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Topic: 1991 U300-- bought it! (Read 9384 times) previous topic - next topic

Re: 1991 U300-- bought it!

Reply #100 –
What a great read, love the pictures. Like Andy told me when I first got mine. "Its like eating an elephant, one bite at a time". Im still eating on my elephant and I love the big ol bugger! One thing I noticed in your front hub picture. It was filled with water, the same thing happened to mine. When this happens, the water gets into the hub, with the oil. Make sure you check to see if the hub is full of moisture. If it is I wouldn't drive to far. I replaced the bearings and the seal on my rf hub. That's the side that took the snow and rain for 9 years before I got it. Congrats!

Re: 1991 U300-- bought it!

Reply #102 –
Quote from: stump –

I think today he will have systems working where he can move it to its new storage/work location.
It is in a campground and they want to rent the lot.with his tenacity he will succeed! So far with sone guidance he has made every repair he has had to do. Get er done!

Having a guardian angel to call upon helps keep the brain cramps at bay.

Re: 1991 U300-- bought it!

Reply #103 –
Quote from: Chuck & Jeannie –
1.  Is that engine exhaust pipe in the standard location for this model?  Looks (to me) kinda unusual poking through the side panel.
That was the stock exhaust location for a 91 U300

Quote from: Chuck & Jeannie –
3.  Looks like the rear roof air conditioner is a newer model, so you may have avoided some future expense there.  ^.^d
From what I can tell both air conditioners appear different from the stock units which I still have on my coach.

Re: 1991 U300-- bought it!

Reply #104 –
Quote from: jiaxinxi –
...This time, I can hear the air is leaking from the shore power air compressor. More specifically the left cylinder. So I need to fix the leak. ...
I realized you have this issue bypassed for now but here's a little tidbit of advice (from experience) for later on this:  the onboard 120VAC compressor (that is under the stairs) is tied into the air system with a small check valve.  The check valve has a steel spring that rusts out and allows the air to flow back into the compressor when the compressor stops.  The compressors reed valves will leak back a little which is normal for that type of valve.  The check valve looks like a 1/4" NPT nipple with a wrench hex so it can easily be overlooked as just a regular nipple.  It should be one of the first things the output of the compressor ties into.
Good luck and I'm glad Stump was so helpful for you.  He's a great guy.

Re: 1991 U300-- bought it!

Reply #105 –
Since you guys are interested in the update, I am going to continue posting.

Today to me feels like season 1 finale. Season 1 is all about moving the bus and it is moved, TODAY!

Season 1 Director: @stump
Season 1 Main Actor: @jiaxinxi follow director order ;)
Season 1 Actors: you guys on the forum.

Season 2 trailer:
Can the generator be fixed? Can @jiaxinxi change engine oil and filter Generator oil and filter, fuel filter and air filter?
Spoiler: @stump said these are easy :'( !

Joke aside. Today is the big day. By agreement, I have to move the bus out of the camp ground by tomorrow regardless of driving out or tow it out. Instead of waiting on the last day, I want to do it today. Just in case, if something happens, still have a day to work on it.

Today's plan is to prepare for the move. Since the new storage place has no water, I decide to flush the tank few times. Fill the fresh tank, then use garden hose to fill the grey tank. and black tank. Add little Colorox, then flushed them out. It seems like grey tank and black tank sensor is not working any more. It always shows as empty even though I filled them using garden hose.  One more thing to do in Season 2.

The black tank valve is stuck. I tried WD40, not much help. I have to use hammer and pliers to open and close it. Does anybody have any way to lubricate it? 

Thing will never go smooth, when I try to drain the fresh tank. There is no water came out from the kitchen faucet even thought the water pump light is on. Something is wrong! I remembered what @stump said yesterday. Don't panic. Most of the time, it is caused by simple issues. Since no water came out, let's check water pump first. Of course it is not going to work. Looking at picture, the wire is complete cut. This is easy fix. Cut the plastic, join the copper together. Use heat shrink tube to protect the connection. And the pump is working! Water came out of the kitchen faucet!

Next is to temporarily seal the cracked sky light. Few posts ago, somebody recommends to seal the crack with good quality tape.  Well I have 3M duct tape and I am not afraid to use it. It turned to be pretty good ;D Duct tape can fix anything!

Those are the technical things for today. Spend most of the time for cleaning.

Later in the afternoon, finally it is time to move the bus. Big moment. for the first time in at least 15 years, the bus is moved to another location on its own power.

Attached are few pictures of me driving along the road. Wish I could upload videos. The engine does sound good.

Never drove anything this big before, I think I did pretty good job. Didn't scratch anything. I need to drive 15 miles to get to the new location. This 15 miles is the longest miles I ever drove. I am so nervous about break down on the road that every little noise from the bus seems so loud. Every pot hole seems so big. Luckily looking at the gauge, all seem normal.

One thing I noticed that, driving this bus, I don't feel the speed. 45MPH feels pretty fast for my car on the same road. But on the bus, I don't feel the speed. Always concerned about causing traffic jam.

After almost 30 minutes nerves breaking drive, finally arrived at the storage location. Put on the parking brake, get off the bus, enter the code. Then drive inside, but I forget to release the parking brake. I was wondering why suddenly the bus is so reluctant to move. Since there many people waiting behind me, I didn't event think about the parking brake. Just push the gas pedal harder, it eventually move the bus. Soon I realized something is wrong. The transmission temperature is over 300. It shouldn't be that high. I drove with parking brake on for about few hundred feet! I am so scared that I might just burned the transmission.  Luckily @stump  said it is OK for just a few hundred feet. I trust what he said and it make me feel much better.

Backing the rig into the parking spot is another challenge. Took a good while to back it in nice and straight.
 
With this 1991 Foretravel Grand Villa parked in storage place, season 1 officially ended with success.  Looking back the whole process, I think it is almost a miracle to get this far. For example, just today, right after I parked the coach, there is heave down pour. The windshield wiper is completely gone. Had I started later, I will be stuck in heavy rain without windshield wiper. 

If @stump  didn't offer me his phone number, I won't be able to get so much helpful information in almost real time.
If the camp side is not close to NAPA store, I won't be able to get the parts so quickly.
If the neighbor is not a retired truck driver, I won't be able to get some tip from him regarding driving big truck

In the past few days, I spend almost over 6 hours on the coach every day. Lot of sweat and dirt. But it is a very rewarding process.

The biggest Aha moment to me is when @stump instructed me to change the governor.
Before, I was not sure if I can make it drive-able. Quite a few sleepless nights. Wake up 3 in the morning, thinking about how I can fix it.
After the governor is replaced and the air pressure build up, I am more confident that this thing will work out although @stump said that from the beginning. It took me a while to truly believe that.

Thank you @stump
Thanks everybody here who give suggestion and support.

Stay tuned for Season 2 8)

Re: 1991 U300-- bought it!

Reply #106 –
Volts are low?

Re: 1991 U300-- bought it!

Reply #107 –
Quote from: Caflashbob –
Volts are low?
Agreed - should be around 14 volts.

Either a bad voltmeter reading, or else alternator/isolator will need to be looked at.  Something not right there.

2200 rpm seems kinda high at 49 mph.  Is that normal for this engine/trans combination?

Does the air pressure gauge have two needles (front & rear tank) or just one needle?  Can't tell from photo.

If just one needle, which tank does it monitor?

Re: 1991 U300-- bought it!

Reply #108 –
jiaxinxi wrote: "One thing I noticed that, driving this bus, I don't fee the speed. 45MPH feels pretty fast for my car on the same road. But on the bus, I don't feel the speed. Always concerned about causing traffic jam."

What is behind you doesn't matter.
As to "feeling the speed," when you have enough hours in the driver's seat you will lift your foot from the accelerator pedal and you will feel as though you are accelerating. You will become used to this feeling and soon after you will be able to feel the vehicle slowing down.  It takes time.

"One thing I noticed that, driving this bus, I don't fee the speed. 45MPH feels pretty fast for my car on the same road. But on the bus, I don't feel the speed. Always concerned about causing traffic jam."

Just drive it  by the numbers.  On our last foray into the Atlanta, GA greater metropolitan area I needed to turn around because I missed my exit.  I entered the off ramp too fast and was happy that my brakes are so powerful.

Congratulations on your first road trip!

Re: 1991 U300-- bought it!

Reply #109 –
Looks as if you are at fuel cutoff 2130 rpm and you have one more gear to go. 2130 in 4th should give about 82 mph or it does in our U300.

The speedo is right on. You are up a little higher than anything else on the road so it seems like you are going slower but you are not. Easy to be on a boulevard, not realize how fast you are going and not be able to stop for a light.

Don't move the coach without having the mirrors adjusted. The tendency in a tall driving position is to be on the right side of the lane. Drive with the left rear tire about 10 inches from the center stripe and you never have to worry about your right side. We driven in the heaviest San Francisco traffic without even thinking about the lane to our right. I taught all the new guys this trick as they all did the same thing. If you want to change lanes, put your turn signal on for three seconds and then start moving over. Naturally watching in the mirror for some idiot that has to prove a point. If a turn is going to be close, remember the top of the coach as it leans over on a slow right turn at an intersection because of the crown on the road.

Don't cut across corners in the road to the right. If you are making a right turn at an intersection, don't start the turn early as it's easy to run over the curb or in older towns with the traffic light right at the corner, hit the light. Go into the oncoming lane if necessary making a right turn in town and if cars are coming toward you, stop until it is clear. Never feel pressured to do anything.

Pierce

Re: 1991 U300-- bought it!

Reply #110 –
Correct, either in 3rd gear not 4th or tach is way off.  Suspect the former.

You do need to troubleshoot that low voltage.  Could be a bad alternator, just a loose or corroded wire, bad battery isolator, etc. Could just be bad connections to the voltmeter/bad voltmeter. But, you need to verify before driving-- 10 VDC on the road leads to BAD things happening.

Re: 1991 U300-- bought it!

Reply #111 –
Since you guys are interested, I will try to keep update this thread. Also received few messages to encourage me, thank you!

For all of you who enjoy the thread, please direct your appreciation to @stump. He is the director of the show :D .

I didn't expect Season 2 starts this early. I was exhausted yesterday. Haven't been with my kids for the last 7 days since I spend over 6 hours everyday to work on the bus. I thought I am going to take a break. But that didn't happen.

So by the agreement, I have to clean the parking spot after move the coach. Otherwise, cleaning fee will incur. So went back to the camp ground, clear out few 42 gallon contractor bags of trash. It was exhausting. But I still managed to post the update here.

This morning, I was reading your comments. One thing caught my eye. The battery voltmeter. 10V is too low for a health battery. I don't want to damage the battery since those 8D batteries are darn expensive!

Needs to find a way to maintain the battery.

In the past few days, my SUV becomes my working truck. It filled with tools. When I try to clean up the SUV, I realize that only small faction of the tool are used. Nothing special or fancy is used. The most used tool set was bought from walmart for $15. The yellow box are the hydraulic cable crimp tool for the 3/0 battery cable terminal. Yellow heat gun is for the heat shrink tube of the cable. Other than these two for battery cables, no other special tool was used. All common household tool. I am surprised to realized that.

So my initial thought is to use a heavy duty long extension cord to to battery bay. Connect the trickle charger to the battery terminal. Turn on the boost switch so that all three batteries can be charged at same time. When the trickle charger is connected, kill a watt shows 0.11AMP reading. So it seems working. To make sure, I text the picture to @stump. For sure I want to get confirmation from him. Well, I guess this starts season 2 ;D

So instead of using the trickle charger, @stump wants me to buy adapters to connect the coach directly to 110V 15AMP outlet. I didn't know that is possible. I thought 50AMP coach can only be connected to 50AMP outlet. Learned something new.

Went to home depot, they don't have the 50AMP to 15 AMP adapter, but they have 50AMP to 30AMP and 30 TO 15 adapter. According to @stump, lots of camp ground don't have 50AMP connection. So it is nice to have a 50 to 30 adapter. Just don't use everything all at once when connected with 30AMP. So it seems necessary to have 50 to 30 and 30 to 15 adapters.

While at the home depot, I was talking with @stump  about the WAT (Wife Acceptance Test). It didn't go well. I attribute that to the lack of AC and smell from the old carpet. To run AC, the generator needs to be working. That is going to be the main topic of season 2 ;D .

According to @stump , the smell might not only from the carpet. It might from the black/gray tank. The so called Studor valve. Basically it is a one way valve, it allows air to pass when flushing the toilet. But seal the smell when not in use. There is a spring and rubber to seal the pipe. The rubber will dry out due to age. So the seal is broken causing the smell leak into the living area. @stump even send me a Home depot link. That was easy. I went to the aisle. There are two types of studor valve. One is low cost traditional value in color black. Other is new mushroom like valve in white. The price difference is significant. $7 vs $25. But according to @stump the new valve will last almost a life time. So it worth the investment. Typical coach use two. One under the kitchen, the other under the restroom cabinet. But Home depot price it very interestingly. So 1 for 24.48, but if you buy three, the price will be 16.66. Basically cost to buy 3 3*16.66=49.98 is almost equal to buy 2  (2*24.48=48.86) So why buy 2 if I can buy three with the same amount of money! This turns out to be very lucky.


Went back to the coach follow what @stump told me. Attached the big 50AMP cable to the coach. Use two adapters to connect to 15AMP extension cord. All seems perfect. Plug the 15 amp to the outlet. Boom, circuit break tripped. Of course! The Roof AC is still on. No way 15AMP can run both AC.  Luckily the outside circuit breaker is right beside me. I am able to reset the breaker. Went inside the coach, turn off all 110V breakers inside except the power inverter to keep the battery charging. Plug back the out side outlet. It worked! I can hear the inverter humming. However the voltage meter right beside the stair shows 0 volt. @stump  think the 15 AMP adapter not powering the other 110 circuit. So that is good!

Next to install the Studor valve, it was easy for the one under the kitchen. Just unscrew the old one, put on the new one. But I am unable to find on under the bath room cabinet. I couldn't believe that. Tried very hard, there is no valve like that. Instead, there are two valves in the closet across the restroom. Rest are easy, unscrew old one. put on new one. Done! Hope this will help the smell of the living space.

For sure I will have another round of deep carpet cleaning. If that doesn't work, I will just pull out all old carpet, replace with wood floor. Most likely that is not DIY work. Needs to hire a company to do it. Hopefully when the smell is gone, AC/Generator are working, I can pass second round of WAT.



 Thanks for @stump
Thanks for your reading!

 

Re: 1991 U300-- bought it!

Reply #112 –
In the RV world, there are certain terms that are often confused.  For instance: inverter and converter.

Inverter:  Changes 12V DC power to 110V AC power.  May also include a battery charging function, in which case it is a inverter/charger.

Converter:  Changes 110V AC power to 12V DC power.  May also include a battery charger function, in which case it is a converter/charger.

Your coach (according to beamalarm spec sheet) originally came with a 75 Amp converter/charger.

1991 Foretravel U300 Specifications

Your coach may also have a optional factory installed (separate) modified sine wave inverter.

OR, a previous owner might have replaced one or both of these items with more modern equipment.  Very common upgrade.

In 1991 RV battery charging technology was still rudimentary.  Older single stage or dual stage convertor/chargers can be very hard on batteries.  If you still have the OEM converter/charger in your coach, you should pay close attention to the battery voltage and electrolyte level while they are connected to the charger/converter.  Measure the voltage directly at the battery posts with a multimeter - do not rely on the dash voltmeter until you have verified its accuracy.

If you can post a photo of the battery charging device on your coach, we can tell you if it is a good one or a bad one.

There is lots of information online concerning RV battery maintenance.  Like you said, those big batteries are expensive.  You should do whatever is necessary to keep them in good shape.  It will pay off over time.  Here is one very basic primer on battery care:

10 Tips to Extend the Life of RV Batteries | KOA Camping Blog

Re: 1991 U300-- bought it!

Reply #113 –
I just wanted you to know, I have enjoyed all your posts, and do hope that you will take the time to keep posting.  We all started at the beginning, and even after my 9 years with first a U225 GV and then this U295 for 7 years, I still am learning from reading those posting to your thread.

I am glad you rescued that classic, and hope it brings you and your wife lots of pleasure.  And remember a few things:

You don't have a budget, you have a Foretravel Classic.
The adventure begins when our plans fall apart.
Always leave the tank dump valves closed till you are dumping.
And always travel with fresh water, in case you don't arrive where you were headed.

All the best.

Re: 1991 U300-- bought it!

Reply #114 –
Nice one Dave

Still remember dinner at Bill's/Jo's place with you and Gaylie talking boats.

Pierce

Re: 1991 U300-- bought it!

Reply #115 –
I am just loving reading all this! It is interesting and exciting and there are parts that are nailbiters! 

Sometimes I wonder about myself.

Re: 1991 U300-- bought it!

Reply #116 –
This is a classic on RV electrical that has been around for a long time.

The 12volt Side of Life (Part 1)

I am also enjoying you narrative and wish you good luck on your adventures.  RVing is a great way of life.

Rich

Re: 1991 U300-- bought it!

Reply #117 –
Glad you bought it. Well done.
  Alt;  good chance that the brushes are stuck. Spray the brush pack with some contact cleaner and tap with wrench. Check for 12 v at the big post.  Check for 12v at the small post with key on.
  If the alt has 12v and still no charge, spray with WD40 in the  rotor case and brush area. 
 WD40 is flammable so be ready.          It may come to life or at least you have readied the parts to be rebuilt 

Re: 1991 U300-- bought it!

Reply #118 –
Quote from: kpbowser –
You also need new air cleaner. On my 91 6v92 it is a wix 56726. Donaldson does not make one anymore for our coach (xlp18-2990)

Ken

Can you check the WIX part number? I couldn't find WIX 56726, instead WIX 46726 seems like the replacement for Donaldson XLP18-2099

Can you confirm?

This website shows a direct replacement

Re: 1991 U300-- bought it!

Reply #119 –
I use NAPA filters have been for years,
Air filter NAPA GOLD 2610 with the hole already in it for the filter minder.