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Old 08-12-2016, 06:49 PM   #1
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: Synergy 24MB
State: Arizona
Posts: 29
THOR #5093
New-to-us 2016 ACE 27.1 owner

Here is my story!

I really liked the 2014 ACE 27.1 (5,000 miles) at one dealer but kept looking on-line. Found a used 2016 (2,500 miles) for only $230 more and thought that was a good deal. So we took the plunge, bought it and sold our pop-up! The 2016 has a few more welcome changes than the 2014 (larger kitchen sink, new style windows and probably more items that I’m not aware of.)
We bought it at Camping World in Hanover, PA. After reading the comments about CW on this site I’m wondering if we will be satisfied. I’ve got a call into them about manuals for the appliances, generator, water pump, and other items. We’ll see if they come through. We haven’t picked it up yet because they are putting the tow bars on the 2014 manual shift Corolla that we just bought because our other cars are not 4 wheel down towable.
I have been viewing a lot of videos on the RVGeeks site and have learned a lot. I’ll be checking the Thor Forum for more helpful hints. When we pick it up, hopefully next week, we will camp at a local campground with full hook ups to try it out. Then in later August we will dry camp at Shenandoah National Park. That will be the real test.

Kathy - Retired DoD civilian
and my hubby, Elliot - basketball and soccer referee

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Old 08-12-2016, 08:38 PM   #2
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: A.C.E. 27.1
State: New York
Posts: 23
THOR #4585
Our 2015 1/2 ACE 27.1 is "new to us" this summer too

We really like the layout

We found out that the order for deploying slide/leveling jacks is:

Slide Out then leveling jacks down; Slide In then leveling jacks up!

Otherwise the slide won't extend &/or the door will bind. LOL

Best wishes, your fellow 27.1 owner

Suze
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Old 08-12-2016, 09:45 PM   #3
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: Synergy 24MB
State: Arizona
Posts: 29
THOR #5093
Oh dear!

The walk through and the manual said to turn the engine on and put the jacks down and then engage the slide out.

Do you use the auto jacks down feature?

What to do! Any other ACE 27.1 owners out there?

Thanks.

Kathy
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Old 08-13-2016, 02:02 PM   #4
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: A.C.E. 27.1
State: New York
Posts: 23
THOR #4585
Jacks and slide ACE 27.1

Hi
We had no trouble extending the slide until we tried to put the auto level jacks out firstk, then everything didn't work!

Putting the slide out first, and then the jacks works fine. Maybe it's idiosyncratic to our unit but with the huge slide it makes sense to us to do what works. We spent well over an hour trying to figure out why our slide would not deploy - scared that we we looking at a huge repair - but tried raising the jacks and the slide deployed perfectly! Since then, for us, it's slide out, jacks down - slide in, jacks up.

I'd be curious if anyone else had had experience with the 27.1 slide/jacks order being opposite of the manual?

Suze
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Old 08-13-2016, 02:30 PM   #5
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: ACE
State: Florida
Posts: 76
THOR #698
We always level, with the engine running, before putting out the slide. I think if you are not level, the slide may bind or something else.
We have a 2014 27.1for over 3 years and we are gone usually over 130 days a year and love it.
Get on line with Lippert and what ever appliances, electronic, etc you have web pages. I down loaded everything on how to do PM, what to do when something does't work or what ever. I like having all the info readily available. If something goes wrong and if you don't have Internet and frustrated, all the info is just a click away.
Check the bin where the slide controller is placed. Mine was place in the bin with all of the leads facing up. Thor left a gap in the foam they used in the hole for the wires that go into the bin. Water got into the bin and the controller and water and electronics don't work well together. Luckily the slide was in when it stopped working. We had to spend several nights with the slide in before the replacement came in. Look on the Internet as I saved about 200 bucks from not ordering from Lippert. By the way Lippert was very helpful in explaining in detail what I needed to do. The replacement went in with the wires facing down.
Have fun and safe travels.
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Old 08-13-2016, 03:05 PM   #6
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: A.C.E. 27.1
State: New York
Posts: 23
THOR #4585
Thanks for the heads up re Ace 27.1 slide/levels

Wow-
Thanks so much for posting

We were wondering about the "big foot" things for the bottom of the leveling jacks? But we will have to try again to level, slide out etc. If it still is a problem we may have to have the dealer take a look.

Really glad you jumped in to correct me as I don't want to be saying the wrong thing.

Anything else us 27.1 newbies should know that's specific to the model?

Safe travels
& many thanks,

Suze
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Old 08-13-2016, 03:07 PM   #7
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: A.C.E. 27.1
State: Texas
Posts: 64
THOR #2240
Morning,
x2 on what Ed_Helen said. Level 1st then put the slide out.
Had the same problem with the controller (water fried it) on the way home from picking it up!! Moved the replacement to the inner wall of the bin away from the cable hole into the wheel well.

Put a catch on the sliding pantry door before it smashes into the opposite cupboard...

Get it aligned straight away and check tire pressures. Then look into the CHF front and rear.

Check out the threads about the tail lights leaking (before the rear wall turns to mush from water ingress, I removed the lenses, throw away the useless foam gasket, seal the black plastic bulb holder to the the body using silicon then reattach the lens cover.

With the power OFF. Check that the cable connections in the black box (Transfer switch) under the seat are very tight and well insulated from each other (behind the converter area), there has been a spate of electrical fires due to loose wires).

Quickly check that the nuts holding on the wiper blade arms are tight, if loose they can round off the splined shafts.

Sorry didn't mean to make a lists... just a few thoughts.

Have a great time, love ours... but she is a high maintenance girl
Rgds
Tex.
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Old 08-13-2016, 03:24 PM   #8
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: A.C.E. 27.1
State: Texas
Posts: 64
THOR #2240
Sorry, thinking more about this..
If you haven't yet paid/signed on the dotted line. See if you can arrange to spend the night in it before that. Full hook ups and run the genny, try EVERYTHING draws, lights, awning, slide, shower, drop down bed, windows, all 120V appliances etc. Make sure they show you all operating procedures, hooking up sewer hose from underneath bay, some access holes are misaligned and a B**itch to connect. Might save alot of heart ache in the long run.
Just a thought..
Tex.
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Old 08-13-2016, 04:03 PM   #9
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: Synergy 24MB
State: Arizona
Posts: 29
THOR #5093
Thanks for the tips!

Thanks to all who have replied! I hope Thor fixed the controller in the bin by 2016! I'll look.
We had a thorough walk through and I tried everything that they showed us. We will pick it up next Wednesday and go immediately to a full service campground to try everything.
I'm hoping that when we leave I will be able to clean out the tanks properly, especially the black water tank. I've seen videos that were posted elsewhere on the forum about this and it looks like it takes a lot of water to clean it out and you need to do it several times to really clean it.

On thing...do you keep the grey tank draining while you are camping and then let it fill the day before you leave to help clean out the hose? Or do you just keep it closed and clean it our when needed?

Thanks again.
Kathy
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Old 08-13-2016, 06:21 PM   #10
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Brand: Still Looking
Model: Nexus Viper 27V
State: Georgia
Posts: 1,666
THOR #2142
Kathy,

I do not have the same unit as you do so this may not apply 100%:

For me, the more water I have to rinse out the "stinky slinky" after flushing/opening the Black water tank the better. On our Vegas 24.1 I have never (yet) had to dump the gray water due to being too full prior to leaving a campsite...but we are still just doing little 3 day trips (curse of the working man).

Also, unless all your input into the gray water tank have p-traps in the line you might get some nasty sewer gasses up thru the gray water tank if you leave it open all the time.

Doc
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Old 08-13-2016, 08:25 PM   #11
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: 2015 Vegas 24.1
State: Pennsylvania
Posts: 1,468
THOR #2601
Do not leave the drain valves open. Let the gray tank fill, then empty. Dump the black tank first, then the gray. That way the gray water flushes the nasty out of the sewer hose. Also use black tank treatment every time after you dump. Use the black tank treatment pods. After you empty the black tank, drop one down the toilet and flush with a gallon or two of water. The treatment helps dissolve solids and sanitized the tank.
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Old 09-07-2016, 12:40 PM   #12
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Brand: Thor Motor Coach
Model: Synergy 24MB
State: Arizona
Posts: 29
THOR #5093
Update: ACE 27.1: trying it out!

We've had two trips in the ACE. The first one was with full hookups about 45 minutes away from the dealer. We did fine with help from other campers. The main problem was disconnecting the car from the MH. We had a Roadmaster installed but it was binding, couldn't get pins out. We think it has to do with the way you put the pins in. If they don't go in easily, move the pins around until they do go in easily. We'll see.
Our second trip was to a national park boondocking. We did okay with this trip until we had to move to another space because we decided to stay another day. The new space was not as level and when we pushed the auto level, 3 tires were off the ground. We looked around the campground at other MHs and saw one with all 4 tires off the ground! They tried to help us but we figured that the jacks in the front were not long enough and we should have put those orange things under them. We were so tired of fooling with it that we didn't use the levelers. The slide out worked fine and the screen door closed. When the tires were off the ground the door wouldn't close so we knew something was wrong.
Both times after our trips we stopped by the dealer to fix the things we noted.
We have another trip coming up in October with full hook ups.
Thanks to all of you for your helpful hints and to the campers who helped us out.
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