Re: 1987 ORED chassis-ish Questions
Reply #6 –
I built many of these at Foretravel. And froze the tanks solid at -30f. Mod was to put either 12 volt heating pads or 110volt pads on a frame under the tanks. Unihome or unicoach put the tanks inside the shell and the aqua hot coaches had a separate loop off the bath circuit to feed two fan forced radiators at either side of the tank bay.
ORED's were not optimized for winter use as you have noticed. The heater run does heat the toe of the water tank ok.
Gen goes 58 hours on a full tank. You probably have some water in the tank. My regulator froze up at -30f. There is an additive you can put in the propane hose while filling it that will allow the water to mix with the propane I think.
I had to drive the coach out of the mountains to an enclosed shop for a few hours to defrost the tank regulator.
Real winter use requires thinner oil in the cat and generator. Battery heating pads are a must as are absolutely fresh batteries.
Woke up at -32f and zero green lights were on in the coach with new batteries. Volts but zero amps.
Snow flow shed was next to us and they jumped over my dead batteries to get the cat to start.
Ether start was necessary as was a 60 second crank time. Starter is rated for that BTW. Then a 2 minute wait then another 60 second crank is within spec
The heater hose to the dash is Un insulated and exposed in the bundle inside the frame rail.
I would think to install a boost pump on that hose to move more hot water to the dash.
We kept a large hair dryer in front area to help defrost the windshield. Plus turned the overhead dash fans onto the opposite sides of the windshield.
The engines fuel pump has a few adjustments as noted. Smoke should stop after 5 seconds of full throttle. If not the air/fuel adjuster can be moved.
Brakes can be overheated if ridden long enough. Rears only work unless you push hard. Learned to brake hard then coast to use front and rears at the same time. Rear only are working at light brake pedal pressure
Any more questions please ask as I built these new and used them extensively used back then
Matched set of gates belts tightened tight is necessary on the double belt pulleys. Pay the man to do this as the radiator makes access difficult.
The 643 Allison locks up mid third so it feels like it shifts 4 times.
[unnecessary comment removed - Michelle]
Impressive power. What hills? I drove the coach 80+ up 6% grades easily
Better mpg. 10+
Topic: 1987 ORED chassis-ish Questions