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I have 4 Prevost-style caps for the Drive and Tag wheels for sale.  I have no idea what they are worth but have the brackets (once they get removed) and they are in good shape.

Not sure where the best place is for this LONG post but will let the moderators decide...
Our 1998 Newell had engine problems and rather than risk blowing an engine decided we would get a tow.  We called Coach-Net and told them the problem. After several hours talking with different people and tow truck companies Coach-Net suggested that they had many coaches towed successfully on a 'dolly' style truck - one that has a large extending arm on the rear that rests the coach on a cradle.  They informed us that there would be no lowboy that could tow us even though we were willing to pay the difference in cost (the driver reiterated that the other problem would be height since the lowboy would add about 3 ft to the total height and make overpasses very difficult).  Against our better judgement we agreed to let a large, well known company come and get our coach and tow it 60 miles back to a repair shop in Nacogdoches, TX. 
I assisted the driver and even helped him with the dolly to be sure it was secure (It was as far as I could tell).  He placed the airhose down the side of the coach through tie wraps in the door handles (my idea and it worked great!).  Newell had suggested using the little 1/2" space at the bottom of the door to put the hose into, we tried but could not make the hose stay in and get the doors down at the same time (in retrospect, maybe we were supposed to leave the door DOWN and push the hose in the crack between the door and the coach...) 
We headed out towards Nacogdoches at about 7pm - it was getting dark and had been raining on us for a while. 
About 30 minutes into the trip the tow truck made a very wide turn (a good thing) onto a freeway on-ramp.  The driver called on the radio to me that he was going to stop and adjust the straps - my wife says she noticed the strap on the driver side had popped and come loose but I did not see it.  
I pulled my Jeep (thank GOD) around to give the driver some more light and we sat in the Jeep waiting for him and trying to keep cars stopped on the ramp.  There were probably 10 to 15 cars and truck at the bottom of the ramp at this time behind us.  The driver proceeded to let down the lift holding the coach and for some reason he dropped it all the way to the ground.  As soon as the coach wheels touched the ground the coach rolled rearward and jumped over the back of the dolly.  
I jumped out of the Jeep and ran to catch the coach.  The driver had run (as you see in the video down the driver side of the coach and around thinking he would let the door come to him as the coach came down the hill).  I ran and caught the door first.  The next thing to come into my mind was 'did I LOCK the coach'???  I jumped up onto the steps which thankfully had not pulled all the way in and were sticking out some so I was able to get a decent footing on them.  I pulled myself into the coach and started heading for the front to hit the brakes.  I had no way of telling which way the coach was heading but I KNOW there were a lot of people down in their cars at the foot of the ramp and they were NOT moving!  The coach was now careening pretty much out of control.  Just as I reached the front the coach hit something and made a loud noise and shifted hard to the right and I fell over, knocking a small table over in the process. I managed to finally get to the wheel and hit the brakes!  The coach came not to a screeching halt but rather to a quiet halt.  I faintly remember some tire squeal but not much.  
Once I caught my breath and the adrenaline stopped screaming I went outside to see the damage. 
The coach was up on the embankment on the side of the freeway in a lot of grass and mud.  
Miraculously no one was any where around the coach.
The coach had crossed completely across a two lane entrance ramp and ran up into the grass and mud on the side of the freeway embankment.  
ALL of the possible outcomes were running through my mind - we could have hit all those cars at the bottom of the entrance ramp, we could have hit a road sign or a culvert.  
The tow truck driver came and checked on me and I think he was more upset than I was.  I kept saying 'no one was hurt and the bus is just a thing' it was not a big deal to me as long as everyone was safe and sound.  He kept saying "I'm going to lose my job".  I guess I should have been really angry but I wasn't.  I just wanted to get the coach to Nacogdoches and end an already highly stressful day. 
So once everyone calmed down for a while we took our time getting the coach unstuck.  The tow truck driver hooked a chain to the coach and I was in the cab steering.  He asked to let go the brakes and I guess I was still in shock because I just let my foot off the brake (which I had probably been holding the whole time!) and waited as the chain strained, the back wheels creaked a little and the chain snapped like a piece of spaghetti.  At least I know my service brakes work well.  
Once the driver got another chain on the coach he pulled the coach out (I released the service brake this time!) and I steered the coach to the side of the entrance ramp and up and over the hill to a downward sloping section off the main road.  
We re-hooked the coach up to the dolly and strapped it down good and proceeded on our way by about 10:30pm.
We arrived at the Foretravel parking lot about 11:30 or maybe midnight and backed in and hooked the coach up. 
I surveyed the damage all around the coach but will let Foretravel or Motorhomes of TX do a full PMI inspection (if they still do that) to make sure there is no further damage to the coach. 
The only damage I see is a 6-inch crack in the fiberglass near the front outer headlight on the driver side and there was a plate from the bottom of the generator that was on the side of the road at the scene (I forgot to grab it in the fray).  
The airbags are kind of wonky and maybe the leveling valves will need to be checked.  
Honestly the biggest thing worrying my wife before we started was 1) bending the coach in half 2) all the stuff inside shifting and breaking (like plates and vases with plants).  Neither of these happened at all!  Very little moved inside the coach and the tow truck driver did a good job keeping the coach balanced so the the back end never scraped the receiver hitch except once going around another turn later in the trip.  
All this made for an extremely long day (5am to past 12 midnight) and we were both exhausted but extremely thankful to be able to spend the night in our home - our beautiful Newell was home at Foretravel (which has always seemed like home to us anyway) and now was ready to go to the body shop for estimates and the engine repair shop to get the cooling system sorted out. 
The moral of this saga is: 
WAIT FOR A LAND DOLLY OR LOW BOY THAT CAN HANDLE A BUS!!!  
I will never rush that decision again - I don't care if it takes a week to get the correct truck to us - I WILL WAIT and will gladly pay whatever difference the insurance does not take care of. 
The other more important moral is to have plenty of Angels guarding over your vehicles at ALL times! 

I am still debating about legal actions but not sure what I would sue for other than damages to the coach.  They did RUIN a perfectly good vacation and disabled our coach to the point that we cannot use it for work.  I use the coach in Atlanta to work out of when I am there as my office or my home away from home instead of renting an apartment so it DOES cost me money not to have use of it since it is much cheaper for an RV Park for the months I am there. 

Here is a quick glimpse into what happened YouTube style... this was the scariest moment of my life and then it got worse...
Just remember there is NO one in the coach and the coach is in Neutral with the axle pulled for towing.  Posted on YouTube  https://youtu.be/8THoWSHzBAs

Hadn't seen this one, before...great looking classic with trailer. Wonderful description

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=...3436693856

I believe I mentioned in another thread that while trying to find all my air tanks I discovered that the left rear drive axle bearing seal wasn't and I had oil all over the inside face of the inner tire as well as the two concealed faces.  The brake pads are soaked and there is a line of oil on the wheel well.  I just finished disassembling everything and this is what I found, the spindle looks like it has been hot at some time (I'm not assuming it was this time since the bearings don't look that bad)       and the axle doesn't look like it has been hot.       The bearings feel and sound good but have some discoloration on the inside face like they have been spinning on the spindle         The races feel good but the photos seem to show some wear.           I'm going to replace the seal of course (and the soaked brake pads) I just wonder if what you see here justifies replacing the bearings?  My inclination is to replace them while I have everything apart, assuming I can find the parts.

OK so on our '86 I have an air leak in the right rear compartment. Appears to be a small control with an adjustment knob on top. I am assuming this is the tag air regulator. Is this  correct?. Has anyone replaced this? Parts available? Can I swap it for an aftermarket valve?  It appears to have a seal to prevent adjustment?  It's in a crappy place to get it out so I want to have something to replace it with before I take the lines off.  Thanks for now, Mark

We need to have the coach towed to Bernd’s in Nacogdoches, TX (about 65 miles) - should we wait for a Landoll or Lowboy trailer or can a big wrecker that lifts the wheels do the job?  I just don’t want to damage the coach!  It will be about $1000 (plus even more time) to get a Lowboy big enough ... 
We are stuck in Panola, TX ... I think we will be getting a new head gasket :-( $$$$

i am trying to find out if my rear slide seal has a small leak or there is other reasons it goes down in 24 hours if there is no air source for the coach.  

attached is a picture of the regulator and valves/solenoid that puts air to my rear drivers side slide seal.

so...here is how it works.  


the incoming air comes into the top which is the right side in the picture.  it then passes through a 1/4" shutoff valve.  then it goes into the regulator where it goes from supply pressure (100psi or more) down to 20psi for the slide seal.   then out the bottom of the regulator into a check valve.  the check valve passes air to the solenoid, but is supposed to stop air from flowing back.  i will explain why later.  

from the check valve it goes into the top of the 12v dc solenoid valve.  it is normally open.  with no voltage on it, it passes air through to the air seal on the slide.  and stops air from flowing out the port that evacuated air from the slide when the slide room key is turned on.  when that key is turned, it puts 12v on the solenoid, that closes the incoming air from the supply side and allows the air in slide seal to escape to deflate the seal when you are putting the slide in or out.  (on that port i put a 12v vacuum pump to get all the air out.  

the air going to the slide seal goes out on the bottom of the solenoid on the fitting that is pointed upward.  

so....there is always air being put to the slide seal if there are compressors or shop air on.  the check valve is supposed to stop the air from escaping the seal if the supply air goes to below the 20psi of the slide seal.  

i used an air test jig and am putting air directly to the seal with gauges and valves to remove the entire regulator system.  

i tested each component of the regulator system.  i found the 1/4" shutoff valve was leaking alot either on or off.  i used kids bubble solution full strengh i get at the dollar store.  blows nice bubbles.  

i also test the check valve both ways.  passes air fine.  but in reverse it did leak a little.  i will replace it

so i will rebuild the setup with some new parts and see how it works.  hopefully tomorrow i will still have air in the slide seal....ha

tom

Gurus,

So I am camped out at a dog show for four days.  My plan was to run the generator during the day and run off battery at night.  As soon as I turned off the generator (and started running the inverter)....I noticed a huge power draw.  Even with mostly everything turned off, I was still drawing 50 amps!  My batteries are near the end of their life, but with draws like these, I won't last an hour!

The Aquahot was not running, nor was the fridge.  So I am off to try and identify what is drawing all that power.

While I was looking, the 120V compressor kicked on.  It was pulling 30amps.  (The inverter said the draw was 13 amps before it turned on and 43 amps after it turned on).  How can that be?  I looked up the Thomas air compressor and the specs call for something like 5 amps.

So...Does anyone have insight into looking at the power pulls in their coach?   My first thought is to get my clamp on ammeter and try to read the wires in the breaker box next to the inverter.

Thanks,
bill

We have a 1989 coach with a Kohler genset. Does anyone happen to know the pulley size on the 3/4 hp motor that drives the Dayton cooling squirrel cage fan?

We had to replace the motor and the pulley is froze to the motors driveshaft (We’re not with the coach).

Thanks for your help

1983 Newell.  Kohler is worn out.  Would like to remove it and replace with a new 10k or 12.5 k Cummins Onan.  Does anyone know of anywhere that has experience with doing that conversion?

Thanks,
Art