[Richard]

I traveled over to Bestgenman's shop this week to gain some professional assistance with replacing the hard rubber mounts on my genset with airbags. I did not like the low frequency vibration that came through the flow and the bed while the genset was running.

Gordon (Bestgenman) was a fantastic host and has quite a facility for fabricating about anything you could ever conceive. I did get a few elementary lessons on using a mill, hydraulic shears, and other proper ways of metal fabrication. It was a far cry from a hand drill, hacksaw, and hammer that I normally use.

Anyhoo, the install greatly reduced the vibration. While we were at it, Gordon showed me many ways to reduce the noise coming from the genset. I'll have to say that what I learned from a professional is that the noise reduction is not one thing. In addition to noise abatement materials, you have to find and seal every opening to the gen box. It was a pretty amazing demo to hear how much noise escapes from a 1/8 gap around the top of the gen door.

I won't list a step by step or list part numbers because honestly the process involves fabricating custom motor mounts to keep the ride height of the gen the same as it would be with the stock rubber mounts. It is not a project for the squeamish.

As we were reinstalling the gen into the coach, I ran into an issue that is funny now, but not so much at the time. When I slid the gen all the way in for a test fit. It locked with the safety catch like it is supposed to. First I forgot about the catch, so I spent thirty minutes tugging on something that wouldn't budge. Then when I remembered the catch, it would not release. A slightly firmer pull resulted in pulling the cable loose from the catch. Oops! Well maybe I said something slightly different. Lucky for me the front door was off the genset, so Gordon suggested that the catch could be released using the old credit card in a door lock trick. After fabbing a 8 foot long chisel, the catch released.

Now, how to put it right? All of the wiring was in place by now, it is a chore to take it loose. So I pulled the gen out as far as I could using a pallet jack and the picture shows my scrawny butt in the compartment.     I went in backwards over and around the gennie. It was a tight squeeze. What I discovered in the compartment was a misalignment between the cable attachment and the lock that had existed since day one. It was a matter of time before it jammed. So after a couple of misfires that was connected and all was well.