Repairs X 3

Well, the trip back to Indiana from Virginia was far from uneventful. The first thing we noticed was a problem with the Brake Buddy. Terry said the compressor wasn't shutting off and it was continuing to fill, then depress the brake pedal, then fill again, then depress again. . . it just wasn't shutting off. So we unhooked it. Later when we stopped for lunch, he started playing with it again and thought that a wire may have been stressed and it worked multiple times for him, so we re-engaged it. It worked fine the rest of that day. The next morning it was acting up again, but eventually worked, so again we engaged it and headed a short distance down the road to our fuel stop. As soon as we got out of the coach, we could smell the brakes on the truck. Terry used his infared digital thermometer and some brake parts measured over 300 degrees. Ooh, ouch! Needless to say, it was disconnected then. A call to Brake Buddy and they said the compressor is failing. When we head west next week we are going through Kansas, so will take a side trip to their plant and they said they will fix it while we are there.

When we drove into Summit Lake State Park, we tried to deploy the jacks. They did not deploy properly, so we raised them. All raised up, but the system "thought" one was not up and locked. If one jack ain't happy, ain't none of 'em happy. Nothing but error beeps and lights at this point. So we sat there for the week with no jacks down. We were on level terrain, so it wasn't a big deal. We manage to get all our doctor appointments done and the vet appointment for Neal. Unfortunately, we have had jack trouble before; but fortunately, Terry learned how to bypass the system and disconnect all the beepers and warnings. The real problem, however, is that the levelers on our coach are directly tied into the air dump/fill system, so once everything is disabled, one must jumper across a couple leads in a box in the basement in order to fill the airbags. Without that, you cannot move our coach. So Terry called Gerald Straw at Charger Enterprises and explained what was going on. Gerald held a spot for us for Friday and said he would get with Atwood and try to have parts ready. We arrived Thursday around closing time and hooked up to 30Amp in front of Charger and spent the night.

Unfortunately, Terry woke up sick this morning, so as soon as they came for the coach at 7 a.m., I brought him over to the "storage condo." He apparently picked up a bug somewhere, so has been nursing his tummy all day.

At noon Gerald called to say the coach was done and even though the jacks were out of warranty, Atwood traded out the bad jack for FREE! Wow. I contemplated how I was going to drive over and get the motorhome, so Terry said he would ride along and help hook up the truck and I would drive it back. Alas, 'twas not to be. We got there, checked out the jacks, which worked to perfection, then proceeded to hook up the truck. The tow bar was broken! Arggggggg. It had a broken weld and there was no way we could hook up and tow with it. So, I drove the motorhome back and went down and begged our apartment manager to take me back to get the truck. He was happy to do it and I got to thank Gerald for the great service on our jacks. There are really great people, and if you are in Elkhart or you come here for service, this would be a good stop for you. It is located on CR6 between CR13 and CR11. . . not far from the Elkhart Campground. He is very honest and does a great job. In fact, Bob Tiffin is the one who told us about Charger. You can imagine my surprise the first time we came here when I found out that Gerald is the same Gerald Straw who graduated with me from Goshen High School. So if you do go, tell him I sent you!

Okay, back to the story. I was telling Gerald our tow bar problems and he suggested I ask at Dan's Hitch. Perhaps they could help us with the hitch and work with Demco on a repair. While I was waiting in line at Dan's, Terry called. He had contacted Demco about our tow bar. When he told them we were on the road and we couldn't mail it and get it back since we were leaving on Tuesday, Demco then directed him to a distributor in Elkhart where a BRAND NEW DEMCO ALUMINATOR tow bar would be waiting. Oh me, oh my. He called me and I was just a few blocks away, so I detoured and arrived at NTP Distribution and got our new tow bar. I guess when they say life-time warranty, they mean it. They have repaired it before, but they said since we were on the road, they would just replace it. What a great company!

So, a busy day, but one which turned out very well. Terry is getting better. I finally made it to the grocery and got him some popsicles, Pedialyte, yogurt and orange juice. I'm sure he will be better tomorrow. Too much sitting in doctor's offices this week for our yearly checkups. Who woulda' thunk sick people would be there. ho ho

Till next time. . .

Dale