Redhawk was serviced today, track bar installed.

[Stevefaync]

She is ready to go. I took it down to Gene's Truck Service center in Fayetteville NC today. They changed all the oils, serviced everything, zip-tied all hanging wires and basically made sure all was good. Also did the annual safety inspection so that I can renew the plates for another year. Just paid the annual state taxes on it too (just under a grand). All the tires took 10 pounds to get upto the recommended pressures, and one of my heating pads for the black water tank was peeling loose, coming 1/3 of the way unstuck. I have not decided on what to do about that yet.... Clean and add good adhesive or replace under warranty. Restick with better adhisive might be the best bet. A new one might just come unstuck too.

I previously purchased a blue ox tt2450 track bar for the rear end. It is supposed to help eliminate the porpising and swaying. The truck shop put it on making sure that it was 100% right. Double torqed it to specs, painted marks, used red lock tight, the whole thing. I am supper happy with it all.

Gene's truck service was super, made sure it was all perfect, spent most of their day working on this thing and the bottom line came to just a hair under $380.

I can not be any happier with them. I highly recommend this shop. They have the contracts for the local EMS fleets and many other state trucks too. They do a bunch of work there. Been in business for over 30 years.

*** The trak bar and propperly inflated tires, along with the already installed upgraded swaybars, steering stabilizer, and shocks sure felt good. The Redhawk was riding good, no noticeable porpising or swaying on the way back home. Nicer ride for sure.

In a few days we will be heading for the coast with fishing gear, looking to spend 5 days surf fishing and playing at the beach.

Steve

[CarlB]

Yours doesn't have the Jride system?

[Stevefaync]

No... Redhawks did not come with Jride in its complete form. I wanted the 26 foot unit, Greyhawk was not available in 26 feet. Went with the redhawk and probably have spent about $4,500 total on upgrades and modifications. My suspension now is heavier duty than the Jayco JRide and really is working well. I am very satisfied with my choice. I was downsizing from a larger class A, and upsizing from a totally loaded Jayco popup. Wanted the bed over the cab for my still growing 13 year old son who is over 6 foot tall and still growing. The couch that was in our class A just was not a good choice for his bed, and the super nice pop up I custom ordered was not good for me after my three heart surgeries. The C was the best choice, and the 26 footer was the one I wanted.

I would do it again, just like I have done.

Steve

[rthomann]

Can you tell me exactly what you added to your Redhawk. We switched from a 34' fifth wheel to our 26'redhawk and love the layout and convenience for traveling Still doing some upgrades on the suspension to make for easier driving. Thanks for any info you can share
Mike

[Stevefaync]

Hi,

Hopefully I can remember all of the components that we have added or changed.

- Toilet : added riser and better toilet with hand sprayer
- Shower Head
- Fan-Tastic Electric vent fan over rear bed
- Flat screen TV on wall in rear bedroom & a portable one for outside under awning
- Cuttung board that rides ontop of stove
- Sink covers/cutting boards
- Wooden drawer set for bottom of closet - added three drawers, each 4" deep
- Shelf with electrical outlet above bed for my wifes CPap machine
- Guitar hanger in closet
- Electrical system protection - EMS with Surge
- Steering stabilizer
- Roadmaster front & rear Heavy Duty sway bars
- HD Bilstien shocks
- Blue Ox track bar
- Spare tire and rim that matched set on RV
- Tow Dolly with spare
- 10 Hd fiberglass ladder on rear roof ladder
- Hand twist RV stabilizers, orange block sets for leveling
(I absolutely do not want to deal with hydraulic auto-levelers again.)
(Others love them, I hated the HWH set that I had on our class A.)
(Multiple times they stuck while extended. Paid RV repair to come fix each time)

.... I have a vent cover for the bathroom vent, but might switch it out for another Fan-tastic fan.

That's it so far, all total around 4.5 to 5k worth of stuff.

Steve

*** I'm not sure which item in the suspnsion made the biggest difference, but all together, they are pretty good. I also had my alignment checked, but it was fine were it was set.

[rthomann]

Thanks, Steve. We done some of the same - or very similar- things to our Redhawk. I will try to send you our ideas and some pictures later this week. Happy Easter!
Mike & Ruth

[Stevefaync]

Cool, thanks.

Steve

[rthomann]

These are some of the inside modifications we made. Instead of using the curtain which wraps around inside the front cab at night, we mounted a drapery rod on the walls behind the seats. Then got a pair of drapes and cut the length to go just to the floor. Don't know if that makes sense, but it makes it much easier to close up the camper at night and then slide them open for sunlight in the daytime. I don't know if it makes much sense, but I haven't figured out how to add a picture of it yet.
We also added a lift up cutting board beside the sink. It gives extra work space in the kitchen and we use it all the time - esp. for making sandwiches.
We added the 3M command hooks all over the place...behind the living room chair to hold coats, purse, etc., then on the inside of the closet door to hold hats, scarves, etc. We moved the closet rod closer to the door of the closet to give more room at the back, where we added a hanging shoe rack.
Beside the bathroom sink we added a swivel mirror.
The toughest thing we are getting used to is having 30 amp in the RV instead of 50 amp like we did in the 5th wheel...seems like I'm always throwing a breaker, but getting better.
Mike & Ruth

[Stevefaync]

Awesome! Sounds like you've made it much more liveable. We haven't tripped any breakers yet, but I'm sure we will.

We miss a bunch of the nicer conveniences that we had on our class A, things I never even thought about until I didn't have them. This new RV cost us a little less than half what the old one cost us new 14 years ago, so I figure it just won't be as nice or well built.

The 3M coat & hat hangers sounds great. We just leave the cab curtain in place once we are setup. I've been thinking about different curtain ideas but haven't decided on one yet.

You folks have done a nice job with yours.

Steve

[rthomann]

I just looked at your Bio information.....we love to square dance and cook on the Big Green Egg! Thinking we need to get together someday ;-)
Mike & Ruth

[Stevefaync]

How’s your summer going this year? Still enjoying the Redhawk? We are still enjoying ours, but don’t get to use it as much as we would like. I had to swap out some tires already. Cracking on sidewalls, and it does not live out in the sun. Hope all is going well.

Steve
Another Redhawk owner.

[mt1314]

We love our Redhawk. "We" have updated it with bright colors inside and it looks good. Unfortunately we've traveled very little this summer. We managed one trip with our square dance camping group, but then I developed a bone infection in my toe, which isn't painful at all, but requires IV infusions of antibiotics 2x a day for 6 weeks. That has definitely clipped our wings for awhile...only two more weeks...only two more weeks.....Then in the midst of that, Ruth's mother had several strokes and passed away. It's definitely been a summer we will remember. I have a PICC line for infusions, so my work/lifting is limited right now. I'm spending time planning a getaway trip to drive the Pacific Coast Highway as soon as I'm released from treatments!
We had a funny little leak on our Redhawk...on the bottom of the panel behind driver's seat. It was obvious the carpet was wet and coming up from there, but we couldn't figure out how there was a leak at the bottom of the rig. Did some investigating on a very rainy day and it turned out it was a little place on a seam up by the window, but when it rained water came in and went down to the carpet. Caulked it up and all is well now.
Hope you get some summer traveling in soon. Our son is home from Denmark till the end of July and we hope to hit the road then!
Mike & Ruth

[Stevefaync]

Hi, Sorry to hear about your troubles. Does not sound fun. Having your son home for a while must be a nice time. We just dropped our son off for his second, week long summer camp. He has three more one-week camps to attend after this current camp is finishes, then school starts again. I really miss him when he is gone.

Our Redhawk had leaking windows last summer but none this summer. I really hate leaks! Have you tackled the rubber roof cleaning and conditioning yet? That is a chore. We use a two part process. I hope it helps, and keeps the roof in good condition. The rubber roof having problems is one of my fears. My wife always wants to drag the van around with us when we go in the Redhawk. I have been able to leave it home only one time. I enjoy not towing a vehicle and wish I never had to tow it behind us. I put in new heavy duty batteries back at the end of April. They were not bad, but I did not want them to get bad during a trip. Kind of preventive maintenance I guess. Thinking about changing out the Hellwig helper springs with a nice airbag system. My brother did the swap on his rig and says it made the ride better. Our ride is nice, but on a good bump, like unavoidable pot holes in the road, things rattle and move a bit. Hope you have some this summer. Take care!
Steve & Char