Home » Public Forums » GMCnet » [GMCnet] Trip report
| [GMCnet] Trip report [message #179637] |
Thu, 09 August 2012 08:15  |
jhbridges
Messages: 8412
Registered: May 2011
Location: Braselton ga
Karma:
|
Senior Member |
|
|
Loaded up the BWD and some groceries a week ago to make the five days of shows in Salem, VA. Since I haven't had time to attack the dash air, fired up the genset and off we went. We stopped in the hot n sticky rain at the North Carolina welcoem station, took a potty break, and since it was hot n sticky and raining I didn'ty wory about the wisp of steam which was coming out of the grille. Bad move. A few miles up the road, the front bearing in the water pump departed the engine wholesale. Took all the belts and the rear sheave on the pulley with it. Now, the Lord takes care of derunks and crazy people. I was sober this early in the day and driving, so the crazy saw me home. I was right at an exit and horsed the coach up the ramp and into an office parking lot in a cloud of steam trailing green spoor behind. A look under the front showed coolant everwhere, belts hanging down - depressing. And it's 4PM. The lady closing the
offices came by and suggested I walk down to "RD's Auto Service, they can fix anything. Two blocks that way".
Which it was, two blocks down the Bridgeport City highway in Gastonia NC. An ex gas station wioth four bays for service. In the office, which is lined with NASCAR memorabilia, I asked the older gent could he fix the water pump on a GMC? "It's basically a Toronado 455 setup". "I imagine we can, lemme get the boss to be sure" While I'm waiting, I note the driver's suit is signed by Dale Senior, as are a lot of the pictures. And pictures of the Late Model local cars, the guy who's in many of them turns out to be Steve, the owner/boss. He came in, says yeah, I can get a pump and put it on tomorrow, shouldn't be a great problem. So I asked him can I run the coach up here and park overnight? Sure, there's a plug over there and the faucet between the pumps works. So, by the time I wlaked back to the parking lot and took my pickle bucket and filled it abnd poured it down the radiator, the engine was nice and cool, and certainly up to the
two block run. The BWD and I hooked up the power,ran some water in the tank, and kicked back with the TV and supper.
Early up next morning, cooked up my breakfast, walked the BWD, admired Steve's Dobie boy who lives at the business (well, he and my guy had to discuss things throught the fence first) and found the crew, Steve included, out front having their coffee and a smoke prior to the days work. We measured the coach and found it would fit in the service bay - barely - so I horsed it around the lot and into the bay. Meantimes, Steve is calling his sources for a pump and belts. He bailed into the job, and directly came out with the pulley assembly which had the rear sheave broken copmpletely off, and the ruined pump which had only the ball retainer in place of the front bearing and consequently an open gap of a quarter inch around the shaft. He was of the opinion this was the original pump. In the interim, the parts house had delivered the new pump and belts. He started installing the pump whil George went phoning for a new or junkyard pulley
assembly. Well, it seems, the pump is standard Olds big Block, but the pulley assembly on the front is GMC motorhome specific. Noine on the junkyards. I told him, I can call the Left Coast up to about 7P local time and probably get JimK's folks to put one on FedEx overnight. OK he says, but first I'm going to see Tim at lunch and see iof he can maybe help us out.
After lunch, back comes Steve "Tim has the part, he thinks he can heal it OK. We should hear from him this afternoon. I've learned not to push Tim, he does things in time if you leave him alone." Sure enough comes about 3:30 here comes Tim. The assembly looks better than the original. Tinm says he spun it up in his lathe and it runs true. I asked about high spots, he's like 'Let's look' so we chucked it in the brake drum lathe, tracked with no offsets or anything. Steve got it back on the coach, we leak checked it and I ran it down the road a bit and back. No leaks, no squeals, nice job. For the repair, Tim's machine work and welding, new belts and pump. $565. And on I went to Salem, got in about 10P.
This outfit is RD's Serrvice Center on Bridgeport Highway in Gastonia NC. Started by RD and Steve - hence the name - when they retired to have something to do. Steve bought RD's share later but kept the name. All the help is older guys, mostly retired, who sort of drop in when there's work. And they FIX things. And loved the idea of the GMC - carburetor, no computer, you can repair it.Very highly recommended, they do good work for a more than fair price and to a person, they're nice guys. I'll put pictures up tonight hopefully.
--johnny
'76 23' transmode norris
'76 palm beach
_______________________________________________
GMCnet mailing list
Unsubscribe or Change List Options:
http://temp.gmcnet.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gmclist
Foolish Carriage, 76 26' Eleganza(?) with beaucoup mods and add - ons.
Braselton, Ga.
I forgive them all, save those who hurt the dogs. They must answer to me in hell
|
|
|
|
Current Time: Tue Sep 24 22:13:57 CDT 2024
Total time taken to generate the page: 0.02095 seconds
|
GMCforum
Search
Help
Register
Login
Home
