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  1. Newell Gurus
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  Stopped to help a 91 Prevost xl country coach today

Posted by: encantotom
11-09-2017, 06:14 PM
Forum: General
- Replies (5)

yesterday my daughter sent me a text with a picture of a 40ft prevost country coach blocking the main street in wickenburg az where she works and 20 miles from us.  he had come out of a parking lot and was entering the street and got caught on the dip i guess.  

this morning she called me and said the same bus was stalled on the side of the road about ten miles from our house 

so i hopped in my car and went to see if i could help.  it was a man probably in his 70's by himself that was a cowboy.  a roper.  

he had been pulling his horse trailer and had an incident with it that damaged it and where when it jackknifed on the back of the coach.  the rear bumper was also pulled out where he had caught the day before.  

when i drove up it was idling and sounded like a metal bucket of rocks was being rattled.  we talked and he was having a variety of problems.  his key would start the engine but not turn on any gauges on the dash.  the rattling was there, the coach in the rear was way down and not raising up at all.  

the rattling was the alternator.  it was literally coming apart.  the rear housing was loose.  it was no good.  so he just cut the belt off which was totally cracked and bad anyway.  i told him to just run the generator with merge on and he could get the 15 miles to where he was headed.  

he needed a new alternator

the key problem i had no idea and he could drive it the way it was.  

he ran at high idle for a long time and the rear did not come up.  he decided to head off anyway.  it looked like it was trying to do a wheelie.  the front end was way up and the rear wayyyy down.  i hope he made it ok.  

i gave him my name and number and to call me if he needed.  

i think the reason he got caught on the street the day before is that he wasnt getting to ride height.  

tom

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  Hello, new to the Newell Gurus site

Posted by: John H Smith
11-08-2017, 05:18 PM
Forum: Please introduce yourself
- Replies (9)

Just wanted to say hello to everyone and I hope that I may be of help when I can and I hope to learn when I can't and become more familiar with the Newell Coaches.

I'm new to your site and have always been a fan of the quality of the Newell Coach. At present I have a '94 Foretravel Unihome 36'. I know some of the Newell Gurus visit our Forum and I thought it would be nice to see visit your site since I have thought about seeing how things were done here. I am always trying to learn from others as well as just learning by renovating my own coach when I can. I've seen a lot of Newell Coaches on the road and know the quality is top notch and by learning more about the Newell I thought that some of the ideas I pick up here I can apply to my own coach. Also, maybe someday I may find a Newell that suits my budget and needs. I'm retired now and live in Maple Ridge, BC. I've had my coach for 4 years now and really enjoy showing my wife places she has never been to, especially the South Western states.

John

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  Newell Sightings

Posted by: Guy
11-08-2017, 05:06 PM
Forum: Newell Sightings
- No Replies

Mrs Cobham, ( AKA navigator) spied this Classic Newell off the highway in a small rv park in Asheville North Carolina today, not far from the Vanderbiilt   Biltmore Estate. It is plated out of Arizona.  The toad was gone. Looks like no one was home...Didn't  want to  appear to be a stalker and continued on our way ,Nice looking  coach. I better get to polishing ours Smile

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  Oil drain

Posted by: rheavn
11-08-2017, 12:07 PM
Forum: Tools
- Replies (1)

I've been asked many times how I catch the oil.  Found a tool that works great.  I was able to drain the oil & change the filters at the same time.  No mess on the floor to clean up.  There are many different brands & designs.  This is the one I selected and it worked great.  Has a manual pump to pump the oil back into containers for recycle.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MS9...UTF8&psc=1

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  Pressure in the slide seals

Posted by: bikestuff
11-08-2017, 10:36 AM
Forum: Slides
- Replies (15)

Gurus,

This morning I was awakened by a dripping noise in the front of the coach.  I investigated and found water virtually pouring from the top aft side of the number 1 slide.  (The one that has given me so much trouble).  I quickly tilted the coach to the drivers side and down in the back to get the water off of the seal.

It had been raining, but not storming, so I suspected the seal had deflated.   I looked at the top edge of the seal from inside the coach and could see that the seal was inflated but there was light coming through. 

When I investigated, the seal had air...but was softer than the rest.  I adjusted the seal air regulator to add some air.  This significantly reduced the light that I could see.  (There is a seal joint in the middle that still has light coming through).

I checked the rest of the seals and found different air pressures on each of them.  

So...what is the correct pressure that should be on a slide seal?  How much is too much?  and.....if you run higher than normal, will it blow the seal or reduce its life?  Finally, what is the life  expectancy of a slide seal?  Is it measured in inflate / deflate cycles?  Years?  

Thanks!
bill

edit: After it quit raining, I looked more closely and found that the gap between the top of the slide and the slide seal is significant. (Even with the additional air pressure). It looks like the bar that is supposed to lift the middle of the side is not working. (Newell adjusted the bar when they rebuilt the ceiling of the slide about 9 months ago). Any thoughts would be appreciated.

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  My interior remodel

Posted by: Floridian
11-07-2017, 07:14 AM
Forum: Interior Things
- Replies (30)

Well, I've just had the coach for a couple of weeks and the family and I have been doing some interior remodel and removed the existing carpet. By removing the carpet we ended up
removing pretty much everything from within the coach (except one dinette booth that we couldn't remove without removing one of the furnaces completely).


It is still a work in progress but I wanted to post the change on the floor so far. We ended up using LVP and, except were the step cover is that it bends a little when you step on it, it looks perfect. I was thinking in removing the plywood that sits on top of the step cover and replace it with sheet rock but it is too heavy to do that, if it gets worst well replace the plywood with something else and see if it doesn't give up that much.

We'll start putting everything back inside as we have a small trip this weekend but we'll remove all seating again to re-upholster everything on a different color. We are really happy that we've removed the carpet.

Some of the pictures are from the before and some for the after (out of order). If you want to see a special part or section just ask.

                                                                               

and a few more pictures on this post (limited to 20 per post).

                       

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  Allison HT-741 Wiring

Posted by: 77newell
11-06-2017, 03:51 PM
Forum: Drivetrain
- Replies (3)

I'm posting this for future reference.

The HT-741 needs to know the throttle position in order to decide how hard to slam together the clutches for the various gears. Below 60% throttle is soft shifts, above that is hard shifts. The engine computer has an output signal that shows the throttle position. That signal has to go through a conversion circuit in order to be used by the transmission ECU. That conversion takes place inside a 2" square black plastic box mounted on the right firewall of the engine compartment. Mine says "KDS Controls" on it. One wire into it is crimp spliced to the wire from the engine DDEC and the three wire black plastic detachable connector goes to the transmission ECU.

The "Check Trans" light will be on whenever the ignition key is on and the engine is off. Once the engine starts, the oil pressure switch mounted on the right rear of the 8V92TA engine allows the ECU to enter its startup test flash of the light. If there are trouble codes detected by the engine, with the engine running you can flip the "Check Trans" switch up and read the trouble codes as flashes of the light. The codes will remain stored in the ECU as long as there is battery power to the ECU (separate source from either the ignition switch or from the oil pressure switch). I'm not sure whether turning off the battery shutoff switch will delete the codes. Unless you have a Allison code reader instrument the standard way of resetting codes is to disconnect battery power.

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  Safe-t-plus, anybody?

Posted by: Floridian
11-06-2017, 11:23 AM
Forum: Suspension/Tires/Wheels
- Replies (26)

http://www.safe-t-plus.com/

Has anybody installed one of this on a 80's model or newer? Will it help?

I'm kind of paranoic about a tire blow out and loosing control, will this unit help?

Any thoughts are more than welcome.

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  Thank you Newell Gurus

Posted by: encantotom
11-06-2017, 10:28 AM
Forum: Whats up
- Replies (11)

Hi all,

Today is one of those days where i am just astounded and grateful for what Newell Gurus has become and the incredible friends that Darlene and I have gained because of it.  

When Darlene, Scott and i started the forum over 5 years ago I had no idea of what it would become.  It was to be a place for me and my buddies to exchange information and help each other.  

It has grown beyond our wildest dreams. To be honest, we really didnt have any expectations.  we just created it to fill a need we had personally.  We have traveled all over the USA meeting gurus and seldom a day goes by that I dont get a call or message from one or more of you.  Many of you have been to our home and we loved having you here.  Many of you have had us at your home and we treasured that as well.  


We have mourned as some of our guru gang has had challenges or passed away.  We were happy as many of you shared the good things in your lives with us.  

Thanks to each and every one of you.  I know many of our forum members are silent and dont post much.  We welcome you to share your experience with us.  there is so much to learn and the more friends we have the better...

The past 5 years and a bit have been incredible and we are proud and super happy to have you as our friends.

Please stop by and visit us.  we have 2 full hookup 50a sites out back.  

as always feel free to contact me anytime.  

life is good

thanks again

Tom & Darlene McCloud

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  Air dryer and tanks

Posted by: Tf175
11-06-2017, 06:35 AM
Forum: Suspension/Tires/Wheels
- Replies (5)

Hello to everyone and thanks for warm welcome !
 I am looking at getting the air brake /suspension systems working properly on the 86 , coach #89.  After the 700 mile initial trip home I noticed an oily spray on the side of the muffler . No oil evident in exhaust exit . Turns out the copper tubing coming from the air dryer /heat exchanger vent was routed into a hole in the side of the muffler . The tubing had broken just outside the muffler and was spraying the air dryer exhaust on the side of muffler . The compressor builds air in about two minutes or so , but I was concerned about it blowing oil into the system . I went through the air dryer ( CR Brakemaster Model 68 ) and found a film of " oily water " . No dirty, black oil , only what you would would have with a small amount of water with a few drops of clean oil . No liquid actually standing , just a film. No "black " oil in tube either . The dryer has been cleaned and serviced with new check valve and dump valve kits from SKF . Have not reinstalled yet .
 I am trying to find the air tanks and drains . Located a vertical tank , driver's side forward of bellhousing , with a drain cock . Hardly a drop came out , but I now believe this is the catch tank for the air box drains . I have now found a drain cock on what appears to be a lateral frame member ? It's forward of the trans and looks to have lines coming out the top heading to the rear brakes , etc. I did not get a look at the top , only the bottom . Drain cock looks to be plugged with dirt , probably last drained during Reagan's State of the Union address. Have not attempted to open this valve yet . I found drain cocks toward the front , two for the fuel /water separators and one in a rectangular box below the main fuel tank . I must be missing something somewhere . 
  Coach drives very well ( the thing that sold me ) , feels level on the road and stands right up soon after start up . However , the driver's side lowers after being parked for a few hours , seems to be worse at the rear . I will chase down the leak , but the 120 v compressor doesn't work . There is no voltage going into the compressor , not sure if there is a switch somewhere or if it's because I have the coach connected to a 30 amp power source at the moment. 
There are two female quick connects , one at the compressor ( forward of driver's front wheel ) and one in passenger engine bay that's connected to manifold(s) , electric/air solenoids , a gauge and blue tubing . I'm thinking I can connect one of these to air line from shop and start chasing the leak(s). 
 Any insight will be greatly appreciated , apologies for wordy description..
 Hope everyone is having a grand old time out there ,
Thanks ,
Chris

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