Unpleasantly Surprised
While I don't own a diesel pusher (I have a TC), I was down at the shop last week (the shop is an authorized Freightliner chassis repair facility and heavy truck dealership, I was in the back service ...
Forum Discussion
rockhillmanor wrote:Bird Freak wrote:DownTheAvenue wrote:I agree.
You are making quit an assumption that it had been improperly parked which caused the corrosion. With your descriptions, I bet it had been exposed to sea water or salt treated roads.
X2
I see you are from Michigan. You really should know all about what salted roads can do to any vehicle. That are either, not undercoated or washing the underside each and every time after driving on salted roads whether the roads are currently wet or dry outed when you drove on them. :W
Certainly has nothing to do with whether it was a DP or not. Under carriages of ANY vehicle will rust from salt. A $2,000 RV or a $300,000 RV will all rust from salt.
I am. The coach was in Toledo at the shop.
Like I said in a previous post, no salt residue (white deposits) anywhere I looked and I looked hard at the chassis.
Salt residue don't get inside the ATA tubing but moisture from parking outside on dirt or on dead grass in the wintertime and letting the unit sit for a long period can get inside...and did.
I've never seen ATA tubes rusted inside before, that was a first for me. Even the tech was taken back by that.
The Alcoa's were nice and shiny and the body was beautiful as well as the interior (I got inside, took my shoes off too because it wasn't mine and the interior was showroom but the undercarriage was a mess.
The tech explained to me that every fastener on the manifold that secured both the turbo and the EGR valve was rusted and not removeable so they pulled the entire manifold with the turbo intact and worked on it on the bench, I presume using large amounts of PBlaster and heat.
I know the guys at the shop really don't care to work on any diesel pusher because of the cramped and impossible spaces to work in. I've seen many in the shop for engine work where the back bedroom bed has to be removed to access the overhead.
Probably why there are 2 labor rates. One foe commercial trucks and another (higher) for coaches.
One exception is Prevost. They have a couple they maintain. They are easier to work on than a Freightliner chassis. More room under there.
