Hi All,
We are 5 days into our trip from Florida to Maine, PEI, and then back to Florida via the coastal route.
We have covered 1,375 miles and have had only one major issue so far.
The last few hours on I-26 in NC, I noticed it taking a little longer than normal for the air to recover after a purge. As we pulled into an Ashville, NC campground, the drive brakes locked up and I had to set and release the parking brake to get the bus to move into the parking spot.
Monday, we departed Ashville and the brakes seemed fine, the bus aired up normally and the purge seemed normal as well. A few hours later, while on I-40 eastbound, we came to a construction zone which was a single lane. As we were moving along at 5 MPH waiting out turn to file into the traffic, the brakes locked up and there we sat until I set and released the parking brakes a few times and waited for the air to come up. Both times the brakes locked up the air pressure was right at 100 PSI.
At several rest stops, I noticed an air leak coming from the purge valve after it had popped off. The bus did this when I first purchased it in April of this year. At that time, I took it to the shop and asked them to rebuild the purge valve and replace the drier. When I got the bus back, the purge valve no longer leaked.
I called around and found a shop in Statesville, NC that could look at the bus right a way. I explained the air leaking from the purge valve to the shop manager and the mechanic pulled that apart first. There was a fair amount of water in the purge valve. They checked the wet tank and it was dry. I have a ping tank just after the compressor that I drain each time I run the bus so I wasn't expecting any water in the tanks.
As they looked at the drier, the mechanic said, "it looks like the drier has not been opened in years".
Long story short, I had the shop replace the entire drier and purge valve with a new one. While they were into the air system, I decided to have them replace the regulator on the compressor as well.
Once the repairs were completed, the bus aired up faster than it ever has before, and 500 miles later, no issues with the brakes at all.
As far as the trip itself, for those of you that know the passes on I-26 in NC, we climbed the big one in 2 gear, 1800 RPM, 32 MPH towing a 5,200 lb toad and full tanks. The temp went up slightly from about 170 to a high of 180.
Today, we did Fancy Gap on I-81 in 3rd gear on cruise control at 43 MPH with no issues the whole way.
I am real happy with the performance of the bus so far this trip. I have not used any oil, nor have we left any drips at the camp sites. The engine is as clean as the day we left and the toad is clean other than road grime.
If the rest of the trip goes as well as today, we will be in great shape.
We are now in Lancaster, PA and will explore the area for a few days before heading north.
Paul
Paul,
What was the cost to get the air system repaired.
Sounds like a good trip so far!
Doug
Paul,
Your not far from Hershey where one of the largest rv shows is starting Wednesday over 1200 rvs and lots of vender's. Me and a buddy are going tomorrow to see if I can find a satellite for the bus. We love that part of the state lots of things to keep you busy a couple of days. Hope your trip continues to be a good one. Jason
Doug,
The total was $660. The original dryer was an AD-4 and was replaced by an AD-9. The AD-9 dryer was $216 and uses different sized fittings so there was about $20 in fittings. The governor was $13 and the rest was labor, shop supplies, tax, etc. If you need to change yours, the AD-9 will fit but you have to modify the deflector that mounts under it. I am running without the deflector and will modify it when I return home.
Paul
I will be handing this bill to the previous shop that claims they rebuilt the AD-4. FWIW, this is the second item I have had to replace from the repairs done at ABC Bus in Florida.
Jason,
We did not realize the show was this weekend until we checked into the campground. We are going to go to the show tomorrow as well.
Paul
Paul
What part of Lancaster are you staying at? We are about 4 hours west of the show and will be leaving around 6 am, so it's going to be a long day. Jason
If you are in Lancaster, go a few miles east to the Amish area and eat at Good & Plenty or Plain & Fancy. Both are great restaurants serving "family style" Geat food and a neat experience. We were there about 1 week ago. Jack
It's entirely possible your problem was simply a sticking the governor. They gum up and stick and can cause the purge valve will continue to exhaust. Cleaning or changing it will often clear up the problems you describe.
Of course, you now know for certain that you have a good dryer, purge valve and governor on your bus, and the $660 it cost you does not seem
bad considering the amount of work required to change out your dryer and adapt to the old lines.
You might mention the name of the shop, always good to know dependable, reasonable places on the road.
Paul, if you end up going through Hershey, you might want to visit the Museum of Bus Transportation. It's in the AACA museum, about 2-3 miles northeast of Hershey Park on Route 39.
If going east from Lancaster, the Strasburg Railroad is always worth a stop (and the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania is across the street). As mentioned earlier, food in that area is wonderful.
Arthur