Home » Public Forums » GMCnet » First Trip Report (a bit long - beware)
| First Trip Report [message #209240] |
Thu, 30 May 2013 08:08  |
75realsteel
Messages: 26
Registered: December 2012
Location: Chicago
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Junior Member |
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Hi Folks -
Given that I've taken much advice from this site and others the last few months, I thought I'd provide some feedback on our first trip in the GMC since buying it last fall.
Over the winter, we spent as much time as we could getting her ready from some use this summer. We were definitely limited by the fact we store the coach in the suburbs and the storage facility has complained a couple times when we had the wheels off for an extended period. However, mechanically we were able to:
replaced fluids/filters - oil, tranny, final drive, brake
replaced the cracked exhaust manifolds with Thorley headers and new mufflers
replaced most belts and hoses
replaced the front knuckle assemblies with remanufactured parts from Dave Lenzi such that we have new bearings, rotors and a method to properly grease them. Much thanks to Dave for his help here.
replaced the front ball joints, brake calipers and lines
serviced the rear brakes and found the shoes to be in pretty good shape
greased the rear bearings/bogies
Installed a new mechanical fuel pump and an electric fuel pump in-line with a separate switch
Rebuild the Onan carb and got it tuned properly
On the interior we:
Re-upholstered all the seats and replaced the headliner and wall boards
Installed a new Suburban Furnace
Installed a new Norcold N641.3
Installed a new Atwood 3-burner stovetop
Replaced water pump
Built a replacement dinnette table
We still have a lot to do, but felt confident that we had the major things done to the point that we could use her for a long weekend trip to northern Michigan. So, we loaded up with water, gas and propane and set off. The coach runs, drives and stops very nicely. The only complaint is the steering is a bit loose - with a couple inches of play in the wheel. Normally this is tolerable, but once the wind hits it becomes a bit more challenging. Looking at the steering system using the fine presentation from Rob M - the play seems to be in the steering gear itself. I don't find any slop above the steering gear input shaft - but I do see a delay between the input spline and output spline movement. Additionally, the point of connection between the lower yolk and steering gear input splines itself is very loose (I can move the entire shaft back and forth) - although the bolt is very tight and this looseness does not cause the input shaft to not turn in unison with the Key 4 shaft assembly. The only negative impact of this looseness seems to be that I can feel hard bumps translated up to the wheel as a sort of light banging.
But, I eventually got used to the wind and we had a nice drive through a very light, occasional rain. The windshield wipers worked great.
After a stop for gas, I was also pleased at the performance - although very skeptical. We had gone 267 miles and I only put 23.1 gallons in before I started getting fuel backing up to the filler. I did not spend any time to let things settle and try to continue filling. It is possible I didn't get the tanks as completely full at this point as before we started the trip. But, I was happy not to be seeing something in the 5mpg range. For what it's worth - the fuel gauge when we stopped read just over 1/2 a tank on the main switch and just under 1/2 a tank on the aux switch.
We ran the refrigerator on the house batteries during the trip. I had to bypass the isolator, however, as I think it is bad - I don't get any charge off the alternator to the house. I haven't had a chance to poke around with the multimeter to confirm the isolator - but will do so this weekend. After the trip I read through a number of posts and a presentation on using a combiner and I've order a Yandina 100 that should arrive prior to the weekend.
After reaching our destination, I was finally able to plug the coach into 30 Amp service. To date, I've only been able to test things using the generator. The refrigerator switched over to A/C as expected. I was fairly certain that our water heater wasn't working properly - but I decided to flip it on and let it run for a while as we made dinner and enjoyed a campfire. After forgetting I had done this, I remembered just before going to bed and I checked the hot water - it was extremely hot - almost scalding. I was shocked and assumed I was wrong about the water heater. I turned it back off and we went to sleep. In the morning I flipped it back on. By the time I used the shower the water was just warm enough to be tolerable - by the time I was done with my shower it was cold again. Turns out the water heater really isn't working. The extermely hot water felt the night before was due to the engine exchanger. I had no idea the water would stay hot that long just from that. I tried multiple times over the weekend to get the water heater to run off A/C and it wouldn't. I have 120 volts at the element, so it's not the thermal or safety switch. I have continuity across the element (I forget how many ohms) - but still not hot water. Anyway, I had ordered a new element before the trip anyway, it just hadn't arrived in time - so we'll see what happens when it's replaced.
The next day we decided to drive into town to get firewood. The coach fired right up and we had no issues. But, upon getting back to the site and turning the engine off, I decided to raise the rear further, so I switched the ignition back on - and nothing. I wasn't getting any power to the dash or ignition at all. So, I got out the multimeter and started poking around.....then I took off the passenger side wheel well and poked around some more. At first I was worried it might be the solenoid - I wasn't sure if that going bad would result in no power at all to the dash area. Anyway, after some probing and cursing I found it was an intermittent ground problem caused by a loose cable between the battery negative and the engine block. I tightened it up and marked that on the list for replacement and we didn't have another problem in that area.
Also, we found that the (Hensley) air bags just don't have enough range to level us properly at the two sites we used over the weekend. So, we ordered some Lynx blocks and will give those a try.
The rest of the weekend was very relaxing. We definitely enjoyed having the new furnace, as it got into the upper 30s at night. We definitely missed having hot water - but there were public showers available. We found that we have some work to do on the sewer valve. When fully closed, the valve still lets a considerable amount of water out of the holding tank. It's necessary to have the outlet pipe pushed up as far as possible so that gravity prevents a fairly steady leak. We have already decided that the holding tank will contain fluids only.....at least until this problem can be fixed.
Our trip home was going along well when I started noticing that the coach was taking an awful beating from the road. The highway at this point was certainly not smooth, but I hadn't noticed it this bad before. At this point traffic started building up and we slowed to 20 or so and I noticed the coach was slowly bouncing up and down like an old car with beat shocks. I also noticed that the Dana air compressor was not making it's usual obnoxious pulse, but was quieter - and was not turning off. I immediately assumed our air bags were down and I kicked myself for not locking the bags off. The PO had installed Hensley bags - and they seem to work well. But, there is a minor leak in the air tank that results in the compressor running more often than it should. I had planned to put a switch on the compressor so that I could manually turn it off until such time as I could fix the leak - but I didn't have time. So, the compressor payed me back by quiting on me.
We pulled into a gas station, and found that the driver's side bag was completely down (the passsenger side was fine). We were able to get about 50 lbs into it using the weak gas station pump - and I was at least confident that this would be good enough to get us home. The coach was much happier with a little air in the bags. I really hope I didn't do any damage to anything by running it with that bag completely down. From the little I've read - the Hensley bag is designed to run while flat, so I'm hoping for the best.
In the meantime, I've ordered a replacement ViAir 450 and I'll consider traveling with the bags locked until I'm confident that the system is working properly.
In the excitement of fixing the air bag, we didn't spend the time to completely fill the gas tanks nor note how much we did put in - so I can't comment on the fuel efficiency of our return trip.
So, that's all for now. We have a few short weeks to get ready for a trip out west to the Grand Canyon. Sometimes it's a bit nerve wracking thinking of all the things that might go wrong, but we'll continue to prepare as best we can, fix the known issues and enjoy.
Much thanks to all you fine folks who continue to provide detailed assistance and advice. It would be much harder with only a shop manual.
Kevin
75 Eleganza II
Chicago
'77 Kingsley 26 - Chicago, IL
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