Facebook tips for members of Groups

If you belong to a Facebook group, there are some basic things that you should know how to do.  Here are a few tips to help you navigate in your Group.

Search for your answer (before posting your question!) 

Before you post a question (i.e. "What RV toilet paper should I use?"), take advantage of the Group Search feature.

1.  Find any place on the screen with the name of the group and click on it.  You can also go to your Shortcuts on the left side of your screen, find the group you want, and click its name.  In either case,  you'll be taken to the top of the group and will see the group photo.

2.  Find the box on the left-hand side of the page that has the words "Search this group" in it.  Type in the keywords for your search, like "toilet paper". NOTE: if you are using the Facebook app, the search bar is at the top of your screen.

3.  You'll see all posts that have words matching your search terms - and will likely be surprised at how many people have previously answered the question.

Follow a post

Interested in a particular post and want to get a notification when people respond?  You don't have to type "following" (which isn't really a response to the original poster).  Instead:

1.  Click on the caret (the "down arrow") in the top right corner of the original post.

2.  Select "Turn on notifications for this post"

Don't let people continue responding to your post

If you've posted a question and responses are getting out of hand or are moving away from your original topic, you may disable people's ability to comment.

1.  On your own original post, click on the caret (the "down arrow") in the top right corner of the post (see above).

2.  If you don't see an option to "Turn off commenting", then there's nothing you can do except contact an administrator and ask them to turn off comments for the post (see below).

3.  If you see the option, you may want  to make a final reply before you select the option to turn off commenting.  Perhaps something like "Thanks for all of your help everyone.  I have my answer and will go ahead and use 10-ply Charmin".  THEN go back and turn off commenting.

Reporting a Post (abuse, something "bad" or not appropriate for the Group)

1.  Click on the caret (the "down arrow") in the top right corner of the original post (see above)

2.  Select "Report Post"

3.  A screen will appear giving you some options.  Choose one and then select "Continue".

4.  On the next screen, you'll be presented with several other options to help deal with the problem.  Choose an item for more help or to take an action.

Find out who the Group Administrators are

1.  Go to the top of the page for your group by selecting the group's name anywhere you see it.

2.  In a column to the right of the messages, find the section that says "Add members"

3.  Select the link that shows the number of members.  It'll take you to a list of the members.

4.  At the top of the member list, it shows the total number of members and the total number of admins.  Select the number beside "Admins".

5.  You'll see the list of Group Administrators.

Electric slide out motor mounts: check the bolts!

I've said before that IRV2.com is probably the best site on the Internet for detailed RV information.  In a post to their Newmar Owner's Group on June 12, 2016, Ken "Stealth01" posted about a potentially disastrous situation related to loose bolts in slide out motor mounts. I don't usually re-hash articles in IRV2, but I feel like this is important enough to warrant more attention.

To paraphrase, Ken said that he heard a loud noise and his kitchen slide out stopped retracting. When he checked it out, he discovered that the four mounting bolts of the kitchen slide-out motor had broken out of the housing.  In short, further investigation and some discussions with some RV technicians led him to conclude that the bolts became loose and the high motor torque cased the casing to crack  - resulting in the other motor mounts breaking.  He checked all of his other slide out motors and found that they were all loose.

I didn't see Ken's post until about a week ago.  I read the replies to his post and just about everyone who checked their own rig found loose bolts. Even though Ken was posting about a Newmar coach, some responders said that other manufacturer's rigs also had the problem (Monaco and Entegra were specifically mentioned). Needless to say, I grabbed my ratchet set and headed out to investigate.

What I found surprised me.  While I didn't have any loose bolts, every one of the 16 bolts in my 4 electric slide out motor mounts needed tightening.  I don't own a torque wrench, so I just "hand" tightened them without over-tightening.

The last thing you want with your slide outs is a problem like Ken experienced, so it's important that you periodically check to ensure that your motor mount bolts aren't loose.  Some people suggested various methods to prevent it using things like Loctite.  For me, for now, I'm just adding a periodic check to my calendar.

The motors are usually accessed by opening a bay door under your slide and looking up to see a long rod with a motor on it (see photos above).   I have a 2015 Dutch Star.  The kitchen slide out has one motor, the bedroom has one, and the 27' full-wall slide has two. Each of the motors has four mounting bolts.

The kitchen and full-wall slides had easily accessible motors.  The bedroom slide motor had to be accessed by raising the bed, removing a single screw from the rear (nearest the headboard) carpeted "flooring" under the bed, and contorting a bit to reach it.

Thanks to Ken for posting his article, and to everyone who responded with great photos and tips.  I highly recommend you read his IRV2 post titled "Own A Newmar With Electric Slide Outs... Read This!"

Pick up your tools and go find your motors!  They're easy to tighten - and you may end up saving yourself a lot of time, aggravation, and money.

[Update!  It's mid-June 2017 and I'm at NIRVC in Lawrenceville, GA.  When I arrived for other service, the service advisor told me that Newmar has a recall for these.  They have replaced the standard nuts with Loctite's on all of my slide motor mounts.]