Foretravel Owners' Forum For owners and Fans of Foretravel Motorcoaches September 06, 2025 ...

breakdown of your breakdowns

June 26, 2011, 10:40:41 pm

paranoia may be setting in. I remember a comment years ago on the old yahoo site,
somebody said something to this effect "c'mon guys, just get in the darn things
and drive em.
when I read all the things that can go wrong with these rigs it sometimes causes me to have loss of sleep and on some occasions I have actually had "busmares".
the point of this post is to ask, have you ever been broken down in your foretravel,
and what was the cause?
let me start.  yes I have, and it was a failed water pump on my 93 U-280, that was
ten years and thousands of miles ago on my way to the first lemon rally in quartzsite.
I now check my own coolant sca.

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Re: breakdown of your breakdowns

Reply #1 – June 26, 2011, 11:05:59 pm

Never been broken down in 4 years, but have lost significant power twice.  Once due to a cracked exhaust manifold (drove 300 slow miles and had it replaced at Cummins,) and once due to water or crud in the fuel (replaced both fuel filters in Cody.)

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Re: breakdown of your breakdowns

Reply #2 – June 26, 2011, 11:09:04 pm

I am an expert at crawling around in my own head and making myself crazy ... but I have gotten over worrying about breaking down in our motor home BECAUSE ... we have Emergency Road Service.  We do not do a great deal of work on our rig, because we know our limitations.  We DO take care to keep a pretty good maintenance schedule with the guys who DO know what they are doing.  After that, we just go down the road.  Since November of 2007 we have had to call Good Sam 4 times.  Twice we were disabled(1 cracked fitting on our air line at the compressor; 1 melted air hose on our auxiliary braking system, poorly located by the installer) and had to wait for a repair to be effected at our location. Once we had to be towed (harmonic balancer worked it's way out of the engine and sheared all the fan blades off of the radiator fan!) 85 miles to a repair facility! That was a fun week! Once it was a headscratcher for the goofball that they sent out, and we managed to drive to a nearby Cummins location for an eventual repair(bad isolator causing major electrical issues).  All but one of these issues were part of the saga of our '93 U225 with a 5.9 Cummins ... The air hose on our Air Force 1 Braking system is part of the '95 U320, and installation was this spring. TWO "experienced" installers ran the line in a place that was too close to stuff that gets really hot.  So much for experts!!  As long as we can pull off the road and have phone service, I just grab a bottle of water and my book ... and wait for the repair guy.  It is no more cause for hysteria than when the hot water heater fails or finding a leaky pipe or the furnace quits or the fridge dies.  Stuff happens.  You have a recliner and you make a sandwich and wait it out.  Then you take notes and post on the Forum!

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Re: breakdown of your breakdowns

Reply #3 – June 27, 2011, 12:34:04 am

17k miles in the FT without a breakdown.  The 89 Georgie Boy stopped several times though.  Most of the time it was due to vapor lock, but I didn't know that and neither did anyone else.  Lots of unnecessary fuel pump replacements and other stuff.  Caused by the carb air intake location which was even with the top of the radiator and off to the side.  There was a gap between the top of the radiator and the body and hot air was going around in a circle and into the air intake.  Installing a metal dryer duct that went way past the radiator finally cured the problem.  It also popped a couple of radiator hoses, once for no reason and once for thermostat that wore out and closed while driving. The pin attached to the bellows that pushed it open worn a hole in the part that opens and closes.  All the ones I rented usually had something that required a mechanical shop repair or stop; sparkplugs, ignition wires, lights, toilet motor, battery, cockroaches, that sort of thing.  Stopped at Orkin and got it fumigated.  Only had to be towed once, the thermostat problem. I had replaced the hose and coolant but it immediately overheated and it was too late to work on it any more.

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Re: breakdown of your breakdowns

Reply #4 – June 27, 2011, 12:52:18 am

Wayne asked: " have you ever been broken down in your foretravel, and what was the cause?"
Yes, twice within 6 weeks of each other, five years ago. The first time, oil pressure went to zero, alarms big time. We had a trail of oil a few hundred yards. A freak incident: a spacer (solid cylinder 1/4" diameter, 2 inches long) fell out of the rear gear cover, dropped into the crankcase whereupon a gear ejected it straight through the bottom of the gear cover, putting a hole the size of a 50 cent piece in the cover. Had to be towed to Dallas Cummins.
The second time, engine temperature alarm screams, we find the water pump has frozen up, had to be towed to Bryan/College Station. Coolant was 6 weeks old, lost most of it.
We were pretty "gun shy" , i.e., confidence in the coach was low for a few months, but later that same year we took it to Nova Scotia and Newfoundland (from Texas). Two years later we went to Alaska and back (11,000 miles) wtihout incident.
Sure there is constant preventive maintenance and some repair, but Foretravels (even old ones like mine) are more reliable than most of the Class A's on the road today.

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Re: breakdown of your breakdowns

Reply #5 – June 27, 2011, 07:55:48 am

Have never had to be towed in to a repair facility.  Broke down on I70 E of Denver with no air pressure, road service sent a brand new super deluxe all purpose wrecker, driver did not know how to operate it, finally got a good old boy mechanic out, he screwed in a pipe plug where the pressure relief valve had broken off, 85 bucks later we were on our way. One other time threw a belt, got out the spare belt and a break over bar and replaced it.
I don't even contemplate break downs, get in it, drive it, enjoy it.  S... happens but I can't control all of it. 

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Re: breakdown of your breakdowns

Reply #6 – June 27, 2011, 10:08:35 am

Lost the hydraulic pump belt the first day heading home after we bought our U300 in North Carolina. Trying to figure out what was missing took a couple of minutes in driving rain on the shoulder of a busy freeway. Had a spare onboard, not the correct one but it did the trick until I could order the right one.

Had a flat while wearing a suit at a funeral last year. Resisted the urge to change it myself and called AAA. Just relaxed, browsed the church buffet and the AAA guy put the spare on...for free. Good old AAA. And he did it with tiny, high tech cordless impact gun.

Have learned to adjust the steering wheel and drive with the warning lights visible. Only have about a minute when the lights come on to pull over before the engine gets hot and computer puts it into shutdown mode. Order a couple of pump drive belts ahead of time as chances of finding the correct 8 groove one on the road are super slim.

Glad I spent the extra $25 on my AAA membership for extended towing/RV road service. Don't have to pay up front, just free.

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Re: breakdown of your breakdowns

Reply #7 – June 27, 2011, 10:44:46 am

Hyd. fan pump puked out 4 hours from home on day one of vacation last year. On a Friday of course.  Stopped trying to find a replacement after talking to Brett Wolfe (thanks again Brett!).  Overnighted pump and hoses and pressure bypass valve as required for replacing this aged pump from NAC, rented car and drove home.  Repairs completed Monday, hit the road again only to have alternator fail a few hours later.  Lost a night there and had replacement put on.  A few hours later alternator failed again (actually never was working right).  Shop had to send out overnight for a new one thinking the first one failed when in fact they didn't jump the posts as required for externally exited alternator (which I mentioned to them thanks to Gary B. on this forum...thanks again Gary).  Started vacation Friday in Tampa but didn't actually get going from Jackson, MS till Wednesday!  Made it to Vegas and Grand Canyon but had to cut out Santa Fe & Branson.  Still very wary.  Most of my travels will be to and from Gainesville while daughter is attending UF next few years so hopefully afterward I will be a lot more confident to really travel.  Taking the old girl to a truck / bus suspension shop tomorrow to have them put on new shocks and remove shims from left rear wheel position and level her out as best they can only I'd need shims I don't have to bring the front down some.  Going to assess the situation for possibility of adding air down the road or start saving for new springs.  Going to have them go over all suspension components, mounts, etc... Wish me luck.

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Re: breakdown of your breakdowns

Reply #8 – June 27, 2011, 11:08:22 am

Don,

That sounds like the famous 12 valve 5.9 killer dowel pin.  Anyone with that engine should have it checked and staked.  TST Products makes a kit for that purpose.

I've never been stopped by the coach.  I've had an alternator fail, but the generator got me back to FOT.  I've had a flat tire, but I found it before starting out in the morning, so was able to air it up and make it to a truck stop for a repair.  That's 60,000 miles worth of experience.

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Re: breakdown of your breakdowns

Reply #9 – June 27, 2011, 02:11:45 pm

We haven't the time or miles of most of you, but we have had a couple of issues.  A crimp in a fuel filter body oil-canned into a steady stream of diesel spraying on the engine.  Replaced filter in a rest stop.  A savage bump loosened the transmission fuse.  I was looking in the FT notebooks for a shop to give thousands to, but found an article with the trouble codes - electrical interrupt, checked fuse, back on the road.  Recently, the dash solenoid went bad.  We kept the engine running and made it home for repair.

I feel real lucky so far.  I have never been stranded on the road, in any vehicle, though I have made a few roadside repairs.  I coasted into a gas station once!

oldMattB

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