[Walter]

The Loves discount was at .20 and went to .28 about 2 weeks ago if I remember right. I have put over 7500 miles on in the past month and it sure does help lower the cost of fuel.

[Walter]

Would the field sense terminal on the 50DN alternator regulator work.

If it only needs to see a current to turn it on that may work.

There are several 12 volt ignition on sources in the engine compartment electrical box as Tom points out.

[Walter]

Man you guys are in the dark ages… I do all of it with my iPhone and an Apple TV.

I’m listening to the Lennon sister as I type this!

[Walter]

I’m at Prevost Grand Prairie getting the bus ready for our T-day trip to the Outer Banks in North Carolina. It’ll be about 3K miles total. I love the long trips too. We finally sold our house in CA so no more trips there…. which I’m happy about because I always got annoyed having to go 57 in a 70 because I towed a Jeep. I’m glad that’s over with!!!!

though… mom is still there so I’m sure I’ll be back…. until the bus gets banned that is!

[Walter]

We drove about 6000 miles this summer and my wife bought 8 pairs of shoes. That’s 375 miles per shoe!

If we keep this up, I’ll need a 45′ bus soon just for the extra shoe storage.

[Walter]

Your H coach very possibly is on the ceiling in the bay, otherwise usually within about 12 inches of the rear of the toilet…

[Walter]

I was gonna say the same incredible how clean that engine compartment is, I drive my bus around the block and it picks up a ton of dirt and dust all over the bay. What’s the secret Don

[Walter]

I would agree if the parking spots customers use that have electric plugs were not all sitting empty. The buses, I think 4 or 5 of them were only parked that way to prevent anyone from driving around the lot.

[Walter]

Do you mean top end “overhaul” or just setting the “overhead”, that is, adjusting valves and injector height? On a truck with easy access, adjusting valves and injectors is usually around $800. On a bus it would be more due to lack of access.

[Walter]

Liam’s point about buyer beware is valid.

If you have owned a coach for a while you know how it has been maintained, you know what works, what does not work, and what items tend to need special attention.

Every coach has the potential to break. But if you know how you have maintained your coach, what maintenance tasks have been done, what ones have been overlooked, what is wearing out, etc. you can put together a very comprehensive list of things to rebuild, things to replace, fluids to change, things to look at with detail, etc. that list can comprise a way to quantify whether it makes more sense to treat the old gal to a makeover, or if it makes more sense to get something newer.

Buying a coach is pretty hard. Once your wants and needs are defined you have to find potential candidates. If you want a 40 foot Series 60 the number of coaches available is going to be minute. That’s the bad news. The good news is the market is so small you are going to be an expert knowing what market prices should be, what coaches are out there and who has them.

For a commercial use it is imperative the candidate for purchase has to have a proven history of maintenance and there is nothing more difficult to get when looking to purchase. Every seller will tell you the coach has been well maintained. Unless there are detailed records showing a comprehensive schedule and compliance with that schedule is available it is safe to assume the work was not done. A pile of receipts is a poor substitute unless you are prepared to do a full audit of the work shown in the receipts and comparing that work with when service should have been performed.

For example, a wet sleeve engine such as a Series 60 is going to be highly sensitive to coolant maintenance. Lack of such scheduled maintenance is a risk due to the potential for cavitation which can destroy an engine. You certainly need to see when that coolant change has been done over the years.

Any prepurchase inspection is going to catch some things, but there are so many things that are not visible or known without records the real condition of a coach is a guess. Try to consider all the factors. A bus is a big investment, and maintaining one is a large ongoing expense.

[Walter]

Can you compare the new tire versus the old with respect to area of the decoupling groove. Maybe the tearing issue is fixed.

BTW, damage in that area is not deemed a warranty issue because it (according to Michelin) has never resulted in a tire failure. It is very unsettling however because it looks like the tires are coming apart.

[Walter]

I wouldn’t say Wisconsin smells, but I’m with Dick. I’ll wait for a verdict but I don’t think I get an extra 2 mpg when not running OTR A/C and I would imagine power drains comparable.

[Walter]

We use our TV a lot… and, use the speakers for music a lot too. As for taking up space, that would depend on how it’s installed. Ours uses minimal space.

[Walter]

10:33pm and didn’t work for me either. I tried it on my IPad, maybe it doesn’t like the IPad operating system.

[Walter]

Steve…this is from Tom’s posting above…

“What your seeing is normal, I just went through the same thing a couple weeks go although mine was acting much worse than yours with weird inverter actions, one inverter wouldn’t bulk charge. Went to Inverter Services and it was the temp compensator. Unplugged the temp compensators and all was back to normal. “