The Conversion of "Freedom" , our permanent bus home...

[HarmonicaBruce]

Wow, what a thread. Is 4-9-2014 the last entry?

 

[akrvbob]

That is the last entry. Hopefully one day he will get back and update us.
Bob

 

[compassrose]

What's a trip without something going wrong? I get nervous when we have an "uneventful" trip. SOMETHING has to go wrong, even if it's minor.

 

[David]

This is one of the reasons I think it's crazy to try to use a big bus or a large motorhome. If something goes wrong it will cost a fortune to have it towed. If you aren't made of money and need something large, it's much smarter to go with a conventional trailer and tow vehicle.

In a worst case situation, at least with a truck and trailer you can have the truck towed and rent a UHaul to pull the trailer. Meanwhile you break down with a bus or a large RV and you are looking at a minimum of $500 tow bill but could be upwards of a Gand or more.

 

[VanLifeCrisis]

Good sam tows the bigger rigs dont they? might be worth a look.

 

[Patrick46]

Well...it sounds like he did this trip on a wing and a prayer anyways.

The idea of bringing the kids friends along for such a voyage (with a potential for major disaster) sounds kinda nutty to me. There's no way on earth I wouldda done it...but this wasn't me!

Sure hope they're doing OK.

 

[David]

Good sam tows the bigger rigs dont they? might be worth a look.

Ill tell you a story about Good SAMs.. My aunt has a big motorhome and she has spent a ton of money on it at campers would whom also owns good SAMs. She had good SAMs and her RV broke down with brake issues, on the way back from a weekend camping trip.

She called good SAMs and they charged her over $1200 to have a "expert" come look at it. It took over 6 hours for this guy to show up and by the time he did I had made it there.

This guy didn't know his head from a hole in the wall. When I say this, I mean he literally had no clue what he was doing. The guy was clearly not a mechanic and he kept having to call someone to ask questions.

Added to this good SAMs outright refused to have the RV towed. So we had to drive this 30ft RV with potential brake problems to a campers world so they could fix it.

I think by the time this was all done she paid out over 3 thousand dollars and they were the ones whom had replaced the breaks the first time.

The good SAMs is about as good as useless, from what I've seen.

 

[anm]

Wow! What a saga, I hope it turns out alright for you in the end. My prayers are with you...

 

[squatting dog2]

Now, for the other side of the Good Sam's towing story. My 40 foot coach blew a power steering hose on Memorial day somewhere outside of Louisville Kentucky. I'm sitting on the side of the Interstate thinking while the wife called Good Sam that no one will be around during a holiday. Happy to say within 40 minutes, a triple axle tow truck arrived and hooked us to his tow yard (no easy feat to tow a 36,000 lb bus by the way) where he let us plug in for the night, and the next morning, since all hyd. shops were closed for the holiday, he pulled a hose off a truck he had in his yard and we were back on our merry way. total cost out of pocket... 0
I'd have to say Good Sam's done me right.

 

[compassrose]

I dislike Good Sams due to the junk mail. I'm sure there are good points to their services. We had a Good Sam membership for one year. We used it once, the weekend we bought it at the campground we bought it at. We saved a bit more than we paid for the membership. But we had Good Sam junk mail for 5 years afterwards. I even started mailing it back to them using their prepaid envelopes. I thought that might get the "Quit sending me this junk and remove my name from your mailing lists" message that I wrote all over their stuff thru to them. It didn't. We were paying for our mail to be shipped to us and junk mail added to the costs. When Mail Call finally crashed, I finally lost them completely. Might be because all my mail was "returned to sender". Oh joy. Another bad story.

For road towing, we are going to get a subscription to Coach-net. The $159 plan. Our bus isn't a lightweight!

 

[Zil]

A shame to hyjack this build thread. Can the gods move road service into a new thread?

 

[Clan Graham]

okay, so I am really alive still. However things are hellish, very difficult, and right when they got better, things are still tough.I really enjoy this thread and never intended to abandon it, so let me make it clear to everyone what is going on. I simply do not have a laptop at all. I do not have a generator, I do not have house batteries, I do not have a battery charger, I have none of these much needed items yet. we have suffered through a really hot and rough summer in Simi Valley California, and are trying desperately, desperately, desperately to move up north where we have jobs and a great place to stay waiting for us.right when we tried to go, the bus started overheating on the interstate. The two large electric fans I had installed on the radiator to assistant were not enough even. Without the hydraulics fan running it wasn't going to cool. So we have been searching for weeks and finally had to just buy an 1100 dollar pump kit. This is a complete retrofit kit that replaces the pump along with some rerouted lines. However they also give you a new fan bell flange. The Current fan's holes I have on my bus will not line up with the new Bell flange. So this morning I had to take it to a machinist and have him charge me 60 to drill and tap 6 new holes.then I find out the kit was missing a crucial part. I need a simple hydraulic pressure 90. With an o-ring on the pump side and simple male flare pressure on the other. Running out of fuel funds, while waiting for businesses to open on Monday.
But I solemnly promise this ..... I will complete this thread in entirety.
The Clan Graham

 

[PastTense]

I wish you the best of luck with everything!

How much money have you spent on this vehicle so far?

 

[Patrick46]

Nice to hear from you Clan.

Stuff is not important...just take care of yourselves, stay safe, and soon you'll be to your new home. (inch by inch!!)


GodSpeed!

 

[Zil]

Glad to hear from you. Please stay in touch, you have many friends on this forum. I wish I was on the left coast to be able to offer some mechanical help.

 

[sassypickins]

Very sorry to hear about the bus troubles. I hope you will soon be on your way and hope your situation will improve soon. Thanks for posting.

 

[rvwandering]

Thanks for the update. Hope everything works out for you. You've spent so much time and effort making your bus into a nice home.

 

[GotSmart]

Wish I had known where you were. I was in that part of LA for a week or so.

 

[Clan Graham]

Hello again ... I sure could use some quick advice. I need a dual voltage 12/115v refrigerator. Anything a better choice for the same or less money than a Truckfridge ? Thanks

 

[Patrick46]

depends alot on how much holding capacity you're gonna need...(and budget too)