We left home yesterday about noon. Waited a bit so the roads would clear off from the previous days storm across the midwest.
Somewhere down around the southern part of MN, I noticed my camera had become covered with spray. Thought it kind of odd, since the roads had been mostly dry. Didn't think much about it, though.
Around Sioux City, I noticed my fuel gauge was down close to half. Thought that was kind of odd, since I'd only driven 300 miles on that tank, so far. Thought the MPG seemed a bit low.
Then down around Winnebago, NE, I noticed the gauge was well below 1/2. Ok, time to check the engine compartment. I pulled into a small place along the road and walked back. Horrors! I was dumping liquid gold onto the ground by the buckets full!! Fuel was pouring out of the new fuel manifold I had just installed! The gauge I had put on had eaten itself. It literally disintegrated and fuel was coming out of the gauge body!
I shut off the bus and assessed the situation. It's 8:30 pm in a small Indian town in the middle of nowhere. Obviously I'm not going to get much help here. The engine compartment, back of the bus, and the toad are covered in diesel. I pull the gauge off the mainifold, and search for a 1/4" plug I was sure I had put in the bus. Nope. Can't find it. So, I look around at what I have with me, and see a drain plug in my little Harbor Freight air compressor. It's a perfect fit. A little teflon tape to cure the small leak, 15 minutes and I'm back on the road.
I figure I dumped 50 gallons on the road.
So, I go fill up and head on down the road.
Not 30 miles down the road, I look down at my gps map for an instant. When I look up, there are two deer walking across my lane, not 50 feet in front of me. I didn't even have time to cuss. My foot hit the break, but there wasn't time for the air to even get to the diaphram. I got them both! 60 miles per hour! One took out the left side headlight assembly. Dented in the corner panel. The other one must have just grazed it's head. Teri was following me in the pickup, and said it got up and ran off. I'm pretty sure the one didn't run off cause there's deer hair in my bumper.
The High Beam bulb is still in, and works, but shines down on the ground right in front of me. I lost the low beam bulb and the ring is gone. I might be able to salvage the can, but the corner panel is creased. So, now, I need a left corner panel and headlight assembly. Anyone have one left over from smooth siding their bus? Maybe someone coming to Arcadia?
Found a wash today and cleaned up all the diesel fuel. Bought a bulb. Going to try to put it in place of the high beam, so at least there will be a light on that side and I won't get stopped.
If my luck don't change soon, I'm going home!
I'll try to post photo of the damage tomorrow. I spent today trying to get this piece of crap computer to work. Finally found the right magic and the hotel has wireless.
craig
So, are you trying to steal our thunder? ???
Usually that kind of crap happens only us! ha ha. ;D
Boy, I sure hope that I've passed our mantle of "you're not going to believe what just happened" to you and our trip will be totally uneventful! ;)
Sure sorry to hear that you're chasing down innocent deer like that! Poor thing is probably sitting around the campfire talking to his other deer friends, comparing wounds. Yep, I can just hear him now, "See this here? This missing patch of hair? Got me an MCI today!" ;D
Hopefully, this is the end of your excitement and the rest of your trip is boring and lacking in any excitement at all. I, of all people, am keeping my fingers crossed for you! Christy Hicks
gumpy, sorry you are having such a bad go of it. Remember the deer had a worse day ;D
Hope things turn around and it gets better.
Happy Holidays.
Grant
Hey Craig sorry to hear about yer troubles! But hey look at the good side, all the bad things have happened so now you can enjoy the rest of the trip! BK ;D
Sorry to hear about the bus damage - too bad you didn't get both the deer. With the increased restrictions on gun ownership and decline in social acceptability of hunting up here deer have become a serious problem. I call them long-legged ditch rats.
We hit a bear cub this fall at about 40 mph - just rolled him off into the ditch and took out the curb side driving light. Bent the bumper ever so slightly - a little strong arm adjustment put it back in place and a replacement seal beam put everything back to rights.
Hope the rest of the trip goes better & that you don't get charged for environmental contamination.
I am amazed at your resourcefullness. I do hope your trip gets better 'cause I want to meet you in Arcadia. I'll be there on Fri & Sat.
Sorry, no bus, just me & another 4501 nut.
Bummer about the deer. Looks like motor vehicles are currently the major predators of them.
Are you going to build a bar guard for the front now? (like they require in Australia)
Good luck for the rest of the trip!
Craig:
I am sorry about the diesel and deer mishaps.
Holy crap ... that sucks. Thankfully you are resourceful and a very positive and upbeat person.
We WILL see you in Arcadia Craig!! :D
Jerry H.
Hi Craig,
Sorry to hear about your troubles! It could have been worse... [the bright side of course]
Hope the rest of your journey is uneventful! Looking forward to meeting you.
We will be waiting for you.
Nick-
Craig, do you have the OEM MC9 headlights? I'll look at your website and see what your headlights look like. I just tossed both front corners off my MC9 into the dumpster. I'll see if I can find them tomorrow. Dumpster is only half full....still a lot of crap. The stainless was not the best after removal, but the headlights were complete on one side..I gave the other bezel and headlights to someone two years ago. Both buckets and one bezel is in the dumpster somewhere.
Every time I clean up, something is discarded that could have been used! I'll let you know the outcome thru the day tomorrow.
We're headed to Arcadia on Wednesday...hope to make the trip in one day...easy to do IF no problems.
Hope your travels become friendlier! JR
BTW, if anyone has these parts, post soon so that I don't to go "dumpster diving" for no reason.
Quote from: NJT5047 on December 23, 2006, 07:31:36 PM
Craig, do you have the OEM MC9 headlights?
Yes, oem. Round headlights and all.
Man, if you could find them, that would be awesome. Hire a local teen to dive for them and I'll send a few bucks back to him for his effort. If the stainless is remotely straight, I'd really like them, also. This one is probably not salvagable, as it's creased. I also need the ring that holds the headlight in place, and the assiciated springs and adjustment screws, if possible. The bezel was crushed, too, and will probably be unusable as well.
If it's too much trouble to dig them out, don't worry about it. I figure I can find them somewhere.
Oh, and in case anyone is wondering how they looked just before I hit them.....
They looked like deer in the headlights! :D
Da dum!!
You know, I been kind of pissy all day cause of this. I finally got the connection up and now, I'm feeling much better after talking to my friends. The family's wondering why I'm in the bus, and not in the hotel room with them.
That deer backstrap back on the pavement would have softened the day a little as it was already tenderized.
MMMMMMM good!
QuoteThe family's wondering why I'm in the bus, and not in the hotel room with them.
Craig,
Why you staying in a hotel??
Here are some deer related ("caught in headlights") comics to hopefully bring a smile...
Clearly they weren't wearin' their deer shades ... nor did they have their physicals.
(https://busconversionmagazine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cartoonstock.com%2Fnewscartoons%2Fcartoonists%2Fmba%2Flowres%2Fmban419l.jpg&hash=4f6e455ae53133038e868f41f0716b5ac713224c)
(https://busconversionmagazine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cartoonstock.com%2Fnewscartoons%2Fcartoonists%2Frha%2Flowres%2Frhan510l.jpg&hash=a6a76769777a40c877fe6576d812cf9a3aea3d82)
Jerry H.
Wow Craig :o
2 deer at 60MPH and only lost a headlight and creased a piece of Stainless. And your still going down the road. Glad youwer in the bus!! That bus may have just saved your life!!!! It deserves another hug!!
Did you go ahead and road dress the deer! ;D :D Venison in arcadia??
Craig, Forgot to warn you about those suicidal deer. Big problem since the DNR has to cut back, no money for therapy or suicide prevention lines ;D Good luck on the rest of your trip
Craig, sorry to hear of your troubles.
Hope JR has the parts you need to fix the headlight assy.
Just wanted to suggest to check an auto parts store for the headlight adjusters,spring,etc.
They used to sell that small stuff as a "Help" item. "Help" was the name of the manufacturer.
Sammy 8)
Craig,
Been away from the BBS for a couple days with the plague.
Glad everyone is OK. Everthing else money can be thrown at! :'( ;)
Hope the rest of your trip goes according to your plans.
Cliff
Quote from: JerryH on December 23, 2006, 08:54:02 PM
Why you staying in a hotel??
When we planned this trip, I wasn't coming to Arcadia. It's only a days drive from home, and Teri's family is in the hotel, and kind of wanted us to stay there to be close for Christmas and all. I did some cost analysis and it seemed I would not spend much more to drive the car down and stay in the hotel vs. bring the bus and try to find a place to park and all, so we decided to do that and made reservations. Well, plans changed, and I now have 3 vehicles in NE! The bus and toad, and the pickup Teri and the kids need to go home as I go to Arcadia. I would not have had time to go home after Christmas and get the bus and get to FL by Friday. Priorities, you know.
This is turning out to be one expensive trip!
Here's the damage...
Be glad is was not elk. Glad you are OK. Bus, as said can be fixed. A friend of mine hit a elk with a 76 Cad eldorado and it totalled the car, he was OK though and was glad he was in a big tank sort of.
Enjoy the rest of the trip.
ED
MCI 7
Craig- First off-glad the deer didn't do more damage either to you or your bus. The headlight assembly looks fairly easy to replace.
The fuel leak is a bummer, but you got that handled also!
Comment- I drove cross country truck for 21 years and can tell you break downs happen at the worse time (is there ever a good time?). Even with giving the truck repair shop carte blanche to try to find things wrong with the truck and constant preventative maintenence, stuff is just going to happen. You've got to try to be ready for it and not got bonkers when it does happen. Just as an example, I just my bus back from Don Fairchild after being turbo charged. My wife and I drove up to Bakersfield (from Los Angeles), picked up the bus and drove directly to Las Vegas (last Thursday). Stopped at the rest area 35 miles before Baker and discovered a rather nice fuel leak coming from the cross over line in the front of the engine going from the left to the right head. Thought it may be loose, could get a wrench into it, but couldn't turn it (isn't it always the hardest to get fitting that fails?). So decided to drive the 35 miles to Baker since I knew that there was a heavy duty tow (Ken's Towing) there. Friday morning had Good Sam Towing load the bus on a Landoll trailer with Ken's Towing and I paid the extra $165.00 (they tow to the nearest facility which would have been Barstow-but I much rather be in Las Vegas) to tow to Las Vegas Detroit Diesel (W.W. Williams) shop. They couldn't look at it until Saturday, so they had 30 amp hookups there at Williams and spent the night there. Don Fairchild felt so bad about this, he drove up Saturday from Bakersfield to Las Vegas and fixed it in the parking lot which involved draining some coolant (about 5 gal), removing the fuel pump and coolant cross over tube. Don replaced the line with an Aeroquip line in about 2.5 hrs, and all was fine (the old metal line cracked below the flair-I think just old line).
My point- we are driving the heaviest duty vehicles available on the road and make them extra complicated with the conversion stuff. While they are as reliable as could be made, parts will fail, and just have to go with the flow and get it fixed. IMHO- this is where some get into trouble since some are running on a razor thin budget. Please all- either have a credit card with $20,000 limit on it (to pay for a blown engine or transmission) or reconsider whether owning a bus is really in your budget. Good Luck, TomC
Hi Tom
If we really waited till we could afford one of the beast, then most of us would be on the side line.HAHA Really though a bus seems like minor repairs when comparied to a airplane, now that is expensive. My late wife and I have had MH, boats, a airplane, clasic cars, that is another expensive hoby, traveled and done a lot of other things, she even jumped out of a perfectly good airplane at 72 years old. You are right though when going on a trip have cash and credit cards. Years ago our boat broke at LAKE POWELL, glad we had credit cards. Got her fixed, enjoyed the rest of the stay at the lake and when we got home knuckled down and paid the bills. In all the years of travel we have had good trips, not so good trips, and some down right #$##$##$# trips, but in the end always had fun.
ED
MCI 7
OK. I have the headlight bowls and panels located (they are still assembled) . Cannot find the bezel. I've gotta get the loader out in a few and lift some stuff out of the way. Not actually on the panels but in the way nonetheless. The bowls should be OK. A glass beading machine and some POR...like new? The panels may be a little worse for the wear. The headlight retaining ring for at least one light is visible....don't know about the other.
Gonna need a bezel. The dumpster has 6" of water in it and the bus parts were the first to go into the empty dumpster.
BTW, I just got back from Lowes after buying a set of pipe plugs.... your experience makes one think. ;)
HTH, JR
As someone said earlier - you just experienced the Number 1 reason for owning a bus - It may have saved your life - good luck w/ rest of your trip and see you in Arcadia.
I dunno if this is double post....other one just disappeared..? Whatever.
I found the LH panel and it is complete with lights, bezel and all. :) The stainless ain't beautiful, but it may be better the yours. Also have an empty bucket in the RH panel. You should be good to go with these parts.
Let me know and I'll bring an air powered rivet gun..if you wish to intall the panel in Fl.
Sorry but don't have any SS rivets. Do have gizmo to hold panels in place while you rivet them....if I can find it. ???
Let me know about the rivet gun.
Cheers, JR
Hey Craig, don't sweat the small stuff. You were in a fine machine and your family was not injured.
A couple of deer were killed or injured and that's not a big deal. Other than buses they have no natural predator other than man. Just think of it as a survivor thing.
We'll see what we can do to straighten you out in Arcadia. If we can't fix the metal we sure can make it feel better with a couple of brewskies and some comradrie.
It'll all work out.
NCbob
HEY Bob! Can I have one of those brewskies! Terri's limiting my adult beverage consumption (she thinks) to only a couple cases over the week!? :'(
I may be out wandering from party to party looking for life saving fluids (spelled Cronies!)! ;)
Definitely will (if I don't have Gump's luck) see you at Arcadia! Hope Jackie's doing well!
So as to not appear to be hijacking the thread, Craig, I have your parts in the bus and readly to go! Got the rivet gun too...don't know if you want to fool with install, but at least you'll have the parts to repair the damage.
The old rent-a-wreck fired right up today. Moved it up to the home, loaded and ready to go. The block heater makes it start so fast that it's scary. Nothing's leaking right now!? Out'a here Wed AM. Be down Wed PM if nothing breaks.
Best, JR
Hi If you make it to Fla. I have several that I have salvaged. We can get you on the road quick. Fred
Quote from: NJT5047 on December 24, 2006, 01:19:21 PM
I dunno if this is double post....other one just disappeared..? Whatever.
I found the LH panel and it is complete with lights, bezel and all. :) The stainless ain't beautiful, but it may be better the yours. Also have an empty bucket in the RH panel. You should be good to go with these parts.
Let me know and I'll bring an air powered rivet gun..if you wish to intall the panel in Fl.
Sorry but don't have any SS rivets. Do have gizmo to hold panels in place while you rivet them....if I can find it. ???
Let me know about the rivet gun.
Cheers, JR
Cool. Sounds like that's about everything I need. How are the adjustment screws and their nuts?
I bought a low beam and was able to mount it in the hi beam can, but it's not going to be useful except for maybe keeping me from getting stopped because the plastic adjustment nuts are broke and they won't hold anything. So it's going to shine on the ground for now, but at least there will be a light on that side.
If you have room for the riveter, go ahead and bring it. If not, don't worry. I might be able to get some stainless rivets from IBP. Not sure how far they are away from Arcadia. If I can't find any, maybe I can just put some temp pop rivets in till I get home.
I lost the left can and headlight ring. I thought the can was in there, but when I went to change it today, it was gone. I may have been there when I stopped, but I was so mad at myself I didn't think to check for it. It's not there now.
Fred, I'll probably stop by your place on the way out of FL, so if we don't get it all fixed up, maybe we can find anything else I need there. I'm planning on staying on in FL for a week or two after the rally. No rush to get home, as I'm in between jobs at the moment.
On a more pleasant note, we went to see the Warp Pioneer History Museum in Minden, NE today. I highly recommend it, but plan on spending 2 or more days there to see everything. We were there about 4 hours, and maybe saw 1/4 of it. We'll be going back in the summer. They have a deal where you can come back each consecutive day after buying an admission as long as you want, so you can take as many days as you want to see it, and only pay one admission. There's an RV park there, also. Prices about $24 for full hookup, or you can dry camp at the Archway museum in Kearney for free. I also recommend seeing that one. Takes about an hour for the headphone tour but there's other things outside to see, too.
Already have the rivet gun and panels in the bus. I have a $h#tload of aluminum rivets that would work...easy to drill back out. I'll get a handful and bring'em.
Try to stay out of harm's way dude! I'm about out of space for spare parts!
See you in Arcadia, JR
BTW, I don't know about the adjusters...the LH is assembled. They were working before I removed them. They are off an 87 MC9...NJT stuff. Definitely some corrosives in the air around there.
Hey Craig....
I guess I should adjust somewhat those directions you gave me to set up my fuel filter??? :) :) :)
I hope the rest of your trip is safe and trouble-free.
Iver.
Quote from: Iver on December 24, 2006, 05:43:59 PM
Hey Craig....
I guess I should adjust somewhat those directions you gave me to set up my fuel filter??? :) :) :)
I hope the rest of your trip is safe and trouble-free.
Iver.
Hee Hee. Yeah. Basically, if you put a fuel pressure gauge on it, use a good quality one that's made for fuel. That's all I'm gonna say. ;)
Quote from: edvanland on December 24, 2006, 09:02:07 AM
My late wife and I have had MH, boats, a airplane, clasic cars, that is another expensive hoby, traveled and done a lot of other things, she even jumped out of a perfectly good airplane at 72 years old.
ED
MCI 7
Uh Ed,
I just gotta know, this isn't the cause of her being yer "LATE" wife is it? Sorry after reading, rereading, & rerereading yer post I finally gave into temptation and had to break down and ask! BK ;D
PS Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!
Hay Busted Nuckles;
No the reason she is my late wife is she had been sick for about 4 years, in and out of hospitals, nursing homes and care homes. Finally got her home and after so long she went to sleep in her own bed in her own house and then went on to a better place and to be with our Lord. It has now been 2 and 1/2 years and it still hurts.
I don't mind you asking as you did not know. When the house sells I will be on the road with my MCI 7, Harley and Rubicon. To many memories in this place as we lived here since 1978.
Take care and have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY SAFE NEW YEAR.
ED
MCI 7
Hey Craig,
Weather is still nice up here in Minnesnowta. You're not missing much although i was wondering about you on Friday. The fuel leak must have really ticked you off. Now you know what it was like driving my rig and why i pulled the tank. The tank is fixed and I'll get it back Tuesday am and also got a 24volt pump to install a priming circuit. I think my MPG will probably increase now that the hole I drilled in the tank has been fixed!
By the way, you hitting the deer probably saved Teri from hitting it with the pickup!! Have safe travels, dude.
FRED
Teri saw the two deer coming up onto the road in front of me, but it was too late to warn me on the radio. I'm glad I hit them with the bus, rather than her hitting them with the pickup. That would have been a whole different outcome.
BTW, you just told the whole busnut community that you drilled a hole through your fuel tank. I think that makes you one of us now. No going back. :D
Well I'm learning from the best......... ;)
Been away from the Boards a few days. Sorry to hear about the mishaps, Craig... but if anybody could do "roadside reapirs" it's you!
And here's to less-eventful days from here on out!
Brian "Wish I was going to Arcadia" Brown
p.s. Ed, I also hadn't ever heard the details about your wife's passing. I'm sure this time of year must be difficult for you. Hang in there...