Coach Restauration in Indiana and Michigan #1

Pelican Brief #1
We are on the road in our 'turn-of-the-century' coach peddling between Indiana and Michigan.

It is here where the corn is greener than green, the roads all lead to success and the boys and girls are all above average - just like in Lake Wobegonland.

After our sojourn at Kaufman's I did absolutely nothing significant over the Memorial Day weekend, except to play with this new computer. I say play because whatever I do, it is always play according to my dear wife (DW). Otherwise doing nothing in theRump Household is significant to itself.

Tuesday morning we headed for Sparta (actually Charlotte, MI,) where all the Spartans live. We drive through Climax, MI, somewhere along Rt 69, and wind up at our goal almost two days early. It was fast trip along a bumpy road but we duly followed the GPS this time and the signals from the sky got us to our destination just fine. We are promised early admission for service but got a false alarm. Nothing doing until Thursdaymorning at 7AM when the coach is picked up as originally scheduled. It is returned at night way past the scheduled work hours. The assignment was to tear things apart and replace whatever was old, in need of repair or could be updated to current technology -a carte blanche any auto mechanic can only dream about. (I call this the Ron Childs method for short) So my scheduled normal two day event turned into 2 really long days where our coach was in the shop after everyone else had gone home. We are still not done and will return on that lucky day, the 13th of June. We chose to park in lot #13 just to stick it to fate one more time.

What did we accomplish? The tires were really in excellent shape but were replaced with 315/80s anyway. Alignment was almost right on the button. A crack around one of the ball joint retainers may eventually result in a problem so these were replaced in a five hour job by two guys. The shocks could use replacement and were. Rear wheel seals showed signs of possible leakage and the bearings were replaced with new seals. I'm assured that with new filters, oils, tweaking and tightening that we're as good as new or better. The cost? $8700.

Does Frugal Fred win again? Only time (over the next 5 to 7 years) will tell. Present plans do not include a new coach unless it's a small run-a-bout which can be parked near a nursing home. :-) We'll see what the future holds. What do we have left? Some minor things they discovered like my rear beeper and backup lights weren't working. Some bulbs in the dash need to be replaced and some other light somewhere else is also scheduled to be fixed. They're going to check out why my front air takes so much longer to come up then my rear. Rump coach anatomy and all that. I asked them to check why my jake brake doesn't release after it kicks in on a down hill in cruise control. Been that way since we got the coach but nobody could fix the problem. I have to shut off the cruise to get back to speed again. Cruise works fine with the jake off. Maybe the experts will find a few more things to "fix" if given more time.:-) As an aside, I think Spartan corporate considers the service area more of a good will gesture then a profit center for users of the Spartan chassis. They charge the customer $80/hr when their actual costs are $87. While their parts are marked up significantly, they offer a 25% discount when one is there during or just before the Spartan Homecoming Rally. I figure anything they can do will always beat the prices of a North Trail who charged me 3 grand just for installing a hydraulic steering pump. Normal labor time was about 1.5 hours. It brings the expense of an open ended Spartan trip into perspective.

Sat, June 2
Today we are in Elkhart at the local Elkhart CG where the wi-fi really only works if one is parked in the middle of the campground. We're not. The Hartmans came by to visit this afternoon and all the Pelicans who are here will get together any day soon now. The Temples and us will be at Duncan Systems while the Brodeurs and the Hartmans get to stay at Camp Newmar.

As an aside I'm writing these notes as much for myself as for sharing with others via the blog and email. And Vic, one of these days, I too will make that giant step across the continent to head for Alaska. We have to free ourselves of our New Jersey home first though. Having two homes is not conducive to flying free as a bird - a pelican bird. It's bad enough having this mobile home to take care of.

Sunday, June 3
Sunday we arrived here at Camp Duncan and waited patiently for the Temples to arrive. Lots of rain all day and night. They call and announce their imminent arrival from Louisville. We have a quick dinner at Perkins. These little private dinners always work well in the direction of getting to know who is really sitting across from you so much better.

Monday morning we wait for a staff meeting to be over and are finally greeted by a technician around 9 am. We have no idea what the procedures are as far cleaning out the place for the impending work. Marlies packs everything just to be safe. The bed is piled high with kitchen contents. We move out to a motel, the Fairview Inn, where the corporate rate negotiated by Duncan is also the regular special rate being advertised out front. $49 per night and if you wish to sleep with someone, it's 5 dollars extra. Regardless, you get only one chair. At least they have good wi-fi reception. The coach is being gutted and under the carpet the floor behind the passenger seat is moist from all the rain. So there really is a leak somewhere and I'm not to blame for messing up the carpet under the desk I used to have. We make our various connections with Pelicans and other Floridian species at Camp Newmar and arrange for a Welcome-to-Indiana party for 14 at Heinees in Elkhart. Angela at Duncan recommended the place. While Heinees sounds suspiciously like a whole lot of rumps, we bravely venture forth. We like the decor of the place. We sit in a stall of sorts and most of us order the special of the day: Prime rib. It was sublime! The event turned into one of those memorable dinners we will not soon forget. Judy & Joe Miller, Terry Lyons and wife along with two other FL couples joined the Temples, Rumps, Brodeurs and Hartmans)

Tue, June 5
I'm trying to think up anything else Duncan can do while we are here and have ordered one of those lighted Newmar handles to make it easier for Marlies to get into the coach. They didn't want to put those things on coaches back then as they would get too wide as to inches. Now my intercom, door bell and the Coachlight logo are in the way. So? Remove the Coachlight thing. It is attached with two little pins or rivets. One will be covered by the handle and the other needs to be puttied and touched up. It's an 1/8 of an inch hole. I also have a paint nick from a small rock on the side of the coach. They gave me the estimate to repair the two tiny spots: $660. $360 in paint plus $50 shop fee(?) and the rest labor. Now wait a minute! Obviously this is not Spartan. These folks suck blood. I'm flabbergasted and feel they think there's money on them there London trees. I get to see the painter fellow who cfreated the estimate and explain that I didn't want to entire coach painted to match the holes. I wanted to go the other way around. Ah soo, said the blind man. Can do that. We'll see how that turns out. In the meantime we also get an estimate to fix the seam between the sofa sections which bother Marlies. I can't even see the problem. Our color leather can not be found at Newmar and if we buy new stuff somewhere, they will redo the entire sofa for only $1772 in labor costs. Yes mam, right away mam. Even my fussy little deary can now see that the problem is not as big as she thought it was. I guess I opened the spicket a bit too wide here at Duncan. Perhaps they live and die on Newmar warranty work and the margins may be a bit too skimpy. Then there is that other business ... and along came frugal Fred. :-)

We met a nice German couple (Uwe & Karin Schnitzler from Cologne) and went with the Temples and them to the Texas Round House for dinner. Another great place to eat if you like loud music and line dancing servers. My ribs were wet and messy but tasty enough.

Our old floor is all removed and ready for new flooring. New rollers are being installed for the slides (don't know why) and these were giving Mike, our tech, fits to install. We'll see if day three will bring him more success. They marked the new window location on the wall and then asked me if the location was OK. Well, no but isn't it a little late to ask after you crayon up the wall? Fun and games.

Did some other house cleaning today. Got the Envoy lubed and oiled and were told our center brake light was out. Who knows how long? Find a GMC dealer to fix it and are told an hour later that these things are LEDS type lights and the whole unit needs to be ordered as it's not a stock item. One red light $160. We then look for new tires as the XUV must have around 50K miles on it with the towing. Strange, when you look for tire stores none appear otherwise they are all over the place. SAMs has a tire sale on Michellin. Since that is what we have and they wore well, I buy a set and get $60 off. I thought it was off each tire as they list at $188 retail. Oh well. We then go off in search of an alignment shop and make an appointment at Baileys for 8am Thursday morning. The LED should be in by then and the Envoy will be back in shape just like big blue mama.