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Old 10-31-2021, 03:13 PM   #121
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jolly Roger bus 223 View Post
i have a contact at an allison service shop that used to tell me everything i wanted to know by serial and model number.
but its been over 5 years since i asked them for anything.
PM me your tranny model and serial number and i will reach out to them again and if need be make a stop or out of the way trip to see them face to face.
not that far out of the way and last time i was there it was to install heat and ac into a heavy/medium duty diesel shop that never had any and once i left none of them from the top down to the mechanics minded answering any questions i had including an old timer that loved my 8.2 n/a diesel and even gave me the part numbers for the upgrades that could be done without blowing it up.
PM me maybe i can help.
Thanks, but the tranny was rebuilt, and got a new serial number and data plate.


You can look up the original serial number on Allison's website:


https://allisontransmission.com/part...y-transmission


but I don't believe my serial number comes up. I'm pretty sure I tried before I bought it. I'll look at the data tag next time I'm there and double check, though.

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Old 11-01-2021, 07:18 AM   #122
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its possible that "2006" trans came from a 2005 chassis.. sometimes bus chassis are a year behind the actual title date of the bus.. so the 2006 Bus may have been built and titled as 06 but the chassis was built to 05 specs. ive seen it before..



the difference between 5 speed and 6 speed is a couple hundred RPM.. 5th gear is a 0.74 and 6th is 0.64 for reference the difference between 4th and 5th is 1.0 to 0.74,



if the seller sold it to you as a 6 speed then send it back for sure!
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Old 11-01-2021, 07:49 AM   #123
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Or run it as is.

6th gear is nice, but IIRC your at545 will go 70, so you're likely already geared so high 6th will be never used. So unless you regear the axle to something numerically higher, 6th won't be of any use to you.
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Old 11-01-2021, 12:46 PM   #124
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Jason can only provide a "fourth generation" TCU for six-speed trannys. Otherwise I gotta find my own TCU and harness. I'm not sure he can then program said TCU for my bus or not. At first I was thinking not, but after his last email, I think maybe he can. I was really set on a full upgrade, if any at all. Motor noise jumps exponentially at RPMs over 2000 with this Cummins. A drop of a couple hundred, even 100 RPM can make a difference. It seems it takes a lot of fuel just to get that motor spinning at higher speeds. But once up to speed, not much more is needed to greatly increase torque.



I'm gonna go get all the ID plate info today and see what more I can find out, maybe from the folks who rebuilt it if I can find them.
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Old 11-01-2021, 12:51 PM   #125
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fuel usage is best in that sweet spot.. for a 5.9 under light load you can get away with 1800 or so.. any slower and you are lugging it and making lots of EGT.. around 2000 at moderate load and then at full load you want to be close to maximum Horsepower which is 2400 I think on that engine. (thats only for foot to the floor)


im def glad I went 6 speed.. its worth it to me.. and Jason is right, a 6 speed is necessary for a common 4th gen TCM (which is what im running.. im running his 4th gen TCM).. I bought the EFIlive tuner software so I could adjust it myself to get the shifting just right..



hopefully its really a 6 speed!!
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Old 11-01-2021, 01:31 PM   #126
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cadillackid View Post
fuel usage is best in that sweet spot.. for a 5.9 under light load you can get away with 1800 or so.. any slower and you are lugging it and making lots of EGT.. around 2000 at moderate load and then at full load you want to be close to maximum Horsepower which is 2400 I think on that engine. (thats only for foot to the floor)


im def glad I went 6 speed.. its worth it to me.. and Jason is right, a 6 speed is necessary for a common 4th gen TCM (which is what im running.. im running his 4th gen TCM).. I bought the EFIlive tuner software so I could adjust it myself to get the shifting just right..



hopefully its really a 6 speed!!
Yea, cruisin' the flatlands at 1800-2000 is my goal. Didn't run the calculator, but with nice long legs on the tranny, I can adjust my speed (down if need be) a bit to hit said sweet spot, without crawling like a turtle. Right now 1800RPM in 4th is like what....40-45MPH by memory in my AT545?


On another note, my favorite religious holiday, Halloween, came through, and the movie "Joker" was on TV last night. In all seriousness, that was a fantastic movie in every way. Back on a quality track with the other old Marvel movies I saw before (with Ironman and the gang) and the BatMan movies (especially the Batman vs. Joker one!). And truly scary, cause it reminded me too much about my life. But then I wasn't chained to a radiator and beaten for years. Beaten, yes. Mentally abused, yes. Crazy Mother, yes. A-hole father, yes. But not that bad, and I managed to escape, somewhat at least. But that movie truly was scary.



I didn't expect much from "Ant Man", even if the trailers I saw at a Star Wars showing made me laugh a bit. But I did expect more from "The Amazing Spider Man". But all it had was a 1990s-video-game plot with high-school level acting, and relied almost solely on CGI effects to make the movie worth watching.
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Old 11-01-2021, 02:15 PM   #127
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I think the scariest part of that movie was when he said:


"I used to think my life was a tragedy, but now I realize it is a comedy."


Yea, I realized that a while back. Then da chit went down in Hawai'i with the other crazy woman. And then I ended up back in GA with my crazy mother, stuck for 3 years. And comedy went out the door.


But here we are with the tranny situation. Just gotta laugh.


If I didn't have that crazy mother, I'd have lost everything right now. Already, hotels and car rentals are more than the tranny replacement.
Once again I am stuck between a rock and a hard place, in a co-dependent relationship with a crazy crazy crazy woman who won't fix a known hole in the roof for years until the ceiling collapses in; who does nothing to take care of herself or her own health; her bathroom is a black-hole of black mold and she won't flush her toilet paper (cause the sewer flooded the basement - which she never cleaned up - and she is afraid) and it builds up to 2' high piles that stink up the whole house; kitchen full of garbage, roach droppings, moldy sink; if I hadn't been there last year, trees would have fallen and crushed her house (that I warned her about years before), and on and on and on. I slept in my bus in the driveway, and use a different bathroom where I keep the 45 year old grout white. I used to have to bail her outta her relationships with physically abusive boyfriends. Years of that. And she will quickly and purposely cross your red lines, over and over and over and over for 40 years. But any cash I need.....or my sister. After pushing us away, now she has cash, and she keeps me (us?) around with it. For 10 years she has supported my sister's shop that hasn't made a profit for a single month. Maybe there were couple few weeks that did OK. Up to $12K a month down the drain. I don't know who's crazier. I just want out. But every time I turn around, smack! Beg mom or loose everything and live in a tent out of a backpack and start over. Funny, huh?!?!
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Old 11-01-2021, 02:42 PM   #128
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I used to have pity for my "poor crazy helpless clueless incapable" mother.


Then as an adult I saw her relationship with a drunk who just trashed the house, locked the dogs inside even after being told not to (closing their doggie-door) where they then **** everywhere; and left beer cans everywhere, to the point that I filled a full 50-gallon trash can with crushed ones after he left, finding them tucked away here or there or in the yard covered with leaves.


He was a looser and a user and a jerk, but she was abusive to him. Always pushing his buttons, treating him like a slave, cutting him down, pushing him around. That's when I realized she cries wolf and plays the poor victim when she gets called out or needs to be in a defensive position (think of the Sith Palpatine when he looses his light-saber to the big Jedi guy in Episode I). And I realized she pushed those other abusive men (and, yes, they were abusive P.O.S.) until they hit her or threw her across the room into the table, or play Russian roulette with her (she openly admitted to me that she stalked them and got caught). But I'd still have to convince her to leave them.


One guy stole her jewelry, my sister's jewelry, and other stuff, and pawned it. She found the receipt in his pocket at 2:00AM. Called the cops, and woke me, and we talked to the cops. They were less than helpful, but that's another story. The next day I got a call at work from her saying he was staying and I was leaving. I broke my hand, drunk on tequila (my first time, I was still young) punching the wall, and hit my pinky on a stud, in frustration. I was alone in the kitchen, the day I was supposed to be gone. Still hurts 30+ years later, physically and mentally.


Another day of rain, and I'm stuck in this hotel room, waiting. Just waiting to drive to sunshine in the mountains.
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Old 11-30-2021, 07:23 PM   #129
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cadillackid View Post
im not sure who gave you the 'big bucks' prices for transmissions.. these are the LKQ remanufactured units i speak of..


the prices are cheap for a remanufactured unit..



as for your 2500.. yeah sorry I already said i hate AAMCO but thats my own personal beef.. anyway only few builders can tackle allison.. Allison 1000/2000 series use a decent number of special tools to put them together right.. so if they dont often get allison vehicles in their shop then the builder isnt going t owant to go buy expensive tools he might use once a year if that..



allison most surely wants to keep their cards close to their chest.. but there are local shops that build allisons.. (all of those duramaxx pickups have allison 1000s) if they can build a 1000 you can build a 2500 PTS.. its the same stuff inside except for some gears and valve body adjustments.. ..



AT545 remans.. these will be 2600 RPM units.. meaning when fully modulated they will shift at 2600 RPM engine speed.. shift points can be lowered if your engine maxxes out before 2600.



https://lkqheavytruck.com/inventory/...&searchpage=49
Its a god damn gasser tranny. shifts at 4000RPM


$6000 and counting......another 2 weeks in hell and counting.......



Where in the hell did you see the info saying these were for a 2600RPM diesel? I can't find it anywhere. My fault for trusting an internet forum, but I did try to check with Allison first. The number came up as not found. The Allison dealer could find it, though.



thanks
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Old 11-30-2021, 07:49 PM   #130
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The couple units that I worked with LKQ on. 643 and 545 came back as 2600 RPM for diesels in the IH database.. there are different party numbers for sale I sent you an example. That said use the governer from your old tranny and just the shift wheels down if need be

And if you are going to slam me on an Internet forum then good luck ever getting me to speak to you again….
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Old 12-01-2021, 07:53 AM   #131
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This is a simple fix.

Don't touch the wheels until you swap the governor.

The component difference between a 4000 rpm unit and a 2600 rpm unit is solely in the governor. So like christopher said, swap the governors between old and new. At least compare the differences between old and new. And if you don't have access to the old one anymore, the correct one can be found. This here looks like it https://www.ebay.com/itm/222525238969
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Old 01-29-2022, 12:13 PM   #132
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My biggest problem in life these days is this fungal-infection on my lower back at my waistline (the size of my palm) that I've been battling for 25 years. The rainy-humid weather makes it worse; or if it is really hot like this past summer and I'm always sweaty (I can never wear a belt again). If it weren't for that, I could live in a tent in the back-corner of the park, and walk to get groceries, and to Planet-Fitness a few times a week for a shower. The only med I found that seems to really work only showed up on Wal-Mart's shelf last spring (generic). The original drug manufacturer's "cream" product was so expensive, came in tiny tubes, and didn't seem to work at all in the minute amounts it said to use. Wal-Mart's spray knocked it down instantly. It was all over my legs down to my knees. It was brown patches when it was not active; they turned red when active, and became open wounds if left untreated. Treating the fungal infection with any meds (including apple cider vinegar) gave me a rash on the rest of my body, as my lymph system became overwhelmed with toxic decay stuff from the dying fungus; and it seemed the distressed skin was just that much more susceptible to fungal growth. If I didn't treat it every 8 hours - exactly 8 hours - the problem was either over-toxicity and a hella-rash, or the fungus just started growing again. It kept me tied to a shower (supposed to shower before every med treatment). So I had to have the hotel room with shower, and the rental car to get there. Plus the weather outside was so so so humid, that alone made the hotel room a necessity with this infection.

The guy who makes tie-dies in Puna says stress, even emotional stress, can lower your body's immune response and that lets the fungus grow. I've heard that elsewhere, also. One website selling all natural skin-care products (not anti-fungal products) says that it can instead be the cause of the emotional imbalance, depression, stress, etc. from chemical byproducts of it growing in your gut (the candida fungal infection gets to be systemic throughout the whole body). The latter certainly seems to be the observed problem with me. I've had plenty of the most stressful times in my life where the infection did not flare up, and plenty of times that were laid-back but I was plagued by the fungus and emotionally a mess - deeply depressed. I certainly have the history that can lead to depression, but I'm more or less OK, if not actually happy, when the fungus is not actively growing on my skin.

By mid-to-late October I was a mess again. The anti-fungal spray never completely solved the infection on my back (only my legs - all the brown/red patches that had been there 10 years disappeared in 2-3 days last spring) and wouldn't stop it then. Still, it worked better than anything else ever had under similar weather conditions. I made it out of the humidity and the infection stopped, and I started sunning it in the desert.....

The tranny I ordered by recommendation of Catallackid came a week late, 10 days or more later than promised (it was supposed to be there early). Jerry, the weasely guy at LKQ promised 4 days or less; I told them I needed it by whatever date, and would pay extra; no need they said. I missed my appointment with AAMCO. They worked me in the next week, called me to move the bus onto the lift (since I held the keys with the only door-lock key, and I needed access in and out). I was there in 30 mins and drove it on their lift. They called 30 mins later to tell me their 28,000 lb. (or something) lift would not lift my bus. It went up a couple inches, the ramps started to bend, and it stopped. I immediately reasoned that the platform lift they had had ramps that were longer than my whole bus (with 4 support towers, one at each corner), and my short wheelbase was centering all the weight on the ramps, flexing/bending them, and causing the lift to bind. Or it was a POS lift they had. Or they were just FOS there at AAMCO. They told me they had lifted giant steel water-tank trucks (empty), motor-homes bigger than my bus, etc. So 30 mins later I drove it off their ramps, back to the corner of their lot. I weighed it twice, later, at two refuse transfer stations. 10.7 tons at one with the extra 350lb. tranny in back, 21,300 lbs. at another without the spare tranny. Right at my guesstimate.

I found the Freightliner dealer in another town. (and another big-truck-place, but they did mostly fleet maintenance, not real heavy-duty repairs, so I passed) They said they could and would do the job of installing the tranny that AAMCO told me to buy on my own, that Catallackid recommended. I talked to their tranny guy and he was so super-cool and talked the good talk (mechanically speaking), so I felt good, but he was 2 weeks out. AAA +RV would not tow the vehicle there, since it was "still the same breakdown episode". State Farm kicked it in with their roadside assistance (and for less than $10 a year!), and another tow company came and took much better care insuring it would not be damaged in transit.

Freightliner got on it the next day. They put a grunt on the job - it was just a mechanical tranny swap. I was happy to have it done faster than 2 weeks out! They tried to remove the tranny with the exhaust still installed. That didn't work. I could see with a simple glance that the tranny-filter housing made the passage too narrow. Either they super-wedged it and then damaged the exhaust trying to remove the pipe, or it was already damaged (as they say). That made me wait another week or 10 days to get a 90° elbow-pipe that comes strait out of the turbo unit, plus a ring-clamp to bond the pipe in the rear to the muffler, directly from BlueBird of course. (Dealers always go the easiest, most expensive route for themselves and buy from other dealers.) My bus was from Tucson. There was NO rust. None. Why the ring-clamp broke? Homeboy didn't use PB Blaster on the clamp-tightening bolts? I now notice another similar clamp at the bottom of the said 90° elbow has a bend in it that looks like homeboy again didn't soak the bolts in penetrating oil (it was super-wedged with the tranny and he was in a hurry!) and twisting the bolt twisted and deformed the whole ring-clamp. It's hard to tell now, months later, but I admit I think it is a bit quieter under the doghouse. Maybe. But now I hear what sounds to me like a turbo-whine, like one of the intake boots was a bit loose and "whistling". I fixed that issue on my bus before. But can't see it now. Maybe it is exhaust leaking past the bent bracket? And I thought I heard the turbo-fan bumping something the very first time I started it up. Like he left a washer or nut or something in there that then dropped down into the pipe. All water under the bridge now....

Anyway, then they told me it wouldn't shift right. What? That's when the Allison tranny guy at the dealer got on the "Allison Hub" (not the "MyAllison" webpage that wouldn't help me with a rebuilt serial number) and found out it was a gasser tranny that shifts at 4000-RPM. So the Allison Tranny guy at Freightliner swapped the valve-body from the old unit with the tranny installed in the bus, and we left the slushy gas-motor torque-converter in place (that would have been another $1500 in labor plus the price of a rebuilt TC).

I got my bus back and drove it to the hotel 5 miles away, parked for the weekend, since I couldn't return the car until they opened on Monday. That gave me time to clean the inside of the bus and whatnot and whatever, after parking next to a mud-puddle when it died, and having tranny gunk, palettes and their debris, etc. all over. Monday I returned the car, drove the bus on short trips around town (across and back, across and back). Just before sunset I stopped for fuel before heading back to the mountains. The fuel station's pump was out of order. I went to move the bus to another pump, and the tranny did nothing. Felt like the handle wasn't even shifting the gears. Cold rain outside. I called Freightliner, and they said "it was your tranny, not our problem". I changed into my grubbies and climbed under, expecting to find the tranny shifter cable loose. Nope. I got back in and started it again, and it shifted and I got fuel. A fluke? I hit the highway, and it started shifting hard between 3rd & 4th. (Right about then , my bike tire, that I filled at the truck-stop next to Freightliner so I could ride it from the hotel to pick up the bus, exploded from the heater in the rear of the bus being on; apparently I had very much overfilled it in the 40°F cold rain with no gauge in hand. My goD that was LOUD! I had no idea at first what had happened. "My whole world is blowing up at once!") I got off at my exit, and the tranny temp gauge shot up and it hit the red. It never even came half-way to the red before. I parked it in the driveway of an apartment complex (blocking the driveway no less, since there was no where in the complex to park!) and let it cool for 20-30 mins. I started it back up and tried to limp it 1/10 mile to the motel where I had been staying, and it made it less than 1 block before it hit the red again, and I parked overnight at Chevron. They didn't like that the next morning, but they were cool when I told them my story with AAMCO and Freightliner ("That's total b.s." she said), and showed them my AAA +RV card, and said it will be towed gone that morning as soon as I get another rental car.

I noticed the burning smell of tranny fluid, and opened the doghouse that night, and saw the fluid had boiled out of the top of the dipstick and dripped down onto the exhaust. I put my hand on the two aluminum tubing fluid lines I installed to replace the original flexible hoses for the tranny cooler. The tubes were luke-warm next to the exhaust pipe. I went outside and touched the (useless) aftermarket aux. cooler I installed by recommendation here (worthless with my big radiator, I'm telling you! Maybe good on a van cutout.) and it was cold cold (like 40°F cold like it was outside). The tranny cooler circuit was not functioning.

AAA +RV towed it back to Freightliner. The customer service rep had me report directly to the original Allison tranny guy I talked to (not the grunt who did the job) and I told him the story above. They both told me if it was their (Freightliner's) fault, they would cover it. I didn't think it was their fault. Turns out the factory cooler was blocked - compressed air would not clear it. It was "supposed" to be "high-pressure flushed" when they installed the new tranny. Either homeboy didn't do it at all, or he did not pay attention to the results - hooked up the machine, walked away for a cig, and came back 20 mins later and disconnected it all without looking. That "starved the new tranny" for lubrication and cooling fluid, and it destroyed the bearings and left a mess of metal chucks in the pan. That tranny was toasted. The Allison Tranny guy came to me personally while I was getting stuff out of my motor-home and apologized for "their" mistake.

This is why I became a mechanic and won't let anyone else touch my vehicles. Usually. When I'm not stuck in the rain in a foreign city.

I replaced the tranny spin-on filter TWICE in the last few miles before the original finally died. It was completely full of gunk the first time, (remember me saying in an earlier post?), and had lots of gunk the second time. Fluid was in the filter. Fluid was circulating. The tranny ran just a little bit warmer as it was dying in the last 2 months, but only going up into the mountains (before I didn't feel safe going that far). But I added that stop-slip at the last few miles. Did that mix with the gunk and clog the cooler? Water under the bridge now...

Anyway, management at Freightliner had a different idea of who was going to pay the bill. The customer service rep (who was a complete no B.S. sweetheart) was not happy to tell me she needed to keep her job, and had to charge me near $4900 more dollars to install another rebuilt tranny. And it took them another month to have it ordered, custom built, and delivered and installed. The whole time I was hold-up in a hotel with a rental car. That was another $2900. They called me the afternoon of Dec 30 to say it was ready. I had to walk a few miles up there (since my bike-tire was out!) but I needed a good walk after being held up in a hotel for months in the rain. It actually didn't rain (much) that day while I was walking.

I had to borrow a credit card (with permission of course!); I had to beg my Mom, again, for more money to pay off and clear my current cards, etc. to pay the bills. Of course it was Friday afternoon, New Years Eve, and the manager took the whole day off, so I couldn't argue/negotiate with him then. I came back Monday Jan 3 and made it crystal clear that I was not going to pay that bill, that he needed to refund the charges, and that ---- I had already called my credit card companies (it took 4 cards to pay the bill) and opened a "stop payment - fraudulent charge" (or whatever you call it) complaint ---- that got his attention!!! Freightliner gave me paperwork detailing their mistakes and how it damaged my new equipment. They had no hope. And I explained that if I have to fight these charges, I was going to take them to small claims court and also sue for the $2900 in hotel & car rental fees, loss of wages, loss of use of primary vehicle, medical expenses, pain & suffering from being stuck in the humid rain (I would have been in AZ/NM by late October at the latest with the rain that was in Oregon. That was a primary reason I got a bus so I could run from the rain with this fungal infection.) $10,000 limit in small claims court. And no lawyers allowed. Plus the fee to have the Sheriff deliver a notice. Freightliner Northwest is centered in Hawai'i, says their paperwork. Their "corporate head rep" (the guy required to show up in court; fiduciary?) probably lives there. Or Maybe Washington State. The fee to deliver a notice there could be expensive. Plus corporate management travel expenses to go to an annoying POS court date in some little BS town can be high.

The Freightliner manager called me back and said he talked to his boss (the customer service rep gave me the manager's boss' number and email and told me to contact him directly and complain, but I held that card close until I needed it for leverage), and they would refund all but the $1000-ish price of the new cooler they had to order from BlueBird. I told them "how about we trade the $1000 cooler for the $2900 in hotel and car rental fees. That will just make it easy on both of us. Or we can go to court." He said no, but I wouldn't budge. I was about to start the process of filing the paperwork yesterday when I got the call from the customer service rep saying she was ready to refund the complete $4900 charge. But she wanted an email for her boss saying I would not "complain and stop payment" to the credit card companies. He was "freaking out" about that.

I got the bus up to Spokane to return (I got the full refund) the "2006" Allison 2500PTS unit that AAMCO told me they could rebuild, then said no. It was the 5-speed anyway (verified by the Allison guy at the dealer). I got there just in time for the biggest winter storm of the season. I spent 36 hours stuck at the truck-stop just west of town in the 6"-8" of snow that fell overnight - parked next to the Freightliner Northwest dealer's fence there no less!!! Luckily my intuition told me to stay there (I would normally never do that!) or I would have been stuck on the street somewhere in Spokane, (probably illegally) blocking the snow plows. It amazed me how many truck drivers thought they could just drive their trucks though a snow bank in the parking lot without getting stuck. No wonder there is a shipping crisis. One old-timer drove though a 3-foot high bank on the side of the lot into a ditch. It looked like s/he was trying to drive around another truck. I helped another guy dig his rig out when he tried to drive over a 1'-high bank. (these snow-banks were from the snow-plow clearing lanes in the parking lot, so they were packed-hard dense snow) His drive tires were lifted just 1/2" and were spinning free. I was told by a pompous "redneck" driver "them Russian drivers don't know how to drive in snow" (which of course seems funny to me with the snow in Russia) and I thought he was just another fool stuck in a political-divide game, until I met the Russian guy I had helped dig out. He didn't have a clue about snow. Really. Lucky I always carry a flat-shovel in my truck on road-trips. Never leave home without it! One other truck driver tried to pull him out, and failed, since the travel lanes were all slushy/frozen also. Another Russian friend of his came along after we dug him out more and pulled him free.
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Old 01-29-2022, 12:15 PM   #133
Bus Crazy
 
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Join Date: Oct 2017
Posts: 1,222
Year: 1999
Coachwork: BlueBird
Chassis: TC1000 HandyBus
Engine: 5.9L 24V-L6 Cummins ISB
Rated Cap: 26 foot
{{continued}}

I drove back down through central-west Oregon into CA (goD I hate driving though CA!) through Bakersfield to I40, and down to the RTR. 10,000+ people this year they say, all parked along a 2-mile stretch of desert highway. Lots of generators. I park away from everyone else, and people just feel the need to park within a stone's throw of me and fire up a generator. WTF! There is plenty of empty space, yet you need to come park close to me with your idiocy? I move, and another group of $1,000,000 Mobile Manhattan 2nd-story apartments (tiny for an apartment, ridiculously priced but overly luxurious, and no windows to see out) come and park next to me - 15'-20' away, right in my "front-yard" blocking my morning sun (it's cold in the desert at night! I like that sun!) and firing up their generator. The guy who owned the 16' tall 70'-long motorhome looked like Monty Burns, all dressed in black. 1000' away is a bigger space that they all could have parked in.

Just so happened they showed up on my last planned day there, and I had been saving my battery juice for "concert night." With the early crowd, it turned into "festival afternoon" and at 2:00PM on came "The Allman Brother's Band Live At Fillmore East, 1971," at full blast. Well, almost. 2/3 of the way. More would be possible, but any flaw in the music could hurt a speaker, and you can't trust old CDRs that travel in your vehicle to play flawlessly. Loud. Really loud. My speaker setup is such that it is surround-sound inside my bus, with a focus on the center of my couch/bed, but I can move the "front" speakers to mount alongside the "rear" and they line up horizontally along the open window line. The whole speaker post rotates to focus the speakers from "inside" to "outside". That's four 55-watt RMS full-range speakers, plus two 8" woofers probably pushing close to that, at full blast, right at the window opening. You can hear a long way in the desert. People 1/4 mile away can be heard talking when the wind is not blowing. My other neighbor (who also showed up and parked near me, yet still there was so much other space ???) in a van who had been playing pop-"country" radio every day came over to say hi and offer me chicken (I'm a vegihead, so I politely declined), and I had to step 25' away from my bus off to the side and we still had to speak up, almost yell, to hear each other over the music. He mentioned how the RV guy was a jerk for parking in my "front yard". Other neighbors farther away gave me the thumbs up and smiled. For a week I had hid inside my bus, totally quiet, laying low in the desert. Now I was out. All the way out.

Monty Burns was outside his mobile Manhattan apartment fumbling with his underbelly storage when he first saw my face in my window, setting up the speakers. Like "oh, another human exists in there - I was oblivious" kinda surprise. I waved friendly like, and he sheepishly waved back. The old lady with him was nice, though. At 10:00PM, after the live ABB, a complete live Grateful Dead show and a complete live Pink Floyd show to close (both from 1972) my batteries were dead, it was official "quiet time", but their generator was still on, 20' from my head when I was trying to sleep. I fired up the diesel and moved 1200' away to the big open space where they could have parked. I could still hear the generator. In the morning I moved back at 8:00AM, and with batteries recharged (only takes a few minutes with a big alternator!), I fired up some old Bob Marley and the Wailers "The Birth Of A Legend" (1963-1966 Jamaica radio hits - really good mellow happy bright early-morning party stuff) and put out a "Tips for the DJ" jar. Mr. Burns came to me and asked me "if I was mad he parked there". I said "no, it's a free country" (he agreed) "but it's just plain rude" (he said nothing). Then he "oh so kindly" offered to move. Didn't apologize. Just needed to not look like a **** in front of his nice wife and friends/family (the other RV guy parked close to me who looked like an old Bob Dylan, and some younger "kids" (20-30s) in their posh RV motorhome who seemed to like my music......) While we were talking he "smugly" said he could not hear my music inside his Mobile Manhattan 2nd-story apartment. I quickly apologized and explained that I could not turn it up any more, but I was working on getting the sub-woofers setup. He didn't know what to say to that. But he moved his s*** to park next to his friend, where he could have parked in the first place instead of blocking me into a back corner and taking up all my camping space in my "front yard". Some folks are "autistic" or whatever, and may be nice at heart, but just don't get the "social empathy with others" stuff; some are just sociopaths who LIKE the feeling of power over others, the rich who like power over those who make less money than they do. Hate to judge so quickly, but seemed to me Monty Burns was the latter. Anyway, I played Bob Marley and The Wailers live in Hollywood Bowl 1976 next, with lots of songs talking about how money sucks. Then more live Pink Floyd from 1977 - The "Animals" tour ("big man, pig man, Ha!Ha! charade you are .... pig stain on your fat chin"....Burns was a skinny short little old man, though), where they played the "Wish You Were Here" album for the second set (there was no "Wish You Were Here" tour). The old ladies in their group gathered together around one who walked her dog out into the open space in front of all our vehicles and seemed to be listening to the music. Then I left, only 1 hour later than planned.

I got groceries and started looking for the Skooliepalooza. I heard they got kicked out of Parker, and moved down near I10. Camp next to an interstate again? NO. NO! NO!!! I had enough of that in the hotel room in Oregon. I've had one quiet nite, parked in the CA mountains east of Bakersfield near the Pacific Crest trail. I only heard a train whistle at 8:00PM or something, way in the distance, then ..... quiet. Peace.

I went back to the desert N of Quartzite, and stayed a few more days. I drove away from the posh motorhome group and parked in the "day use" area way away from anyone else, where the outlaws had even bigger louder and even more obnoxious generators. At least they were trying to stay away from others, not park in their front yard. It still was not quiet at night - all night till dawn. At sunrise, the generators were off. No lights were on all night. WTF do you need that thing beastly loud thing for? And HTF do you tolerate that vibration next to your camper? I simply can not comprehend some people. But it takes all kinds to make the world go round, eh?

One thing I noticed among the 10,000 different campers, trailers, motorhomes, conversions, etc. The van-cutouts were far less stable, and swayed side to side. The land was flat and basically level. Little rocks, mostly flat & the size of your palm or less cover the land, with a few that are a bit bigger. The driven pathways are smooth. My bus rode slow and steady across it all, very stable, much more so than the 20-mile road in WY where I disconnected my swaybar because it was rocking me side to side too much. I wasn't rocking side to side at all in the desert N of Quartzite. But the $200K+ Tiffany Motorhome built on a Sprinter cutout with a duelly rear-end was rocking side to side hard. It followed a group of full-width motorhomes that all were riding nice and stable and flat. I looked at a 1997 Ford van cutout bus (jeez! I almost bought a Ford!) and got outbid at $6000 on it, days before I bid site-unseen on my bus, that I got for $2285 with fees. Glad it turned out that way. I would have really been crammed in that cutout, too.

I spent my time those last two days in the desert on my computer, writing software. I finished the file-sync program I was writing while at the hotel, but it failed a couple simple tests a few days later. The complex tests worked but the simple ones ("a"==="a") fail? I never got to the debugging stage. It's hard to safely test software that modifies your file system. I revived another project at the hotel that interested me more, one I wrote in PHP over 10 years ago. It is for developing graphics beyond what Corel Draw or any of Apple's products can do. It required a clumsy HTML form that had to be sent to a server, the graphics processed and created by PHP, and sent back to the browser. Now JavaScript in modern browsers is powerful enough to do all that, and I started converting, re-organizing the codebase, and revamping the old code. Then I got interested in yet another JavaScript support project for that project, a massive one with 10,000+ lines of code and another several 1000 lines of aggregated, specific data sets, that I have been developing for over 10 years in JavaScript, and updated that. That was the only reason I stayed sane in that damn little hotel room next to the interstate that smelled like a bottle of perfume broke on the floor, where I couldn't hardly breathe inside or sleep soundly. At least the shower was hot.

My new tranny shifts better than ever. The "2-step" dance the old one did at 22mph on a bumpy road, where it shifted back-and-forth from 2-3 trying to find the right gear - gone in the new one. Pulls strong from start. It's hard to tell, but it seems more of the motor's torque is being delivered to the wheels than the old one ever did; but I can't claim faster acceleration - percieved or measured. Fuel mileage is back up to 10MPG. I had noticed it dropped a bit in the trip across country over the mountains last summer, but I thought it was because I was driving in the mountains at the time, then stop-and-go in the city flats. Now I think maybe it was starting to go out before I hit that steep hill on the FS road; but that hill did it in entirely. Who knows? Water under the bridge now.....

I wanted to make this post on Jan 9, but circumstances prevented that. This post is in honor of my Nephew, who died a year ago on that day. It was my grief that brought me back here, after giving up on this site yet again. So much good stuff, so much bad advice. But I came daily for social interaction. Pitiful, in my opinion, as it is, to be so lonely as to look at a school-bus website for friends. Some good folks with good advice here, for sure. But I got dis-illusioned with the pretendicas, wanna-bees, ego-maniacs, and whatnots here, and I gave up, until my nephew passed.

He was a good kid. We were close when he was young. I visited monthly. His family moved in with me for a while. He graduated top 5 or 5% (not sure) of his class in HS. Did great his first year in college. Then his neighbor broke his jaw over a cat or something. Docs gave him opiates. He got hooked, by the drugs and the lifestyle. That led to him getting caught with 6 drugs: heroin, meth, liquid "synthetic" Xanax from China, Dexedrine, cocaine, and Adderall; plus buds (not really a drug, but the cops call it one). Then, in his own words, "he went temporarily insane one night due to his contact bothering him" and he went to the eye-care store at night with a coupon for a free pair, but they were closed, so he broke into the back window of the eye-care store to get his contacts. But there was a lady inside, so he showed her his coupon and asked for his free pair. His mom made him tell me the story. He was like a zombie talking to me. The next day he was talking nonsense, yet he would deny it minutes later. Like he was a junkie, needed his fix, but needed to stay awake, so he mixed it with amphetamines which can cause anxiety to flair (he already had self-image issues, and lack of confidence, yet he really was a "pretty-boy" in the face.) as well as cause "psychosis" at higher doses, and then added Xanax (that stuff really whacks you into oblivion) for that and depression issues. That's my best guess. I'll probably never know.

Cops saw the video from the store break-in and recognized him. Not sure how long had progressed from when they caught him with drugs to the break-in. He went to court, and they slapped his wrist, and sent him to rehab. White kid, blue eyes, you know the score. Didn't do much. He was in full denial. Such a bright kid, known as a great employee, reduced to not being able to keep a factory job putting a product in a box. Couldn't DO the job, let alone show up. His parents had split, and both kicked him out. He was leaving needles on the bathroom floor, with young children in the house. His mom said he would show up in the middle of the night whacked out of reality.

So last January he called her from some unknown number, saying he was in a cell phone store. They arrested him again for stealing the phone. A warm place to sleep that night, January 8, in the mountains of North Carolina, where it was raining and then supposed to freeze and snow. People had "stolen" his camping gear. I think he sold it for drugs.

Due to COVID, they let him out of jail in the middle of the night. I was up all night, because I knew. I knew. I almost called the jail to tell them to put him on suicide watch. I stayed up burning a 5-CD set of music I always wanted to share with him.

When he was 13, I took him aside and told him I smoked buds. I told him not to confuse that with other drugs that the government was saying were all bad. Not to think his uncle was "a cool hippie" who "must use drugs - just look at him", and who is not all f-ed up like the government in schools says will happen. His mom freaked. "He is so innocent! He knows nothing about that stuff!" No. "He knew all about the drugs I warned him about." She was shocked. Such a fool. His parents kept him in lock-down throughout high-school, since they were worse rebel-partiers than me, with no oversite or guidance (my mom was super-crazy then, but I was older, and my ex-bro-in-lawlessness' mom was a full-blown alcoholic/drug addict). You can't swing the pendulum for balance. My nephew hit college with no real-life experience on taking care of himself - knowing what to trust and what to avoid - or how to tell the difference.

Weird, but his middle name was Oakley. Old Oak trees all around north GA and southern NC all died that year from the GD never-ending rain rain rain rain rain. 20 or more in our neighborhood alone. More at the park where I hiked. More in the mountains to the north. We had one in our back yard fall over. They all just fell over from being rain-soaked and heavy, yet the ground became so soft, they no longer had footing and uprooted. All otherwise very healthy and happy. The one in our back yard was over 3' in diameter at the base, and the inner rings were so tight, I think Sherman literally marched his troops past it, and they could have enjoyed the shade in a large group. It broke my mom's bedroom window. She still has not had it fixed, now almost two years later. The roof was damaged a bit, also. She's nuts, I tell you. Insurance gave her a lot of money. I fixed the fence myself for a tiny fraction of what they paid out to fix it. The bank insisted "pros" fix the house. When that corner of the house collapses from rain-damage, she might frantically try to deal with it.

Cops said he walked in front of a car on the highway. I don't think it was an accident. I will likely never have the chance to have a clue to know. The driver was not charged. It was quick, almost instant they said. I put together the 6th CD for the set the next day, in remembrance and honor of him. "Music of the Way of Water - Winter 2021". (a diary entry for me, also) He was a Cancer - the wateriest of water signs. Now much of my favorite music in the world all reminds me not of our family history and the beauty of the cold winter (hiking and camping during the winter in the N.Carolina Mtns where we all lived is my favorite), and the love of water, but of the suffering and death of my nephew. May he RIP.


disk 6:
World Turning - Fleetwood Mac
Can't Find My Way Home - Blind Faith
Midnight Rider - Gregg Allman
You Reap What You Sow - Otis Rush featuring Duane Allman
Hand Of Doom - Black Sabbath
Rude Awakening #2 - Creedence Clearwater Revival
Have You Ever Seen The Rain? - Creedence Clearwater Revival
God Rest His Soul - The 31th Of February
Rain - Gregg Allman
He Was A Friend Of Mine - Grateful Dead
Jim, I Wore A Tie Today - The Highwaymen: Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Kris Kristoferson
Teach Your Children - Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young
Prelude. Song Of The Gulls - King Crimson
Islands - King Crimson
Winter Time - The Steve Miller Band
Absolutely Curtains - Pink Floyd

If you listen to only one song, may it be the second-to-last, and next time you see some homeless person on the street in the cold cold wind and rain, begging for a buck, think of my nephew. He could be yours just as easily.

And remember kids, party hearty and all, but don't be f-in' stupid. Keep to the medicinal plants if you choose, not the drugs. I have lost EVERY best friend from my younger years to the damn drugs and alcohol throughout the later years, EVERY one (sooner or later!), now family too, and I'm stuck with this damn website, alone in an old school bus with no one to talk to.
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Old 01-29-2022, 12:25 PM   #134
Bus Crazy
 
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Join Date: Oct 2017
Posts: 1,222
Year: 1999
Coachwork: BlueBird
Chassis: TC1000 HandyBus
Engine: 5.9L 24V-L6 Cummins ISB
Rated Cap: 26 foot
Quote:
Originally Posted by cadillackid View Post
The couple units that I worked with LKQ on. 643 and 545 came back as 2600 RPM for diesels in the IH database.. there are different party numbers for sale I sent you an example. That said use the governer from your old tranny and just the shift wheels down if need be

And if you are going to slam me on an Internet forum then good luck ever getting me to speak to you again….
Just because YOU got a 2600 RPM shifter, doesn't mean that the OTHERS are. You should NOT say they ARE 2600 RPM.
THAT SCREWED ME.
But like I said, why I trusted "some guy" on the internet. My bad.


Years ago I did offend you. That was my fault. But not intentional. I apologized, and got no response. Again and again. I don't want to make anyone feel bad, or offend anyone. (unless they are just an *******, then if they are offended being called out, oh well.)



Then last year or two, YOU offended another member here. Maybe not intentional, just a bad choice of words, as my fault was? What did YOU do? LAUGH.


I really won't be sweating it if you never talk to me again.
Actually, you are one reason I don't go to skoolie meetups on the east coast. Who wants to be face to face with the guy who won't accept your sincere apology. NOT ME.


Bye Bye.
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Old 01-29-2022, 02:37 PM   #135
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Join Date: Mar 2021
Location: Central Kentucky
Posts: 330
Coachwork: Busless for now
Gnomie,

Been wondering how your tranny trubbles were going. Glad it ended well and sooo sorry to hear about your nephew.

Hoping your travels take you to happier places.

Peace out, friend.
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Old 01-29-2022, 04:26 PM   #136
Bus Geek
 
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Columbus Ohio
Posts: 18,751
Year: 1991
Coachwork: Carpenter
Chassis: International 3800
Engine: DTA360 / MT643
Rated Cap: 7 Row Handicap
What the **** dude? Really??? Blame it on me really? And so coward you won’t see me over something that happened years ago that I damn forgot about??

I seem to remember somewhere that going through part numbers might require talking to an IH dealer.. I made a suggestion to buy a trans someplace that I bought one and it works ..

Also note that whoever changed the valve body was a dumb ass because the governer controls the shift speed.. that was mentioned in multiple threads by more than one member.. the trans guy was apparently a dumb ass too..

The clogged cooler destroyed the new trans .. how’s that my fault that the shop was too lane ass to flush the cooler (I believe flushing cooler has been mentioned in multiple threads..

I feel for you that you went through such an ordeal just to get back on the road again . No one should have to go through that..

But to blame me for your troubles ??? And worry about something I damn forgot about years ago? Really???? And “not attend east coast events because I might be there “.. wow that’s what’s truly Lame…
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