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Trip planning…did we miss the sign ?
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Hi Tom, That had to be a pain and I’m sorry for that. I went back in to delete them and found I could delete the text data and not the post so I left it alone. As I said earlier, I have no idea how it happened. The only thing I can think of is I made the post through my iPhone. That shouldn’t make a difference but is the only thing I can think of that may have flipped the magic twanger!
Again I apologize… You work with Jon and no one should be put through more!
Harry
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OK boys and girls. Each of us have experiences with low clearance objects. Now a railroad bridge is an obstacle none of us wants to become up close and personal with anytime soon. In 2013 following the Open at Merion, PA we were heading to a campground near Three Mile Island. No the ground did not glow at night and the fish were pratically normal. On the way we had the address of the campground and were following signs. Our problem was the only sign for the low railroad bridge was posted at the bridge as was the first photo in the posting. Now having been an NCDOT Division Traffic Engineer for 15 years and been in the engineering profession since January 1971, no don’t you go doing the math on that, Signs are supposed to be posted on the roadway BEFORE the turn onto the low clearance road. Now this does not always happen, especially in regressive states that shall remain nameless. There is also supposed to be a signed detour route for vehicles that exceed the low clearance limit. Well that doesn’t always happen when you have some hayseed municipality involved in deploying signs. So we make our left turn and sure enough about 1/3 of a mile ahead I can see the railroad bridge and it does not have enough height to pass beneath it. Pulled over to the curb, fortunately no cars parked there, got one resident scared as she had never had one of those big things park in front of her house before. I called the local police and entered into a discussion of sign placement and why a sign is an absolute necessity before a vehicle makes that final turn placing them in possible contact with a bridge girder. I was fortunate as the train station was on the smae side of the bridge as I was and it had a bus loop in front. I unhooked the towed vehicle and made a u-turn in the municipal bus loop, then drove on to the campground using the street I had passed that had enough clearance for any large vehicle that wasn’t an oversize load. So damage avoided.
Now if you want to see a compilation of vehicles ripping off their roofs google this: 11foot8.com. A person with a corner office has set up a video surveilance camera and puts crsh video on the wbesite. Veyr entertaining. Many of the vehicles are rental box vans. The renters either can’t read or have no clue of the box height. The NCDOT has not installed a preemption sequence triggered by a height sensor that turns the traffic signal red so the operator of the over height vehicle can read the warnings.
Apologize for the long wordy post.
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I was going to post the 11foot8 also. I enjoy their videos.
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Here is the hot link…….
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I would like to make fun of those guys who hit low bridges, but with the excitement I face every time I back into my garage with 1/2″ clearance if I do everything absolutely right I don’t dare.
Sure as Hell if I do that the next time I try to enter or leave my garage I will pay for making fun of someone.
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Jon,
I have not seen your driveway. I am almost certain it does not have the number of signs and other devices to tell you of your clearance.
As for the 11foot8.com drivers, they are proving that no amount of information, in any form, can educate those that are idiots. Now remember, the idiots that shear off the top of whatever they are driving, are out there driving around you on every trip you make. I’d suggest you might want to consider some external electrical device to warn the idiots to stay away from your coach.
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Actually my garage door height is ample and would not require any notices if that were a bridge clearance height.
Where the opening height is the issue comes from the position of the coach as it enters the opening. When the rear of the coach is about at the door opening, the front of the coach is so low due to the driveway slope that the mirrors are approximately at the garage floor level.
That in effect raises the rear of the coach at the door opening such that the back bumper is at the height of my hip. As the front wheels continue the climb up the driveway the effect is the rear keeps getting lower, but to get the rear into the opening I have to raise the front fully, and lower the rear all the way. If I am distracted and forget something in the process the consequences will be expensive. Part of the problem is the long overhang at the rear of the bus and it is made worse by the rear spoiler on the roof of the bus.
To add to the issue the driveway transitions from the slope to the flat such that if the bus is not raised when I reach that transition point I can drag the generator baffle which I had made from a rubber mud flap just in case it dragged. It would not take much more of a crown to high center the coach.
As a highway engineer I think Will would enjoy trying to calculate what clearance would be posted for my garage door opening to reflect a 29 to 34% driveway slope approaching the door opening. The only flat spot anywhere on my concrete is inside the garages. As soon as wheels leave any of the garages they are heading downhill. There is not enough real estate to get a level area on any of the garage aprons.
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Thanks God for visionaries like Thomas Jefferson and the rest of the brave revolutionaries who risked their lives and fortunes to declare our independence from Great Britian. If they had been wussies and snowflakes and not the brave men they were, we likely would have been forced to make a decision about Brexit and had never known the joys and benefits of fractional measurement!
Back to the subject at hand.
Not only do we need to be careful and cognizant of vertical clearance when we drive our coaches, horizontal clearance awareness can be just as important. Especially the back end swing of the short wheelbase, 45′ XLV coaches which is further exacerbated by you tag lifters out there! The pivot point of the rear end of the coach is about 12′ from the back bumper … almost as long as a Mini Cooper. Consequently when turning, the back of the coach (aka “long overhang at the rear of the bus “) swings out quite a ways, probably more than most of us expect … and can get really extreme if you’re driving a 45′ MH chassis with IFS if you turn full lock.
If you’re new to Prevost ownership (or even if you’ve owned three or more Prevost coaches) it would behove you to set up cones in a vacant parking and have someone else drive your coach while you stand in back and watch how far the back of your coach swings out when it turns.
This is expecially important to keep in mind if you’ve been parked close in at a rally or service facility where things can get pretty tight; if possible drive straight out until you’re clear of the coach or coaches around you and then begin to turn or have someone spot for you … with a radio if you have diminished hearing capabilities or using pre-determined hand signals.
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ex·ac·er·bated — verb — past tense of exacerate: make (a problem, bad situation, or negative feeling) worse.
“the exorbitant cost of land in urban areas only exacerbated the problem”
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Seriously … I would like to see Jon get his coach in and out of his garage sometime. I’ll bring the Miller High, Canadian Club, and aged Wisconsin cheddar. Give us some dates and times.
Maybe the Gadget Guru will make a video of it sometime and post it.
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Dick, you would enjoy it..believe me…I’ve seen his driveway and garage and don’t think I want to attempt it. Geo.
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Maybe someday my ship will come in or a star will shine on me or I’ll find the end of a rainbow and get an invitation. Maybe.
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It is just a little hill. Not much to see unless I make a mistake or the level low quits working.
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Im thinking of the expression “Do no harm” (sorry but I can’t spell Hippocratic) allpies here. Twice I’ve gotten myself in trouble and bot times without doing harm to my coach. One I chronicled above (sorry Tom, that means mentioned) the other was on my way home from Texas. I stopped for fuel and it was pouring rain and dark as Hades itself. I mean it was so bad that I saw a dog chasing a cat and they were both walking! Now that’s bad!Moving on down the street I took a right too sharply and my right rear wheels went off the road. Did I tell you it’s pouring rain and its darker than the buns of a Canadian Werewolf in full flight? I jumped out with a flashlight, yes I needed a cold shower, and took a look and water already started pooling around the wheels and it didn’t look good.
I thought I had one chance and that was to forget the turn and pull straight ahead. I had the room but there was all kinds of traffic. I already had them backed up behind and on the lane I particularly turned onto, so I may as well make all directions mad right? I also knew if I don’t get this thing out of this ditch these folks would be here for a long time. My hope was I’m a lot bigger than they are so I win and I was right.
Man an I was drenched and miserable and not just a little concerned about hypothermia because I was already shaking. I put my foot on the brake, released the emergency brake, put the tranny in 1st gear, gave the wheel a small turn to the left and gave the get up and go peddle a little push and guess what? I walked right out of there! I was also lucky there was a big parking lot right down the street where I could pull over towel off and change clothes. It’s ok to drive a bus in a pink robe right? Hey it had some nice flowers on a pocket!
That’s twice now I’ve walked myself into a problem without consequence to me or my bus and I give thanks, I can tell you that for sure. I’m sorry this isn’t a bridge story but I’ll make one up for you if necessary?
I was extremely fortunate because in either situation the potential was there to have really torn up my bus. I was lucky and trust me when I say I’ve learned from the experience!
Harry
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Harry is making us all aware of the things that can end well or get real bad, real fast.
The only people who have never had a close call or who never had to get themselves out of trouble are either failing to admit it, or who haven’t driven much.
Having said that however we all should keep in mind when everything starts to turn bad, stop, take a deep breath and think of the assets we have available to us. We have a coach with features we can use to give a bad situation a good outcome. If we get stuck we can lift the tag axle to give more traction to the drive axle. We can raise the coach using level low to get off something our belly is resting on. If we need to we can lower the air pressure in our tires or increase it temporarily because we can re-inflate them if we have a fitting and air hose.
If we lose an alternator we often have a battery charger and a way to power it with our generator or inverters. Sometimes we can merge the house and chassis battery systems to nurse sick batteries until we can replace them.
If we lose our coach AC we can keep comfortable using the roof or Cruiseairs. If we start to overheat due to low coolant we have a lot of water available to keep the system topped off. If we lose a tire we can move tires from another spot to the tag and put good tires on the other axles. Even if the tire on the tag is the wrong size it will get us where we need to go.
If we get into a problem we have a very active forum and posting a problem usually brings a lot of answers quickly. All we have to do is sort through various answers to find which one applies. If we need help instantly we have support from Prevost, Detroit Diesel, and the converters.
We have a map with locations of people willing to help, but even if folks are not on the map, a shout out on the forum usually brings out offers of help.
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Terrific post Jon, thank you and I can vouch for you guys being there!
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