A Simple Guide – Lubricating and Maintaining Your RV
Mark Polk is the leader in RV education. He gives some valuable insights on how to properly lubricate your RV through online RV training.
How Important is it to Lubricate your RV and Do I Need to lubricate my RV?
Lubricating your RV is one of the easiest preventive maintenance tasks you can perform as an owner. It’s often overlooked or forgotten, but it’s crucial for the longevity of your RV’s moving parts. Choosing the right lubricant is important. Make sure the lubricant is designed specifically for how you plan to use it. Caution: Read the label. The wrong lubricant can attract dust or dirt. Boeshield T-9 is a good example of an all-in-one lubricant for most of the needs on your RV that penetrates and displaces moisture and leaves a waxy film for lasting lubrication.
Should I Lubricate Slide-Outs?
Regular lubrication of slide-outs is crucial for smooth operation and longevity. It helps protect metal components from rust and corrosion, ensures smooth operation, and reduces wear by removing dirt and grime.
What needs lubrication on my RV?
Some things to lubricate on your RV include lock cylinders, hinge points on steps, entry doors, hinges, slideouts, window tracks, awning hardware, stabilizer jacks, and landing gear. If you tow a trailer, remember to lubricate the hitch components or tow bar . RV 101® NOTE: Professional Maintenance – If you own a travel trailer or fifth-wheel, it’s important to have the wheel bearings lubricated by a professional. Remember, regular lubrication is a simple yet effective way to maintain your RV.
How do I lubricate my RV?
Watch this video:
Mark says: One preventive maintenance task RV owners can do is lubricate the RV, but it is usually overlooked or forgotten. If you spend a few minutes lubricating the RV you can prevent problems with components later.
Our goal is simple, we want to make all of your RV experiences safe, fun and stress-free through our RV education resources.
Mark is an RVer and has a very extensive background in the RV industry. He began at age 15, washing RVs at a dealership in North Central Pennsylvania. It wasn't long before he was working as an apprentice RV technician under the guidance of the RV service manager. Mark then entered and served a full career as a Maintenance Warrant Officer in the United States Army. He managed the operation of the motor pool, where he not only had to understand vehicle maintenance, he had to teach young soldiers how to maintain and operate motor pool vehicles. These soldiers came to him from very different backgrounds, and their prior experience with heavy equipment and mechanical skills were similarly varied. Mark had to learn how to communicate with all of them clearly, concisely, and effectively, and he found that he had a talent for teaching. The Army agreed, and eventually he was asked to produce written instructional materials, including driver training manuals and operating procedures for motor pools.
When he retired from the Army in 1996, Mark went to work for an RV dealership in sales and service. He talked to customers about their needs and desires and helped them select the right RV for them. He inspected used RVs for trade-in, he serviced customer RVs, and he educated customers how to operate and enjoy their vehicles. As an RVer himself, through out the years, he has owned and used all the classifications of RVs (travel trailer, motorhome, pop up, 5th wheel and truck camper). He even restored from the ground up, a 67 Yellowstone travel trailer. It became clear to him that there were limited resources available to RV owners who wanted to learn more about how to maintain and operate their vehicles. Owners’ manuals provide limited information, and most consumers find them confusing.
Anecdotal information learned around campfires from other RV owners is incomplete and can be unreliable.
Mark realized that he had the knowledge and teaching ability to fill that gap, and so in 1999, he began writing articles and books about how to choose, buy, maintain, repair, and operate a variety of RVs. To date, he has authored more than 500 educational videos, 15 e-books, 3 paperback books, and more than 1,600 articles educating millions of RVers. His best-selling book, entitled The RV Book, has sold over 50,000 copies to date.
Mark's first priority is the safety of his audience. To Mark, this means anticipating the risks and challenges RVers will encounter when following his instructions, ensuring that the information he provides is complete and accurate, and providing enough information so that his audience can make informed decisions about when to tackle maintenance tasks themselves and when to take their vehicles to professionals.
His second priority is his audience’ empowerment. He sends his students out onto the road with confidence that they are equipped, prepared, informed, and ready to enjoy themselves.Producing material that achieves those goals is a very difficult thing to do. RVs come in a bewildering variety of different types, makes, models, and vintages, and when Mark writes about tasks such as winterizing a water system, as we know there are many ways to winterize an RV, his instructions, need to guide his readers through the process regardless of which RV his reader happens to own.
Like his soldiers, his RV students come to him with widely disparate levels of expertise, experience, talent, and motivation, and his instructions must speak to all of them. Mark’s writing and video presentations are accurate and comprehensive. It is also clear, concise, and easy to understand. He breaks complex, intimidating tasks down to easy steps.
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