Freedom Elite 30FE Mods

[LandKO]

Originally Posted by LandKO

When we had our TT, I purchased a portable Surge Guard for our surge protection. I kept it when we traded the TT in for the motor home.
Attachment 19224
The Surge Guard was starting it’s 6th year and I decided to replace it with a internally mounted EMS.
I chose the Progressive Industries EMS-HW30C because it has been given a high rating by users and has the external display.
On my motorhome, the power cable and the transfer switch are located in a storage compartment just behind the generator and below the driver’s side slideout.
Therefore this seemed to be a logical place for the EMS too.
Attachment 19225
Attachment 19226
Attachment 19227
I have temporarily mounted the display next to the EMS box because I have yet to figure out a way to route the cable inside the motorhome without drilling a hole through the floor if possible. This part of the mod will have to wait until cooler temperatures in the fall.
I have also made an appointment at Quadra Manufacturing to have the Big Foot levelers installed. I will post photos of that when the time comes.

I was asked for additional information on how I went about cutting the original pedestal power cable and inserted it into the EMS box.



Hope this helps.

[Tedh388]

What model Recpro recliners did you use ? And any issues with hitting the table once open ? I see, and I figured that shelf had to come out. Just was afraid with the 3 inches iff wall that it would hit the dinette.

Ty

[LandKO]

Originally Posted by Tedh388

What model Recpro recliners did you use ? And any issues with hitting the table once open ? I see, and I figured that shelf had to come out. Just was afraid with the 3 inches iff wall that it would hit the dinette.

Ty

I used the RecPro Charles 67" Double RV Wall Hugger Recliner Sofa with Console.
Both seats recline just fine with no interference with the dinette. The footrest just clear the dinette seats. Just make sure the slide is extended first.
One note on the RecPro seats. Just shy of three years of use, the faux leather is peeling on both backrests. I’d recommend getting the cloth seats vs the faux leather seats.

[Tedh388]

Originally Posted by landko

i used the recpro charles 67" double rv wall hugger recliner sofa with console.
Both seats recline just fine with no interference with the dinette. The footrest just clear the dinette seats. Just make sure the slide is extended first.
One note on the recpro seats. Just shy of three years of use, the faux leather is peeling on both backrests. I’d recommend getting the cloth seats vs the faux leather seats.

thank you for help help!!

[LandKO]

Several months ago, I noticed that a large piece of rubber weatherstripping was tearing and hanging down below the passenger side slide out on my 30FE.



The purpose of this weather stripping appears to protect the wires in the slide as it moves in and out. The rubber is molded into a metal strip that is screwed to the underside of the slide. Replacing the weatherstrip assembly appeared to be very difficult as only 3 of the 5 screws were accessible even with the slide extended.
I decide to try and repair it instead. I removed the 3 accessible screws and thoroughly cleaned both the upper and lower surfaces of the rubber, I then purchased a rubber seal meant for the bottom of a garage door, cut it to size and then glued it to the upper side of the weatherstrip with clear gorilla glue, clamping in place until the glue set.

Once the glue had set, I reinstalled the three screws and applied black gorilla tape on the exposed surface to cover and protect the seam where the rubber had torn.

I did the over a month ago and so far it's holding up well

[Elite Washington]

Oh man, hopefully that does the trick! I swear the designer of these things are the devil! They either think nothing ever brakes. Or they just hate everyone that has ever had to work on something.

[LandKO]

Tis a new camping season. Therefore it was time for some new mods on our Freedom Elite 30FE.
The first was an easy but necessary mod.
The doors of the cabinets over the dinette would pop open while we were on the road. Speed bumps and right hand turns seemed to be the cause. When the doors popped open, the contents inside tended to fall out oh the floor. Luckily nothing broke, but messy nun the less.
I looked at installing cabinet latches but decided on something simpler.
I found some straps with snaps on Amazon. I had to trim the straps to the length I needed, but overall, it took less than 15 minutes to install them.
Our first trip of the season proved the concept works.







In the next day or so, I’ll post a mod I had been planning for over a year regarding the propane system.

[USMarineNCO]

Originally Posted by LandKO

Tis a new camping season. Therefore it was time for some new mods on our Freedom Elite 30FE.
The first was an easy but necessary mod.
The doors of the cabinets over the dinette would pop open while we were on the road. Speed bumps and right hand turns seemed to be the cause. When the doors popped open, the contents inside tended to fall out oh the floor. Luckily nothing broke, but messy nun the less.
I looked at installing cabinet latches but decided on something simpler.
I found some straps with snaps on Amazon. I had to trim the straps to the length I needed, but overall, it took less than 15 minutes to install them.
Our first trip of the season proved the concept works.
Attachment 41774

Attachment 41775



Attachment 41776

In the next day or so, I’ll post a mod I had been planning for over a year regarding the propane system.

I like it! I did this with cabinet magnets. So far they've held the cabinet doors closed even in the roughest of conditions. They're nicely hidden inside the cabinet so not to take away from the overall look. Got a pack of 20 on Amazon for less than 20 bucks.

[Elite Washington]

It’s good to be back into camping season and to modification season. What project are you working on next?

[LandKO]

At Christmas 2021, I asked for and received a propane extend-a-stay for our Freedom Elite 30FE.



The extend-a-stay allows for attaching an external propane tank to the system. This comes in handy during an extended stay at a campsite when the main tank runs low, thus preventing one to have to break camp to go and fill propane. You just connect an external tank and you are back in business.

However, when I went to install the device, which I thought would be a plug and chug task, I discovered that it was going to be a much more complicated operation than I was willing to start at that time.
I’ll briefly describe where the propane tank is located on our RV.
The tank is mounted just forward of the rear wheels on the driver’s side. The hose coming off the rear of the regulator curves inboard so it clears the rear tires by less than a foot.




By adding the extender in between the tank and the regulator would have left no room to mount a hose on the end.



Thor had originally mounted a mud flap forward of the rear tires presumably to protect the propane tank and its components from any road debris the tires might throw up.
While the top edge of the mud flap was securely fastened, the bottom of the flap was attached with a cheap sheet metal bracket using one fastener mounted to the sidewall of the RV and one fastener to the flap.
I discovered early on that the fastener attached to the side wall tended to work itself loose and would tighten it. However, after a long trip, I discovered that that fastener had fallen out, causing the mud flap to rub on the tires which resulted in this.



That’s why there is no flap shown in the previous photos.

I spent a lot of time thinking of the best way to install the extender, reroute the propane hose and still be able to reinstall a new mud flap.
The existing installation consists of a hose attached to a manifold under the RV. This manifold distributes propane to all of the appliances. The other end of the hose is attached to the regulator. All use 3/8” NPT pipe threads.
My plan was to use a 90 degree elbow at the regulator to route the hose up and over the tank. However, I couldn’t figure out how I could do this with using a fitting with pipe threads on both ends.
My solution was to install a brass 90 degree elbow with 3/8” NPT male on one leg attached to the regulator and 3/8” SAE male flare on the other leg . I then installed a 3/8” female NPT coupling on the loose end of the existing hose and then a 3/8” male NPT/ 3/8” SAE female swivel adapter into the coupling. The swivel allowed me to connect everything in the middle of the run.
I carefully used the proper (yellow) Teflon tape on all of the NPT threads.





Regarding the mud flap, I found a similar size/shape flap on Amazon and used the original damaged flap as a pattern to locate the top mounting fastener holes.
I then fabricated a mount for the lower flap using a piece of 1/16” steel flat that was laying around in my workshop. I attached the top end of the new bracket to a piece of frame under the RV and attached the lower end of the bracket to the flap using a machine screw, fender washer, washer, lock washer and nut.



This is what the flap looks like installed.




I’m sure my bracket will hold up much better than the one originally installed by Thor.

[silverturbo]

Hey LandKO. I made an account to tell thank you for sharing your RV mods. A lot of it has tremendously helped out. I hope you continue to share your great ideas! Happy camping!