| [GMCnet] Trip Log - Preamble [message #90809] |
Fri, 02 July 2010 08:52  |
James Moore
Messages: 71
Registered: January 2004
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After we returned from a trip in our GMC in October of 2006, I parked it in a wooded area on the back of our lot. It sat there with no attention for almost 3 ½ years. By then it was covered with a thick coating of green moss, black slime, and tree limbs. Inside all the rat poison had been eaten and there were several rat nests made of towel fibers. The engine battery had frozen and the case split. The compartment batteries were deformed from freezing but hadn’t split. The air bags were flat and several tires were slack.
We decided the GMC would be the best way to travel from Battle Ground, WA to Pinehurst, GA. for our son’s wedding, so we decided to pull it out of the bushes and see what it would take to put it back on the road.
On June 13th, I installed another engine battery in it and 15 minutes later the engine fired and settled into a fast idle like it had only been shut down for a couple of days. The GMC air compressor was running but didn’t seem to be developing any pressure. I used a shop compressor and tank valves to inflate the air bags to 110 psi and then inflated the tires to 50+ psi. Because of an extended spring with lots of rain, the GMC was sitting in a muddy area and would not pull out of the yard and onto the paved drive. It took a couple of hours with help from a neighbor and pulling with my Blazer to finally get the GMC on the pavement where it would move under its own power. Then I had to back it a 100 yds down the narrow drive with my wife directing me since the mirrors and windshield were covered in black slime. It was getting dark when I finally parked it in the drive in front of the house.
It took two wash jobs with a bleach and laundry soap solution to get most of the stuff off the outside. All the interior furnishing were removed and piled in the carport where they were sorted into trash and good stuff. The good stuff was washed and dried. The dishes went through the dishwasher. The interior was vacuumed and cleaned with a bleach solution. There was minor water damage to several surfaces, but nothing serious. The plumbing system had one hairline crack in the SeaLand toilet valve which was patched with JB weld and the kitchen faucet had a small drip which was fixed with a repair kit from Home Depot.
The only serious problem was the fridge would not run. The Tech at Nova Kool thinks it is a bad controller module. I didn’t have time to get a new one shipped in so we decided to use a cooler and ice.
The only mechanical problems were a leaking master cylinder which was replaced with one from Auto Zone. The Onan would not start and required a new set of points and the carb cleaned to get it going. Once started it runs fine except the interior kill switch doesn’t work. Probably a bad connection in the wiring plug.
The engine and Onan oil and filters were changed using NAPA filters and VR-1, 20-50 oil. Both were filled to the full mark on the dip sticks.
About the time I started working on the GMC, a Brake Buddy and 5000 lb tow bar popped up on Craig’s List for $550. The seller lived less than 2 miles from my house. The original plan was to sell the tow bar since I had one that worked well. However the one with the Brake Buddy was so nice I decided to keep it. This required a couple of trips to the local welding shop to fabricate new brackets, but was well worth the trouble.
The GMC air compressor started to work again after I ran it for a while. Takes about 4 minutes to pump up the air tank from 80 to 130 psi. Since the original air bags are installed on the GMC, I decided to see if I could purchase a spare bag or two new bags. I couldn’t find any new or used bags so I decided to go to plan “B” which is to install a DIY 4 bag system similar to the original 4 bag set up. Back to the welding shop to get brackets welded up. When I started looking for Firestone 0335 air bags, I found none were in stock in Portland. Typical delivery was 4 to 6 weeks. Summitt Racing had them in stock for $90 with same day shipping, but it was too close to departure time to gamble on getting them so I decide to keep the old bags and order bags from Summit or Stirum if I have a bag failure. The old bags don’t have any leaks or visible damage and will hold pressure for an extended time if the isolation valves are closed.
About ½ way through getting the GMC usable, I received an assignment in Green River, WY which meshed well with our travel schedule but required us to change our route from I-90 to I-80.
On the last trip, the grill broke in several places and 12 inches of the lower rung was lost. I was able to make a fair looking repair using a quart of resin and a couple of square yards of fiber glass cloth and a spray can of plastic paint. It is at least a 50 – 50 repair job and should get us into most RV parks.
Setting up the new tow bar with its safety cables, towed lights wiring harness, breakaway switch, Brake Buddy, grill repairs, etc. along with shopping for wedding clothes delayed our departure from early 6/25 to noon 6/26. At 12:35 PM we hit the road.
Starting odometer reading 72002 miles.
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