garyreed

JohnJill, We have stayed at the Golden Eagle (not sure when their season starts), and the Garden of the Gods. Both are ok nothing special. The ones we like are the Blue Duck west on hwy 24 about 10 miles, very quite and a pool but short distance from town. We also like the Chyenne Mtn State Park, about 3 miles south of downtown on Hwy 115. it is High above town with picture perfect veiws. lots of hiking/biking trails, but it is still a state park. Gary

Bill It took awhile to find. There should be a dash between safari and international, sent me to a big game hunting site. Nice looking coach should make someone a good unit with all the expensive repairs behind them. Gary

Did you check all of the battery cables and all the small wires connected to the starting batteries? If it comes and goes that easy, at best it could be a loose wire or plug. It could be that the harness has rubbed a hole where it is tied to the block or a bracket. Gary

Have the CAC hoses and clamps been checked? Gary

Thanks Brett, I can get used to this. Gary

Same issue here, let us know where we can find them. Gary

Joe Thanks for the info. I started using FleetGuard in the mid eighties after learning the hard way and have never looked back. In the beginning they were a lot more expensive but it ended most all of our issues with air, fuel.oil and water.The only other filters I stocked were genuine Cat for those customers who requested them or those Cats still under warranty. FleetGuard has always been top of the line. I would only use one other in an extreme emergency and that is Napa Gold. Kay As far as your motor failure, most if not all aftermarket filter manufacturers will have a warranty to cover that issue. Add in the service provider and you could have some ground to stand on but be prepared for deny deny deny. Gary

Thanks for the link, Should answer some of my silly questions. Gary

Don, that tunnel at Zion looks really cool. I missed it on the website. Most of our farm markets will start opening around the first of July. Most chillies will not start until late August. Also with the corn, Palisade peaches and apples. The market in Monte Vista was also impressive when we were there last year. Gary

Sand Dunes Pool is a couple miles from the Colorado Gators, close to the UFO spotting tower, and the biggest herd of buffalo after Yellowstone. Keep us posted on some dates. Would not be able to make the whole trip, but could meet you along the way. We have to be in Philly in the middle of June. Our son is attending a Youth Leadership thing there. We to like the 4 wheeling and also found Moab very congested. We did find some trails though for my wife to learn on. Gary

Byron I could not have said it better. There are a few places we like to stop along 160. Our favorite is the Sand Dunes Pool north of Alamosa about 17 miles. Very small park that holds about 10 RV's all pull throughs, no sewer dump at the sites but one on the property. Very cool pool and hot tubs with water sraight out of the ground. Really good food at the at the pool, sounds kind of weird doesn't it, but good. Lots of birds, rabbits. frogs and dragonflies. Very peaceful and reasonably priced. We have never been to the Alpine Rose but it is on our list now. Gary

John Byron is right. It is a nice drive into Cortez from Durango. South to Farmington is mostly sightless and dry. How are you getting to Durango? Is the one lane and pilot car that you refer to up on I70? If so it might be cleaned up by September. Gary

Very smart Gary

I absolutely agree Carl, those of us fortunate enough to be able to wash our coaches can keep an eye on the water. For those who use commercial truck washes and the like need to keep an eye out. Now talking about water I do have a short story that I laugh about now, not so funny then. My daughter was helping me wash ours when she was 6 or 7. I was brushing and she was rinsing. We were at the back when I came around the corner and she was filling the exhaust pipe with water. I can't remember how long it took to bubble the water out and dry up. Gary

I agree, in my opinion, oil bath is the way to go. The idea of sucking a small amount of oil out and replacing it with new is where I may think different. As Bill stated, looking at a cross section of a hub, most will have a reservoir in the center between the bearings that hold most of the oil. Some hold more and some less. You will only be able to get maybe an 1/8 to no more that a 1/4 of the total oil in the hub. To do this over and over seems like a lot of work and great potential of contaminating the oil in the hub. My belief is check it and forget it. You should be able to visually see the level in the glass and don't stick your finger or anything else for that matter in as it could lead to more contaminants in the oil. One more thought, depending on how or where you wash your coach, you may not want those oil caps and plugs accessible to a pressure washer since water could be forced into the cap. I have full chrome caps on mine for that reason and I wash the coach myself. Gary.

The only difference between men and boys, is the size and price of their toys. Gary

Bill Thanks for the update. Will the trailer toad have hydraulic brakes also? Keep us posted on the proformance. Gary

Joe I'm only laughing if you're laughing. Thanks for the insight on the newer model engines. I sold my shop and retired from the repair business in late 2008 so I may have missed the worst of the emissions. Now I help other local guys troubleshoot and try keep them from replace parts willy nilly. In 1999, one of my fleet contracts involved mostly 550 and 600 Cats and 500 Detroits with one 650+ ISX. It was a test unit and factory set to out perform the 600 Cats. I had a checklist that filled a 3inch binder of what to inspect every time the unit came in the shop. Cummins also had an agreement with the fleet owner to bring the truck into Rocky Mountian Cummins when in Denver for them to inspect. That fleet averaged about 150,000 miles per unit per year and there lease rotated around the two year mark. The ISX probably had around 80,000 in two years and seemed like twice that backwards behind a wrecker. With that said, when it ran, it was amazing, and would run 7+mpg and the rest of the time would limp from Cummins shop to Cummins shop. Now to add a good spin, one of my owner operator customers in 2001 bought a new ISX 450 and was only in the shop to change the oil at 35,000 intervals. So if Harold continues to have trouble, he might ask about derating, yes I did say maybe lower the horse power. Hopefully now though they will have it fixed. Now, as far as the laughing, I have a 1947 Kenworth with an NT 180 naturally aspirated with a 4x3 married transmission and camel back spicer rear ends and yes it does have a compression release and jake brakes. Not to purttie but is a blast to drive around the yard. Gary

Carl Those Cummins rep's are only paid to spin the good stuff, especially if they are out in the yard talking to customers. If you want the truth, talk to the guys doing the work and make sure they are alone and you might get the real facts. I am sure there are some good 650 engines and happy customers out there. The guys I know with those are not. Gary

Rewillia Huffypuff's is not that long but might be of interest to you. Gary

When did you start driving? Sounds like you may have cut your teeth on a small cam Cummins or a 71 series Detroit. Gary

We are all newbies at one time or another. I have owned mine for 5 years and still feel like a newbie. I know there are lot's of opinions on this subject and am excited to read them so for now I will give you mine. Drivetrain manufactures design all of the needed systems for set HP ratings. That being said, there maybe some room to accommodate more power. There are some upgrades that just involve tweaking the parimeters in the ECM, others involve changing hard parts, turbo,air pipes, CAC, air box and filter. ect. It has been my experience that to push the HP to the limit may have unintended consequences that may include overheating, premature engine failure, transmission and driveline trouble. All of these issues may be worst case scenario but still expensive and unnecessary nontheless. You did not mention what they want to do or change and what it will cost. I am from the school that if you are happy with the preformance 95% of the time. then just take it easy when you are in the mountians. and enjoy the view. If you are worried about those two cars behind you, guess what, regardless of the HP they will still be there. Going back to the subject of confidence, that is one thing you cannot buy. That will only come from getting to know your coach and what it will do. The only one gaining any confidence is the salesman selling you the HP, and selling you repairs afterward. Dependability is King in my book. I do not like setting on the side of the road. Gary

The 6v 92 in those coaches were generally easy to get at with the radiator side a bit tougher. The manifolds are one piece with a V-clamp on the pipe to the turbo and studs not bolts if I recall, been lots of years. They were also subject to warpage and cracking. They did have a thick metal/composite gasket so a little warpage was OK. Make sure all the old gasket is removed. The nuts and washers do not usually need to be fully unscrewed to be able to slide the manifold out and back in after the turbo pipe is out of the way. Gary

I thought that might the case but would rather not try to ask for forgiveness in this case. Thanks for the responses.. Again when I quit learning I will be dead. Gary

Good job on the repair. I too had the same issue and handled it the same way with an addition-- I had to remove the t-stat housing to get clearance for bolts on no 1 cyl. There were 4 gaskets cracked or missing chunks. I did replace all of the bolts since one was missing and several others were loose and I wanted to be able to get a proper torque. Gary