Gemini and Compass

[lipmsp]

Originally Posted by Big Wheel

I have been following this forum for a few months and find it both informative and entertaining. Just picked up our 2019 Gemini 23TR this month. In the process of outfitting it and getting ready for our first trip.

Look forward to using the MH and watching this thread.

Big Wheel

Congratulations! You will love it!

[Coveman2]

Welcome and enjoy the learning curve of these units. This forum is very helpful
and most questions you may ask are answered with good ideas. I have almost completed all of my upgrades and changes, and there are a lot to make this unit the way we want it and it keeps the wife happy.
And no question is dumb
Coveman2

[Bob Denman]

Originally Posted by Coveman2

Welcome and enjoy the learning curve of these units. This forum is very helpful
and most questions you may ask are answered with good ideas. I have almost completed all of my upgrades and changes, and there are a lot to make this unit the way we want it and it keeps the wife happy.
And no question is dumb
Coveman2

You're never actually done with the changes...

[mountainsam]

Welcome Bigwheel. I am sure you will enjoy yours as much as we enjoy ours. Send us a picture. We love pictures

[Paul N]

Just had the recall completed and an oil change while it was at Gator Ford just North of Tampa. All in all - a half day with the oil change.

For anyone who has not had an oil service on this engine yet - be prepared for a rather large bill. Depending on how nice your service writer is, and ours was great, expect to pay between $300 to $360 for Pure Synthetic oil and filters. The labor basically matches the cost of supplies! After discussing this with our service writer, we were able to get a discount on the labor. Total was just over $300. Happy to pay it if it keeps this engine running strong and averaging around 18 mpg on the highway at 65mph. We get around 15 mpg with all the little short runs and etc. Not bad at all!!!

Love this 23TR.

Paul

[Coveman2]

Paul: I just had my first oil change and some other work done , biggest was tightening all of the valve stems and realigning the wheel covers to make it easy to access the stems, small electrical work on side marker and relocation of the license plate and all in it was $325.00.
Coveman2

[mountainsam]

Originally Posted by Coveman2

Paul: I just had my first oil change and some other work done , biggest was tightening all of the valve stems and realigning the wheel covers to make it easy to access the stems, small electrical work on side marker and relocation of the license plate and all in it was $325.00.

Coveman2

My last oil change with filter, 3 gals of full synthetic 5W40 5Q3SD oil, labor, multi point inspection including tire inspection and adjust , brake inspection and battery inspection and recall 17S34 for a total of $179.79

They even left me the unused portion of the third gal. jug. I don’t know if I had a special deal because of the recall but my first oil change at the same Ford dealer was 50 bucks less because they used semi synthetic.

[mountainsam]

Yesterday I had the latest recall done. Took 45 minutes. They replaced an EGRT sensor. In the process the warranty duration was increased for a “cooler”? I’m not up to these new systems but I still have my timing light, vintage 1963

[Hobbes]

Greetings!

I just wanted to thank you folks who posted your experiences with Sumo Springs. I had them put on at my local Ford dealer and I have to echo that it has made a world of difference in the way my 2017 Gemini TR handles. Interesting that I used to get a funny vibration sound when accelerating from a stop, just a second or two, and it's gone! I suspected it was the generator mount. Maybe raising 3/4 inch helped? Don't know, bit stability seems much improved. Best mod I've done so far. Thank you

Hobbes, Williamsburg, VA

[Bob Denman]

Congratulations!

[mountainsam]

Welcome to the forum Hobbes. Have you made any trips in the Gemini yet.

[Dennis123]

Originally Posted by Ptworld

Thanks for the insight.
It is irritating when it happens on the freeway with a posted speed of 75 and 2 lanes.

Although mine is 2018 the the dash is the same as the 2019 with the larger screen. I checked for Ford recalls based on the VIN and do not have any.

I did an online search for recalls for our 2018 and there was only one recall listed. When I took it in to our Ford dealer for this recall and my first oil change , there were 2 additional recalls. Moral of the story, if you want to make sure you are up to date on recalls, visit or call a ford dealer and have them look up your vin number for all recalls.

[Dennis123]

Last year was our first year for our Compass TK. We knew going in to expect some workmanship issues and the best course of action would be to correct them ourselves if they were easily correctable. I know these items are discussed frequently but curious as to what others have found and corrected themselves and maybe not brought up on here. To date ours are.

1. Dream Kitchen seat framing was cheap pine 1 x 2 stapled together and already coming apart. Bought less than $20 dollars of wood and stiffened up with screws and much better with a couple of hours of our labor. One of the seats has a large pull out drawer, the other seat had a solid top. Split the solid top and made it removable which gave us some additional storage space.
2. One corner of sun roof framing came loose and discovered the screw for this corner had no place to be inserted and they had glued this corner which did not hold. Was able to insert another small screw at a location on same corner where could be secured. One additional screw where there should not be, but does not really stick out.
3. Wiring underneath for sensors, etc dangling and could end up catching on something. Spent about an hour lying on my back with some cable ties and secured.
4. A few of the drawers were opening while traveling, but these just took a slight adjustment of the latches.

I know that some people tend to complain a lot about these type of issues, but we just took the stance that they are expected and we will deal with them as they come up.

We did about 6 trips last seasons and overall we really think this is a good unit and was exactly what we were looking for, for just the 2 of us.

[Hobbes]

Originally Posted by mountainsam

Welcome to the forum Hobbes. Have you made any trips in the Gemini yet.

Hi mountain Sam, yes, been to Maine, Gettysburg, several outer Banks trips, bolar mountain and local trips here in Williamsburg. Yes, I'm a lurker 😄. Love the Gemini. Bought it as my DW approaches retirement. It has been a trooper, but experiencing some discoloration on cap. Sounds as though I am not the only one out there on that though. Going to take it in this fall to have it addressed. Removed table storage to make room for more clothing (DW) and working on additional storage solutions for longer planned trips. Love the forum.

Hobbes, Williamsburg Virginia

[mountainsam]

Hobbes,

Did you get the finish protection on your Gemini? I have had a lot of discoloration on the cap. Warranty service has twice set a detailer to bring back the shine but looks like it will be a yearly process. Need someone tall with a long reach to buff it out. My joints are far too stiff. My sides are showing discoloration also even with twice a year waxing and buffing. I’ll probably be going the paint upgrade in a year or two.

[Ptworld]

I am going to have the Sumo Springs installed in the next few weeks. I am going for the max strength. Should I be?
Also what was the total cost? The springs are about $270 on Amazon.

We now are about one year of ownership and 17k + miles. We love the size of it and most of the Ford, we are just flat out amazed about how many fix it’s we have had to do. I reattached the “frame” around the skylight last week. It rattled like crazy and was falling out. They never screwed in the passenger side of the frame. Ace Hardware for screws.

[Mars8224]

I installed Sumo springs,bought on amazon. They are rated at 2800lbs .

[Ptworld]

Great thanks!

[paulwadley]

I bought Sumo springs for my Siesta 24 SS which is built on a Mercedes Benz Chassis. One of the best investments I made. Easy for me to install myself and made a huge difference in stability. Went on a 6700 mile trip for 5 weeks and noticed the difference passing trucks, going up/down driveways and not feeling the sideways wind blowing. No more rocking back and forth.

[Bob Denman]

Yup! Sumo Springs and Sprinters go together like peanut butter and jelly!