SC to TN - Not a Bad Trip So Far... Except for..

[wcox]

Glad you hear you have made it to Tenn.
Good luck for the both of you.....Wayne

[Slow Rider]

Hey Cat,

If the AC problem is too easy to fix you could always have Dallas give that "hands on" class on bus polishing he told me about. 

LOL

Frank

[Dreamscape]

Dallas and Cat, Hope you like you new digs. Too bad you have to put up with BK!

Enjoy everything you do!

Paul

[Busted Knuckle]

Dallas and Cat, Hope you like you new digs. Too bad you have to put up with BK!

Enjoy everything you do!

Paul                                             

Hey I resemble that remark! LOL!

[Ncbob]

Bryce, you and I may never have met face to face but I feel quite confident that the Gaston's and the Farnsworth's will have a rosy future together.  But be warned...if you have a favorite coon or bear dog you might wish to keep him out of Ralph's way.  For all his gentile appearances...he's a tiger!

And for Dallas and Cat...They will be a influence on your life you couldn't possibly have imagined!

Jackie and I wish you all the best and know this will be a fantastic alliance.

Jackie & Bob

[bubbaqgal]

Bob, I'm glad you didn't tell BK exactly what kind of influence we will be.  Let him find out for himself.  LOL

Ralph is actually being fairly calm, even around the black lab that is my new buddy. 

The area here is beautiful and the welcome was very warm and we know, without a doubt, that we are going to be happy here.

Lots of planning to do for the rally.  We sure want everyone to have fun.

[Dallas]

As everyone has said,

We made it to Union City, Tn with not too much trouble.

Our biggest problem was brakes.
It seems the P/O had new brake shoes, cans, slack adjusters, spiders, cams and drums put on all the way around.

I stupidly took for granted that they had been installed correctly..... my bad.

Since the shoes and slack adjusters were new, I figured the brake hardware had been changes also.

It wasn't.

The brake shoe retractor springs, which by the way are not common for most vehicles and so have to be special ordered had been in place so long that they rusted through and left me with a bottom shoe that would hang up when ever I came to a stop. The caused me to have to back up several feet at every stop light or stop sign.

After a period of time, the leading edge of the shoe wore enough that it would re-wedge itself after backing up and releasing. This was gradual and made it so my little 6-71 couldn't pull the hills as well as it had been. It also caused the bearings and tire to get hot... on the last check the tire was at 181°.

We finally found a place to pull off the road at a little abandoned gas station where we jacked up the front axle and took everything apart.

The bearings looked good, although the grease in them was pretty old and dry. The spindle was in great shape, but you could see where it had had a failure at some time in the past and been repaired. the races looked good.
The grease seal was in good shape so I didn't want to remove it and chance messing it up, we weren't close to a parts store that we knew of. I had Cat push grease through as if she were hand packing except the bearing stayed in the hub. Then I had her spin the bearing in the hub and add more grease. This made sure there were no flat spots on the bearing faces or on the race. Finally I had her gob a bunch of grease on the front and back of the bearing to keep as much dirt as possible from getting in while we reinstalled the hub.
Packing the outer bearing was the standard hand packing job that we should all be familiar with.

Meanwhile, I was working on the brake spring problem. I removed the old retractor spring and dug through my pile of parts and found some short heavy coil springs that came in a bag of misc. springs I bought at a flea market.
Using these, I took a hacksaw and removed the pieces of the old springs and cleaned up the bar they attached to. I then widened the face on one end of the spring until I could insert it over the swaged end of the bar. Using vice grips, I tightened up the opening so it couldn't come off again and did the same to the other end.
Using the vice grips again I opened up one of the spring coils and turned it sideways so it could fit over the retainer bar on the shoe.
I made sure the new spring set was a bit shorter than the minimum extension of the brake shoes and put everything back together again.
Cat helped me reinstall the hub and drum assembly and I tightened up the slack adjuster until the drum no longer "rang" when rapped on with a wrench. I then backed it off 1/8 turn and reinstalled the tire and wheel.
We fired up the bus and tested the brakes a couple of times on the lot and headed down the road.

It is a real joy to know that you can stop at a stop light and expect to move again after the light turns green.

On fuel mileage, We put in about 35 gallons in Whittier, NC when I stuck the tank and found only about 3" of fuel in the bottom. We then drove to Adairsville, GA (about 160 miles), and put in another 65 gallons which brought our fuel level to almost 14".
When we got to Union City (about 530 miles) I checked the fuel again and we still have about 9" left in the tank.

Oil consumption was so little I can't see a difference on the stick from where it was when we started and when we arrived. The only oil use I can see is from the compressor unloader and that isn't excessive. I'll fix that someday soon.

On our trip we passed one Van Hool that couldn't climb as well as we could, (He probably outweighed us by 25K), but his mouth was slack and agape as our 54 year old coach made it's way around him. I wonder what his passengers thought when the fancy 2 story bus got passed by an antique GMC! 

In the last 20 miles from Union City, A fella with a 35' 5th wheel and a big Ford Diesel kept trying to come around us. On the uphill ride, he could just about catch us, since I would slow down as the rpms dropped. On the downhill side, I would use the grade to pick up speed again and mash on the pedal as hard as I could, walking off from him until he also topped the hill. Then we would run about the same speed with him slowly catching up until the next little hill.

I finally had to back out of it and let him around when my temps started to climb into the 210° range.
I figured it wasn't worth blowing up the engine just for some fun.

And that's the story!

Dallas

[Brian Diehl]

In the last 20 miles from Union City, A fella with a 35' 5th wheel and a big Ford Diesel kept trying to come around us. On the uphill ride, he could just about catch us, since I would slow down as the rpms dropped. On the downhill side, I would use the grade to pick up speed again and mash on the pedal as hard as I could, walking off from him until he also topped the hill. Then we would run about the same speed with him slowly catching up until the next little hill.

I finally had to back out of it and let him around when my temps started to climb into the 210° range.
I figured it wasn't worth blowing up the engine just for some fun.

And that's the story!

Dallas

Dallas, Sounds like something I would do ... Bet you had fun watching it knowing you were doing it with tried and true old school technology!

[bubbaqgal]

Oh, yes....he had fun.  I think he still has that silly grin on his face.  He looked like a little boy that was beating the neighborhood bully at his own game. 

[Ncbob]

Those of us fortunate to know Dallas & Cat personally know so well that behind that wry grin of his lies not only a mischievous mind but a whole helluva lot of mechanical talent.  For the time I've known Dallas it strikes me that he must have a Master's Degree in Field Expedients.

There are many who have witnessed his application of this talent, I among them. It shouldn't take long for him to have Bryce's whole fleet working like a bunch of humming birds at a feeder.

And with Cat's organizational abilities (let's face it...anyone who can keep Dallas on the straight and narrow has to be a Wonder of the World) their operation should hum along with the best.

NCbob

[bubbaqgal]

Bob, when the bank opens tomorrow we will go down and get a loan to pay you for those kind words.  LOL

Thanks!!!  Cat

[Dallas]

Bob::::::::::::::

[uncle ned]

dallas

now you know what i love about huggy bear.

When the million dollar s&s thinks he is going to pass that old bus he better be careful.

Has the date for th rally at bk.s been set. if not would like to suggest the ween end of Sept. 22 and 23.

Still remembering the great time with you, bob, and jack and all the great bunch at kyles rally.

I think the women had a great time also.

Uncle Ned
"huggy bear"

ps I believe i have finally cured my heating problems. did not get above 195 leaving bob's going to Murphy up th 6 and 7% grades. crossed them at about 35 mph in second lockup. sure did like the jakes going back down the other side.

[bubbaqgal]

Sorry Ned, somehow you must have missed a post. The rally is set for Sept 6-10.  We will post later today with the updated details. 

Glad you did so well on the trip home.  Cat

[Hi yo silver]

NCBob,
I gotta remember that term, Field Expedients.  I love it!
Dallas is The Man, huh?!
Dennis