I'm Broke Down Post!

[Chopper Scott]

I do have to laugh Cliff! My first house out of school was a 10 by 50 foot trailer house......and I could barely afford the rent on  that!!! I would be the envy on this forum if I had a 120X 50 foot bus!!!  I ride motorcycles all over and when one breaks down it sucks and costs unless one can fix it by himself. Sometimes parts are 2 days away. At least I can rent a pickup and throw the bike in the back and get home. Busses on the side of the road are a whole bigger ball game. Still worth it.

[Ed Hackenbruch]

We have put on about 35-40 thousand miles on our 5A in the last 8 years. Once in Salt Lake City we started having a problem with the compressor, got it fixed in Ridgefield Wa. ( It was the governor). At the same time i had them change the tranny over to transynd and they found a rear wheel seal starting to leak and fixed it too.  Last fall i stopped at a shop on the way south to have a front wheel seal fixed that had been leaking. At the same time i had new front wheel bearings, seals, studs, and brake shoes put on both wheels. During the 6 months that we spend in Yuma in the winter is when i do my service and repair/upgrade projects.

[RnMAdventures]

I tried to modify my last post and ended up reposting. Sorry about that.

[boxcarOkie]

Good reading, insightful, best I have seen all week.

Possibly related:

This Old Bus

BCO

[robertglines1]

I like that BCO  !!!!  But if we all had new we would be one of them----- and wouldn't need this forum. .     Doing the best I can with what I have.   Bob

[luvrbus]

I would not worry to much about Don's problem when Sonnie get finished he can tow a tank and won't need a diet

good luck

[bevans6]

I have about 12,000 miles in two season on my bus, this year has been zero miles.  If you define a breakdown as half an hour on the side of the road while you figure out what to do - happened twice.  If it's you have to fix something important during the trip - same two.  If you mean stranded and can't continue till you are fixed - none!

I had the nut that holds the alternator pulley come off.  Trashed the pulley, needed a new one which took the best part of two weeks to sort out.  I was on the second leg of a 3,000 mile trip, and in the heart of Montreal on the side of a 10 or 15 lane highway.  I took the pulley off, took the belts off, started the bus and carried on, the rest of that 1,000 Km leg over two days.  No problem, but might have been if I had to run the lights.  I drove during  the day.

On the way home the solenoid on the starter jammed on, and my starter motor ran for around 2 hours.  I finally noticed, pulled over, and hitting it with a hammer un-jammed it.  It still worked, I drove to the next big truck stop, I had a spare starter so I had it changed in the local school bus shop by a couple  of really nice guys, and carried on.  I could have changed it myself, but it was raining out and I was grateful that they were willing to do it, for the $65 they charged me!

That's my tale of woe...

Brian

[boxcarOkie]

I would not worry to much about Don's problem when Sonnie get finished he can tow a tank and won't need a diet

good luck

We have already discussed it (as you more than likely are aware of) and changes are in the works.  One thing has already happened, that was the replacement of the air bag.  The old bag, which held up pretty well (was rubbed out by the tire sidewall) has been replaced with a Goodyear unit (somewhat larger) and that got us home.  I sent Sonnie some ten pictures of the undercarriage and setup, we will get it fixed.

One more thing I am doing is draining the aux. fuel tank, and instead of carrying full capacity I am going to hold about 100 miles in reserve (12 or so gallons) to pull some of the weight off of it.  The trailer is history, at 4600 lbs it is too heavy and will no longer be used for the long haul, even after corrections are made. 

One more item for the estate sale.

BCO

[boxcarOkie]

I do have to laugh Cliff! My first house out of school was a 10 by 50 foot trailer house......and I could barely afford the rent on  that!!! I would be the envy on this forum if I had a 120X 50 foot bus!!!  I ride motorcycles all over and when one breaks down it sucks and costs unless one can fix it by himself. Sometimes parts are 2 days away. At least I can rent a pickup and throw the bike in the back and get home. Busses on the side of the road are a whole bigger ball game. Still worth it.

My old harley dropped a lifter just north of Flagstaff on highway 89, I was there for a couple of hours, reading my owners manual, which is good, it gave me time something to do until someone showed up to "tell me how to fix it."  He was on a Triumph by the way.

BCO

[boxcarOkie]

I have about 12,000 miles in two season on my bus, this year has been zero miles.  If you define a breakdown as half and hour on the side of the road while you figure out what to do - happened twice.  If it's you have to fix something important during the trip - same two.  If you mean stranded and can't continue till you are fixed - none!

I had the nut that holds the alternator pulley come off.  Trashed the pulley, needed a new one which took the best part of two weeks to sort out.  I was on the second leg of a 3,000 mile trip, and in the heart of Montreal on the side of a 10 or 15 lane highway.  I took the pulley off, took the belts off, started the bus and carried on, the rest of that 1,000 Km leg over two days.  No problem, but might have been if I had to run the lights.  I drove during  the day.

On the way home the solenoid on the starter jammed on, and my starter motor ran for around 2 hours.  I finally noticed, pulled over, and hitting it with a hammer un-jammed it.  It still worked, I drove to the next big truck stop, I had a spare starter so I had it changed in the local school bus shop by a couple  of really nice guys, and carried on.  I could have changed it myself, but it was raining out and I was grateful that they were willing to do it, for the $65 they charged me!

That's my tale of woe...

Brian

Minor issues, most of us can handle.  It is the big things that really bring it home.  Last year, I had the same thing, alternator, jumped around it with a pair of alligator clips, and ran it over 700 miles on the genset and completely bi-passed it.  Fixed it when I got home.

This trip it was the drivers heat (Suburban heater) took off the plate, unplugged it (blew out the electrical connections with a can of compressed gas $7.99 Radio Shack), hit the reset and nothing.  Tapped it with the blunt end of a screw driver and she fired right up!

Go figure .....

BCO

[boxcarOkie]

I like that BCO  !!!!  But if we all had new we would be one of them----- and wouldn't need this forum. .     Doing the best I can with what I have.   Bob

I would like to see the "out-takes" from this Old House sometime, I would venture they are a real hoot.

BCO

[uncle ned]

The worst breakdown on the road was me. We were camping at the Pickwick Dam on the Tennessee river in west Tenn. At about 2:00 o'clock in the morning someone started to jump up and down on my chest. Rode 12 miles up the road to Savanna Tenn. in a EMT vehicle and then about 80 miles in a helicopter.

one of the good thing was my wife and son got the bus to the parking lot and security put her right in front of a door that led to the room that i was in. It was nice and every one treated my family great.

The bad thing was waking up to see two devils in the room. I thought I had went the wrong way.
great busnuts.

The old GM has never failed to get me home. sometimes half running but always a great adventure.


uncle Ned

[RnMAdventures]

Most of my miles have been in the 1958 4104 that I had. I only took two trips in it, but i drove it monthly in the area. When I first got it I drove in home and took my inlaws at the time for a ride. I pulled up to a stop light and the throttle stuck down. I had no idea what was going on. I went to the back of bus opened the engine door and stared at it and it was ROARING. I went back to the front and stomped the peddle a couple of times and it freed up. On a another adventure on a trip around the block was when one of the brakes cam'd over. One time I was making a left turn in the middle of an innersection and it just died. I hit the starter once and it sounded like the batteries were weak. Cars on all sides of me, and I was about to stress out and I hit hte starter button again and it came to life. The switches were not getting a good connection due to the age and lack of use. As I saw things along the way I read about how common some of it was. I owned that bus for about three years.

On a side note, we purchased a 1997 33' Coachmen earlier this year. It was a two owner RV and had been very well maintained. It only had 26k miles on it. Within two months the transmission had blown a front seal and burnt up the transmission, at night in the middle of nowhere, and my whole family was with me. That was a $500 cab ride, $3000 transmission, and the wrecker driver dinged the front of the RV when he picked it up. After the transmission had been fixed, I went back to Corpus and drove it home and it had a blowout on an external rear tire and it took out the panel around the tire. I got it home, fixed the panel around the tire and sold it on craigslist. I owned that RV about 4 months.

[artvonne]

  One of the reasons, perhaps the main reason I wanted a Bus, was what I found to be a very difficult time finding anyone willing to work on a S&S motorhome. In Minnepolis there were several dozen RV centers, but none wanted to work on the chassis. Truck stops work on trucks, some do Buses, most wont do anything else. Same with truck repair centers. I've learned the south is a bit different, people are easier going and more willing to help down here, but there is still that problem. As many truck places will work on a Bus, as will many Bus companies, its almost a no brainer.

  I can do a lot of my own work, but when your on the road you cant do everything that you could do if you were home. Knowing you can get help in the off chance you may need it is a lot of peace of mind.

  The flip side is what would happen if you had a engine problem in a S&S? Most are built around the chassis, pulling the engine would be excruciatingly difficult. Ive looked at the Cummins/Allison in our Bounder, and I cant imagine the level of labor that would entail its removal, and im pretty sure the labor would exceed its current value if you were paying for it. I'm also pretty sure it was never meant to be repaired. At least with a Bus we know up front the max failure (engine) will be somewhere between $5K to $10K. On a S&S diesel pusher the same failure could possibly double or tripple that amount.

[rip]

When I had my problems with my 8v92 last year,water in oil,shop rate for rv was $100.00 an hour.Bus was $65.00 an hour.
  Don