More coach bucks

Topic: More coach bucks (Read 9645 times) previous topic - next topic

Re: More coach bucks

Reply #125 – January 25, 2017, 12:17:59 am

Boat friends with detroits are saying beware of junk parts, even from detroit. One guy got a brand new head from the DD dealer and put it on a customer boat (he's a mechanic) and it was cracked. Dealer replaced head but wouldn't give anything for labor....mechanic doesn't work on detroits anymore.

Re: More coach bucks

Reply #126 – January 25, 2017, 03:30:19 pm

Yesterday afternoon I got a call from the service manager telling me that replacing my engine with a remanufactured one would run $35,000. An in-frame overhaul is half that. Obviously I'll go with the overhaul. I talked to them this morning to see what sort of timeline we're looking at. They thought maybe another two weeks.

This morning I called Stewart & Stephenson. I left a message with someone in parts, who hasn't called back yet. I called again a few minutes ago and talked to Anthony. He said that Detroit parts are getting harder to get (same story I get here), they don't keep these in stock, so they have to come from elsewhere (same story I get here), and it would take them about a month from when the coach arrived at their shot to when we would be back on the road.

We're going over to the hotel office in a few minutes to extend our stay here for another two weeks. We had planned to spend January and February in Texas, so that part hasn't changed. We're just having to do things a little bit differently than what we had planned.

Re: More coach bucks

Reply #127 – January 25, 2017, 03:50:11 pm

A few on ebay. Here is a non Jake 350hp for $3995.00 outright. Fire truck take out so you know it got great service.
DETROIT 6V92TA DIESEL ENGINE | eBay
Pierce

Re: More coach bucks

Reply #128 – January 25, 2017, 06:12:44 pm

Find a running take out (like the ebay) and stick it in. He'll, I bought a whole metro bus back in 2004 for $1700 and drove it from Minneapolis to VA...it had 6v92

Re: More coach bucks

Reply #129 – January 25, 2017, 06:21:02 pm

David, it's your money but if it were me I'd do as the last two posters suggested. Seems like $4,000.00 for a reman engine is safer money than a 17K rebuild. It sounds like you are committed to the shop and the engine is already torn down. Why not ask the shop if you can provide the engine and if you trust them, have them do the work? Seems like you could save a bunch of money buying the engine and having it shipped to this shop.

Re: More coach bucks

Reply #130 – January 25, 2017, 06:24:26 pm

Quote from: Pierce & Gaylie Stewart – January 25, 2017, 03:50:11 pm

Fire truck take out so you know it got great service.
Pierce

Pierce,
That one might have more horses than 350. The fire engine I looked at here in Gulfport had a red one in it and I believe was rated at 400 HP.

I spoke with David Johnson here at Johnson Diesel who changed my oil the first time and did some bulkhead work. I asked him about an in-frame overhaul on my rig. He said around $15000 and you could probably get by for about $12000 if no work was needed on the turbo and blower. This included all the parts and reworking the heads. More expensive in Texas. Of course that number goes up if the engine has to come out to work on the crank or the block is bad.

I also asked him about a swap for an 8V92 and he told me an HT 746 Allison like we have should be able to handle the bigger motor and you would have to make sure you had enough cooling capacity. The extra radiator up front that Andy has in his rig makes it even more feasible. For the cost of a rebuild I would consider a good used 6V92 or the swap and get more hp/torque to boot. He said he did a swap one time in an old manual transmission bus for a guy here in Bay St. Louis. They also do marine installations and work on the fire trucks. Johnson Diesel Services | Diesel Service | Engine Overhaul | Biloxi, MS

Jerry

Re: More coach bucks

Reply #131 – January 25, 2017, 06:49:40 pm

Yes, it could have more HP. I have seen 350 hp, 440 hp for engine companies and 520 hp in ladder trucks. As with all engines, the TBO comes down when the HP goes up. RV is light duty but more HP means more heat.

This engine would require changing valve covers and everything for the Jake brake but that's not much time as it's right under the valve cover. We changed oil in all fire department vehicles every 1000 miles. Other misc stuff. Just have to make sure it turns the correct direction. I think only boats with two engines had CC and CCW engines to counter the torque.

Lots of good things on the old engine.

Pierce

Re: More coach bucks

Reply #132 – January 28, 2017, 10:19:15 pm

For that price, you could re-power with an M11

Re: More coach bucks

Reply #133 – February 01, 2017, 12:18:55 pm

I went over to the coach this morning to get another couple of things, bring the mechanics some donuts, and see how things are going. The engine is apart and new parts are arriving. I asked if they were still on track to be done next week and the answer was "YES!"

This week I'm going to check out how to get the coach from the shop back here to the hotel. The route I drive in the car won't work for the first part due to a weight limit and a couple of sharp dips. I can park the coach here overnight while we move all the stuff back into it.

We've signed up for a Habitat For Humanity Care-A-Vanner build in Alice, TX beginning the last week of February, so we'll have a couple of weeks to get some of the visiting done in the San Antonio area before heading down to Alice.

Re: More coach bucks

Reply #134 – February 01, 2017, 07:02:39 pm

You might want to plan a 300 or so mile shake down run before you leave the area

Re: More coach bucks

Reply #135 – February 01, 2017, 07:18:50 pm

Quote from: krush – January 28, 2017, 10:19:15 pm

For that price, you could re-power with an M11

But then, you would have a M11

Pierce

Re: More coach bucks

Reply #136 – February 01, 2017, 08:12:33 pm

Bruce, our plans were to spend January and February in Texas, and that's what we're doing. Plans at this point are to go from here (San Angelo) to Hondo to New Braunfels to Alice. Corley Freightliner has quite a few locations in this part of the world, so if something is wrong I ought to be able to get someone from them to take care of the problem.

BTW, those travel plans take us to the middle of March, so I'm hoping that if any problems show up they will show up fairly quickly, because after we leave Alice we have about two weeks to get up to SW Missouri for our month of campground hosting.

Re: More coach bucks

Reply #137 – February 01, 2017, 08:34:36 pm

Quote from: Pierce & Gaylie Stewart – February 01, 2017, 07:18:50 pm

But then, you would have a M11

Pierce

But that's a good thing..........Right??

I'll trade my little 8.3 for someone's M11

That should make our little 36' GV run with the best of them.........

Re: More coach bucks

Reply #138 – February 01, 2017, 08:42:20 pm

It only takes a basket full of Coach Bucks and you can get anything put

in a coach you want. Might even get a jet engine.

Carter-

Re: More coach bucks

Reply #139 – February 08, 2017, 11:39:00 am

We went over to the coach today to see how things are progressing. Two weeks ago they asked us to pay for the parts that would be needed, and estimated that it would take two weeks to finish. Well, most, but not all, of the parts have arrived, and the engine is going together. They expect the last of the parts to arrive by the end of the week (maybe tomorrow), and as soon as parts arrive the mechanic drops whatever else he is working on and works on our coach.

I talked to the mechanic also, and he said that the next step for him is to fit a special jack under the engine for safety purposes as he works on the oil pump. He said his son isn't strong enough to hold up the engine while he works on it. The jack was in use at that moment, but as soon as it is free he gets it for our coach.

IF everything arrives tomorrow I suppose that we could be on the way by the weekend, but I suspect that it will be early next week when we pull out. In the meantime we're seeing the sights here. There is a big rodeo in town, so lots of FFA kids here at the hotel, but we've avoided that, preferring to see the historical stuff here, like Fort Concho which is celebrating 150 years here.

Re: More coach bucks

Reply #140 – February 08, 2017, 02:15:14 pm

Thanks for the post Dave was wondering how things were going.

Roland

Re: More coach bucks

Reply #141 – February 08, 2017, 06:39:14 pm

"I talked to the mechanic also, and he said that the next step for him is to fit a special jack under the engine for safety purposes as he works on the oil pump. He said his son isn't strong enough to hold up the engine while he works on it. The jack was in use at that moment, but as soon as it is free he gets it for our coach."

Re: More coach bucks

Reply #142 – February 08, 2017, 08:57:27 pm

I hope...........

Re: More coach bucks

Reply #143 – February 08, 2017, 09:08:21 pm

Are there are about a dozen or so "special jacks" for

motorhomes in the United States ? ? ? ?

Carter-

Re: More coach bucks

Reply #144 – February 08, 2017, 10:39:04 pm

Most vehicles I have worked on allow you to remove the oil pan while the engine is still secured in at least one of the motor mounts, apparently not the case with the DD. So special "jacking" may be required to avoid a crossmember below the pan. IDK, that or the techs continuously listen to duelling banjo's.

Re: More coach bucks

Reply #145 – February 09, 2017, 02:16:14 pm

As I understand it, the oil pump is a HUGE part of the engine. I don't know if it is part of the engine mount system or not, but he needs that special jack to support the engine while he removes the old pump and puts on the new one. His son is working with him and looks like he is still in high school, although I suspect that he is actually somewhat older than that. Everyone seems to be looking younger than they really are any more. Anyway, when the mechanic mentioned that he needed that jack, which was in use on another project, I teased him that maybe his son could just hold it up. He laughed and said that his son is strong, but not that strong.

I'll go over and see what's what either tomorrow or Saturday and have another report then. The impression I got yesterday was that, while it is theoretically possible for us to be out of here yet this week, it is more likely that we'll be leaving early next week. Then on to Hondo and the SKP park there.

Re: More coach bucks

Reply #146 – February 09, 2017, 07:19:02 pm

Did I miss it or was there a final for sure determination of what failed?

Re: More coach bucks

Reply #147 – February 09, 2017, 08:05:24 pm

Quote from: kb0zke – February 09, 2017, 02:16:14 pm

Everyone seems to be looking younger than they really are any more.

Cool!
I hope I'm part of everyone.

Re: More coach bucks

Reply #148 – February 11, 2017, 12:31:57 pm

Went over to check on the coach this morning. All is going back together well, but some parts aren't in yet. Should be in on Monday. Best guess is 2-3 days after parts are in to finish. That means Wednesday or Thursday we'll be done. So far no surprises.

Re: More coach bucks

Reply #149 – February 13, 2017, 03:35:17 pm

PROGRESS!!!

We had to go near the coach this afternoon, so we stopped by to see what was what. All of the parts except a gasket were in at that point, and the gasket was expected at any minute. The reassembly process is going much smoother than the disassembly went, so they are very hopeful that we will be back in our own bed very shortly. We've started organizing all the stuff we've dragged over here so that we can get it all back in the coach in some sort of order. Obviously we don't know what time or day we will be on our way, but the hotel will certainly be happy to get the room back since there is a rodeo in town and every hotel room in San Angelo is taken. If we get the coach back late in the day we'll bring it back here and leave the generator running overnight and then take off the next morning. If we get it back early enough in the day we'll head towards Hondo.

I talked to the service manager about exactly how we should treat the engine. He will give me full instructions before we leave, but he did say that he wants us to stop frequently and let the engine cool off to <150 degrees before continuing. His reasoning is that he wants the o-rings to fully seat with a series of expansion and contraction cycles. Looks like I'll need to spend a bit of time with the map to see where we can take those cooling breaks.

Affiliate Notice