 hour hike was all it took to nearly empty the batteries, had to take a long drive to get them recharged. Only made that mistake once.