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[GMCnet] Brakes on the Barn Queen [message #219822] Sat, 24 August 2013 23:31 Go to previous message
Robin Hood is currently offline  Robin Hood   United States
Messages: 1078
Registered: April 2011
Karma:
Senior Member
I got home from work late Friday afternoon. "Sweetheart," I said to my
wife, "Rob and Helen are coming in tomorrow around noon. Have we got stuff
ready for them?"

"Yes," she replied. "I spent a good chunk of the day cooking, and you'll
notice that your disaster area of an office has been cleaned up. You're
welcome by the way."

"Honey, you are the best wife ever, you know that? I"m going to go for a
run, and when I get back, I'll organize my tools and the garage and any
last-minute things that need to be done.

It was raining ever so lightly as I started on what I hoped to be a three
mile jog in a long loop around the neighborhod.. I wasn't quite halfway
into it when my phone rang.

"Hey, mate! It's Rob and Helen! We're actually a bit ahead of schedule, and
are about 90 minutes from you. By the way, I need a particular part. Can
you help me out by picking it up before the place closes in 45 minutes?"

"Eep! That's across town, in the rain, on a Friday afternoon, and I'm half
a mile away from home. Right, I'm on it!" What can I say, I like a
challene. I hoofed it back to the house, let Dana know that our guests
would be a smidgen earlier than exptected, and I had to leave right gorram
now. :)

I did,in fact, get to the place five minutes before they closed

Then one of my clients in a divorce case called me up, and I had to meet
with him for a bit. He met me at my driveway as I was pulling in. I got him
situated and went inside.

"Honey," my wife said, "My mom and her husband are coming in from overseas
in a few weeks, flying into the airport. THey'll spend the next month or so
here in the US visiting family. We need to loan them a car."

"Certainly dear. They can take either the Subaru or the Fit, depending.
I'll drive the Catalina to and from work. It needs the workout anyway.

Not too long after, Rob and Helen pulled up in Double Trouble, a very nice
Avion. I had the pleasure of meeting Rob over ice cream back at the Dothan
rally, but now I got to meet his absolutely charming wife Helen. She's
awesome.

Rob is working on some mad science involving RV hookups and dryer plugs, so
I took him to Lowes to pick up some odds and ends. Harbor Freight was only
a bit further down the road, and we went searching for a specialty part,
but they didn't have it either. We picked up a funky drill water pump (you
literally chuck your drill into it and it pumps water) for the pressure
washer., and we returned home.

Our little Yorkie barked all night long, anytime one of our guests made a
sound. Sophie is an absolute diva and she doesn't like sharing space. Very
yappy little dog. And I had to be at work at 6AM this morning!

When I finally got home around 3, I found that Rob and Dana and Helen had
been very busy. The pressure washer was fixed, Helen had sewn a doggie bed
for Sophie as a gift, the garage was organized better, etc. Dana arrived
shortly after I got home, returning with Rob from the tire place and
getting his tires remounted.

I must say that I really really like the way Rob stores his tools aboard
his coach.

After we got the wheels mounted and the coach lowered back to the ground, I
organized my tools and supplies and took Rob over to the Barn Queen. He
showed me how to use Jim Hupy's GMC Brake Bleeder tools, There was no
flouid coming out any of the rear four bleeder valves. We checked the
proportioning valve that isn't a proportioning valve but is some other type
fof valve that goes where a proportioning valve would go, and there was
pressure going to both the front and rear. Rob had me take loose the hard
line where it connects to teh rubber line that goes to each wheel on either
side. There was pressure. Ergo, we now know that the rubber lines have
collapsed and need replacing.

The same story was true of one of the front brakes as well. At this point,
I was wondering if I had ANY braking at all, or whether I was just using
The Force. Rob explained that with the engine running, there was a helluva
lot more pressure than the Hupy Bleed-O-Matic could put out, and it would
force some fluid through those collapsed rubber lines. There was a good
flow on one of the front brakes, so to the extent that I had brakes at all,
that probably had a lot to do with it.

The plan tomorrow is for Tom P to cme over, meeting us there. Tom and I
will take part the rear brakes, whilst Rob examines the front knuckles and
hubs and installs a grease fitting with some of the tools that some of
y'all have shipped to my house for him to use, which I apprecieate
immensely. Tom's wife Marilyn will pick up Helen at my house and go do girl
things around Jackson while Rob and Tom and I play GMC.

We called it quits for the night, and the ladies had made supper. Dana made
a cajun casserole and it all got et. :) It was goooood. If anyone ever gets
the opportunutiy to get Rob and Helen at a dinner table, I really recommend
it.

After dinner, Rob worked upon his science experiment some more, but it
seems the cable is too short by about 10 feet to allow him to plug into our
dryer. I can see, hwoever, that if I get an electrician to mount a 30 amp
outlet beneath the electrical panel in the garage that future GMC visitors
will have power, water, and sewer right there in our driveway.

I went shopping on JimK's site for the things that I might possibly need.
If I upgrade to 80mm calipers and get alll statinless steel hoses front and
back with new pads and shoes and wheel cylinders, as well as a belt and
hose kit, and a few extraneous Onan parts, I'm just over a thousand
dollars. Yikes! :) But really, it's a coach I picked up for 500 bucks. :)

Anyway, I'm wore slap out. Tomorrow will probably be interesting as well.
Sorry, no video. :)

--
Robin Hood
Jackson, MS
2013 Subaru Outback "Top Flight"
1968 Pontiac Catalina "The Cheshire Cat"
1978 GMC Royale motorhome "Pinto Bean"
1977 GMC Palm Beach motorhome "Barn Queen"
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