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Linkage just went out trying to make calls. Called the Eagles net they can't come. Tried a "Cliff" downtown repair shop. Off side of highway right now thoughts or numbers would be great. campers world say no go on buses

Road ready repair in on their way out to take a look. Tried calling area wreckers and have not found one that can do the tow, so road ready said they would call some of their number too.

What linkage went out?

Look on the help list looks like two guys in your area. ???

Assume your fixed by now or safe for now. I know that area.  If not repaired get in touch with BK he knows shops in Nashville and tow services.   Bob

   This did not go the way I thought my 1st break down would go. Called Good Sam and couldn't hear the operator and she couldn't hear me (rock walls on both sides of highway and highway noise). Called the Eagles Nest and the operator said she would see if she could page them. Then pulled up the internet and looked up Bus Towing. Started calling down the list and did not get a service that would come out. The Eagles Nest called me back, but their people were out of town so they gave me 2 names. Called both and did not get an answer. Was starting to get worried and started pulling panels. I have a 5 speed and I hoped one of the shafts running from front to rear had popped loose. Or maybe one of the shift links had jammed. No luck, the clutch rod was moving all the way to the clutch lever in the rear. At that time I got a call back from Cliff @ Road Ready Repair. He said he would be right out with a few tow numbers and Cotton's Towing/Tow Pro said he was in the area (Daniel). Cliff got here and looked under the bus and said the tail shaft had snapped. He called the wrecker and then started working on removing the short drive shaft. You could see the broken shaft where it should have gone into the tranny. He removed other parts he would need removed to get ready for the repair while waiting for the wrecker. He said he would remove the tranny Sunday and be ready to install the parts Monday (Great). I am also in need of a little other work that was taking forever to get set up in Indiana, so he will do those too while he's in there. Cliff and Daniel did a great job getting me out of a tough spot, I-24 heading North at the 65/40/24 split going from 4 to 2 lanes into Nashville. Cliff parked me next to his shop and had his friends pick us up some gas for the gen. I am now sitting in air cond, Lights on, computer up, and billfold open lol.

P.S. As happens, 4 days ago my phone dumped my contact list and I lost BK and others numbers. Cliff called me back as I was getting ready to hit the BCM contact list.

Thanks, Bob   Safe for now, but it was touch and go for a while.

Glad you are safe! Bob in Evansville.

Glad to hear your safe now! It doesn't get any more stressfull that being on the side of a highway without a break down lane!
It's happened to me ! I feel your pain ! Good Luck !

Wow! Glad yer off that road and safe! ;) Being broke down like that kinda grabs ya by the boo boo doesn't it  ;D . Almost gotta be like a helo pilot, always looking for that spot to go to in case things go wrong ;)

Holy Moly. Glad you got out of that mess. especially in this heat...

When my mule threw a shoe outside of Atlanta I thought (or wished) that I had more room to get it off the interstate.

Then I saw your pictures.

Man-Man, I'll bet that was a trip.

BCO

Bus Busted,

Man I feel your pain. In June we, wife, grandson and me, headed off for California. I had osme work out there. Before leaving I had some repairs made and an oil check run. Oil check report said coolant in oil. Wound up having an in chassis engine rebuild. Drove it home on Sunday night. Loaded up early Monday and headed west. We got a total of 245 miles on the engine before it threw a rod as we began to descend Black Mountain here in NC. I guess the best I can say is that diagnosing my problem was simple. When I opened the engine access door and spotted that gleaming rod journal shining at me I knew what the problem was. We stopped at 12:30 PM and did not leave the side of the road until 9:00 PM.

We loaded up our toad with essentials and took off again the next morning around 9:00 AM. Three days later we pulled into the Downtown San Francisco hotel at 11:10 PM. Yep, that would be 750 on day one (Asheville NC to Van Buren, AR), 850 miles day two (Van Buren AR to Gallu NM) and 1,000 miles (Gallup NM to San Francisco CA)on day three. Don't nobody tell me a Dodge Ram 2500 series with Hemi power can't move it on down the road.

The equipment shop is supplying a Jasper Reman complete engine at no cost. Bad thing is there is one less 8V in the world. Sad day. :'(

Too late now, but remembered Dave at A-1 diesel in Hendersonville Good guy! ;)

   Thanks folks, looking back now there was a high pucker factor while in that spot. Seems all the cars wanted to wait until they were 5 ft from the bus before moving over, so they kept running over my reflectors. I saw some orange barrels over a wall so I grabbed that and wow, nobody wanted to run over those. Went from feeling I was going to die, to "we got this under control". Think I might replace my reflectors with those barrels lol.

   Anyway, I know it's tough to haggle over prices when your in a bad spot, but what do you think it's going to cost to get the trans broke shaft fixed? (See pictures) He pulled trans, checked gears to make sure we weren't fixing junk (A++ gear shape).

   From that price I'm thinking of replacing the clutch if it needs it. Any price thoughts on one or both would be great. Thanks, Jon

I'm curious if Good Sam will reimburse for the tow since you couldn't get a hold of them?  I have Coach-Net both so they can find a tow service and to pay for the tow.  I figure if I need no tows in ten years I'll have paid the cost of one tow to Coach-Net most likely.  I would be perfectly happy not to need a tow in a ten year span.

Jon -

Since you've already got the transmission out, replacing the clutch is a no-brainer!  Clutch disc, throw-out bearing and pilot bearing at minimum, add in a pressure plate if necessary.

FWIW & HTH. . .

;)

Jon you can not drag race with a Bus.  Next time just wave and smile.  Glad you got off the interstate.  Hope everything works out for you.

JCB

~Rebuilding Bus Now~

   Where to start... Ok, we ordered the replacement shaft and other damaged parts the broken shaft damaged. Next day shipping turned into 2nd day with not all of the parts coming. Still waiting on a hard to find bearing. So while I had an Eagle repairman close I said "while we are waiting on the bearing, maybe we should see what else needs done". WOW, the rebuild begins. While we had the trans out we had the clutches and pressure plates redone. (see picture) I knew I had 2 dryrotted bogies, and  we were able to find 2 almost new bridgestones ($400 each) ((see picture)).

   While removing the bogies he checked the rear brakes, good drums ~ good pads. Now to the drives. The pads were lifting off the shoes and the drum had a large lip and so much rust that the numbers were almost gone. So off to the fronts. He looked at the drivers side and said "Great, almost new!" Then the pass, "Very bad, and a bad lip on the drum", so we tried to remove the rim, no go! 1st thing we saw was a bad looking lug nut. It would not turn so we tried and tried, had to cut it off after trashing the nut. We talked and decided it needed a pass side drum. Didn't want old drum on drivers and new on pass, so two new drums ($375 each) and pads. Oh, and the rims for the drives, no steel = both inside and out are aluminum along with the spare. So where are we staying? In the bus, in the 105 deg parking lot, gen running, 15000 window air running, close to the airport where you can count the planes by the sound, beside a camper and another Eagle being repaired. Even though we have enough food, we are walking to restaurants to fend off cabin fever. We are 2 blocks from a cleaners so we bought a wagon to haul clothes and gas cans. (My bus has the foil over the windows to keep the cool in)

Still no bearing (high priced overnight shipping, but if all the parts don't come in we'll have to talk about that shipping price). I had been seeing what looked like a little oil in engine bay, so it was time to track it down. It turned out to be fuel and a worn out filter holder. Replaced. I wanted to make sure my spare wasn't dry rotted so I removed the front bumper and found a pile of rust that was not there when I removed the cover a few months ago before doing all this back and forth to Nashville. Found rusted out bumper brace that just looked rusty before. So we pulled the upper bumper and it was worse. So we have a call in to get both bumpers re-welded with new steel braces. While we had all that metal off I wanted a look at my steering to see why it was a little sloppy. We found the worm gear shaft coming out of the top of the steering box. When you really turned the wheel while it was sitting still, it would raise and lower the whole dash! Time to pull the steering box and get it rebuilt (you can see the steering box in a black tub in the bus/bumpers/drum/spare tire picture). I hope that bearing gets here before we find too much more...

   JCB, You would be surprised how much of the stuff we bought from you has been put to use during this breakdown. Everything from the air jack, to the tools, and even the camping chairs with the tray and cup holders! I guess everything happens for a reason.

   They even said if I would have been going highway speed the shaft would have done a lot more damage, but since it was bumper to bumper with a top speed of 10mph the damage from the shaft was very little. And I have a little open time right now so the asphalt camping isn't hurting the calendar yet. I know I'm not happy about the repair cost, but best to get it all done now while some of the parts are off anyway...