These are the postings from Jan. 2012 thru Dec. 2012. Click on each title below to proceed to that section. This section is arranged from Jan. at top, down to Dec. When finished reading with any section below, return either by clicking your browsers back arrow, or click on the I: Travel 2012 link in the header.
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Small Adventure on the Mexican Coast…
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My Daughter Sings and other things…
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I’m considering buying an identical motor home. 120,000 KM – $20K asking. I’m in BC and disabled so do not want to go through trying to get my air brakes endorsement. Other than the repairs have the hydraulic brakes worked okay for you?
Yes, they have. Five years ago I hit a speed bump at 55MPH down in Mexico, which caused a bad bearing and seal so that soaked the rear pads on the drivers side (mine has disk brakes all around). So I had the rears replaced. The fronts I replaced due to normal wear last year down in Mexico. As far as as your question? I’ve only had to ’emergency brake’ a few times in 9 years and I’d say they are fine! Work well. But I drive slowly and defensively. Trying to anticipate potential problems early. No stomping on the brakes because I missed a turn. Just drive on until I can turn around. That sort of defensive driving works well…
One strong recommendation. From the first day, be sure that you downshift when you just peak hills. Then use your brakes occasionally on the downhill to prevent overheating them while engine compression does most of the work keeping your speed down. Note that if the engine RPMs get to high, that the tranni will disengage…so tap the brakes to keep your speed low and your tranni engaged. Never be in a hurry.
One other recommendation, the parking brake can be problematic with an older rig. Make sure you get it inspected so you know that it works, and has plenty of brake lining left, and if not, replace the pads. Most of these big rigs have a drum style E-brake that surrounds the drive shaft. If there is still some pads left, adjust it so it’s grabbing the drum tightly. That’s your emergency system if you lose your main brakes. There’s no parking pawl inside the tranni, so in an emergency only, you just jamb the shift lever into ‘P’ and they should grab, they won’t stop you on a steep hill, but they’ll slow you down. It’s your only backup system if you lose your brakes on a hill. I used them to stop my rig when the master cylinder went out while driving on the flats, in town. Limped home that way. And then limped another 200 miles to where I got around to replacing the MC. In flat country, it’s sure easy to let off the gas 100’s of feet before a stop sign or signal light. I’d just coast up to them. Sure glad it’s fixed now though. One other thing I do when driving in mountains is to pay attention to where the Emergency Exit Ramps are. After nine years it’s all habit now.
Did you ever ascertain the cause of the engine trouble?
I’m unsure, except it’s an older rig. Had 154,000 miles on it when it blew. What happened was that on a leisurely drive (not in a hurry or anything) in low mountains of Arizona, and in a light snow storm (so I wasn’t using my propane injection system), a valve just broke and fell down on top of the piston. That can happen to any vehicle. So, no, never definitely ascertained the cause. The shop thought it was because the air filter was choked with fine dust, but my mechanic brother says no way.