SOS in Nashville on I-24

[Bus Busted]

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

[Bus Busted]

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.

[Dave5Cs]

What linkage went out?

[biff]

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

[robertglines1]

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

[Bus Busted]

   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.

[robertglines1]

Glad you are safe! Bob in Evansville.

[Seville]

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 !

[Van]

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

[john9861]

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

[boxcarOkie]

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

[expressbus]

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.

[Van]

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

[Bus Busted]

   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

[belfert]

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.