We just had the rear inner dual blow. It blew a whole in the radiator and collapsed the air bag can it be towed
We are about a foot off the white line. The police want it moved and now it won't start
I called coach net they are sending someone with a ire but I don't think it will do any good if it won't start
So sorry for your problem, I am not an expert because this has not happened to me, one tire is inadequate for the weight of the engine/ coach if it is pulled, if your air bag is down the back of the coach will be lower which will be a problem when the front is lifted.
It's going to make removing the drive shaft difficult ( which you do not want them doing, but is often done) you want the half shafts pulled, a lot of large wrecker shops have a Landoll trailer exactly for this situation, winch the coach on and drive off, if you can get one it would be ideal.
Good luck
If the tire blew a hole in the radiator, coolant drained out and the coolant level sensor won't give the proper signal to the ECU and the engine won't start. Don't know about your model but if you can see the sensor, you can jump the wires and the engine should start.
Our sensor is screwed into the coolant reservoir close to the sight glass.
Pierce
What is the issue with the engine? Does it turn over or not? Battery cables are in that area.
No it won't turn over. I called progressive and they are going to try to find someone to tow it. Wish I had called them first. We've been sitting here almost two hours fooling with coach net
Have you looked for a broken battery cable? If the tire hit the radiator it had to go by the batteries.
Sorry for your problem and wish you a good outcome.
Your story could be anyone's story. . .
How old were the tires, and do you have tire pressure monitors?
Thanks
Does anyone know the height of a 1995 U320c SE offhand.
11' 6"
Hope you both are ok
Any updates?
You're better off waiting for coach net. Progressive has no idea what it will take and coach net does. Agero is one of the few handling towing for insurance companies and they are horrible.
Insist on the tow company using a lowboy. Even if they could cap the airline to the blown bag, you'd be running on one airbag and one tire in that corner if they try to tow it and those dice aren't worth rolling.
I am glad everyone is safe - that's all that matters right now. The rest can and will get sorted out.
The guy coachnet sent was really good. He fixed the airbag and jumped the starter so it would air up so he could change the tire.
When the tire blew it did disconnect wires from the solenoid to the batteries.
After the tire was on we managed to drive it a little at a time to a next exit and into a loves parking lot about 3 am.
We tried contacting the guy he works for to tow it but they can't come till Monday.
I called progressive and they are sending someone but probably not till 8 this evening.
We've just been watching trucks pull into the pumps and wondering how much diesel they sell in an hour.
Also Bob thinks it just knocked the flange loose on the radiator loose so it doesn't have a hole.
Low coolant sensor will automatically shut engine off at 30 seconds. I was never able to figure out how to bypass it. Mine has four wires going to it. I carry a spare sensor. Sorry to hears about this. Do you operate with a TPMS? My TSD saved my butt twice last year on the same trip.
Scott
Now that you are in a more secure location, a couple of questions.
What brand of tire and how old was it?
Can you tell if it was a zipper blowout or road gator?
How fast were you going?
Did the engine continue to run or immediately stop.
Pierce
On my 95 U320 the rear needs both airbags ( on each side) to lift the weight of the rear suspension.
We are finally headed home.
The tow companiy progressive sent was a disaster as previously mentioned.
We called for them around 8:30 in the morning yesterday, they finally showed up around 11:30 pm.
Two young guys we nicknamed Dumb and Dumber.
They didn't have a flashlight and didn't have the proper tools to disconnect the axles.
While they were there I checked my email and progressive and already charged my credit card for the tow.
Dumb and Dumber left at 2am and said they'd be back in the morning.
When I called their company this morning, they wouldn't give me an eta saying they had to wait to see what theirCDL hours were.
My husband found a company on his own and hired them.
$700.00 less than what progressive charged.
When I called progressive to have them cancel dumb and dumber, they said the tow had been cancelled at 9:07 am by the customer which isn't possible since I didn't call them.
I don't know if the tow company cancelled it or what but I spoke to them at 8:54 am.
Hoping I don't have problems getting them to reimburse my credit card,
Sorry to hear about Progressive - they are our "Backup Plan B" if we ever can't get help from CoachNet.
Dumb & Dumber... :help: I think I've run into them once or twice in the past.
AARP (The Hartford) had me hooked up with a tow truck, driveshaft dropped, and on the highway in 1 1/2 hours. And the towing is included in the policy for free. Just saying.
A lot of the problem was the area we were in a the time of day. We were on I77 south in Ripley WV.
Not exactly a trucking capital and it was 3 am after we got the tire on and to the Loves.
If I was looking for a towing company I would have tried Charleston which is the Capitol of WV.
Both Coachnet and progressive contacted places near the Ohio River 1.5 hours away
The place we called ourselves was an hour north on art 77 so the tow truck will not take as long to get back when they are done.
I now have coachnet. If I run into not finding a tow I am going to call DPS. Every story I have heard, when DPS gets involved they are able to get help.
"DPS" " ? Maybe i should know....... but.... I need my acronym list.
"Department of Public Safety". Common term in Texas - it means local law enforcement/highway patrol in many cases
Just a quick comment about the towing - it all depends on who the roadside company or insurance company contracts with. The roadside/insurance company isn't the one towing vehicles, it's whoever they have contracted with in the area you broke down, and it's going to vary wildly. They could have great contractors in one area and "Dumb and Dumber" (or in my case in 1982 - Cletus) in others.
Yeah I read through the thread with interest. When I was at John 44's place in Tennessee and we were working on the brakes and I lost the bead on the tire and couldn't get it back I called progressive to get somebody out there. It was not a good experience. And then they were talking about towing me out on the phone and I said no I'm not doing that I just need somebody to help me get the bead back on the tire so I can reinflate it. The people that you talk to on the phone really don't seem to know what they're talking about. Nobody ever did come. David and I were able to get the tire reinflated after repeated attempts.
For sure I would like to know as well if you do use a tire pressure monitoring system. It really wouldn't have helped in a blowout though would it? I have the crossfire system on my rear duals and wonder how that would be if I had a blowout on one. It's supposed to shut the flow off at a certain point. That was heck of a blowout to displace your starting cables. Whatever happened with the radiator? Is everything okay there now?
Depends what causes the blowout.
If caused by a slow leak (nail in the tire or cracked valve stem) the HOPE is that a good TPMS would warn the driver
ahead of time that tire pressure is getting dangerously low (and tire temp getting unusually high) so that they can pull over to stop in a safe location BEFORE the tire comes apart.
Of course, if you hit a piece of junk in the road that punches a big hole in the tire, TPMS will be of no use.
Now that we are back home we are planning to replace the rest of the tires and get a TPMS to put on them after our mechanic fixes the battery cables and radiator.
Current tires are 11R 22.5 Load range H so since we had one of those installed on the road I guess we should stick with the same size.
What TPMS systems are good?
Also wondering which roadside assistance companies are best.
CoachNet is who I called first and they did great with the tire repair. The guy went above and beyond so we could get to a safe place.
Progressive was a disaster. Still trying to get the $3,175.00 charge off my credit card for the tow that didn't happen.
I also have Good Sam and Triple A RV
I have a bad experience years ago with Triple A in our first motorhome which had a Chevy 454.
We the alternator go out between Bristol VA and Bristol had TN.
The guy they sent out said he couldn't jump us because his tow truck had a 454 as well and couldn't handle it.
Both Coachnet and progressive say they have free towing to the nearest repair facility.
We opted to have it towed back home since there were no repair facilitates close
Assuming you have no issues with that size tire 11R 22.5 rubbing on front airbag plates when turning? Many Foretravel coaches would have that problem.
No it runs great on them. Has a very smooth ride.
I think it was one of the first U320 CSE built that year because it has furnaces and they appeared to switch to auquahot later that year.
I was really surprised when we looked at them to tell the tire guy coming out what we needed.
My 1995 U320 was one of the first U320 models made ( #4614). It was featured in the Foretravel brochure for that model year, as it announced the "new" U series bus models.
A few of the first 95 U 320's had the Primus heating system installed.
Foretravel was trying to decide between the Aqua Hot and the Primus system. This system was only available on the U320. It is a very complicated system with two propane boilers to heat all the hotwater with an endless supply. The Primus system heats with convection baseboard runs on both sides of the coach and through the dash so your windows don't fog or ice up. It states a front to back and side to side, top to bottom, heat balance of -or + 1/2 degree. It also features extra fan powered heat exchangers in various areas to act as toe warmers under the kitchen sink baseboard and in the bathroom. This system and the AquaHot were both options on the U320.
The forced air propane heat was standard equipment. The roof A/C units also had heat strips.
The Primus system was used on Bluebird Wonderlodge coaches for several years, Foretravel finally decided to go with the AquaHot, not the Primus system.
Bob, I'm happy with the TST system. You can get 6 sensors for the coach and another 4 for the Toad.
Amazon.com: TST 507 Tire Pressure Monitoring System with 6 Cap Sensors and... (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078P5GG76/ref=twister_B0BBSKTLXJ?_encoding=UTF8&th=1)
X2. Really like the system. Setup takes a little to understand but works great. Would prefer internal sensors
Very happy with our Tire Minder and I still have my Jeep because of it. I am yet to hear anyone have problems with one of the higher end TPMS systems though - good place to spend your money IMO and you seem to get what you pay for. Cheep insurance any way you look at it.
So who do the independent truck drivers call? Seems to me they have this all figured out and we keep getting screwed LOL!
Remember they are 18 wheelers,see them once in a while with that bad tire and them just keep on trucking or with their 4 ways
on with a tire off the rim.
I've been around big trucks my whole life. Never have had too much tire trouble though. Lots of PM. In the past few years I've relied on this website to search for help when I (or my buddies) needed it.
NTTS (https://www.nttsbreakdown.com/app/)
If I were you guys, I'd bookmark it. It's easy to use. May save you some more gray hair someday!! :))
jk
ps. Back in 1972 I was on my first long haul OTR job. Team driving. The old head I was with said. "If you don't want flat tires, keep the rig on the pavement. All the various screws, bolts, rivets and nail gather on the shoulder." Still true today. FWIW
PM ?
Done! Thanx for that link. Appears to be a excellent emergency roadside service resource. ^.^d
Lay people seem to think that the larger the machine you're operating the more invincible that machine is when the converse is true: The operator of heavy equipment holds within his hands the ability to destroy the machine. And your tires are delicate balloons waiting for the sharp edge of a pot hole, or curb to break the inner structure setting the stage for catastrophic failure. If you educate your eye you can see the line in the sidewalls created when a tire cord is broken. But it's best not to drive over the things that break tire cords in the first place.
That is a great site. I agree never leave home without it! They break in down real well, and include all the the basic information I want. Super easy to use. Thank you for letting me/us know about it. Great information. You are also spot on in regards to tire damage, it's ugly on the side of the road. 👍👍
Scott
Appears to be way more than roadside services. Reststops, fuel, and much more. Excellent site.
Thanks Jack.
Looks like a great site. It's now bookmarked for us. Lots of useful info there.