I mentioned at the end of my last post that I had some repairs done to my truck after arriving here in MS. It’s an area that I believe needs to be stressed for people who are considering a fulltime RV lifestyle, or workamping as a career. Unless you’re already independently wealthy, you’ll need some emergency funds. When I started in 2006, I was able to pay cash for a 5th wheel and pickup truck after the sale of a house. That was great, from a financial standpoint, for several years. Now I have a new 5th wheel, along with monthly payments and the truck is 14 years old. I suspected that the motor would last a very long time and it has. But there are other components that wear out and need to be repaired or replaced. Just in the last 5 months, I’ve spent about $5k in truck repairs. The first big ticket item was a clutch replacement. I’ve owned manual transmission vehicles before but never had clutch repairs. It failed on I-29 heading to Fargo ND. I have roadside assistance for both the truck and the RV so that saved me a lot of towing fees. I was already planning to get the clutch replaced so I had a transmission shop in mind. They completed the repairs for about half the cost quoted to me previously by a Dodge dealer and in a fraction of the time.
Fast forward to my next job in TN. It was starting to get very cold at night. One morning the truck just wouldn’t start. My neighbor was heading in to work at the same time so I caught a ride with him. That night I walked to a nearby auto parts store and bought a battery charger. After 2 days of charging, the truck would still not start. I had jumper cables and a neighbor with a big truck so I was able to start the truck and drive back to the auto parts store for testing and 2 new batteries. Yep, my 1 ton diesel engine requires 2 batteries. With the cold weather in TN I made sure that my ventilation system in the truck stayed in the position to route some air towards the windshield and some on the floor. This was not as simple as it sounds since that system has been getting a little wonky the last few years.
On the drive to MS, it became impossible to change airflow and very difficult to change temperature so that was the next visit to a dealer. Sounds like a fairly simple fix but they had to remove the entire dash to complete the repairs. And of course, the parts were all make and model specific from Dodge. Translate to expensive.
Even through all this, I consider myself very lucky. For the last 4 months of 2019, I was working at high paying, seasonal, temp jobs (sugar beet harvest and Amazon) so I had the money to cover the repairs. The breakdowns happened either before I started work or when I was able to carpool with a coworker. In other circumstances, either of the first 2 incidents could have been disastrous. I did NOT miss any work due to the repairs. I did NOT have to pay high rates to camp while repairs were being made. I did NOT have to run a credit card balance or take out a loan for the repairs. I was able to get repairs done in a timely manner and stay safe on the road. Those last few sentences are for the folks who think fulltiming and workamping are cheap ways to live. It can be for a time but expenses WILL jump out at you when least expected. Please be prepared.