Replacing a Ram 3500 turbo and performing RV repairs

Whether you live in a sticks-and-bricks house, an RV, a mud hut, or something else, inevitably things break or need attention over time. As full-time RVers, our livelihood is literally riding on the structure and integrity of our fifth-wheel home. That means we have to take RV repairs and maintenance extremely seriously. 

Replacing a Ram 3500 turbo

After Gulliver, our Dodge Ram 3500 dually, experienced difficulties climbing in the Black Hills of South Dakota — while towing our RV — we rerouted our planned course to Arizona for the winter to avoid mountainous areas. But we knew we had to address the issue before hitting the road again in the spring. The truck even had trouble accelerating to get onto a freeway, sans Tagalong.

Wanting time to work out any kinks before committing to our travel season, we decided to change the turbo in December. Since Bob is handy, he chose to do the work himself. Taking the truck to a dealer to replace the turbo posed a large expense and threatened to affect the performance of our diesel exhaust fluid since a recall was due. 

Bob ordered the necessary parts for the repair, to the tune of nearly $3,500. Then he got busy watching YouTube videos to see exactly how to tackle the job. It looked to be a full-day commitment of six to eight hours — if everything went according to plan. (How often does that happen?)

Wanting a second opinion, Bob reached out to Roy, our diesel mechanic friend. Roy confirmed the two of them could complete the job successfully, but he told Bob it would likely take three days. 

Not willing to risk that much time investment, Bob searched for a diesel expert in the Mesa, Arizona, area and found Copperhead Diesel Performance in Chandler. Chatting with an employee over the phone gave Bob great confidence that the organization could better handle the job, so he made an appointment to drop off Gulliver, along with the purchased parts.

The techs at the shop were unable to replicate the error we had encountered, so they took us at our word that the turbo was the issue. In addition to replacing it and the air filter, the fix involved changing the oil and coolant, since both of those had to be drained. 

Three days bled into five business days before the truck was ready to be picked up — for another $3,100. Cha-ching! The costly investment was worth it for the assurance it gave us that Gulliver will have no trouble towing Tagalong on our next travel season and beyond.

Patching a tire

After setting up the RV for the winter, I went to cover the fifth-wheel tires to protect them from the harsh Arizona sun. Something shiny in one of the tires caught my eye. Closer inspection revealed it to be a screw. Had we picked it up on the side of the freeway after our fire mishap? 

Since we were situated for a long-term stay and the tire wasn’t losing any air, it appeared to be a non-issue. We certainly didn’t want to close the trailer and connect it to the truck to take it to a tire shop. Nor did we want to jack up the rig to put on the spare tire and take the problem tire to be fixed. 

Bob remembered that the G-rated tires we had purchased were designed to be regrooved after being worn down. In theory, that meant they had plenty of tread depth to absorb a screw or nail without puncturing the tire itself. 

With this in mind, Bob took a pair of needle-nose pliers to test his suspicion that the screw was bent over. He succeeded in prying the screw up and confirmed his hypothesis. The screw didn’t go very deep into the tire. After removing the screw completely, he filled the hole with tire repair glue* (paid link) to seal it from dirt and debris. And voila! No tire issue and no trip to a tire shop.

Letting off steam

As the Arizona temperatures started to warm, we took advantage of the moderate weather and opened our RV windows to let in some fresh air. We also opened our roof vent in the main living area, which operates electronically. 

Normally when activating the switch, the vent would reach a certain point and stop. Instead, the motor continued whirring. We couldn’t let that go on, so we closed the vent. Thankfully, it had no trouble finding the closing stop point. 

A day or so later, I ascended the fifth-wheel ladder to investigate the unit while Bob opened the vent. The whirring continued once again, and I couldn’t identify anything clearly wrong. 

Bob put his excellent research skills to use and discovered that a piece on these units was prone to failure after about five years. It looked like that’s what had happened to ours, so he ordered a replacement part.

When the part arrived, Bob took his turn climbing the ladder to address the unit while I activated the switch. Replacing the part didn’t immediately fix the issue. He had to retrain the vent where to stop. This took a lot of opening and closing — and a small crack — before getting it right. But we succeeded and are happy to have a working roof vent once again. 

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