| Weekend trip / brakes and power steering (long) [message #84856] |
Sun, 16 May 2010 16:51  |
jknezek
Messages: 1057
Registered: December 2007
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We had a great run this weekend TO the greater Chattanooga area. Coach ran great from Birmingham up to Chattanooga. Took it Saturday up Lookout Mountain to Rock City, the top of the Incline Railway, and Ruby Falls. Lost my front brakes coming down the mountain.
Checked the master cylinder and the back compartment was basically empty. Started looking for leaks and couldn't find any. Didn't see too much boil out on the master cylinder, so while there might have been some, it wasn't much. Called Jim Bounds, filled the master, bled the brakes, back on the road. Didn't have a problem for the rest of the trip. Strange. I would have bet on a leak but it seems to have been a boil problem. I might just replace the brake lines anyway since I'm a suspicious man and I don't like losing my brakes. Rock City was a long way up Lookout Mountain, but Lookout Mountain really isn't that big...
Chattanooga West KOA was a nice campsite for a couple night. Would be great if you have kids. Bounce area, nice pool, good playground, gameroom, lots to do for kids and it was jammed with families. We weren't there much except for sleeping but I'll go back when my daughter is older. 1100 feet up and it's a bit steep to get to the campground but very manageable from the North or South.
Got back to the campground and noticed that my leaking wiper motor had bled out all my power steering fluid. Took the trip back from Calhoun, up to Chattanooga, up and down Lookout Mountain to happen, so I figured filling it up would get me home.
No such luck. After a morning at the TN Aquarium we headed home through some driving storms. Running the wipers must have really worsened the leak as we stopped after 75 miles, 25 miles, and 10 miles before limping in to the driveway.
I think I'll be getting one of Ken's wiper kits for Father's Day because I won't put on another "remanufactured" wiper motor. That one only lasted 2 years and it's looking like garbage at this point. I'll pull it off and check, but it's leaking (flowing) from somewhere on the back side of the wiper motor as near as I can tell.
Anyway, trip postmortem includes a nice KOA, Rock City is outstanding, the incline railway is neat but unless you really like that kind of thing it doesn't really take you to or from anywhere interesting. I've been to better cave tours than Ruby Falls, but the falls themselves are absolutely spectacular. The TN Aquarium is the best fresh water aquarium I've ever been to, but the saltwater side is underwhelming. My wife and I agree that Rock City and the Aquarium are worth going back to, the incline and Ruby Falls not so much.
Now to fix all the stuff that broke!
Thanks,
Jeremy Knezek
1976 Glenbrook
Birmingham, AL
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