[Archived]

Jeff must run a heck of a place. Might have to add a bay or two. It’s good to hear these kind of accoades from a business.

[Alvie]

Going to be making the journey soon. Once football season is over we will make the treck. Congrats.

[Glenn]

You will not be disappointed.

[Davy]

I would like to add my great experiences at East Tennessee Luxury Coach to this thread.

I pulled out this morning after getting chassis work done there. They replaced air bags for the front and tag, and those were correct. But, I had fumbled the model number on the drive bag but got that figured out.

Also did brake shoes and e-brake chambers on the drive axle. The work was difficult due to the years and weathering of the fittings. There were some busted knuckles and some tag team work, but between Jeff, Josh, and Dan you know the job is going to get done.

I was welcome to watch and my questions were always patiently answered. Staying with the coach overnight is easily accomplished there. I was consulted as each job was finished and shown the work and they made sure I was happy and satisfied.

I even met Jeff’s Mom and Dad and they sure raised a hardworking and honest son! In addition to the kind of work I had done this time, remodeling with first class cabinet work is part of his operation too.

I think you will be glad you took your coach there, I sure was.

Russ – 99 Newell

[Michael]

One thing I am seeing more and more is that coach owners are very happy with the companies that are doing repairs and routine maintenance. That is a very good thing because when we all have confidence in our service provider it makes taking a coach for service far less stressful. You start out by knowing the work will be right.

But one thing I rarely see mentioned and this applies to owners as well as service providers is a recognition of the importance of having a managed service program. Our coaches suffer if maintenance is hit and miss. I learned even with me doing all my own work that the most critical part of what I do is to list all needed services and then track when they were last done, and when they are due. But even with that effort I know I cannot list everything so I have to log or note the non-scheduled repairs so I can track them also. An example is I just had to change my driver’s side tie rod assembly because both ends had play. The passenger side so far is tight, but now I will remember I need to closely monitor the passenger side because if the LH side failed, the RH is sure to follow. The point being is that if I were to jump around, and not entrust my maintenance program to one person who manages it, some things that need to be a part of it are likely to get ignored.

So If you like the work of ETLC or Tradewinds, or Coach Worx, sit down with them and work together to create a program for your coach. Let them advise you of not only routine maintenance requirements, but of scheduling preventive maintenance for items you want to replace before they fail like air bags or tires.

Then both you and the service provider can map out a program for visits for service that meet your respective schedules, and maybe even provide you with some savings by combining service tasks that make sense to do at the same time. There are so many rarely considered service events such as Transynd changes, coolant changes, power steering filter, differential grease change, etc. etc. that you can not only include those, you can add such related jobs such as Webasto hose changes with coolant changes so as long as the coolant is drained, you take advantage and change hoses.

This places an administrative burden on your service provider, but it also can help level his work flow with more long range planning of work to offset the surprises from someone needing an emergency repair.

That is today’s brain fart.

[Russ]

I’ll be back at Jeff’s ETLC next week for some A/C work. This will be my second visit there, and I “Ditto” the comments above!

Great place and great people!