garyreed

I was always told I was not one. Now with the definition, I am sure. Gary

I am not sure if this is the right place for this post so here it goes. I have a friend who still owns a trucking company. In visiting with him he mentioned that there was a restriction on commercial vehicles entering California that limits their age to 2006 or newer. Does this also also include motorhomes. I know the length law still applies as will as the speed limit for towing. We may be wanting to go there this next year if it works out. Gary

Herman Are you going to replace them yourself? It can can be accomplished fairly easly and I do agree with Bill. Every mechanic has their own ritual that works for them and the intrernet is full of facts and opinions, would stick with sites like Timkin or Stemco not the Youtube guru who dances around swinging a hammer and chisel. Just my thought Gary

I fully agree with you Joe. Those were very tough years for all makers of engines, even the smaller ones ie. Volkswagon. Gary

Sounds Like Cummins may be trying to make things right. This series of engine was touted as the golden child.Designed to put Cummins back on top of the horse power and dependability pedestal that it was knocked from in the mid 80's. It has never quite made it with this engine. The smaller B, C, L, M and the electronic versions of these held there own. Did it have clean maintainance records when you bought it? Gary

Herman, Same thing only bigger. I thought you already had oil bath hubs? That would indeed be the right time to check the brakes. If you have grease pack bearings now you will need to pull the hubs anyway to clean out the grease so it will get new seals. How many miles are on your coach since the last brake service? Does it have air brakes. The shoes might be OK but you need to visibly inspect the shoes for glazing, cracks, deterioration of the friction material, and oil and grease contamination. Also the drum should we worn evenly with no cracks or ridges. Gary

Harold I am very sad to hear about the EGR issue, Sounds like it was a few days out of warranty., Will they help any with the cost? Gary

Dudley Those are exellent ideas to start. I do have a question, Stopped in park with the engine at idle or a little above will the speedo needle bounce maybe ever so slight? If yes it could be the yoke loose on rear of transmission. If no it could be the sending unit although fairly rare. Check the plug on sending unit and any chassis ground. Also when checking and cleaning the ground as Bill suggested, don't forget to check plug going to the speedo or gauge cluster. Sometimes the weight of the harness create a loss of signal. Have you been able to tell if the odometer is counting miles correctly. This might lead to a faulty head. Gary Gary

Bill What is the reason for plating in Montana? My float is mostly on some of the rougher roads and if the shocks were not new I would think they needed replaced. I have used the speed bump test in the parking lot and it preforms perfect there. As a kid in the seventies and early eighties, those were very fun to watch. The only way for me to get in was help the wrecker guy clean up after wrecks, although I don't remember having to pick up any Porsches. Seems like it was always the Corvettes during ther rally. They overlaid the track in the mid 90's, but can't remember to many races after that. Gary

Will your front end float when pulling the Featherlight with the extra tongue weight, and do you think the toad will stop that. I just had one more question to ask the toad guy. Does it have a title and will it need a license plate? I also noted you were from Evergreen. Did you ever race those Porsches in La Junta? Gary

I do agree with you Carl and having worked extensively on the Cat line of truck and equipment engines, the 3126 and the c12 were my favorites. The best for power vs fuel economy vs weight. Bill do you know anyone with one of those trailer toads? Keep us posted on yours with the pro's and con's. I would like to check one out in person.

Had to Google the trailer toad to wrap my head around the OP's idea. After viewing the YouTube videos, I can see where they might have a practical use. it looks like a lot of extra wearable parts to maintain to gain a couple thousand pounds. Your coach is set up right with the C-12 and never dreamed, if I read the post correctly, it would have hydraulic brakes. I did like a previous poster suggesting some fabrication on the hitch to make it safe. If the goal is to lighten the tongue weight could you add an axle to the trailer if the load inside cannot be adjusted. In the toad video it looked like a lot of side to side stress on the hitch while backing up or cornering. As far as the hydraulic surge brakes vs electric trailer brakes, they may brake better but while researching axle upgrades for my trailer I found that some states will not recognize them because of there inability to stay locked in the event the trailer coming loose frome the tow vehicle. I will add that I have worked on trailers with electric over hydraulic and air over hydraulic which do have lockup capabilities. I am not sure how to get hydraulic power from your coach to the hydraulic trailer brakes. Also the car hydraulic verses electric trailer brakes, might be closer than you think if you account for the car not running as this is were the car gets better stopping. Have you ever tried to use the brakes without the engine running. Do those classic Porsches have brake boosters? I too have sratched my head on how they rate towing capacities on pickups and RV's. The drive train in your coach is the same as what is pulling 80000 lbs down the road in the form of double and triple trailers with single axle trucks so I do believe the hitch may be the weaker link. I have not researched whether a higher towing capacity would require an upgraded opperators license. That may make the coach harder to sell new and who will buy an F350 if it could only pull 5000 lbs. I would rather meet you on a mountain road pulling a16000 lb trailer with your coach than with your F350. Just some thoughts Gary

Well Carl, if it is like my place you have way to many pigeons anyway and they would just want to make more. Gary

I learn something new everyday. I tell my kids, age 10 and 14 who think they know everything, when you quit learning you are dead. Gary

Sorry guys I've been playing in the snow up here in Colorado and did not send the reply with my own story with the oil level on the hubs. I have owned my coach for about five years and serviced it for the previous owner for about ten years before that. In the past, I would check the hubs before every trip and during the trip if I feel like it. This fall I was replacing the tires and pulled the chrome caps on the front and noticed the oil level on one was about two line widths under the full line. After pulling the wheel to replace the tire, I thought it would be a good time to grease the king pin and other fittings while they were easy to get to. That was when I noticed a little bit of oil on the back, not enough to make a mess but enough to replace the seal and miss what may have been some trouble on the road. Now knowing that the coach was a '98 and these were probably original I just replaced the other one also. The rears will be changed this year before our summer travels start, since my wife and kids hate to wait even to put in 150 gal of fuel. There are lots of things besides the tires on these that will age out over time before they ever wear out. Gary

The bigger issue is the wheel seal, the oil has to be going somewhere. It may be just a simple seal or a deeper problem like bearings. How low is it? Is the oil clear? Synthetic oils, depending on brand. are mostly clear with a light brown tint and not much smell. All-purpose (Hypoid like Neil mentioned) is clear with a green tint and a very strong odor. A 2002 would have probably come frome the factory with Synthetic Gary

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to join the discussion. Having read your first post in October, it sounds like you may not be the original owner, if so were there any service records with the purchase? It seems highly unlikely that so many service professionals could miss the problem, although it may be more than one issue and they may be quitting after finding one fault. Will the engine shut down after it reaches a certain temp? Do you rely on a dash gauge or warning light for the temp? Have they calibrated the gauge with the computer scan tools to determine if there is a difference? They should be able to tell you the max temps, the number of times it was reached, and the hours at which they occurred. How much coolant do you have to add if any? Does it lose water gradually and get hot or get hot and blow the water out? Is the water level in the expansion tank above the normal line when hot or below the cold line when cold? Where does the transmission cool? Most are through a heat exchanger either in the radiator, or external still using the coolant to cool the trans. fluid. Are there any issues with transmission function mainly slipping or what may seem like soft shifting? In your last post you mentioned the corrosion from using plain water, Have you ever put straight water in, if so how long did you run it? It will usually take quite a while to do damage. When the unit has been checked and/or repaired, does the new anti-freeze remain clear or does it get cloudy or rusty fairly quick? Has the water pump been removed and inspected or replaced? These are just a few questions that has come to mind. My biggest concern is the corrosion. At the least, the water pump impeller could be eaten up or spinning on the shaft. This is very common on class eight over the road trucks and heavy equipment regardless of the engine make or model. As far as the radiator being undersized, it has been my experience over the years that the engine manufacturer has minimum specifications on cooling capacity and Rv's usually exceed those requirements. It is when power upgrades and alterations occur that may change the cooling requirements so that when an issue does happen it makes it worse. Gary

Thanks for the responses. I think I will continue to use the trailer since most of our trips involve the Rocky Mountains and we do alot of 4x4 trails (sometimes a trailer is handy). We are planning an East Coast trip this summer and will look ahead to find parks that can handle the length. Gary

Try robin@signs-and-designs.com She makes custom stuff whether it is one or one thousand and will ship, does all my stuff. Gary

I hate to ask, do you have 1/4 plus in the fuel tank. how long since it was last run and did it run good then? How old is the coach? Do the fuel lines and clamps look good between the genset and the coach frame? No kinks or wet spots Gary

Carl is right, the manual says no. The reason I ask is that I have seen a few being flat towed, just wondering if they have been altered. We have used a trailer for the past few years and are finding out some parks make a deal out of it. Thanks for the response Gary

Is there anyone with any experience in flat towing a 2003 Land Rover Discovery ll? Thanks Gary