Velvac

[Bill Heffernan]

Welcome to June. We were up in Hood River, OR last weekend. For anyone that has been up there, they will have seen the extremely narrow bridge that crosses the Columbia River. We had the unfortunate timing to cross over on Memorial Day at the same time as a large semi. It was a bad situation for both vehicles, as our mirrors crossed damaging both. I've ordered the replacement, but noted that the new mirror does not come with a camera. Does anyone know if it is a fairly straightforward process to transfer the existing camera to the new mirror? Thanks!

[Scott Shearer]

Bill,

Yes, the Hood River bridge is very narrow. It’s spooky enough to meet a big rig on that bridge while driving a car. I much prefer crossing the Columbia 20 miles up the road at The Dalles, and there’s no toll.

It’s been a while since I had my cameras off, but here’s what I remember.

Before you start, spray everything well with PB Blaster or a similar lubricant.

There are two allen head screws that will need to be loosened so that the camera can be removed. One screw is on the front (thick) end of the wedge piece, and one is on the bottom of the wedge (thinner part of the wedge, I think).

Loosen the allen head that is on the front of the wedge and rotate the camera head to expose the allen head that is on the bottom of the wedge. Loosen the bottom screw and the whole camera assembly should drop down a little. You should now be able to work the assembly out of the mirror arm. The bottom allen screw is attached to a cam that holds the wedge tight to the mirror arm. You might have to rotate this cam to release the wedge from the mirror arm.

Remove the amber marker light from your new mirror arm and install the camera in its place.

There are some images on Monacoers forum that might be helpful. Google ‘Monacoers: Cameras for Velvac mirrors’. Go to page two and scroll down.

-Scott

[Joel Ashley]

I had a similar situation when our old Pace Arrow was new, on a steel girded Snohomish (I think) bridge in Washington.  To avoid an oncoming truck I snuck to the right a bit and that mirror snagged a bridge component.  the mirror had a fiberglass body, had a small dent in it, and wobbled a bit around its slightly shredded base, but mostly it was my pride that got hammered.

As to Velvac mirrors, I had auxiliary cameras added to our left and right lower cap when we bought Monty Rae, so I can't speak to mirror-mounted ones.  But I elected to move my drivers side mirror inward a few years ago to better clear the fence next to our home pad.  Prior to that, I'd have to hold down the air-up button while maneuvering in and out of the side yard, so the mirror would pass over the top of the fence.  The mirror can pivot at its cap mount, or at its head.  After a rather confounding issue described below, I eventually discovered, with some surprise, that I can see to the coach rear side and traffic just as well with the mirror rotated further in than with it hanging way out in harm's way.  Just loosen the set screws accordingly and make combination adjustments.

The problem was the Allen/set screws that held the mirror in place had corroded and seized.  I tried remover tools, but ended up drilling one out;  no easy or speedy task, given the small diameters involved and trying not to ding female threads in the process, or break off a small diameter drill bit.  It took days, a lot of patience, and failed penetrating fluid/micro-hammering sessions before resorting to drilling.  Ultimately I got one out intact, and another required resetting the female threads, thorough metal dust cleanout, lubing inner movable parts, and a new screw placed with anti-rust anti-seize products.  Chrome hole covers/caps were hard to get and poorly fit, so at our local Ace I found chromed plastic plugs that fit very well and except for not screwing in with a screwdriver slot, look little different;  should they ever fall out, I have spares and they aren't expensive.

Joel

[Bill Heffernan]

Thanks for guidance. Very helpful.

Yep - going over with just passenger vehicles wasn't too bad, with a semi coming at me - scary. If we are ever in that area again, we will go the long way. It's crazy that they haven't replaced that bridge. 

Thanks again.

[Roy Warren Co-Admin]

I don't believe I have been over that bridge, but I have been over some very narrow bridges and I always pull over to the side before getting onto the bridge to make sure no big rigs are coming at me.  I wait and even backed up traffic to make sure I could cross safely.  Remember, you are important and your family is more important so be safe.
Roy Warren

[Joel Ashley]

Both the Hood river and The Dalles bridges are relatively narrow.  I've crossed at Biggs Junction to Maryhill Park with no issues, but then traffic is lighter there, with the caveat that there may be a higher percentage of trucks in that minimalist traffic.  I've crossed The Dalles one, but late at night when there was no traffic at all. 

As you know, the nation's infrastructure update/repair bill was approved a couple of years back, but unfortunately pared down enough to not replace every inadequate bridge that we'd all like.

Joel