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Setting the camber angle of the trailer in Eugene


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Even though I do (and have to do) a lot of maintenance on our trailer it seems that technical issues are popping up once in a while. Now we have one which came quite unexpected after rebuilding the whole wheelbase of the camper (including leaf springs, axles and hubs) by a professional. After about 2000 miles we noticed a very unusual tire wear on one of the wheels. Interestingly it is the same wheel that caused our three day "wilderness weekend" in Alaska and the same tire was flat before once due to a small piece of bone. All three incidents happened in the USA and not in Canada if that means anything.

So after calling at least ten RV repair shops and visiting randomly two in person (none of them had the expertise or the time to do it) we were told to go to Kaisers in Eugene. I called them and explained our situation being on the move and they were very kind to squeeze us into their busy schedule. We were able to sleep at their place in our trailer and the next day they promised to check and fix our trailer.
So it happened and the process is quite interesting. Unlike on a car you can not adjust anything on the trailer's wheels with wrenches. Instead they used a big and powerful machine to bend the axles with powerful, quick, and frequent hits to the right arch to achieve the right camber for the wheels. The work was done by the evening and we spent the day in Eugene.

We visited Skinner Butte Park which is a steep hill near the Willamette River in the middle of the town. The landmark honors city founder Eugene Skinner.

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During the early 1920s, the city's Ku Klux Klan members etched the letters "KKK" into the side of the butte and installed a cross near the top. Local Klan members were said to have burned the cross during meetings. The letters were removed and replaced with the letter "O" in the late 1920s. The cross was replaced several times since the Klan first erected it. However, the cross wasn't permanently removed until 1997. Eugene grew to be a recognized national stronghold for the KKK through the 1950s.

Afterwards a concrete cross was installed on Skinner Butte in late November 1964. The cross has been the subject of litigation since the time it was erected. In 1969, the Oregon Supreme Court held that the cross violated both the federal and the Oregon Constitutions because it was erected with a religious purpose and created the inference of official endorsement of Christianity. As a result of the 9th Federal Circuit's ruling in August 1996, the cross was removed in 1997 and reinstalled at Eugene Bible College. A flagpole flying an American flag was erected in its place on the butte. (Source: wikipedia)

The rest of the afternoon we enjoyed the fairly new playground, RiverPlay Discovery Village Playground in the park and the highlight of the day for our kids was when we returned to the repair shop for our trailer. In the waiting room there was a small popcorn machine which was fired up with the agreement of the owner and we watched and enjoyed as popcorn was made.

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We left in the evening and unusually drove in the dark to our next stop, about 1,5 hours to Riddle, to Shamrocks Coctail Bar. We badly needed a strong drink after all these tech issues but this is another story.

Posted by divatmotoros 07:46 Archived in USA

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