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| Re: [GMCnet] Trouble-Free GMC's [message #322599 is a reply to message #322579] |
Thu, 24 August 2017 08:24   |
Richard Denney
Messages: 920
Registered: April 2010
Karma:
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Senior Member |
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Ken, I've been keeping track: You've been towed more than your share of
times, but you have also used your coach much more than most of us do.
I really like the way Jerry Work puts it: It takes some amount of money
spent every year to maintain a GMC in a state of good repair. If that money
has not been spent in the past, there are likely some remedial steps that
need to be taken to restore the coach to that state of good repair.
I teach the concept of "state of good repair" to public agencies, and I use
my GMC as an example in my classes. The objective is to be able to jump in
the coach and drive anywhere without hesitation or fear, just like we do
with our daily-drive cars. If our "infrastructure" is allowed to decline,
then we have to spend more to catch it back up.
This is part of my reasoning for replacing my good-running (as it seemed)
engine with a freshly rebuilt engine this year. I was just fearful about
the old engine--it was making a noise that upset one of the nerves at the
base of my spine. That would have kept me from jumping in the coach for an
extended trip. I replaced the transmission, too, and the old one, as it
turned out, had a worn-out drive chain with too much play. And now I'm
changing the final drive because the old one had too much axial play in the
input shaft. I've already experienced a trip canceled because of a
front-end failure--a cracked CV joint boot, the repair of which exposed a
broken ball joint on one side and a spun front wheel bearing on the other
side--the side I might not have touched. Both of those might have affected
trips on the road. Tie-rod ends with damaged boots are another sign of
need, even though they demonstrated no play (except for one I had already
replaced).
The coach had parked the PO and myself by the side of the road several
times for plugged up fuel lines. The tanks were rusty--I replaced them.
Before this year, that was the most expensive single repair I have made--my
experience with rusty fuel tanks is that they don't stop rusting. To
correct for potential cracking of the iron intake, I replaced it with an
aluminum intake when Gary Rockwell first undertook the challenge of making
it--and that took a couple of tries to get it right. In order to rectify a
previously ignored exhaust leak, I replaced the cracked manifolds with
headers. Both of those things meant that when I changed the engine, the
bolt-ons didn't need to be replaced. I replaced the radiator of unknown
quality with an aluminum radiator from Gene Dotson. That reset the age
pointer on that item, and blown radiators are common and damaging enough to
be a risk worth controlling.
On several occasions, I've had to make big repairs at rallies. I would
prefer to sit in a folding chair and chat with old friends, or help others
with their crises the way old friends have helped me with mine. Thank God I
have not had to be towed yet, but in some ways I've been lucky.
The point is that I have and continue to see the effects of years of
neglect, both before and during my ownership. Those are the things that
will interrupt trips. Maintaining a state of good repair means replacing or
servicing those components frequently enough so that pending failures are
avoided. If we do those things, we minimize the risk of trip interruptions.
In maintenance theory, there are three classes of maintenance: Capital
asset value retention (and we may measure "value" in terms of enjoyment),
preventive maintenance, and emergency maintenance. The first category is
what I was doing with installing a fresh engine. Oil changes and chassis
lube at proper intervals fall into the second category. And the third
category is the one we hope to avoid as much as possible by doing the other
two.
The good news is that if we focus on safety and reliability first, we can
use the coach with confidence while we work on convenience and aesthetics.
I'm living that principle--my coach may never get painted and the rate I'm
going. But if the current paint gets any worse, I might have to break out
the rattle cans!
Rick "we earn the privilege of trouble-free trips" Denney
On Wed, Aug 23, 2017 at 9:47 PM, Ken Henderson
wrote:
> ...
> Since the original posting, I think I've heard from all the others who were
> at Dillard with us -- all home without problems. So much for unreliable
> GMC's.
>
> Ken H.
>
>
--
'73 X-Glacier 230 "Jaws"
Northern Virginia
Offlist email: rick at rickdenney dot com
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