While driving, we suddenly lost engine acceleration, and after bringing us safely to the side of the road, found a throttle bracket part broken in two.
We have King Throttle Control which pulls on a cable that is attached to the bracket that broke, so we had no throttle.
We were able to drive to the next town where we could figure out what to do next, by pulling up on a string we attached to the half of the throttle bracket still attached to the injector pump. Cindy drove and I made us go from the side of the bed. Could not pull the string forward from the dash area, because the broken part had to be pulled up toward the bedroom ceiling.
The local hardware store had no parts to help us, but did offer their bench vise so we could fashion a replacement part from a spare piece flat aluminum we were carrying. Our new temporary part worked out so well, we decided to make it a permanent part and for the last four months we are better than new. The original part had a large hole that was so off center, one side had too little metal, causing the failure.
Since I've read about being able to run a rope to the front to control the throttle, can you explain what the difference would be between your setup? I take it going up over the end of the bed doesn't give enough up-lift? I travel alone so wondering if there is some sort of emergency kit I should have along that I can make it work if need be.
Wow, Kind of makes the whole "co-pilot" term a reality! Nice job on the repair too.
That's teamwork for you but I'm surprised Pierce didn't rig a pulley system from the bedroom door for the string. As a kid we resurrected an old racing gokart and had a string pull throttle on it. Kinda twitchy but got used to it after a bit.
I am sure every throttle linkage problem is different, so there is no set way run a rope from the front to the engine. We could have put a eyebolt under the bed to make a forward pull, a pull up on the linkage, so one person could move the coach.
I read any entry from Barry and Cindy. Always informative, instructive, and enjoyable. What a pair they must be!
Lewis,
"Ditto" re Barry and Cindy's posts
Looks like a perfect time for the WIlliams Air throttle, eliminates all those issues and no need for more ropes & eye bolts. But you have to do what ever it takes to get your butt to a safe place indeed. ;D
Dave M
For those of us that do not have Barry's talents: How about carrying a screweye, small pulley, and small diameter rope. Mount the screweye/pulley on the bottom side of the bed, prop the bed open just far enough to clear the rope, run the rope all the way up front and tie it to something so it can be pulled to increase engine speed. Will probably work until you can get to Barry or someone with similar talents and equipment.
Our coach came with the "drive by rope" story. It also came with the air throttle in place to help prevent another "drive by rope" story. :D I don't understand how the air throttle works, but it seems to work well even while cranking a cold engine with little or no pressure in the air system. ???
The broken part was not a King Cruise issue and could have happened if we had an air throttle.
It did take us about four hours to figure out what happened and what could be done to keep us from being towed The idea is to try any temporary fix to get back on the road.
Thank you for the kind words.