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HJ
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Tim,
In case you haven’t seen my comments on the clearance getting into my bus garage let me give you the bad news.
To get my bus into the garage I have to do the following.. First to clear the worst of the transition from the upslope of the driveway to the flat garage floor (the only level concrete on the entire driveway) I have to leave the rear of the bus at the driving height, but I have to raise the front to its maximum height. That keeps the belly of the bus from dragging over the “hump” as the driveway goes from its 29 to 34% slope to level at the garage.
I have to stop as the coach rear bumper is at the garage entrance and lower the rear of the coach all the way down. Note I am saying all the way down which means I have atmospheric pressure in the rear air bags. That combined with the raised front pivots the rear of the coach down as low as it will go. At that point I can begin backing into the garage because I have 1/2″ clearance between the top of the door opening and the rear spoiler on the top of the bus. The space is so tight I cannot get my fingers between the spoiler and the door opening trim.
To try to understand how steep the driveway is at that point, when the rear of the bus is at the garage door the mirrors that are 45 feet away from that point are still below the floor level of the garage. That means the bus bumper which is usually around knee level is now up so high it is almost above my waist.
Once I get the bus almost all the way in I stop and return the front height to the driving height or lower. I can back in with it fully raised, but if I forget to lower it the arm on the door chain track will hit the satellite when I close the door.
So even if I deed you the garage in my will you will either do some damage to your taller H3, or to the top of the garage door opening, or both. You could dig the concrete floor and part of the driveway down to provide the clearance but then you would have a pretty shallow pit, or you could raise the entire garage 12″, but without you buying a lower bus or modifying the garage or driveway the grease pit will be nothing more than a dream.
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Tim’s H is shorter in height than your XL2, 12′ 10″, so he can fit, but if he goes up your driveway in his toad before bringing the bus, you won’t have to worry about it. It’s scary……
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Guess I’ll have to smooch Tom to be in his will to use his bus barn…
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He is not there now so go ahead and use it.
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Have at it Tim, it’s empty.. Course there is no freaking power!
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Well, working Harvest right now, but something to keep in mind:)
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Harry if you’re thinking the work that Jeff has done to get your coach tip top shape and you won’t have anything to do, don’t worry. Just made a 1000 mile trip and pulled out like a King. No worries. Came back to bus barn late last night and have a list a mile long to try and get it road worthy for next trip. Some major enough to make me cry.
Insert frowning smiley face.
Good luck on your coach. I wish Jeff was closer. He would have to put in a designated “GLENS” parking spot. My name is on my Texas tags on coach.
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Hi Tim, I guess everyone knows but me… What do you mean by “working Harvest right now”?Hey Glen, What happened to your bus? I’ll admit I can easily understand a few tears over ones coach. Feelings can run high as your coach can become a very personal thing. And don’t forget expensive! I’ve not really had use of my coach and I feel that way.
A pucture was posted above of my bus at ETLC and it broke my heart seeing it leaning like it is. I don’t know if there’s something wrong or its that way for ease of entry? All I know is it’s a pitiful look for my baby!!!
So give it up Glen, what’s going on with your bus, did something bad happen on your trip?
Harry
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I’m guessing we all go through the same thing.
Every trip I take ends up with a piece of pad paper listing things I want to address before the next trip. The notes range from petty like replacing a light bulb or tightening a screw on a hinge to serious such as chasing down a noise associated with the engine or one of its accessories.
An older coach that has not yet reached a high standard of quality may have an extensive list, just like a new coach that is still experiencing bugs relating to infancy. But once a coach has been tested, massaged, loved on and tweaked the list gets pretty small and if maintenance is kept up it stays small.
From having caravanned with folks whose idea of maintenance was to check tire pressures I can say it will not take long before deferred maintenance items accumulate and the job of bringing a coach up to snuff becomes overwhelming.
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Harry,
I should have been more clear, but my wife and I go back to her family farm in Kansas for three months of the year to help out with Harvest … i.e., wheat, corn, soybean, etc. The other nine-months of the years, we’re in our bus.
As a “city boy,” I wouldn’t know about “harvest” either, until I worked on the farm driving a tractor or semi. Talk about hard work 🙂
My respects to those who farm full-time …
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Hi Tim, and thanks for the clarification. As it happens I do know harvest, as a boy growing up in Illinois our small town was ringed with farms. I worked on most of them from planting to harvest from the age of 10. There wasn’t a piece of equipment I couldn’t operate, horse I couldn’t ride or cow I couldn’t milk. And yes, it’s some kind of hard work! I was not too wild about it at the time but look back on it in great fondness! Especilly throwing hay bails up on a trailer sitting 4 feet off the ground! Did I just say fondness?I was reading not long ago about motorhome folks going to Colorado, Wyoming and Montana to work with the beat harvest etc. A paid endever as I remember the article.
You enjoy yourself Tim, I’m sure your wife and family enjoy your help and company!
Harry
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Nothing big as I thought. Have OTR air and usually check and charge myself but thought would just use the Cruisairs on the way down to Beach as I have developed a leak and will track leaks with nitrogen this fall in the OTR’. Got a couple hundred miles down and stopped to check things and Kubota gen set was a squealing and had already kicked out on electricity once. Motor still running just no juice. Restart and took off again. Shut down again and drove in the 95 degree heat to spot, hooked up to pole and back to barn. Started it this morning and it’s the big sucker/blower out the bottom thinga ma jiggy that’s a not working and squealing that colls the puppy. Easy fix. Also front cruiseair drain was stopped up and water everywhere and at the beach (Surfside Tx.) the humidity was about 110 percent.. Just the usual stuff that you fix one and 2 will break next trip. Hope it’s not fix 2 and double up 4 will break next time. You have a Prevost now Harry. You will find out these pleasures. One good thing with the 2 Stroke, is after getting blower seals replaced, the thing hasn’t used a drop of oil in 2 trips out and about 1000 miles. When they (seals) let go, it used about a gallon in 125 miles.
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Good to know things are not as bad as you thought. I’ve not had my bus long enough to know if it burns oil but I know it doesn’t leak oil. I know things can go wrong under the best of maintenance circumstances, all we can do is stay on top of it as best we can. I’m only 70 miles as the duck flies from Jeff at ETLC and plan to take my bus to him at the end of each season just to put a trained eye on it. Maybe in October when things slow down for them and they drop their prices by 50%.Jeff may not know about this discount so tread easy on your expectations! 🙂
Harry
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Harry,
The 8V92 does not leak – it “slobbers.” If you sit idling in your bus building you will eventually will see two distinct puddles of oil. The 8V has what are affectionally referred to as “Slobber Tubes, one for each bank of four cylinders.
Geez, never thought I’d craft a sentence with “affectionally” and “slobber” in one sentence! The puddles are not a problem, just get out the “Cat” litter to absord it.
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Harry,
For clarification you should always use “new” cat litter.
Doug
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