[Corey]

Got couple quotes, Nationwide and Allied, 2nd better with 50 USD, both look credible….

[Corey]

Replacing large batteries like 8D size not only requires care in removing, protecting and reconnecting the terminals, it requires the shut down of the bus to be complete, and to a specific sequence on some conversions to protect the electronics.

But from the perspective of the hardest part physically, it is the handling of the batteries, during removal and installation. Each converter has their own way of locating, racking and securing the batteries. My coach requires the removal of the entire entertainment center just to get at the panel coveing the batteries. Other conversions locate the batteries in a more accessible location, but getting them in and out of their racks is the hard part.

Each time I have replaced mine I had to have a way to slide them from and to the rack and it has involved wood blocking, wood ramps, levers to lift the batteries over the lip of the rack, and a means to move the batteries once they are out or going in. It is a lot of grunt work. It can be a back breaker if you try to use brute force, such as lifting by hand. In the end it is not a complex job, but one almost anyone can do if they are willing to give thought to minimizing the physical effort and using various tools and tricks to help with the heavy lifting.

In my case I use my creeper with 4 X 4 lengths stacked on it to move my entertainment center out of the way. I slide it on my home made dolly and can wheel it away from the bay. I have a small motorcycle lift I bought at Harbor Freight that I have used to help me move and lift stuff in the garage to carry the batteries and elevate them to the height I need so I just have to slide them in or out. I use wood blocking to make a ramp I use to slide batteries up to the second level of the battery rack. At about 160 to 170 pounds each I don’t try to lift the batteries, I slide them.

The point is that anyone willing to give some thought to replacing batteries can do it themselves. If you can get a second hand, such as a neighbor even better. Just be careful.

[Corey]

Peter has the correct answer to that age old question of maintenance:

“How come you never have time to do it right, but you always have time to do it over?”

Or as FRAM says in their commercials: “Pay me now, or Pay me later.”

[Corey]

If it was safe to stop, I would stop. Might stop for a short time to see if I could help. Then move the bus to safe location and come back with the toad.

I do the same for racers by the side of the road.

[Corey]

Good luck with everything. This can happen to any of us at any time.

An Entertainer Driver I have become friends with keeps a full set of hoses and belts on the Star’s coach he drives.

Where can we order the exact set of hoses as a back up to keep on our coaches? I have attempted to do this a few times with no luck. My preference would be factory or DD hoses. I have a full set of belts but not hoses.

[Corey]

Thanks guys… for all the help. We opted out of the tow tonight after the operator got here we have the part off and they Central States Power will be sending someone out in the morning to hopefully get us going.

So were going to spend our first night on the side of the road… after 10.5 hours whats a few more

Thanks to Al and Bernie for all the help.

Bill

[Corey]

That is very cool! And I was doing a search on ‘horse’ trying to identify Peter. I was telling my girlfriend that we have a member who does horse clinics. She’s trying to help me rekindle my old riding skills. Just watched a documentary on Buck Brannaman a couple of nights ago.

As for on the road identification, I had an Eagle buddy of mine call me the other day and ask if I was in CA. He saw an ex-Senators XL broken down and wondered if it was me. Feel bad for the owner, but luckily,, it wasn’t me. There are probably hundreds of ex-Senators silver XLs like mine. I did have a buddy call me when I was in my Hummer a few months ago and ask if I was westbound on I-40. He said “I saw the Hummer with the NERIUM license plate and thought it was you. We just blew past you in a black XLII!”

[Corey]

Some dryers have a garden hose to discharge the moisture,is this possible?

[Corey]

I go every year up that highway sometimes only part way up it and have never had a problem no worse than l -5 in California . Bill and family drove up there last year no trouble

[Corey]

Tim … go out and buy a coach now. Between that purchase and when you purchase your long-term coach you’ll learn a ton and move off your 5% comprehension level.

The comments about college and school are interesting. I think it was Jon used the term “education”, receiving “one” (i.e. “an education”) is much more important that attending college or going to school. One can attend college or go to school and NOT receive an education.

Since someone else mentioned Josh, we’ll keep the spotlight on him. After being at Jeff’s shop twice and I realized that Josh is receiving an education from Jeff. A real education. We’ve all heard of “home schooling” and believe that Josh (and anyone else who works for Jeff) is being “shop schooled”.

The members of PC have come from diverse backgrounds and have probably all been fairly successful to one degree or another. If we polled the group, we probably very diverse educational backgrounds. But one way or another, we’ve all received “educations” that were essential in our individual successes. Some of those educations were very formal and structured (college and graduate school for example) and others much less formal but with structure (learning to fly and obtaining ever increasingly complicated ratings comes to mind). On the other end of the spectrum are informal, unstructured, and often subtle forms of education. Shop schooling, learning by doing, and/or being on the ground floor start of a process or industry.

I’ve come to conclude that while some form of formal education beyond beyond high school is important (especially if you want to be a doctor, lawyer, engineer etc.), what is really important in the long run is that one receives an education. Besides the technical skills that someone would learn in college, a tech school, or through shop schooling its really critical that one learns really good problem solving skills and an ability to effectively work with others (co-workers, boss(es), subordinates, vendors and suppliers, and customers).

[Corey]

What Davy said.

We find it amazing that we can merge with a lumbering 65 foot Prevost and car with very little drama, we see 75 and 80 foot trucks doing it all the time, but someone in a Prius can’t understand the concept of merging.

[Corey]

If I had a dollar for every driver that stomped on the brakes at the end of the merging on ramp and came to a stop instead of mashing the gas and accelerating ahead of us and merging I probably would have enough money to pay for enough diesel to fill my tank.

And then a few seconds later that driver is going around us in the fast lane.

[Corey]

Now I understand, and will toss out an idea.

If you have a slide coach, and your accessory air system on the Prevost side is not totally leak free you must merge the two systems.

Having said that, I am planning to create new manifolds to change the small XLII manifolds with push in fittings on the Prevost to manifolds with shut off valves for all system circuits except the slide functions. In addition I will be insuring all Prevost air except the slide seals and slide system air controls will be shut off using key off solenoid valves. That will make loss of air on the Prevost side something the aux compressor will not have to deal with.

Good to read the Marathon does have an air dryer and is not depending upon the air tank to be the water separator. It means however if you do drain water from the tank you need to service the dryer.

[Corey]

Has anyone tried this product from Tyron? Looks like it may provide a bit more safety!

Tyron

Tyron Flat Tire Protection

[Corey]

Dick,

It is the load you impose on the generator as a percentage of its total capability. If you can recharge your batteries at 16 amps total, you are only using about 10% of the total capability of the generator.

I don’t have the real numbers, but if you only lightly load the generator your efficiency is very low. If it takes just 1 gallon per hour to run an unloaded generator and 2 gallons per hour to run a 100% loaded generator your cost per generated KWH is substantially lower as the load increases.