[Bob]

I have been to some converted bus rallies and I can say with confidence those that built their own buses and those with store bought buses will have a lot to learn from one another and swapping lies and bragging about our coaches makes for an interesting rally.

I presume there will be a formal agenda and activities for our ladies?

[Bob]

I have had nothing but Cruise Airs. But they don’t come close to the performance of the mini splits. Unfortunately if my Cruise Airs start to fail (they are teenagers) I haven’t yet figured how to replace a condenser and evaporator with the two components of a mini split without doing some serious rebuilding of cabinetry. I can envision some special sheet metal shrouds for the condenser which could be roof mounted, but cannot get around the length of the evaporators.

[Bob]

white marine vinyl and chandlier is chrystal will try differant lighting when taking picture. Bob

[Bob]

this unit is mounted mid ship and will also be in bottom of wall cabinet the lines and drain run down the common wall with the front slide. the condensor is mounted in the old evalorator bay. These units heat and cool are inverter technology and run on 12o volts and pull 6.5 amps heat down to zero Farenteight.. This one unit keeps my 45 ft coach 70 on a 30 degree day when I’m workin on it by my self–I have 3 units cooling @100 only takes 2

[Bob]

rope type plus dimmer and the round type like a coin is available in side pins and rear pins the flat postage stamp tyre in plug recepable is good undercounter.

[Bob]

I tried to help you with the link BK, but the site seems to be Tango Uniform.

[Bob]

will try thru enternet explorer this was thru fire fox Bob

[Bob]

Led ceiling tray led and mini split before cabinet surrounds. http://s987.photobucket.com/albums/ae360/robertglines1/98bus/?start=all

[Bob]

We still need to keep an eye on this. California is often the canary in the mine when it comes to crippling national standards that impact us.

[Bob]

Bob (robertglines1) sent me a piece of the proper hose, a reusable fittng and a coupling. Most of the people I talked to before had never seen the hose so having a length of it and a fitting really helped. I made the rounds today in the communities where I am located this week and thought I would run some of it by you all.

After chasing leads all over town and meeting some fine and helpful folks I finally made it to the guy everybody recommended. He knew exactly what I had in my hand when I walked in and knew that it came from my compressor. He didn’t handle the hose or fittings but knew where to send me.

He sent me to a rental place that had hose, fittings and the knowledge to go with it but everything he handled was smaller than my hose. He sent me to the number one diesel mechanic in the area. I showed him everything and told him Bob’s idea of coming off he compressor with a longer piece of pipe and connecting to the reusable fitting that Bob sent to me. He liked that idea but he wants to use black pipe. He says the fitttings on the compressor are standard 1/2 inch pipe thread and he thought black pipe would be best. His mobile guy is unavailable but if I can get it in Friday he can fix it.

Any thoughts? I reminded him that once he cut that hose I am dead in the water until it is fixed and he said it would be no problem to fix. I want to be sure so I am bringing it back to you guys.

Should I allow him to do that?

Should I wait until I get to OKC, Tulsa or Joplin and get some one else to do it?

Should I find another re-usable fitting and put in on the short piece of hose coming out of the compressor and couple them together?

Any other options?

I posted a couple of pictures below…

DKO

This picture rotated when I brought it over but you can see the elbow coming out of the compressor and then connecting with the hose. The leak is 4-6 inches down the hose.

The hose, reusable fitting and coupling that Bob sent to me…

[Bob]

I had the opportunity to learn a little about the smog technology standards engine manufacturers are currently meeting. The graphic representation of the earliest standards and what was allowed could be represented as being the size of a typical door. A door like you would find in your home. That represents emissions that were allowed.

The current standards would be represented by a postcard placed on one corner of that door. The reduction of emissions when viewed like that is attention getting to say the least. The engineering effort required to take a Series 60 (which was pretty clean as an engine) and make it as clean as the post card on a door represents is tremendous and was not possible. Because of the tightening of the standards There are no Series 60 engines in our buses. No Caterpillar engines sold for highway use. Volvo has met the current standards with a very sophisticated engine and system and to install that engine and system in a coach has required substantial changes to the coach itself, including the use of a large portion of the rear area (usually a closet) for the exhaust stack as well as the inclusion of DEF for injection into the engine at a rate equal to about 2 or 3% of the fuel volume. I have no clue what will be involved to bring engines up to the next level but as the post card gets smaller the effort and technology required gets disproportionately more difficult, expensive and out of reach for all but coaches engineered around the engine. On my coach I have no clue how I could fit a diesel exhaust fluid tank or make room for the EGR system that exhausts through the roof or if the electrical system could support the needed driver warning and message center.

Since all engine manufacturers must have the engine and emission system designs finished now to meet the timing of the law you can bet they are up to their butts in alligators and any questions regarding retrofits go to the very bottom of the to-do list so we will never get timely answers to a solution. I’m guessing every coach now based in CA is going to be housed in AZ, NV, OR or any other convenient location by 2014.

[Bob]

A lot of our coaches have 12 or 24 volt halogen lights. In addition for drawing a lot of current, they generate heat. A lot of heat.

I still have some replacement bulbs left, but when they are gone I am going to start the process of finding LED “bulb” replacements. If I lived in an ideal world my replacement would produce the same or more light, no heat, less current draw and be dimmable. It wouldn’t hurt if they were cheap because I have a ton of those lights. On my coach they are all over the ceiling, over the entry and dash, under cabinets, etc. I may have as many as 30 or 40.

Right now that is on my things to do list. There may be people lurking who can remember my posture regarding replacing coach exterior lighting with LEDs. My “incandescents forever” stance has not changed until I can see an improvement in quality on those. I notice a lot of the retro fit LED exterior lights have either failed or have collected water which precedes failure. I’m guessing my interior lights will not experience that problem. LED turn and brake lights do look neat when they “snap” on and off compared to incandescent which have a more gradual on-off operation.

[Bob]

Love dem rivets

[Bob]

I can and have changed tag wheel on both buses by lifting the tag. Both a 40 footer and a 45. The difference is like Tom says. The forty footer would lift quickly, the 45 took quite a while but the tag still cleared the ground.

I think the difference relates to the geometry of the two lengths. With the longer overhang of the 45 more weight is supported on the drive axle when the tag is lifted, on my coaches the difference is about 6000 pounds. The drive axle air bags are the smaller of the two types used on our coaches so you likely have to go through several cycles of the engine driven compressor before you can get the max system pressure in the air bags so the drive axle air bags can actually lift the entire rear of the coach.

Owners of coaches heavy on the steer axle know exactly what that is like because in order to raise the front of heavily loaded front axle coaches some either have to wait for numerous air cycles of the compressor, or they have to raise the tag to transfer weight off the steer axle to the drive, an option not available when trying to lift the tag.

Lifting tag axles is over rated. I rarely have felt the need to lift the tag, but if I have to make a turn and do it in the shortest -possible distance I will break down and flip the switch. On 45 foot coaches I think the best that can be expected under normal circumstances when “lifting” the tag is to reduce the ground pressure and thus minimize sidwards scuffing. More than anything I find myself raising the coach or portions of the coach so as to not drag or high center the coach.

[Bob]

The weight comes off the tags but they do not raise high enough to freely turn the wheels.