We are still at US Coach, waiting on parts. Great progress has been made on all our service items, and miracle Mike-the-parts-guy was able to track down third-party replacements for our shocks and tag axle damper. The tie-rod ends, however, have proven more of a challenge.
When Mike called NeoPart to ask about them, providing our model, year, and even VIN, they came up with a part number that is out of stock and no longer made. The shop pulled the tie rods off, mic'ed all the joints, and started calling around for aftermarket replacements, to absolutely no avail. As a last gasp, we opened up our trusty parts book (for an '84 coach, even though ours is an '85), and found a NeoPlan part number. Armed with this information, lo and behold, NeoPart found three in stock (out of the four we need). Unfortunately, by this time it was Friday afternoon, so, even with overnight shipping, they will not be here until tomorrow.
We will end up with three new ends, and pick the best of what comes out for the fourth. (We will also look into whether the two on the rear axle are the same spec, in which case we can pilfer one of those if it is in better shape.) I'll keep the best of whatever is left over to see if, in our travels, I can match it up to something new.
Once the tie rods are done, they will replace the shocks and set the alignment, which, we hope, will cure our front-end shimmy problems. That should wrap things up here, and we hope to be on the road Tuesday morning, just a few hours shy of a week after our arrival here. A quick stop at Flying-J in Carney's Point for fuel and tank dump, and we'll head back out of NJ. We've decided to cut across the Delmarva peninsula and across the bridge into Annapolis, rather than plow through Baltimore to reach DC.
Sunday, July 30, 2006
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Free at last...
We finally finished with the Pennsylvania flood relief operation Tuesday morning. Things wound down slowly through Friday, and we closed headquarters Saturday afternoon. It took all four of us to bring down all the wiring and the satellite dish, and get all the computers and phones packed. We wrapped up close to 9pm, and had a final dinner together. Sunday morning, the rest of the crew went home, and it was down to just the two of us, just as it had been at the very beginning of the job over three weeks earlier.
We took most of Sunday off, and the operation itself was closed. We did some final packing and cable cleanup, then packed up Odyssey and went out for generator fuel. With a single tank, of course, fuel is fuel, however, the Red Cross reimburses our travel expense on a per-mile basis, while the fuel we burned just sitting for four weeks is "lodging" expense, and we needed a receipt to turn in before we left the job. For the curious, we ran the genny about 75 hours in four weeks, burning about 82 gallons. At $3.10 per gallon, our lodging expense worked out to just under $11 per day, a figure the Red Cross was more than happy to pay (most volunteers are housed in hotel rooms costing 6-12 times that much).
We spent Monday setting up a handful of workstations in a conference room at the local chapter for the small group of folks staying behind to finish up the casework, and getting the rest of our gear inventoried and onto the FedEx truck. Monday night we celebrated, and Tuesday morning we turned our rental car in and hit the road.
We are now at U.S. Coach Repair, in Berlin, NJ (map), where we've been for two nights. Owner Luke Bonagura and his team here have an excellent reputation in the converted coach community, and we had a good list of maintenance items that needed to be done. So far, they have done the normal service such as change the engine oil and filters, replace the fuel and transmission filters, and top off the transmission fluid level. They have also replaced three of our old and seeping coolant hoses, replaced the two fan belts, and changed the engine coolant. This should improve our cooling system performance as well as reduce the amount of coolant we are having to add between services.
We also asked them to look into an exhaust rattle that has plagued us for quite some time, and they found and replaced two broken mounting bolts on the muffler. Their opinion on our front-end shimmy and abnormal tire wear is that our front end is slightly toed-out, and they will correct the alignment before we leave. More importantly, they think we should replace the tie-rod ends, an issue we knew we would have to deal with at some point. For reasons no one can explain, our tie-rod ends have no grease fittings, and so can not be lubricated. The rubber dust boots disintegrated long ago, and the rod ends are stiff and difficult to move, a sign that corrosion is taking its toll on the joints. We've inspected them at every service, getting more nervous each time. We don't want to take any chances with such a safety-critical component, so they are trying to find us some replacements -- a tall order, given our weird German running gear.
One of the biggest outstanding checklist items has been to service the Bendix air dryer. We're pretty sure it's never been serviced in the whole 17 years it's been there, and it has probably been responsible for a good bit of our cold-weather air loss. Getting to the dryer requires a pit, and few of the shops we visit have both a pit and the air dryer parts and skills -- we're happy to finally have this taken care of. No abnormal play was found in the wheel hubs, but the shocks are shot and need replacing, so they are trying to track some down along with the tie rod parts.
Lastly, we asked Mike-the-parts-guy if he could find a source for the Bilstein tag-axle steering damper. We replaced one already, at $530 from Neopart (whereupon we discovered the Bilstein label and part number), and now the other side needs to be replaced to even out the pressure. Mike found a source at $185, which will be a bargain even with the overnight shipping to get it here tomorrow. We'll be here at least one more night, waiting for the damper, and maybe more if tie rod and shock parts are further out.
My folks came out yesterday for a visit, and we had a nice dinner at a local strip-mall Italian joint. They spent the night at a nearby motel, and we had breakfast together this morning. They helped us run a few errands before heading off just a short while ago. It was a nice visit, and they seem to be doing well.
While we've been over the pit, I took the opportunity to troubleshoot the right front leveler control. The actuator has been moving up and down fine, but I lost the position feedback quite some time ago. Consequently, every time we use that leveler, I need to "guesstimate" where center-travel is when we are ready to head back onto the road. Not a crisis, but a pain in the butt nevertheless. A quick metering of the unit, while still installed, revealed that voltage was going into the potentiometer, but nothing was coming back out. The pot is internal to the actuator, so I had to pull the actuator off the coach, making me very glad for the pit.
It turned out that the pot itself was shot. From the looks of things, water managed to ingress into the unit (even though it is nominally a sealed unit for wet environments), corroding the pot internally. Fortunately, I had a spare pot, inside the carcass of what used to be the rear leveler, replaced some time ago due to one of the motor leads shearing off. De-soldering and re-soldering the corroded wires proved to be a bit challenging, but the surgery was successful, and the leveler is now fully operational after I reinstalled it. It took a couple hours to complete the project, but there's not much else for us to do while we're sitting around here anyway.
From here we will head southwest along I-295 and into Delaware, where we will bail off onto US-40. We'll stop first in Carney's Point, NJ for fuel -- the cheapest diesel in the US right at the moment. We're heading to Falls Church, Virginia, where our friends Don and CC are staying. We'll likely spend a few days being canonical DC tourists, and having a peek at the Red Cross' two Operations Centers that we call so often while we're working a disaster.
We took most of Sunday off, and the operation itself was closed. We did some final packing and cable cleanup, then packed up Odyssey and went out for generator fuel. With a single tank, of course, fuel is fuel, however, the Red Cross reimburses our travel expense on a per-mile basis, while the fuel we burned just sitting for four weeks is "lodging" expense, and we needed a receipt to turn in before we left the job. For the curious, we ran the genny about 75 hours in four weeks, burning about 82 gallons. At $3.10 per gallon, our lodging expense worked out to just under $11 per day, a figure the Red Cross was more than happy to pay (most volunteers are housed in hotel rooms costing 6-12 times that much).
We spent Monday setting up a handful of workstations in a conference room at the local chapter for the small group of folks staying behind to finish up the casework, and getting the rest of our gear inventoried and onto the FedEx truck. Monday night we celebrated, and Tuesday morning we turned our rental car in and hit the road.
We are now at U.S. Coach Repair, in Berlin, NJ (map), where we've been for two nights. Owner Luke Bonagura and his team here have an excellent reputation in the converted coach community, and we had a good list of maintenance items that needed to be done. So far, they have done the normal service such as change the engine oil and filters, replace the fuel and transmission filters, and top off the transmission fluid level. They have also replaced three of our old and seeping coolant hoses, replaced the two fan belts, and changed the engine coolant. This should improve our cooling system performance as well as reduce the amount of coolant we are having to add between services.
We also asked them to look into an exhaust rattle that has plagued us for quite some time, and they found and replaced two broken mounting bolts on the muffler. Their opinion on our front-end shimmy and abnormal tire wear is that our front end is slightly toed-out, and they will correct the alignment before we leave. More importantly, they think we should replace the tie-rod ends, an issue we knew we would have to deal with at some point. For reasons no one can explain, our tie-rod ends have no grease fittings, and so can not be lubricated. The rubber dust boots disintegrated long ago, and the rod ends are stiff and difficult to move, a sign that corrosion is taking its toll on the joints. We've inspected them at every service, getting more nervous each time. We don't want to take any chances with such a safety-critical component, so they are trying to find us some replacements -- a tall order, given our weird German running gear.
One of the biggest outstanding checklist items has been to service the Bendix air dryer. We're pretty sure it's never been serviced in the whole 17 years it's been there, and it has probably been responsible for a good bit of our cold-weather air loss. Getting to the dryer requires a pit, and few of the shops we visit have both a pit and the air dryer parts and skills -- we're happy to finally have this taken care of. No abnormal play was found in the wheel hubs, but the shocks are shot and need replacing, so they are trying to track some down along with the tie rod parts.
Lastly, we asked Mike-the-parts-guy if he could find a source for the Bilstein tag-axle steering damper. We replaced one already, at $530 from Neopart (whereupon we discovered the Bilstein label and part number), and now the other side needs to be replaced to even out the pressure. Mike found a source at $185, which will be a bargain even with the overnight shipping to get it here tomorrow. We'll be here at least one more night, waiting for the damper, and maybe more if tie rod and shock parts are further out.
My folks came out yesterday for a visit, and we had a nice dinner at a local strip-mall Italian joint. They spent the night at a nearby motel, and we had breakfast together this morning. They helped us run a few errands before heading off just a short while ago. It was a nice visit, and they seem to be doing well.
While we've been over the pit, I took the opportunity to troubleshoot the right front leveler control. The actuator has been moving up and down fine, but I lost the position feedback quite some time ago. Consequently, every time we use that leveler, I need to "guesstimate" where center-travel is when we are ready to head back onto the road. Not a crisis, but a pain in the butt nevertheless. A quick metering of the unit, while still installed, revealed that voltage was going into the potentiometer, but nothing was coming back out. The pot is internal to the actuator, so I had to pull the actuator off the coach, making me very glad for the pit.
It turned out that the pot itself was shot. From the looks of things, water managed to ingress into the unit (even though it is nominally a sealed unit for wet environments), corroding the pot internally. Fortunately, I had a spare pot, inside the carcass of what used to be the rear leveler, replaced some time ago due to one of the motor leads shearing off. De-soldering and re-soldering the corroded wires proved to be a bit challenging, but the surgery was successful, and the leveler is now fully operational after I reinstalled it. It took a couple hours to complete the project, but there's not much else for us to do while we're sitting around here anyway.
From here we will head southwest along I-295 and into Delaware, where we will bail off onto US-40. We'll stop first in Carney's Point, NJ for fuel -- the cheapest diesel in the US right at the moment. We're heading to Falls Church, Virginia, where our friends Don and CC are staying. We'll likely spend a few days being canonical DC tourists, and having a peek at the Red Cross' two Operations Centers that we call so often while we're working a disaster.
Sunday, July 16, 2006
Slow day at the office...
Things are really winding down on the relief operation here. We've closed all the remote sites, and are now just waiting for things to wrap up here at HQ. I've sent my whole staff home, except for Louise (of course) and two others, pretty much the minimum number we will need to break down, pack up, and ship everything when the operation closes. Even so, we've gone through our entire backlog of report-writing, inventory reconciliation, and other side work, and we've shipped out every piece of equipment not in use (except for one spare VSAT -- can't afford to be without a backup for that). Things are slow enough now at HQ that the director gave everyone this morning off, and we started our day here at noon.
So here we are, the four of us, with precious little to do. Whenever a trouble ticket comes in, all four of us jump for it -- maybe one per hour. I've got the two most junior folks working on cross-training exercises, and I've already read today's news and checked the weather -- twice. Since I can't get personal email in here (the Red Cross firewall blocks all external email sites, such as gmail), I thought I'd use some of the slack time to blog.
In theory, tomorrow should be our day off. However, with only four of us here in total, we can't afford to have two out at a time. Depending on how much longer things will go on here, I will probably start rotating everyone on half-day schedules, leaving three of us on shift at any given moment.
After conversing with my Dad on his birthday, and looking at what tasks are on our plate in our life after the operation closes, we've decided to take Odyssey to U.S. Coach Repair in Berlin, NJ when we are done here. We need an oil change, and probably a coolant change, and the tranny topped off, and the air dryer serviced. We'll also have them look at the tire shimmy issue that I have previously written about here. Owner Luke Bonagura is a respected presence in the bus conversion community, and the shop has a pit -- essential for the air dryer work on our 47,000-pound coach. Berlin is only 150 miles from here, about a three hour drive.
Once we're there, my folks will come out to meet us, and we will spend a few days together. After that, things get much more fuzzy. One fly in the ointment is that we discovered, a day or two ago, that we now have a crack in the upstairs windshield. Actually, a pair of cracks, each perhaps 10-15cm in length, forming a sort of "W" at the upper right corner of the glass. Since each crack starts and ends at the edge of the glass, there is no real concern of them spreading, and the are small enough and out of the way enough to be almost unnoticeable. That being said, it may get worse, and, furthermore, the windshield is still leaking -- one fix for which would be to remove it and replace it correctly. (I suspect, by the way, that the cause of the cracking is stress on the glass, due to the same improper installation that I blame for the leaks.) Being as close as we are to Honey Brook, we are thinking about swinging by for a replacement, if they even have one.
In any case, we still intend to mosey down to NC for the FMCA rally next month, unless a hurricane interrupts us. We'll probably make a stop in DC along the way, to do all the usual tourist things (Smithsonian, tram tour, etc.) and perhaps visit Red Cross headquarters.
So here we are, the four of us, with precious little to do. Whenever a trouble ticket comes in, all four of us jump for it -- maybe one per hour. I've got the two most junior folks working on cross-training exercises, and I've already read today's news and checked the weather -- twice. Since I can't get personal email in here (the Red Cross firewall blocks all external email sites, such as gmail), I thought I'd use some of the slack time to blog.
In theory, tomorrow should be our day off. However, with only four of us here in total, we can't afford to have two out at a time. Depending on how much longer things will go on here, I will probably start rotating everyone on half-day schedules, leaving three of us on shift at any given moment.
After conversing with my Dad on his birthday, and looking at what tasks are on our plate in our life after the operation closes, we've decided to take Odyssey to U.S. Coach Repair in Berlin, NJ when we are done here. We need an oil change, and probably a coolant change, and the tranny topped off, and the air dryer serviced. We'll also have them look at the tire shimmy issue that I have previously written about here. Owner Luke Bonagura is a respected presence in the bus conversion community, and the shop has a pit -- essential for the air dryer work on our 47,000-pound coach. Berlin is only 150 miles from here, about a three hour drive.
Once we're there, my folks will come out to meet us, and we will spend a few days together. After that, things get much more fuzzy. One fly in the ointment is that we discovered, a day or two ago, that we now have a crack in the upstairs windshield. Actually, a pair of cracks, each perhaps 10-15cm in length, forming a sort of "W" at the upper right corner of the glass. Since each crack starts and ends at the edge of the glass, there is no real concern of them spreading, and the are small enough and out of the way enough to be almost unnoticeable. That being said, it may get worse, and, furthermore, the windshield is still leaking -- one fix for which would be to remove it and replace it correctly. (I suspect, by the way, that the cause of the cracking is stress on the glass, due to the same improper installation that I blame for the leaks.) Being as close as we are to Honey Brook, we are thinking about swinging by for a replacement, if they even have one.
In any case, we still intend to mosey down to NC for the FMCA rally next month, unless a hurricane interrupts us. We'll probably make a stop in DC along the way, to do all the usual tourist things (Smithsonian, tram tour, etc.) and perhaps visit Red Cross headquarters.
Friday, July 14, 2006
Monday, July 10, 2006
A much-needed day off
We are still in Wilkes-Barre, PA, now parked in a large lot across the street from the hotel that serves as relief headquarters (map).
Tomorrow morning marks two full weeks since we left St. Louis, and we haven't had a break until today. We also haven't emptied our tanks since then, so part of our day off will be spent driving to the nearby Petro truck stop to use their dump station. Today is also laundry day -- something we haven't done since right before GA.
We are past the hump for this relief operation. After a full day at the local chapter office, my team and I spent the entire next day -- all 17+ hours of it -- wiring up the new headquarters in a hotel ballroom, and getting the satellite terminal on-line on the roof. The next few days involved the usual problems with logins, printers, and the like, as well as installing a handful of computers and radio base stations at remote sites. Independence day came and went unnoticed, except for the acrid smoke of fireworks in the evening. Now, things are stable and beginning to wind down; we're starting already to retrieve some of the remote equipment and slowly downsize headquarters. I would expect to be here only another week or so.
Actually, my dad's birthday is the 14th, and my folks are only 170 miles, about 3.5 hours, from here. If we can wrap up before then (very unlikely, but there is always a chance) it would be great to be there for it. Unless there is another disaster, I expect we will head there in any case, or maybe meet them somewhere in the middle, when we are done here.
The public affairs department interviewed us aboard Odyssey for a newsletter article, and Louise got interviewed in front of the coach by a TV news crew back when we were still parked at the chapter. So far, we haven't seen either piece.
No concrete plans for what's next, other than the visit to NJ. We'll probably head towards NC for an FMCA rally there next month. I will probably not get another chance to post here until the operation shuts down, unless we're here long enough for another day off (which would, theoretically, be next Monday).
Tomorrow morning marks two full weeks since we left St. Louis, and we haven't had a break until today. We also haven't emptied our tanks since then, so part of our day off will be spent driving to the nearby Petro truck stop to use their dump station. Today is also laundry day -- something we haven't done since right before GA.
We are past the hump for this relief operation. After a full day at the local chapter office, my team and I spent the entire next day -- all 17+ hours of it -- wiring up the new headquarters in a hotel ballroom, and getting the satellite terminal on-line on the roof. The next few days involved the usual problems with logins, printers, and the like, as well as installing a handful of computers and radio base stations at remote sites. Independence day came and went unnoticed, except for the acrid smoke of fireworks in the evening. Now, things are stable and beginning to wind down; we're starting already to retrieve some of the remote equipment and slowly downsize headquarters. I would expect to be here only another week or so.
Actually, my dad's birthday is the 14th, and my folks are only 170 miles, about 3.5 hours, from here. If we can wrap up before then (very unlikely, but there is always a chance) it would be great to be there for it. Unless there is another disaster, I expect we will head there in any case, or maybe meet them somewhere in the middle, when we are done here.
The public affairs department interviewed us aboard Odyssey for a newsletter article, and Louise got interviewed in front of the coach by a TV news crew back when we were still parked at the chapter. So far, we haven't seen either piece.
No concrete plans for what's next, other than the visit to NJ. We'll probably head towards NC for an FMCA rally there next month. I will probably not get another chance to post here until the operation shuts down, unless we're here long enough for another day off (which would, theoretically, be next Monday).
Sunday, July 9, 2006
Thursday, July 6, 2006
Our "office." Yes, it is a ballroom. Yes, we have CAT5 cable strung around the chandeliers. Yes, it smells like people have smoked in this room for 50 years. But the hotel owner has been very gracious and accomodating, providing coffee every morning and putting up with hundreds of volunteers wandering around the hotel.
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