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| [GMCnet] NC to Oregon trip............... [message #80071] |
Sat, 10 April 2010 22:44  |
Gerald Wheeler
Messages: 152
Registered: February 2004
Karma:
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Senior Member |
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This is a rather long winded saga of my experiences in the last 5 weeks.
You may want to delete this and move onto other emails................
My wife and daughter plan to leave early next week (maybe Monday or
Tuesday) driving my daughter's 1973 23' Painted Desert, #241. I talked my
daughter into buying this coach in May, 2006, it was in Denver. It had
dropped a rod. The coach had about 120k miles on it. The PO had
reworked the entire interior in solid oak, doing a very nice job. The
coach also had new Alcoa's and tires on it. He offered it for sale on the
GMCnet and we jumped on his offer; we paid $5000 for the coach. We had a
JimB Jasper motor put into it that summer, along with a Manny tranny and an
aluminum radiator; also filled the intake manifold crossover and had Dick
Paterson rework the carb and distributor. I went to Colorado and drove
the coach back to NC on October 1st, 2006. The next spring, my wife and I
took the coach to Rayne for the spring, 2007 GMCMI rally. Everything ran
well. I bought a set of JR Slaten's leveling valves. I met my friend Dan
Gregg and his wife Teri there; they drove us around to see the sights.
When I got back to NC, the coach went up on blocks in my garage. My
daughter was working in Iraq, so no hurry to get things done. The coach
sat on the blocks until just several days ago when we test run it, but it's
back on blocks right now. In the fall of 2007, I bought a generator for
the coach (an Onan Camp Power 2800w, the only one I could find that would
fit the PO reworked gen area, as the coach never had a factory generator in
it). The hot water had to be hand lit from the outside, so I also
purchased a new LP/120v hot water heater with remote start. I also
purchased a set of those Honda middle seats a year ago and got the seat
bases from Michael Bozardt; also the ss kit for the emergency brakes and
Ken Henderson's electric windshield wiper kit. My daughter finally quit
working in Iraq last August (she was there 4 years and 9 months), so she
planned to drive her coach from NC to our Oregon home this spring and this
summer to Alaska. Over the past two years, my close friend, Cecil Miller,
had his 23' coach in my garage, next to my daughter's coach. We were
going to work on them together. That never happened as Cecil found out he
had cancer, spent 12 of the last 14 months of his life in the hospital and
passed away late January of this year. I just didn't have the heart or
energy to work on either coach. His coach still sits next to my
daughter's.
The daughter said she was coming to NC on March 3rd to spend some time with
her mother and I (we are her parents); then drive the coach to Oregon after
Easter. I started working on her coach March 7th. All I had to do was
install the new hot water heater, JR's valves and the new generator, but
90% of my tools and other goodies are in Oregon. So every time I needed
something, I had to go buy it. Many trips to town in the last 5 weeks.
The hot water install went well, no problems other than one fitting leak.
First, I had to run wires for the 120v set up as well as put a switch in
the wall to control the heating method ( by either propane or electric or
both together). It works. Next was the generator. I ended up removing
the wood flooring and putting a piece of stainless steel sheet metal in as
the floor; next went two 1 inch square aluminum tubes; both tubes anchored
on the aluminum frame of the coach and lined up with the generator's
underneath mounting holes. I cut the holes in the ss floor needed for the
exhaust and heat exhaust, also an oil drain. I had purchased the remote
start, so had to string those wires from the generator compartment to the
kitchen area of the coach. Also had to run about 20 feet of #2 welding
cable from the front house batteries for the crank power for the generator.
The PO had, at one time, had some type of generator in there. There was a
fuel line to the generator compartment and it tapped into the main fuel
line just after the tank selector switch. He had the rear tank generator
nipple plugged off. The generator exhaust required that I move the
macerator that I had installed prior to Rayne, so I had to rework the dump
plumbing too. I also installed a fan in the generator compartment since I
wanted to make sure there was plenty of air; it draws the air from under
the coach, thru a filter.
About two weeks ago, I decided to fire the engine for the first time in 3
years. My daughter got into the driver's seat and I told her to pump the
pedal and turn the engine over (I had first pulled all the plugs and turned
the engine over to oil it). I was outside the coach. It started, but I
could smell gas immediately and told her to cut if off. We had gas
dripping from the frame; the lines going into and out of the fuel selector
valve were leaking. So we decided to drop the tanks and replace all the
lines. This took two weeks as I broke a plastic 1/2x3/8x3/8 T (part of
the vent line) and it took me a week to find one and get it (had to find it
online and order it; no one in a town of 250,000+ had one). In the
meantime, I installed the new Honda seats (thanks to RJ Waters for his
excellent picture tutorial on how to do it) in two days. I finally got the
brass T (I wasn't going to do plastic again) and got the tanks in place
with all the rubber lines replaced. By this time, I had the generator in
place and waiting for gas. So I decided to see how many gallons it would
take for gas to finally arrive at the generator. I poured gas into the
empty tanks 5 gallons at a time. I pulled the generator's gas line going
to the carb and directed it into an empty plastic water bottle. After each
5 gallons, I would crank the generator. After pouring in the 40th gallon,
I finally had gas at the generator. OK, this means I will have at least 35
gallons when the generator runs out of gas; but it also means that I need
almost a full tank anytime I want to use the generator. The PO knew
something that I did not; the second tank nipple apparently didn't turn
down into the tank. Well, at least I can test the generator. Hooked the
gas line back to the carb; turned it over and it fired briefly; also had a
white light flash under the unit. Blew a fuse; had to go to town and get
fuses. Put the new fuse in, cranked it and it wouldn't start; it also
wouldn't quit cranking; the start/stop switch wasn't working. I quickly
took the nut off the power stud I had installed in the generator
compartment and pulled the hot lead to the generator. Went to the phone
book and found an Onan dealer about 30 miles from me. Called them and said
I was bringing a new generator to them. Now this generator had sat on a
shelf in my garage for 2 years and 7 months; never any gas put to it, never
run, it was still new. After I got home, I decided to test the water
system and the toilet. Turned the pump on (I had run it several weeks
earlier to test the hot water heater) and tried the foot pedals for the
toilet; no water. Turns out I had forgot the PO had put a hand valve on
the wall for the toilet fill. Turned the valve on and the water ran into
the toilet. Then the pump quit. It was at this exact time that I felt
like Ron Husak; I was about to call it quits. The Onan dealer called me
that night and said it was the control board; it would be $180 for a new
one plus labor; Onan had a two year warranty and since I had had it for 2
years and 7 months, sorry, no warranty, even tho it was new and never run.
I said fix it; I'll deal with Onan later. The next morning I took out the
rear queen mattress to get to the water pump. The power wire had come
off, so put it back on and taped it so it wouldn't fall off again. Put
the queen mattress back in (it's a struggle, but it does fit). The Onan
dealer calls and sez it isn't the board after all, it turns out that 3
wires were pinched and one was shorted. Did I do that?? I said no, the
only thing I had done was remove the gas line to the carb. The Onan dealer
charged me $75 for the diagnosis and I had to make the repairs and put it
back together. I did that and installed it this morning. Before starting
it, I capped the second tank nipple and cut into the main fuel line after
the selector valve (all this with 40 gallons of gas in the tanks). I
spilled about a pint, with gas running down my arms as I lay under the
coach getting the new lines in place. The generator runs well, the
automatic transfer switch I installed worked too.
So, I feel better tonight. All I have to do now is figure out how to put
a band on the small end of the outer boot driver's side front wheel as it
is throwing grease and we'll take a test cruise tomorrow and the wife and
daughter will leave on Monday if all goes well. Never did get around to
installing the ss emergency brake kit or the electric windshield wiper kit.
She will carry them in the coach to Oregon and I might get to those later
this summer. Their trip will take them to the NC coast, down the coast to
SC and GA, then to TX, then make their way to Boise for a week, then to the
Oregon coast. So you Blacklisters please be aware that two females will
be driving this coach and neither have any mechanical skills (and neither
have ever driven a coach); I may be calling on some of you to give them
some help.
JR Wheeler 73 PD, 77 Transmode, 78 Royale NC/OR
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