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Old 04-27-2015, 07:47 AM   #1
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we be trippin

well, we finally got underway. we left south louisiana yesterday around 11am. bus smoked terribly for a couple miles, then cleaned up and ran great. the front end shakes and shimmys at cruise or if ya hit several bumps in a row. so we only went about a hundred miles. a hundred miles of terror! through the national forrest kisatchie. the road is two lane and grooved, rutted, torn to pieces and looong, steep hills with lots of curves. man, i knew it would be bad, but in a bus with a lowsy front end? brutal! lost power about the halfway mark, i thought it was just the long hills, but at times i would feel a surge, so fuel filter was suspect. pulled over once for a few minutes and bus ran great when i took off...........for a minute, then climbing hills at 10-15mph. bus never overheated, tranny sounded great, new breaks worked great, and front end shook like a dog passin a peach seed.

so, when we reached natchitoches, la., at intersection of i-49, i whipped into a truck stop before getting on the freeway and trying the 100miles to shreveport. sitting at the truck stop, i saw rvs..........looky past the fence......an rv park! thats where we stayed and are still here. more flooding and storms including tornados. yippee!

last nite i pulled the diesel prefilter. first thing....diesel is bright red. ut-oh! i musta filled with off-road. never saw an indication at the pump. but it is definitely red. anywho, the prefilter was covered with mucky black stuff. i ran my finger down it and it would push through the screen. at least i know the reason for loss of power. any recommendations on what miracle juice i can pour in the tank and fix the fuel?

when i parked , the parking brake would not hold. gotta check that. still have to see what is loose on front end.

sitting here listening to heavy rain beating on top of bus and severe weather warnings popping up across the tv. life is good living full time in our bus!

oh, forgot to mention. all thsi time building the bus, was in prep of retiring and living in it. got an opportunity in northeast ok, and yellville ar for places to stay and work part time, so thats where we are headed.

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Old 04-27-2015, 08:14 AM   #2
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Pics or you never happened.
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Old 04-27-2015, 08:29 AM   #3
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You're right by a truck stop so advice is very close..Here's some light reading:


Solving Diesel Fuel Problems

Safe travels!
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Old 04-27-2015, 09:54 AM   #4
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there is no fix for the red fuel, you will need to 1)drain and throw away or 2)run it out and pray you don't get "dipped" (the test can tell if it is ATF or untaxed


now rest of story?????



Have fun and enjoy some down time....and we need more stories and pictures
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Old 04-27-2015, 02:35 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by claydbal View Post

sitting here listening to heavy rain beating on top of bus and severe weather warnings popping up across the tv. life is good living full time in our bus!

oh, forgot to mention. all thsi time building the bus, was in prep of retiring and living in it. got an opportunity in northeast ok, and yellville ar for places to stay and work part time, so thats where we are headed.
Your life sounds like our plan. We are working on ours with the plan to live in it full time and work part time when needed. Post pics and more stories! It sounds like a great adventure!
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Old 04-27-2015, 06:04 PM   #6
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Gunk in the fuel has not real solution except to run it out or drain it out.

If you are going to run it out you will need to put in some fuel conditioners like TRC's Diesel Pep with AAT. Howe's, Diesel Service, and Stanadyne all make fuel conditioners that work to a greater or lesser ability.

Depending upon what is wrong with your front end you might be able to "cure" the problem short term by pumping a really sticky grease into all of the king pins and tie rod ends.

Good luck and happy trails to you.
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Old 04-27-2015, 07:16 PM   #7
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Mine did the shake too but only at a certain speed and not when I coast at that speed. It could be as lucky as out of round or unbalanced tires. I am trying to think positive here. It could be a loose/bad wheel bearing, but if so, get it taken care of.
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Old 04-27-2015, 10:57 PM   #8
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OMG.....Hubby & I are sitting here just RFLOAO. I laughed so hard I had tears coming down my cheeks.

We have three dogs and when you said your "front end shook like a dog passin a peach seed" we needed no other description of how badly your bus must have shook.




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Old 04-29-2015, 03:22 AM   #9
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Great Post.........great read.............and it only gets better..........no advice cause it's all guessing..............shimmy and shake could be so many things.........it's ridiculous to speculate...............get a new fuel filter...........don't bother trying to clean.............If the bus sat for a long time before you finally did this drive..............who knows...........Louisiana gets damp maybe algae.........pain in the but to clean tanks and the like on the road............but hell who knows what's going on in that tank..........you could drain it, drop it, and take it to a radiator shop and get it boiled............Personally I love the Red Fuel and "accidentally" pump it every chance I get................I'm not running commercial anything not hitting weigh stations the chance is if I get pulled over the color of my fuel will be the least of my concerns................Keep trucking my man.................You'll be fine.......and yeah...............lets get some pics up............you got nothing else to do: You are in the midst to rain and twisters..............
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Old 04-29-2015, 06:17 AM   #10
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...............
Those are really annoying.
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Old 04-29-2015, 07:53 AM   #11
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we left ashdown ar yesterday morning in the rain. after a few miles, there was a long, long bridge over a valley that was really freaking me out because it was narrow, had a 1 foot tall guard rail, oncoming log trucks, high winds, and on a long grade uphill. damn filter started plugging again. white knuckles and eyes of steel, i manned up and held throttle to floor at 40 mph. front door flew open and slammed to the bus side. WHAM- OH ****- HOLD THE DOG! a big downburst of wind caught the suicide mounted door, so now im freakin out and looking at the dropoff a foot or two from the road edge.

finally got past the bridge and could pull over half way off the road and quickly shut the door. continuing on, giant hills! wifey was getting sick like a roller coaster ride. these hills are incredible. 10 mph up, 60 mph down and shaking hard. whipped into a little store and stopped. wWHEWWWW! crawled under bus, cleaned pre-filter of gunk again. got covered in wet red clay. bus ran fine again.

got through dequeen, on to broken bow ok. stopped into truck stop. pump wouldnt take card, went inside, man says leave card here and go back to pump and it would work. did that. pump wouldnt work. go back inside, told man "give my card back, i will pay cash. go back out, pump fuel. went back inside to the fast food deli thingy. girl asked to help. i ask for 2 orders of chicken tenders. she said " we dont do orders". im like, ok, so how do i order? she said "individually". so, i ask for 6 tenders. she comes back with 2 bags of 6 each. lolol i just cocked my head like a dog hearing a whistle and paid and left.

onward through the fog, we arrived at hugo. wheres hugo? stopped and waited for the slow internet on phone to bring up map. tired and pissed, i search for rv park. ah-hah! antlers ok , here we come. off freeway and onto hwy 271 23 miles to antlers. bus didnt shake until 60mph! seems to pitch for draining was a little steeper than most and kept a constant load on to wheel. i had to hold the steering wheel slightly to the left to go straight. alignment issue it seems. hmmmm?

pull into the park, drank a few beers to chill, got shower, excercised dog, crashed!

leaving shortly to make the 2-3 hrs to gore ok.
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Old 04-29-2015, 08:25 AM   #12
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Sorry to hear about your troubles. I know what it's like to freak out while on the road. Did you just buy this bus?
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Old 04-29-2015, 08:47 AM   #13
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Awesome post, and great story!!

Video of bridgepocalypse would of cool
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Old 04-29-2015, 09:19 AM   #14
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Whoa!! I thought I had crazy experiences on the road. You won't forget this trip for a while. Great details, pictures would be great too but the wife was woozy and you at the wheel. I got the pictures in my head tho from the story details. Thanks and keep em coming!
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Old 04-29-2015, 09:26 AM   #15
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Usually shaking above 45mph is wheel balance. Try lifting wheel off ground and see
if tire sweeps down with heavy spot on the bottom or when you spin it, it always stops in the same spot, that would indicate tire out of balance.
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Old 04-29-2015, 01:51 PM   #16
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;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; won't happen again............................................. .........enjoy the ride..........................
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Old 04-29-2015, 06:17 PM   #17
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Any dinner pictures or, wait a minute, how do we know you are not still at home?

This almost sounds like the lyrics of a long lost and never found C.W. McCall album
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Old 04-30-2015, 11:40 AM   #18
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we made it. more long grades. and one last treat about a couple miles before destination. a big bridge over the arkansas river. and the surface was one long whoop-de-doo. i was steering with my butt in the air.

did i mention i have a phobia for bridges?

more soon. gotta rest and organize all the stuff that in on the floor. lol
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Old 05-02-2015, 10:56 AM   #19
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I think you missed your calling, you should of been a writer. Your commentaries are
absolutely entertaining. Keep up the good work and have fun.
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Old 05-02-2015, 11:00 AM   #20
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we still need pictures...arghhhh......
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