Hello everyone!
I am Jamie and I am married to a great guy Doug. We have 8 children( thus far) and have just bought a GMC PD4106, its a 1962. We are driving down to Texas to pick it up on Wed.
We are wanting to build bunkbeds in the back bedroom and ideally what we would like to do is build double bunks on sides of the room and then an additional small attaching bunk at the foot of the bus. Making a horseshoe shape. My question is what materials would you use to do such a project? plywood? Hardwood? Metal? Next question is what would you attach it to? Do you have to attach?
I guess thats it for now.
THanks and I look forward to meeting you all at some point!
God Bless you,
Jamie
Jamie,
Welcome aboard.
I can't take much time to respond now, but are you going to travel with all of you children? If so that would mean ten bunks, right?
You can build them however you want. Others will chime in, I hope, but build them strong, and build them well. You can attach to the metal tube frame work, that the bus is made from. You can make them from wood, or metal. It just depends on what you want to do.
Later.
God bless,
John
Hi Jamie,
Welcome!
You will find lots of help in answering your many questions.
What part of Texas are you picking up your bus?
I would take the time, after you have had a chance to get to know your new "Kid", and build a mock up of what you want to do. That way you get a feel for how it will work out and look when you build your bunks.
You can use plywood, lumber and anything else that you want for your design.
I'm sure others who have done what you are attempting to do will chime in.
It would also help for you to put more information in your profile so others who live close by can give you ideas and pointers.
Good Luck and Happy Trails,
Paul
Hi Jamie, and welcome to the best bus board you will find. You might also think about using one of the cargo bays as a bedroom, you can put an opening to it under one of the bunks in the bus. Kids love them and in the case of an emergency you just pop open the bay door.
Here is a link to a video that show the cargo bay bedroom.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsty4DrA6Is&feature=related
WVaNative
Dean
Jamie, we have a 4107, that was outfitted with bunks in the rear. We're changing that, but haven't gone that far back yet. We're just north of Dallas, right off Interstate 35E. If you're coming through this area and want to take a look, you can call me on Wednesday 1/14. The number is 972-four six six four six one one.
I'm in DC now, should be flying home tonight (Tuesday), so I should be around on Wednesday.
If no one has suggested it yet, one of your early moves should be getting copies of maintenance and parts manuals for the coach. It'll be important to remember that these buses are monocoque construction, that is, there is no "frame and body" as such. The outside skin, and the floor are part of the structure. If you cut a hole in the roof, without doing it properly and reinforcing it, you lose some support for the engine. I mention this because it's important to know what you can attach things to, and more important to know what you don't want to tamper with.
Arthur
WOW, thank you for all the great responses. We are heading to Princeton Tx. Then on to GoodFellow AFB in San Angelo to see our oldest graduate Tech school. We will be fulltime with 7 of the children. and the two oldest would have thier own top bunk and if we can do the horseshoe shape the next two would get the bottom bunks and the next 2 littles would get the back of the horseshoe together. The baby will continue to sleep with us. We will have to find or build a pull out couch sleeper. We are getting the manuels on CD. We may call you and stop by, thank you for that offer. We will be in the Dallas area on Friday. We are coming from Southern Oregon. Got to go for now but will check back later .. Thanks again and God Bless!
Jamie
Jamie, Are you buying your bus from Mr Oliver's Tractors in Princeton? If so say hi to Paul for us. That is where we got our 5A back at the end of Sept. of 03. We stopped there in late 04 so my wife could meet them since i picked up the bus by myself. They still send us a Christmas card each year....very nice folks to deal with. :) Also since you are in Southern Oregon are you aware of the BusN USA rally each summer at Rickreall? Also you have a great shop in Roseburg......Southern Oregon Diesel. Dave is also the current President of BusN USA. Enjoy your trip/bus. Ed
Jamie, Welcome aboard. Try searching (Tims bus page) He had some bunks on his MCI but it got wrecked. Not sure if he is back running. Tom Y
Jamie!
Hi,
The wife and I have 8 kids also. They range from 8 to 31 years old. My baby goes to school with his neice, they are in the same class this year and she calls him uncle Kenny. Anyway my point was about bunks. With all the kids and grandchildren, I have short bunks and long bunks. I had hoped to remove the short bunks as the little ones grew, for closet space, but now the grandkids have claimed the short bunks. We also sleep 2 of the little ones foot to foot above the engine area.
If I ever parted with the bus, I think the kids would kill me, I believe they enjoy it more than I do especially since it takes them all over the county. Two winters ago we had beds, hot showers, food etc. for 17 everyday and explored San Deigo and LA for 2 weeks until I burned them all out. Hope you enjoy your coach as much as we do ours, we will be watching for you to say hi someday.
Jammie,
I think there is an "engine access panel" in the back of that 06. Better verify that and incorperate access thru the bunks if need be.
HTH,
John
Hi Jamie,
And Welcome!
Just a couple thoughts. I have only two kids... ;D but I can tell you that everyone likes to have there own space in the Bus, with eight that may be impossible.
In your design you may want to consider making the upper bunks so that they can be secured in the up position. This would turn the back U-shape into a lounge area.
If you can figure the space I would also try to keep the sleeping area all in the rear, in other words no couch or tables that convert to beds. This will give those who get up early or stay up later a place to be without having to climb over someone or be extra quiet.
Best of luck on your adventure,
Cliff
Jamie -
Welcome to the madness!!
On your way back from TX w/ your new baby, if you want the six bunks that are in my current coach, you are welcome to them - FREE! You & Doug will just have to pull them out yourself, but I'll gladly snoopervise & provide the Pepsi. . .
I'm in Fresno, right on your way. Contact me on my cell if you're interested: five five nine, two six zero, four one zero six.
FWIW & HTH. . .
;)
PS: What's the VIN on your coach? PD4106-XXXX?
RJ,
Our VIN is PD4106-1035. How very generous of you to offer us your bunks. Can I call you and come and look at them to see if they will work for us on our way back (around the 24-25th of January)? I would like to say absolutely we will take them, but I need to make sure they will fit first. I will call you and we can talk about it, but for now, I say yes! I'll take 'em.
Thanks and God Bless
Jamie and Doug
Jamie & Doug -
Sure, give me a call. Number was in the previous post, plus my profile.
I can take photos of the bunks on Thursday and email them to you, so if you can pick up your email along the way, you'll be able to see them before stopping by.
I'm going to Quartzsite this weekend (16-18), but should be around the following weekend when you're headed back this way.
Oh, and FYI, PD4106-1035 was delivered new in May of 1962 as fleet number 7805 to Western Greyhound Lines, based out of San Francisco, CA. Probably spent the first 10 years of it's life pounding the pavement up and down the west coast, and, during that time frame, had excellent maintenance. (Greyhound's PM program was the envy of the transportation industry back then. Today. . . well, let's not go there. . .)
FWIW & HTH. . .
;)
Welcome, when we traveled 30 years ago with four kids in our old bus the kids all had their own bunks, each with a window. I used to call them caves as sometimes they would disappear into their respective cave and we wouldn't see them until they smelled food. Good luck and I'm sure you will enjoy the adventures ahead. Fraser
Jamie, welcome!
These 4106s do not have convenient square tube to fasten to, but if you stop at RJs and look at his bus, I think that he could show you some of the inside skin construction.
I would think that a bus could be one of your least expensinve ways to travel with a big family. Good luck with your find.
Tom Caffrey
Jamie, I'm back in Dallas, and I'm available Friday. We're just north of Dallas. On your map, it'll be near the intersection of I-35E and the 190 Toll Road, the George Bush Turnpike.
On our update of the mid-1970's conversion, we started at the front of the coach and we're working our way back. We haven't taken out the bunks yet - so you may get some ideas. With a little notice, there's another bus fan in the area - a retired GM field engineer - who may be available to take a look at your 4106 if you're interested. If you think it likely that you'll come through this way, let me know and I'll give him a "heads up."
An earlier point mentioned the engine cover, which was under the original 5 rear seats (across the back of the bus, 5 with no lav, 3 with lav if I recall correctly.
There is an access panel in the center of this "bench", and you will want to be sure to keep this available. It's mainly for access to the starter.
Arthur
If you worked i in to a Side aisle, You could put six bunks in at an Angle with a divider between them, then have cabinets at the ends where angle form spaces. Also in the navy, the mattress box was hinged at the top along the wall and would open up to storage underneath in a similar size box. There was a tether and hook to hold it open. Amazing how much stuff you can get in there. There was another smaller drop down tray from the ceiling of the rack and a lockable foot box. the was fan and reading light at the head, some people put players and small screens in in the later years.
Welcome and good luck
Well, here goes a rather long and sordid update. We picked up our bus and had relatively few issues the first 10 miles but then we started overheating. We discovered (the hard way) that Detroits like to be pushed hard and wound out so once Doug got that *kind of* figured out, the overheating was less frequent. We stayed in San Angelo, TX for 5 days and had a great time and then we had to leave and the trouble started. We were overheating almnost every ten miles from San Angelo to El Paso and Doug discovered that the hoky cooling fans (somebody ripped out the original cooling system.....to our chagrin) wefre not running or barely running so we made the call to stay in a park in El Paso and try to get the cooling working better. Doug had to drain the radiator to replace the hoky fans with newer, but still equally hoky, cooling fans (MacGyver comes to mind at this point) but in doing so, here is what he encountered. He said he drained about 6 (maybe 7) gallons of fluid out of the radiator to get the hoses off but once he got it all back together, he could only add about 4.5 gallons back in. He has spoken to John Vickers, RJ and Arthur (all salt of the earth guys I might add), and John and RJ tried to walk him through bleeding the system, but he could not find any pet cocks to drain air from and all oof the original heating in the front of the bus is missing and capped off so what was suggested was to let her idle on high for a while and see if she would bleed the air out herself, but that has proven fruitless. She doesn't overheat when just sitting idle but the fear is that she will once we start running her. Does anyone know of a sure fire way to bleed the air out without dismantling anything or causing Doug too many more banged knuckles, gash marks on his head or wild expletive rants? By the way, we have the maintenance manual, operators manual and parts manual on CD that came with the bus (from the Coach Information Network) and Doug has read them thoroughly but the procedures they describe for bleeding air out seem not usable since the heater core up front is non-functional and most of the stuff the maintenance manual describes is missing on our coach. If anyone has any suggestions or just wants to talk to Doug and give him advice, words of encouragement or whatever, his cell phone number is 541-324-9772 and his email address is doug@thecomputerpros.net (he has a BlackBerry so he gets email pretty readily).
P.S. Our plan is we are leaving El Paso this morning and trying to get to the Tucson area today, God willing. (going through Las Cruces, Deming, Lordsburg,etc. on I-10)
Thanks for any help or suggestions.
Jamie
Jamie,
First off, I want to let you know that I am sorry. Somehow, I think most of the good folks here on the board knew that something along these lines would happen. It can be very tough getting an old bus up and running in order to be able to transport it that many miles back to your house.
I don't have any suggestions for how to help you cooling issues, since our bus is much newer, and a completely different make. I do know, however, that if you overheat and end up hurting your engine, you are in for some serious bucks (just ask BoboftheNorth ;)). It sounds like you have a really long trip in front of you.
Anyways, I will be praying that you get home safely.
God bless,
John
Jamie,
One other thing. Have you all considered using a mechanic? We might be able to find you one.
Guys, Do you all know of any mobile mechanics, or shops, along their route? It could be a little tough finding somebody that will work on their bus...I am just thinking out loud. Anybody???
God bless,
John
1. DON'T LET IT OVERHEAT!!!!!
2. There should be shut off valves on the left firewall of the engine compartment to close off the front heaters. Make sure they are closed. I can't tell you how to bleed it except to drive it and stop frequently to add coolant as it will accept it.
3. See # 1
4. Get it to where you can work on it and replace the cooling fan (and everything else there) with the original. None of the electric fan options will work for you. The original cooling system was very well designed.
5. Don't let it overheat.
6. Busted knuckles, bleeding and expletive rants are a normal part of owning a bus.
7. Best of luck to you
I would close the valves/lines (2) to the front of the bus (which would have been a good idea working on the cooling system anyway). With a bright light find the pet cocks etc for the cooling system around the engine and burp this baby. You're doing a good job staying on top of the overheating system as far as watching the temps and that is a major plus. You mention that the original fan system is gone and that some sort of mcgiver system is there. Does this mean the original fluid couple driven fan is gone and there are just electric fans trying to cool the rad? If so, from everything I have heard this will not work. I know that on a 6-71 the fan assembly is an expensive little rig and also prone to failure, I know less about the 8V-71 but if the fan hub is engine mounted it may fall into the same category. Oh yeah and BTW Doug should learn how to enjoy the pain 'cause the bashed knuckles and heads are just beginning :)
we're all pulling for you, stay strong and remember that learning curve is pretty steep in the beginning.
p.s. let us know if this thing is just being cooled with electric fans as this is pertinent as to whether you want to risk keeping this/investing in it etc as overheating is probably in it's past.
Jamie,
I just read your post again. If I was in your place, I would do somewhat like Len said. First off, DO NOT LET IT OVERHEAT. That said, I would add as much as I could, and then run the engine for a while (making sure that it DOES NOT OVERHEAT). I would then rev the engine pretty good, and see if the air would work its way out. Otherwise I would find a fitting that is towards the top, and then loosen the hose clamp to see if I could get that to work instead of a drain cock. I am not able to help much since I am not as familiar with your model.
To summarize, I would let it sit and run the engine (again paying very close attention to the temp and DO NOT LET IT OVERHEAT). If that was doing fine, then I would rev the engine pretty well. That might help, and if it doesn't then I would resort to loosening a hose clamp or to, to try to let it gasp the air out...
God bless,
John
ZubZub and I crossed posts. He has really good advice. And I can detect a lot of experience packed into his post ;D ;D ;D. That first learning curve, like he mentioned, is going to be really tough, but keep on working at it, and you will get it eventually.
Do you have a temp gauge on the dash and one in the engine compartment? Do they read the same or close to it? It could be your dash gauge is off and it is telling you that it is hotter than it really is. If you don't have the 2nd gauge you might want to go to an auto parts store and get a laser/infared temperature gun and take readings on the radiators and hoses and compare that to your gauge and see if they are the same.
PS. It might be that you have a thermostat problem.......
I would not run it!!! There is probally 1 side of the engine (Head area) without water. I know someone with a GM that ruined their motor like that. Sorry I do not know how to get the air out. Tom Y
Okay Tom. I will concede to you. That is why I was just saying what I would do. Still though, Doug has some coolant in there...
God bless,
John
I don't have time to add to this discussion because I am at work, but everyone posting about shutting off the coolant valves to the front needs to always mention in you post to make sure the bus is properly blocked and secured before getting under it. Possibly we need to make an easily inserted link that could be referenced to with easy generic instructions so we don't need to retype it everytime. We don't know how much any given reader knows about air suspension and how dangerous it can be. Even if the poster already knows the hazards there could be future readers that read this from the archives that don't. If I had time right now I would but would someone please add this warning somewhere. Some don't know that you just don't throw the blocks under it just anywhere.
Thanks,
Barn Owl
Another note, I think the side that got air locked was the lower of the 2. Not tring to disagree or scare. Tom Y
When I spoke with Doug this morning I mentioned could it be possible that the impeller on the water pump could be malfunctioning.
Steve 5B......
are we going yet??
I'll second the question... ??? ??? ???
God bless,
John
Jamie,
Did you understand the part about NOT LETTING IT OVERHEAT? At 212 or 214 or some low number compared to cars, the DD will crack the heads. Not might....WILL. This results in a multi thousand dollar repair bill.
Get together with a GM savvy guy on here and discuss "How To Drive a DD 2 stroke". You can destroy the engine in less than an hour driving it the wrong way....lugging on a hill or accelerating. These things are as strong as a mule and tough as nails but they have their soft underbelly, also. Learn! You have no real choice and it is rewarding.
Some where down the road you will get a chance to pay back. Did you program a visit to JR and his mech friend yet? Great opportunity, that.
John
Hey everyone,
Sorry for the delay. After much thought, prayer and a good long conversation with the guys at the shop. It seems we were sold a bill of goods. The bus it seems already had a problem with overheating and was spewing out oil from the side( I think thats what he said, sorry I am not good at this) Doug will have to post tomorrow. Anyway, I want to Thank Dallas, John, RJ, Arthur and Tom( I think I got you all, if not I am sorry) for calling us and supporting us on the phone and walking us through all of this. The help you all gave and were willing to give was so very generous of all of you. And you guys here on the board, your advice has been so helpful. THANK YOU !!! If I could get you all together and cook you a great dinner I would!!
After being delayed 5 days in El Paso, we have decided that our bus is probably not going to be something we will be able to afford to fix. Dallas you are a real sweetheart for offering to come and fix it for us. To stay here any longer is not possible. We are way over budget and overdue in getting home. To wait here another 7-10 days isn't possible.
We are a BIG family with 1 income. And right now Doug is not working. Our naivete has been quite humbling and we realize now that we should have done more research, asked more questions and then NOT bought this bus. I don't know if Texas has a law against selling someone a lemon or not, but simple Christian decency tells me that you don't sell a family with many small children, who drove over 2000 miles a bus that has NO hot water, NO heat, NO way of cooling its engine when that same family has to drive it back another 2000 miles. That is pure and simple WRONG and DISHONEST!.. That isn't even mentioning the horrible trailor he sold us that could have killed us, or someone else. Its only because of God's Holy Angels carrying us to the RV park in EL Paso with that wheel/rim/bolts missing that we made it there safely.
ok, thanks for listening to my rant. I am so angry. Doug is feeling like a fool. Poor guy. We took the bus and put it into storage. We are going to put it for sale. We will actually TELL any interested party ALL that we know is wrong with it. I am thinking maybe it should be for parts? I don't know. We are still just reeling from all of this... this changes everything and we don't know what we will do next. I will continue to keep you posted.
Thanks again so very much!
Jamie, Doug and the kiddos.
I am just sick after reading your post. Maybe this will only delay your dreams, not kill them. I know how fast children can grow up, and you must have felt a sense of urgency to get things going. I wish we could have had more time to help you avoid some pitfalls before you bought the bus. I tell my wife often that I would rather try and fail, than to have never tried at all. Has the previous owner been much help? Do you have any photos of the bus? If you PM me with a way to contact you I will do what I can to help you list your bus. I know of some ways you can do it for free. I know money is tight with a family of that size. I have six children, homeschool, one income, so I can somewhat relate.
Jamie Doug and family,this is terrible news to hear.where was this bus listed and who listed it(just curious)and how much did you spend on the purchase.I too had a similar venture with over heating,and am on the second go round with the cooling issue's.as it turned out I ended up here looking for answers .the folks on this board are well versed in these type of problems and can help you guy's by advising the correct coarse of action to take when wanting to purchase a bus .don't let the actions of some tear your dreams down,just back up and regroup.Know this ,now that you have found this valuable resource the next time you start out there are plenty of resources available to you here .Good luck and stay safe.Van
Jamie, I live in Texas, and am service manager at a Tractor dealership. You have 72 hrs, not including holidays or weekends, to recind any contract. Contact your salesperson, keep written documents, and see if he will help. The sales paper probably reads "as is ,where is" but the 72 hr rule supercedes this.
I am not a lawyer, so this is not legal advice. We have a very active Texas Attorney General. If other contacts do not help, call his office, or a complaint can be made over email.
Big John
Sorry to hear things aren't working out. If possible try to get someone in the area who knows about buses to asses the problems, all may not be lost. BTW the first time I went to get my bus, because of various issues mechanical and schedule I made a 2 thousand mile round trip came back with no bus....second time it all worked out. If you guys regroup, read all the archives here, and contemplate what you have, you will be able to make some informed decisions about this bus or the next one.
I'm with Barn Owl, makes me sick. Don't give up on your dream! It's maybe just not the right timing. Time has a way. In this case I would definitly follow Big John's advice, try what ever you can. It would be nice if you could simply just cancel the chq. Anyway if there is a way to recoupe even some of the costs I would do it , the seller must have really mis-represented this bus. I too would be curious where the bus was listed, as Van mentioned. I don't even know what to say really, I feel bad for you guys, giving up all that time , effort and $$. Stay in touch with us, and don't be scared to ask LOTS of ?? the next time. There is a huge bank of knowledge here, and the willingness to help from these guys keeps a persons morals up, and a reassurance that not everyone is a #### .
Grant
Jamie, Doug - I am so sorry to hear how things worked out. I'll second the notion that it's better to have tried, done your best - and that's quite well shown by Doug's efforts to work on the vehicle.
I'm in DC right now, but will be back in Dallas next week before I leave again. There are a few of us around Texas, please let us know if there's something we can do to help.
Does anyone have Texas Border Dude's contact info? I think he's based in El Paso but don't know what part of the country he may be in now. We can't speak for him, but if he knows a Detroit mechanic in El Paso he may have some ideas for replacing the orignal hydraulic fan. El Paso is a good town for getting relatively cheap labor. I suspect a used fan/drive may be available from Dean's Coach. Without seeing the 4106, we can't make a call - but I wonder if you'd be better to make a reasonable additional investment rather than lose what you've put in so far.
My story on our 4107. When I flew to New Hampshire to look at it, it obvously needed radiator work and a new fan. The starter didn't work every time, so we had the starter rebuilt. In the end, we bought the bus for $7500, put in another few thousand to get a reliable vehicle --- and our end cost was about what it should have been in the first place. Our first trip was somewhere around 3000 miles, New Hampshire to eastern Canada, then back to Dallas - with no problems. What we had going for us is buying the coach from a bus dealer that was also a maintenance expert, and he was willing to manage/supervise the work. How does this apply to your situation? Possibly finding someone trustworthy in El Paso that can supervise/manage/do the repairs and get you back where you want to be.
Arthur
I am very sorry the way that salesman took advantage of the sale instead of the concern for the family with minor children to meet their need with only one household's income.
It true that we need to inspects before we purchase a dinosaur of problem. However, if any business want to have good feed back to increase sales or just to break even until economy get better, they should inform the customer the problems to maintain that bus while traveling on the road. Especially to first time prospect buyer about purchasing a bus.
Is there any hope from whoever sold the lemon that he or she would help this family get most of the money back or give them a reliable one for a reasonable extra cost over the previous purchase price? Even exchange engine or repair at cost via negotiation with the seller.
I think this MAK BB need a list of files that indicate a customer rating system for seller and repair services. It can be updated such as E bayer already has in their system. A post labeled "Customer Satisfaction" for anyone to volunteer their input. It would serve 3 purposes. One is where to service in case of emergency and two is where to buy and third is satisfaction results.
I am praying for things will work out well for the family.
Gerald & Lynette
Jamie & Doug,
So glad you and the family made it back home safely. I too am looking around for my first bus and to hear of your experience is not good for any of us who are in the market. I don't know how much you paid for your bus but now I understand why so many of the veterans on this BB encourage people to have an experienced bus mechanic to check it out first before buying. To be honest at first I probably was not going to do that but now I deffinitely will.
I am sorry to hear of your experience but it has also helped a few of us out there who are in the market to have it checked by one of these experienced experts first before buying. I'm sure their cost is a lot less than the cost of even the cheapest bus to buy out there.
Jamie and Doug,
First off, I think that I gathered from your post that your are still in El Paso. Second, I am praying for you.
I was just wondering what your options are. You said that the bus is in storage. Does that mean that it is in El Paso? Have you contacted the guy that you bought it from? And I would also assume that you all are going to drive back home in the van.
Don't let this discourage you. If you are ever able to take it back to your house, then it would be a great project for Doug and your sons (I am guessing that you have sons ;)) to work on. Also, I don't know what your financial status is, but if Dallas was coming your way, he would be able to get you started and pointed in the right direction. Provided the funds were there, you all would be able to eventually get that bus up and running. The biggest thing mechanically, right now, would be whether the engine is sound. I would think that it could be damaged, especially if it overheated ever, and was low on oil.
Don't let this be the death of your dream. It would be best if you could "return" the bus, but I doubt whether that will happen. I also don't think that your bus is a "lemon". Just old and not maintained, and not serviced (still the seller should have told you all of that).
So how much did you all pay for it? And (just a curiosity question) how did you get bit by the bus bug (commonly know as a "bus nuts disease" which BTW is incurable ;D)?
Well I could say more ;D :D ;D, but nobody will read the post otherwise ;D :D :D ;D.
I still extend my sympathy. Don't let this discourage you. This is just a bit of testing.
God bless,
John
Good points John,But I am still a little curious as to who the seller(s) are?and how Doug and Jamie came to find out about this bus being for sale?how was it listed and where?it's all in the details that are yet to come we hope .And right again John ,just what I was thinking,a great family project .Good luck you guy's and don't let this first experience deter you from the ultimate family experience (ask any one here).We too have fallen on bended knee the first time out last June when we purchased our first bus and limped home 1,700 mi ,bad cooling system,not knowing the systems on our eagle,but having met the folks on the bus boards all is under control right now ,not resolved yet,but under control. There is still hope ,so hang in there you guys.
Maybe we can donate some oem parts. I have a fluid drive that is a spare. Maybe someone has the correct fan? Just a thought to help them out. I'd hate to see them give up. God knows I had huge issues with my 4106 when I first bought it!
Mark
This is a bump, so Doug can read the rest of the posts on this thread...
God bless,
John
I have a complete fan and rad assembly from an mc5 - all yours if you can retrofit it, I will ship if for free.
wow, I am so humbled by the sense of community here! Thank you guys and wives for your encouragement and generosity! Doug has posted a major update also but I do want to say that we are now at home safely( thanks be to God) and we are now just trying to figure out what step to take next. As Doug posted, he has emailed the seller( an individual) and we are praying for the right outcome. It has been a real learning experience and one that I am sure will prove helpful to others.
Doug and I are looking forward to meeting some of you ( or all ;o) ) at some point on our journey!
God Bless you all.
Jamie
PS. Mark and Viento thank you for your offers. I told Doug to read these posts also.
Quote from: viento1 on February 02, 2009, 03:23:29 PM
I have a complete fan and rad assembly from an mc5 - all yours if you can retrofit it, I will ship if for free.
Viento -Unfortunately, the MC-5 cooling fans and radiators are incompatible with the GMC 4106 design.
The MCI is a "T-drive", with the cooling blowers driven by a long belt from the crankshaft pulley to a compartment directly above the engine, with two radiators on each side of the coach.
The GMC, being a "V-drive", has the engine sitting sideways across the rear, with a single large radiator on the street side, with the fan being directly driven through the torus unit, no belts involved.
Generous offer, but sadly incompatible.
FWIW & HTH. . .
;)
Don't throw them away tho! Sooner or later one of us other 5 owners will need them......hopefully not me anytime soon. ;D
Quote from: viento1 on February 02, 2009, 03:23:29 PM
I have a complete fan and rad assembly from an mc5 - all yours if you can retrofit it, I will ship if for free.
Thank you very much though for your generous offer. Much appreciated. I second the notion though that someone else will need it so just hold onto it.
Doug