Driving up I35 just south of Waco Tx the streetside inside dual became 3 tires, with 1/3 of it laying on the center stripe of I35. I limped off the interstate and pulled into a small grocery store parking lot in Troy TX. The only damage was my bottom camera pod got bent up and the outer lens knocked out. Fortunately no damage to the fender well of the coach. I called a local tire service and he was there in 5 minutes. He was a Good Sam provider, so there was no charge to install the spare.
We drove on to Dallas to pick up a Niehoff voltage regulator ($252) from a place on I30 just out of downtown. Yuk, driving in downtown Dallas not fun. The lady boxed the item and hid it in the bushes by their gate since we couldn't make it before closing. That was nice of her to do that. The new regulator solved my goofy Niehoff issues I've written about on the Eagle board.
We spent the night at Walmart in Mesquite and drove on the next day, found a tire shop outside of Greenville TX. Bought two new Dunlops for the steers, moved the two Toyo ,steers to the streetside drives, retired the 9 year old Wanli tires and put the spare back into its hiding place. Total cost for 2 tires, 3 mounts, and two balances, $1230. My oldest tire on the coach is now 6 years. We were pretty far behind on our itinerary so we only made to Idabel OK and spent the night in the Quachita National Forest, very nice there.
Drove on to Branson via Fayetville and spent a couple of days at Table Rock Lake SP. Very nice place. Boy it was hot 103. Went up to Springfield and spent some time at the Grizzly distribution center. That place is Tim the Toolman heaven, I did leave with my wallet still full, however, but I was drooling over some of those wood working tools.
We drove on to South Bend IN and spent the night at Walmart. I had to get a picture wearing a Texas Longhorn shirt giving a hook em horns sign at Notre Dame stadium. It was well received by my Longhorn friends. The drive through Illinois and Indiana was pretty sad as has been reported in the news about the drought.
After SouthBend we drove onto Camp CoBeAc near Houghton Lake MI where we spent 2 weeks building a dorm at the camp. That brings us to yesterday where when we were ready to leave I had lost 3 gals of coolant that I posted about on the "Losing Coolant" thread.
Now we are at Frankenmuth enjoying Bavarian culture and will press on eastward tomorrow. Hopefully no more bus problems.
David
Forgot to mention. I bought 3 new 31D start batteries at Tractor Supply Saturday. Mine were 5 years old and the bus cranked slowly yesterday after sitting for 2 weeks. They were Exides $99 each.
I fueled in St Louis 2 weeks ago at 3.53 gal. Fueled yesterday in Saginaw at $3.89gal. Ichk, big jump and expect higher as I get into New York.
David
We were up in Iowa and Illinois and spent the last weekend of July dry camping -- when we started home the fuel price was up like 17 cents a gallon
Was still cheaper than flying and better than driving and staying in hotels -- and we got over 7 and close to 8 miles a gallon
Keep driving and keep smiling -- the bus is the way to travel
Melbo
From SW Indiana : last wed our year total was 13 inches Thursday in two hrs we got 5 inches. Most ran off. Last nite 2 more. Maybe a start to recovery. But don't let numbers fool you. You can't feed corn for two reasons; one can't collect crop insurance for cost if you do. also some is poison to live stock because of nitrogen content. .
David: sorry I got off topic. Please keep your trip log going. I like to hear about others adventures. Get to live the trip thru their eyes. enjoy the ride. Bob
David,
Are you planning to attend the Back to the Bricks Rally in Clio Aug. 15-19? It's only 20 minutes south of Frankenmuth!
Glenn Williams
Quote from: Tenor on August 06, 2012, 05:52:02 AM
David,
Are you planning to attend the Back to the Bricks Rally in Clio Aug. 15-19? It's only 20 minutes south of Frankenmuth!
Glenn Williams
No, we are heading to Charlestown NH for a 4 week church building job. It starts Aug 20, but we will play on the way, Sandusky OH, Pennsylvania sites, Niagra, Anarondikes, etc. We are leaving Frankenmuth as soon as I get the radiator shroud put back on the bottom of the coach, driving to Ann Arbor to get a picture at the "Big House" Michigan Stadium and on to Sandusky.
David
Sorry we'll miss you! You would certainly get a better stadium photo of Spartan Stadium in East Lansing! ::)
Glenn
WEll talk about two Eagles passing in the night. I headed up 35 to Ft. Worth and then west to Weatherford, Texas. The next day I back tracked to Troy, Texas and spent the night and Sunday headed back home. Glad to hear you got going again. I am going to replace all 4 on my duals and that will put me at 3 years for the oldest tires.
Quote from: David Anderson on August 05, 2012, 08:32:35 PM(snip) I fueled in St Louis 2 weeks ago at 3.53 gal. Fueled yesterday in Saginaw at $3.89gal. Ichk, big jump and expect higher as I get into New York.
David, I've seen fuel in the southern Virginia area (I buy fuel out of NC when I can -- taxes *way* too high) go up about 20 cents in the past two weeks ($3.45-->$3.65). But I was in N York State a couple of weeks ago and some places it was $4.19. It must be legal to smoke crack in NY State.
What part of Pa are you going through? We are about a 1.5 hr north of Pittsburgh, we just was up in Erie over the weekend and on the way home fueled up for 3.89 a gal BTW the TA across the parking lot was 4.01 gal If you are coming across 80 the exit before entering Pa from Ohio there is a flyin j that is mostly .15 cheaper then Pa. If you are close maybe we could meet up. Jason
We've been in East Harbor State Park since Monday touring Sandusky, Lakeside, Marblehead, and the theme park at Cedar Point. My neck still hurts from the roller coaster rides. :P Heading out this morning to Lake Wapasund SP near Loundonville to visit Amish country. A stop at Lehman's Hardware in Kidron is on my bucket list ;D We will head to Niagra Falls Monday via I90 and US 20 and see some sights up there. The radiator clamp began leaking again after I stopped at E. Harbor SP so I pulled the shroud off and tightened it some more. I can't reposition the clamp without losing my coolant, so I hope the screw down will suffice. I'll keep you posted.
David
David, you are using HD Spring clamps aren't you?
If you are using just the run of the mill automotive worm clamp, I would double up the clamp until you get home and install good spring clamps.
If you are using spring clamps, you may have to double up with a automotive clamp until you figure out what is going on.
I did not review your thread about the coolant loss, but if you are trying to use used silicone hose, good luck in getting it to seal. If it is rubber hose, the initial material "creep"/flow should have occurred in the first few heat cycles.
Have fun on your trip and travel safely.
Jim
Quote from: rv_safetyman on August 10, 2012, 07:35:29 AM
David, you are using HD Spring clamps aren't you?
If you are using just the run of the mill automotive worm clamp, I would double up the clamp until you get home and install good spring clamps.
Are you talking the type of spring clamp like is used on pretty much every new car today? I use the constant tension worm type clamps on rubber and silicone hoses.
Brian, I had not thought about the term spring clamp. I used that term incorrectly. The typical automotive spring clamp is something like this:
http://www.acehardwareoutlet.com/ProductDetails.aspx?SKU=2147009263 (http://www.acehardwareoutlet.com/ProductDetails.aspx?SKU=2147009263)
You will not find that kind of clamp on a Bus or Semi.
What I should have said was "constant torque clamp". An example is shown here:
http://www.breezeclamps.com/ct.htm (http://www.breezeclamps.com/ct.htm)
I think all of today's HD trucks and buses use these clamps. I am pretty sure Eagle used them and so David probably has them on his bus.
Jim
I use the constant tension / constant torque hose clamps for basically everything. I think the local NAPA still has an inventory of them because they had to get full boxes from the warehouse just to sell me a few of different sizes.
I noticed on photos of new Series 60 engines that they use really heavy duty spring clamps on some of the hoses just like new cars.
Jim,
Yes I'm using the spring clamp. It is just sloppy positioning on the hose on my part, and I can't remove it without catching all the coolant. Don't want to do that while on the road. I'm at Wapusund RV Park outside Loudenville OH now and I don't see any wet spots on the ground. We are having such an enlightening time here in Amish Country that we are going to stay 2 extra days. Went to Lehman's Hardware Saturday and never saw so much stuff that I had no clue what it was. The food at these Amish kitchens is some of the best cooking I've ever had. This is truly a beautiful piece of the U.S. to see.
We will head to Niagra Tuesday, then on to Charlestown NH for 5 weeks.
David
Made it to Buffalo today and staying at Sleepy Hollow Campground in Akron NY. Will head out to Niagra tomorrow and get to see that. No issues on the trip. Diesel is 4.19 here. I filled in Michigan which was much less. Sure are a lot of troopers on the NY hiways >:(
I'm starting to notice a lot of low bridge warnings and load limit bridges with weight limits less than 18 tons. So far I've always had an exit before getting locked into a bad situation. I'm planning my route mostly on US 20, but I need to use NY7 east of Albany, then Vermont 9 and then New Hampshire 12 to Charlestown NH. Anyone know these 3 state routes? VT9 crosses the Connecticut River. I hope I don't have any problems.
David
Route 7 to VT9 will be fine. Took that route last summer. VT 12 might be a different story, many bridges were damaged in last fall's tropical storm Irene. Alas, 91 parallels it the entire way so you very easily jump on that if need be.
Some Highlanders should jump in. I know there are few bus owners up that way. I'm a lowly lowlander. But my sister lives in VT so I'm up there with our bus quite a bit.
Edit; Stop off in Putney for some great BBQ! About a 1/4 mile off exit 4 off 91 north, take a left at the end of the ramp, turn right at the next stop sign into Curtis's American BBQ! Authentic BBQ served out of the window of a Skoolie! Well worth the time!
Made it. 2940 miles. I'm a long way from home. Will be here 5 weeks then head back to to Texas. The lowest bridge was on US 20 about 25 miles west of Albany. It was 12'9". No more problems with the coach since I stopped the coolant leak. The old 6v92 has used about 3 quarts of oil since I left South Texas. I had to use the Voith retarder really hard on these eastern mountains. It has worked like a charm. Some of these hills rival some in New Mexico. I saw $4.45 diesel in Albany :o Only 3.99 in Vermont. I'll be in touch.
David
Forgot to mention that I went under a 12' 9" rail bridge on NY7 in Rotterdam (Schenectady). My wife ducked to the floor and I held my breath. I was thinking I was 12' 2", but I put my laser level on the air conditioners when we got to camp and measured a 12'6". Whew, 3" is really close. I'll know for sure next time. One of our group did the same road with a 5th wheel. He is 13'6". He hit the brakes, had his wife move traffic, backed up and went around the neighborhood for a few blocks to find a grade crossing to go over. It didn't show up on his bridge warning software on his I phone.
I was in Greenfield Mass yesterday and an 18 wheeler was in front of me on US 5. He came on a 12'6" bridge in the middle of town, hit the brakes and made a hard turn up a one way street the wrong way to get out. He was 13'6". Whew, you have to watch out where you drive around here.
David
The northeast has major problems with low bridges. I had a heck of a time in Pennsylvania finding bridges with enough clearance. The Amtrak Northeast corridor went through the area I was in and most of the Northeast corridor bridges are low. I missed a bridge clearance sign in one spot and almost made my bus into a convertible.
We are back on the road again, heading to Texas. Left Charlestown NH Saturday morning and drove to Gettysburg PA. Spent Saturday and Sunday night in Gettysburg PA. The Webasto quit on me last night after it cycled the burner "off" from the aquastat, it would not restart. I tried it again a few minutes ago and it will not light. It's dark, so I can't really check it too closely, plus I'm pretty tired. I'm at Camp Walmart in Rockdale TN and will drive to Little Rock or Texarkana tomorrow. I probably won't need it the rest of the trip, but it has failed me in different ways several times. Frustrating!!
Saw 4 different Prevost conversions on I 81 today. Fuel was 4.19 in PA, MD, and WV. $3.85 at Flying J in northern VA. I've driven 4000 miles so far.
David
Made it back home on Sep 26. I've driven 5161 miles and crossed through 16 states since July 16, burned 783.3 gals of diesel for the trip (includes genny) for an avg of 6.58 mpg. Total fuel cost was $2991.54. The old 6v92 used 1 gallon of oil for the trip. I saw 6 Prevosts and 1 Bluebird conversions on my whole trip. No Eagles or MCI's.
Now out to the bus to do some needed maintenance.
David