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[GMCnet] Quick Trip to the Florida Panhandle [message #320384]

Thu, 13 July 2017 18:42

Ken Henderson

Messages: 8726
Registered: March 2004
Location: Americus, GA

Karma: 9

Senior Member

Well, here we go again. We planned a visit to the Florida Panhandle
Wednesday, 12 Jul, to Sunday. Everything went well from Americus except
that I had a little whine from the final drive on coast -- nothing when
under any load. SHE said it was a new sound, but with my hearing, I really
couldn't say it was new, so we kept a-goin'.

About 15 miles from our destination in Destin, FL, just coming out of a
sweeping left turn and starting up a "hill" (remember, this is N. FL), I
mashed the go pedal and nothing happened. Looking down, I saw that the
tach followed my foot, but not the speedometer, which showed 0 despite our
going 30+ mph. Didn't take me very long to start looking for an emergency
landing field. Since there were no shoulders, that was out, and the hill
wasn't going to let me up it, I panicked. Then I noticed a small side
street to the left which would almost be makeable if the oncoming
tractor-trailer hurried past. He did and I was able to make an almost-U
turn into the street. Then I saw that immediately to the left, at the
intersection, there was a 75' x 75' clear, dirt & gravel lot. My U turn
continued to about 270* and we came to a stop with the coach off of the
road. But the toad was still across one lane of the side street. I had
HER crank the CRV and push the GMC until SHE was well clear of the
pavement. WOW!

Then the fun began. When I popped the engine hatch, I could see almost
immediately that the inner left CV joint was catty-whampus -- the axle was
no longer concentric with the CV housing, but sagging down on the rubber
boot. Not good. Then the generator quit, having drawn the rear tank below
1/4 full, leaving us with no A/C. I tried the dash air (remember the
engine still runs great, it just can't rotate the wheels) and found it not
up to the job of cooling the coach in the 90*F ambient.

Fortunately, we were only 11 miles from John Richardson's home in
Niceville, FL, and he has a service rack, similar to mine, on the bank of
Choctawhatchee Bay. A call to him got me an invitation to have the coach
towed there, despite his having had cataract surgery a few hours before.

That's when total frustration began. A call to RVRoadHelp (Allstate), got
immediate support. I told the agent right off that I needed "a wheel lift
truck capable of lifting 4500 lbs and pulling 11,000 lbs". I also gave him
the destination, explaining that it was only 11 miles away and that the
closest alternative he'd find would be in Orlando. There was no discussion
of "the nearest repair facility". This was at about 12:00 PM CDT. At
about 3 PM the tow truck showed up, as promised. I knew right off we were
about to have fun: The truck was at least twice as long as my 23' GMC,
half again as tall, and probably weighed 4 times as much! "They told us we
needed to send a heavy lift truck" said the driver, who immediatly said
there's no way I can hook to that little thing. "No, we don't have
anything that will tow it, Bye." Not that curt -- he and his helper stayed
around and chewed the fat for a while and suggested another company to call.

After they left, I called the other company, who gave me Rusty, the wheel
lift truck driver's phone number. He reported that he was 30 miles east on
another call and had to go north 60+ miles for another. He certainly would
not make it back in time to help today. "Why don't you call this other
company?"

So I called the other company, who reported that they could send a suitable
truck, but were not on contract with Allstate. Nonetheless, I called
Allstate and after a long delay, they told me that the company would send
their truck. Great! Yeah, right. That truck turned out to be about 3/4
the size of the previous giant -- and had no wheel lift capability. Those
drivers suggested still another company.
Allstate, back on the 'phone (remember there is no way to reach an Allstate
representative without going through the whole introductory rigamarole and
then it's never the same rep. This time I got an excellent, patient rep.
We spent over 1:30 on the phone. At one point, he gave up: "I can't find
anyone so I can't help you". Me: "No, that won't work. I have a contract
with your company to get me off the side of the road; you'll have to find
someone." Then I told them about Another Company, and he agreed to call
them.

To be sure the company knew what I had to have I called them myself, (on
HER phone), getting one dispatcher while another was on the 'phone with
Allstate. I explained very carefully what would be required to tow the
GMC. She pretended to understand. But when the truck showed up, it was
about 2/3 the size of the first giant.

That driver was very congenial, and really wanted to tow it, to add to his
reported trophies of a '37 Rolls Royce and a '17 T-model. He was very
upset with the whole system: He'd tried to call me before driving 30 miles
from Crestview. For whatever reason, I didn't get that call. While no one
had told him to bring a wheel lift truck, he could have done so if I'd
answered. But, his duty hour limitation, and his Thursday schedule meant
that he, the company's only driver, couldn't help us.

Finally, I called Rusty back. He stated that he only had one job scheduled
for Thursday morning and could then help us. I called his office and
confirmed that, and the fact that they did not have a contract with
Allstate. As I was about to call Allstate AGAIN, they called me, to report
that Another Company had reported that their wasted trip. So I told him
about Rusty's company. He immediately called them and called me back a few
minutes later to report that they'd see us at 10-10:30 on Thursday.

All this time, we'd been sitting in the CRV with its excellent A/C keeping
us cool. Unwilling to leave the GMC unattended overnight, I went to the
nearest WalMart, bought two 5 gallon gas cans, and filled them. After
pouring that 10 gallons into the coach, we had a quite comfortable night,
despite the roar of the Troy-BIlt one-lunger generator. I turned it off at
about 1:00 AM and back on at 6:00 AM.
So, here it is at 9:30 CDT and we're anxiously awaiting our fourth tow
truck. I won't be able to send this email until we are rescued, somehow,
so you'll learn in the next paragraph what the next event is.

10:30 AM: Rusty arrived with his bigger-than-the-GMC tow truck. After a
quick look, he extended his loter boom under the front and fitted it with
the arms fore and aft of the front wheels. Super. Then he lifted the GMC
12" off the ground. When we looked underneath, the arms were drooping off
of the boom at a 10+* angle. Right, with my wide-as-the-rear tread 1-Ton
front end, his arms did not engage the boom enough. :-((

After telling us he wouldn't be able to tow us, and listening to HER
moaning, groaning, near-sobbing tale of our past 24 hours, he volunteered
that a shop in Pensacola had a suitable truck. He then volunteered to call
them. After 20-30 minutes, he got out of his truck to report that he'd
tried everywhere between Panama City and Pensacola without finding us any
help. :-(( :-(( :-((

He obviously felt really bad about the situation, telling us that Jer Dan
(the manufacturer of his truck) has the motto "Leave no one behind". (I
think he copied that from the military who dominate this area.) Anyway, he
looked under the GMC again and went to rummaging in his equipment
compartments. Shortly, he came up with a couple of big iron things to
slide on the boom and two V-throated fittings to go into the iron things.
Beneath the GMC, he positioned the V-fittings across the A-arms immediately
outboard of the front bushings. Using his wireless remote control, he
positioned the fittings and raised the boom until the GMC could be lifted
safely!!!

I suspect the powder coat on my A-arms is now damaged, but SHE's happy that
we were at Richardsons' in 30 minutes or so, only 24 hours after I said
"Uh-Oh!".
There we used the CRV to pull & push the GMC around until we got it sort of
onto his service pit. There it sits. SHE and I left a 12:47 CDT heading
back to Americus, arriving at 17:10 EDT. 5:31 wasn't too bad for 230 miles
with a lunch stop.

I've since gotten the necessary tools and supplies loaded into the CRV,
along with, most importantly, a brand new Manny 1-Ton front axle. Which
may be one of two on the East Coast! They showed up unannounced at my door
a couple of years ago and have set at the end of my island workbench ever
since then. Manny's only comment was "just in case someone needs one".
:-))

EARLY tomorrow, I'll drive back to Richardsons' and spend the couple of
hours necessary to R&R the axle, hopefully before the temperature reaches
the 91*F and the humidity 70+% like today! Then we can resume our "quick
trip down to the Panhandle".

Ain't GMC's FUN??!!

Ken H.
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Ken Henderson
Americus, GA
www.gmcwipersetc.com
Large Wiring Diagrams
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