Periwinkle made her first trip home np.

SMMTX · 08-19-2020, 04:24 PM

Hello All,
New member in Central Texas, so happy to have found skoolie before I purchased. Thanks for all the threads I read and learned from. Got lucky at auction, I have a great running bus.
I had to drive from Houston to Spring Branch illegally, although I did have Progressive Insurance. Before leaving went to the diesel spa for the day. Serendipity led me to a shop across the street from Klein ISD where a new hire proved out on my bus under watch of owner, Stephen Hagen. Btw, new guy worked for Cummins and Dodge in the past!!! Two highly qualified guys on my fluids and filters lol.
I lost a little power going up to Devils's Backbone out of Wimberley. Could not get over 35 mph, manual shift to 3rd. Could be indication of VP44 pain in the... Don't know for sure that I have that fuel pump. Need to know that. Got materials list from dealer coming later today. Also was provided with service manual and operators manual. Light reading for hot afternoons.
I will not be street legal till October due to TX DPS jammed up on appointments for tests. So working on interior. First step, installed a window unit that has heater, AC, and dehumidifier. Only for home base. Will have propane, AC, and heat eventually. Secondary heat source on my house going in Periwinkle. 100 lb tank and 20k btu for the road. The whole conversion will be repurposed materials I own now, dumpster dive for, salvage yard trips, free off NextDoor, ect. I have no money. Well okay, but I need it for the mechanics coming. I can do the interior for very little. Have all the lumber I need already except floor (that will be new).
Half the seats are out. I have new muscles in my grinder and impact regions.
Stay happy, Stephanie, Dori and Zenji

Native · 08-20-2020, 02:01 AM

I am glad you got her home.

Is this the same Periwinkle that will be periwinkle blue up to the windows and white above?

SMMTX · 08-20-2020, 05:58 AM

Almost. Not sure how you would have known that, so must have been another. I actually decided to get tan elastomeric, just because the white is bothersome to my eyes. Reflective value almost the same. Periwinkle will be periwinkle on the bottom as base color, with art here and there.
Periwinkle is in the blue and violet families, appearing to be both. A chimera of color.

SMMTX · 08-20-2020, 06:20 PM

Found the other Periwinkle. That is odd. And her user name has 1956 my birth year in it. I messaged and told her we are Twinkies. Small small world.

Truthseeker4449 · 08-20-2020, 09:30 PM

I don't know how steep Devil's Backbone is but there's a pretty steep grade on Route 7 through Mount Weather, VA that will drop any bus I've driven to 35 mph.

What a beautiful dog and a great looking bus, best of luck!

Native · 08-20-2020, 11:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SMMTX

Found the other Periwinkle. That is odd. And her user name has 1956 my birth year in it. I messaged and told her we are Twinkies. Small small world.

I had a message from the other thread that showed you two connected. That is cool

SMMTX · 08-21-2020, 05:19 PM

That is Dori, Shiba Inu. Sweet as she can be... when she is asleep lol.

The grade I was going up was moderate and I was empty. 35 would not have surprised me if it was a long steep grade and I was loaded. This is the hill country, but nothing like the mountains. I will probably have a compression test done before I head for any mountains. That or fuel pump may be an issue.

Native · 08-22-2020, 10:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SMMTX

Almost. Not sure how you would have known that, so must have been another. I actually decided to get tan elastomeric, just because the white is bothersome to my eyes. Reflective value almost the same. Periwinkle will be periwinkle on the bottom as base color, with art here and there.
Periwinkle is in the blue and violet families, appearing to be both. A chimera of color.

You may care to read this thread:

https://www.skoolie.net/forums/f13/h...-it-30629.html

... before you buy Henry's Tropicool.

An elastomeric roof coating is great, silicone is not. Henry's Tropicool is a 00% silicone roof coating.

I used Ames extreme-stretch elastomeric roof coating. Onne nice thing about it is that is can be painted should the tan need to be lighter or darker or not tan at all.

SMMTX · 08-23-2020, 10:45 AM

I am not the one using that... I think Michelle is. I am using Henry Enviro-White Acrylic Elastomeric Roof Coating (tan color). Also got a Henry sealer for all the seams. My painter said paint good so no primer needed. Friend/neighbor is going to paint her later. Also got 5 gal of Bus Kote. Plan to use that inside from the windows down, floor included. My floor is a rubber mat adhered to the floor that I don't plan to remove. Just a couple of coats of Kote after a good STP scrub to make me feel like the years of filth is not around any more. Also a little insulation, sealant, sound proof, no harm.

SMMTX · 08-23-2020, 11:50 AM

Dori says thanks, she is very photogenic, but also the most beautiful little Shiba.

That grade I went up was fairly steep and I lost momentum at the bottom from turning car, however I was empty with fresh fluids (all except differential) so I was expecting a little better. I have since writing that also thought about the fact that I have a governor, set to 60 mph flat road. So I guess that was what limited me on the hill if I am reading about what I probably have although seem to be different types of generators.

Sure wish I had access to the Thomas online parts portal. If anyone has gotten your dealer to get you into that, could you tell me the magic words to say??? I have a 2000+ line Excel spreadsheet of my materials list from VIN with Thomas parts numbers and very brief description. Need portal. Anyone in there???

Native · 08-23-2020, 09:57 PM

I asked the dealer for a login to the DTNA.com site first. That will get you the parts for everything except the body. Later, I asked the parts manager at the same dealer to get me a TBB portal login. It took him a few e-mails to get it set up. Be persistant. It probably also helps if you are a steady customer.

SMMTX · 08-24-2020, 12:38 PM

Okay thanks, not sure about dtna cause that domain is for sale...
I will be persistent and usually that produces action to make it go away lol.
I do not think it should be difficult. They have expectations of us as consumers, they should support us even if we don't have a fleet.
Interesting the body specs are the secret part again. Also no specs for body in service manual. My cummins factory guy told me they were all basically custom hand built in that era and so they did not produce body specs. I really mostly want to know my rear axle ratio and fuel pump right now. But who knows what I will need to know in the future.
Persistence... (royal pain in the ass)
Stephanie

bp1791-unleashed · 08-24-2020, 01:06 PM

search for dtna connnect, it'll take you to the link.

I haven't scared up a dealer yet, tried doing everything directly. The number of hoops I had to jump through to get this far was annoying, and then I find that there's no actually useful information to be had there. I really need a TBB login, and I ran out of steam on that battle.

My new plan is to find a dealer that will chase down the info for me, and buy whatever manuals I need, and never have to go through that again.

Good luck,
Jim

SMMTX · 08-24-2020, 02:03 PM

Hey Jim, Guess we do not represent enough potential income...
I got an Excel 2000+ line materials list from a Freightliner dealer listed as Tomas dealer in SA. It has Thomas parts numbers and they can't access that database. So I called Gulfport Thomas back and pleaded (persisted) and said please I have all my numbers just need portal. Jose talked to his boss and they sent my name and email to Diamler who I guess controls the portal. Hopefully I will get in they said will take a week or more and not guaranteed. Excel is VIN specific so should be quite useful if they have not retired the parts numbers. I will post if I get in this way.
Stephanie

Native · 08-25-2020, 04:51 PM

Sorry for the mislead earlier. Here is the link to the login for DTNA Connect through Freightliner.

https://login-dtna.prd.freightliner....0FBIS9nQSEh%2f

Again, this is for the chassis up to include the cab. The body is covered by the TBB login.

SMMTX · 08-25-2020, 08:59 PM

Thanks. Followed that and it looks like that might be what the dealer requested for me. I will wait and see if that goes through first. Persistence as you said.
Stephanie

SMMTX · 09-01-2020, 05:08 AM

Got in to TBB. Thanks for advice on that.
I decided to create a build on FB as it is more versatile and available to others.
Since I don't participate in social media (I believe it separates more than it connects SOCIALLY, internet should have been only for information sharing), I asked my youngest dog to do that for me. Kids get it, I don't. So visit her blog and follow her please so she feels like someone cares lol.

Native · 09-01-2020, 07:55 PM

I am so glad you got into TBB. It takes a bit to get what you want. Have you found your floor plan and exterior drawings yet?

The DTNA login will be useful should you need chassis parts or information of that sort.

SMMTX · 09-01-2020, 08:29 PM

I looked at it earlier, and did not figure it all out yet. I found a way to list the same materials list that I have already. I will spend some time figuring it out. Noticed that it had a help section so I will go back to that. Rather be out in the bus taking out screws...
I may get the other site too thanks for telling me about that.

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