All,
Curious about the part/s that you carry in the coach for emergency situations. Do you carry belts, hoses, filters, and/or other items? Advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance for your input.
Reese
Proper maintenance is key to happy trips with few mechanical surprises.
However, dodo occurs, so . . . .
I carry enough tools to do any work I am capable of doing / willing to do while on a trip. I carry a rebuild kit for the air dryer blow off (because I needed that one trip), some plastic DOT airline & fittings. Electrical wire, jumper cables, oil, antifreeze, distilled water, duct tape, small roll of stainless mig wire, a cordless drill & bits, a jack and tire changing tools.
But the most important tool is my cell phone.
The most important part is my wife's credit card !
Kyle nailed it pretty much.
I would add to that a high quality voltmeter with capability of measuring DC and AC amperage.
Nozzles and filters for Aquahot.
The antifreeze/coolant issue is a mess in the heavy engine world. Three or four different types of incompatible coolant chemistries, and no standardization of colors used with the specific chemistries. Try to find out what is in your engine, and put a couple of gallons on board.
Don't forget the fuel filter and wrench....you never know when you might get a bad batch of fuel and clog your filter.
All,
Thank you for your recommendations on parts to carry.
Reese
I carry filters for the drive engine, a few gallons of spare fluids, the tools that have been mentioned (predicated on what you feel comfortable using yourself or with the help of others). Carrying filters means you also need some way to fill them some way prior to installation - carrying either a jug of clean fuel or a jug that fits under the drain of the fuel tank.
I don't carry spare dryer parts, but I do carry the fittings that allow bypassing it. Based upon driving the 77 coach for several years with no dryer at all with no problems except in the winter I don't believe anything bad will happen with no dryer temporarily.
On my 93 coach the only belts that are critical are the direct drive fan belts which I constantly check so I carry no spares. I drove from Michigan to Florida with an inop chassis alternator and didn't even realize it until we arrived in Florida (I mistakenly thought the ammeter was wired backwards because it had always showed discharge since I had purchased the coach).
I bring along my air pressure test gauge setup since I'm compulsive about eliminating air leaks, but the reality is that unless a leak is large enough to hear you can probably live with it for quite some time unless it's causing the coach to get the "leans" big time. I also carry a squirt bottle for making suds to help locate leaks.
I guess that after 15 years in these coaches I've developed the philosophy of taking what is necessary to keep moving while on the road with minimal travel interruption and that I'm willing to do myself (changing tires is one for the road service which I have). The other critical thing I bring is the attitude: This too shall pass and in the meantime I'm going to learn something important about the coach and myself.
Jon,
Thank you for your reply.
Reese
An unopened quart of ATF is excellent for filling fuel filters.
As strange as it sounds ATF is a common fluid people report adding to their fuel tanks to improve engine performance. I doubt it helps, but given the number of people doing it there appears to be no harm either. I would go with whatever fluid is cheapest and not necessarily go with the synthetic most of us have in the tranny.
I have a tool box with just electrical stuff - tester, crimpers, strippers, huge amount of crimp on ends, fuses, tape, solder gun, heat gun, shrink wrap, various sizes and color wires, tie wraps, etc. If I run into an electrical issue that I don't have the tools to fix, they get added.