[John]

I took my family on a 3 week road trip, and part of the trip was to spend a week at the balloon festival. It was the best family excursion we ever have had. My children whose were teenagers then, and now adults, still talk about it all the time. Yes you can stay at local rv parks nearby, but it is more enjoyable to stay onsite. We normally got up around 4:30-5:00 am to start watching the balloons launch. It is Impressive, and it is a must do experience. Our routine each day was to get up early with fresh made hot chocolate, lay in bed for a while and watch the balloons launch and float over our coach. Then walk to the launch area and watch for a while. We would then late morning go through the exhibits onsite, do lunch and the go site seeing in the nearby areas. Come back and in the evenings watch the different events they had scheduled. As a father to see my children enjoy something sooo much, was a one of the greatest gifts I have received. It is spectacular!

[John]

This is a great location. They don’t have pull through sites and some sites may have too much in the way of bushes for slides. There are plenty of sites, so no big deal.

[John]

Hector,

It’s been several years since I bought the, for want of a better word, Pink Block Connectors that CC used in the past. At that time I did some research and found that the vendor was in Seattle but as I recall they had ceased operations. I am sure you have tried CC Parts however you may want to check with CC Service as an alternative. Those electrical connectors were widely used on every model of CC; that said they surely would have a line acceptable substitute. Also I might check with Miles C. who purchased many of the spares from CC, he may well have additional information.

John

[John]

That,s a good one these coaches have everything else why not!

[John]

Unless the exhaust is routed into the middle you can always raise it up using the level low. Assuming nobody actually has to get completely beneath the coach just use heavy blocking under the body support points and a mechanic should be able to reach what is necessary to fix the flattened exhaust. If the exhaust is routed to the center of the coach, and then out the rear getting it lifted or over a pit may be the way to go.

[John]

[John]

DKO,

I narrowed mine down to the “C” plug, #8 connection that gives voltage to the coil. If I put 12v directly to the coil, the unit would run with no problem. So, no fire to the coil coming out of the controller. I couldn’t stand it, had to take the controller apart and my problem is a sticky relay for the coil. I think I can fix it, we’ll see… If not, it’s a Ukraine replacement like you did. What the hell has happened to “Made in America”.

[John]

Never leave the bra on while sitting in the hot sun! For you guys
with XL2’s, your glue will melt and the front of your bus will fall
off. Then you will drive over it leaving the stainless and bra for
the campground guy to gather up who will list it on e-bay as a
slightly used part for a Proovosst. For the XL’s, it could damage
and warp the stainless, but at least the rivets will hold up.

Seriously though, the heat from the sun cooking the bra will do
serious damage to the front of your bus under certain conditions.
It’s a PIA, but I had one for my Liberty and used it religiously.
Taking it on and off only took a few minutes and it protected the
front of the bus well. I had rock from a gravel cruncher the size of
a golf ball hit the front and the bra saved the day. Also, take it
off when it’s wet.

Jon using a bra, priceless… This is the same guy who for 20
years has been calling all the bra users sissy’s and bragging
about dinged up front ends being a badge of honor!

Gary – For a hundred bucks, I won’t sent Megan a copy of your
post!

[John]

If it is the seven port manifold that striped out and not the valve as i understand it , you could take the manifold off bring it to any good machine shop they cold weld or brase up the tiny striped hole than drill and tap it back to size, cost should be under 50 bucks and if they cant repair it you need to remove it anyways. What is is made of brass, steel , plastic , or some other material .? Also if you are able to tap it a bit larger plug hole with bolt with red loctite cut off at surface than drill and tap your plug to the proper size. Easier than cooking a turkey. good luck if a man built it another man can fix it … You may not even need to remove it if it is the first one.

[John]

And we enjoyed the convenience of the pull out table Marathon provided in Al’s coach. He wishes he had a grille, and we wish we had that nice extending table.

We have cooked countless times on the grill, and the previous coach had a grille and two hotplates which made cooking even easier. I think we have cooked inside on the cooktop two or three times total.

[John]

The two brake problems were both fixed by replacing slack adjusters. Right drive and left steer.

We have Rockwell axles and ordered the parts from Prevost. They came in a meritor box with a meritor part number.

The front slack adjuster part can be installed on either the left side or the right side. Prevost part number 641271 equals Meritor part number R801072. Prevost price $128.37, Meritor price at www dot truckpartswarehouseonline dot com $74.30.

Drive axle right, Prevost part number 641273 equals Meritor part number R802383. Prevost price $1111, Meritor price, same website, $83.44.

Cost of discovery, eighty-two dollars. Hope this helps somebody.

[John]

Having lived where it reached as low as minus 20Fat least once during every winter, you can expect a vote for the 1500 watt from me.

[John]

Actually the hole size in the wheels relates to the tires originally mounted on them and their capacity. On the coaches originally equipped 120 tires the wheels had larger holes than the wheels that had 315 tires. Even on coaches with 365 tires for tag and steer, which have very large holes, the 315 s on the drive axle have the wheels with smaller holes, but I am still able to reach in and hit the stem with my tire chuck. I doubt if it takes more than 30 seconds with the stems capped with the thru-the-cap fill method to check and fill.

http://www.alltiresupply.com/p-43-098.html

As we know from the recent discussion on fuel tanks we all have different opinions and tolerances for risk. Valve stem extensions make it very easy to check tire pressures and I presume the risk of valve stem failure is slight but it just happens to be a risk I will avoid.

[John]

Jon, what RV park is the rally going to be held at? And what are the dates??

Thanks

Sid Tuls

[John]

Dear Sheep herder…….please try to avoid using my name and sheep in the same sentence.

Regarding a jumpy oil pressure gauge I have experienced sudden movement on the needle on both my previous coaches. It was not unusual on either coach to have a reading of 40 PSI for example, and then have it jump to 50 PSI and after a while jump back to 40.

Since all my readings, despite the jumping around were within the specified range I never pursued any remedial action. I never compared the dash gauge with the rear gauge on either coach so I suspect needle movement was just limited to the dash gauge. FWIW when cold the pressure reading never jumped around.