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 bay and one of the tech was working on a large diesel pusher. Looked fantastic on the outside with 3 slides, full body paint sat dish and all the 'stuff.
Underneath, it was a mess. The coach looked like it was stored in a field during the off season. Everything underneath was corroded. It was in the shop for a Cummins EGR valve replacement and the tech was into a solid 24 hours to replace the valve (normally on an accessable engine), a 30 minute job.
The tech had to pull the entire exhaust manifold and turbo off the engine because all the bolts were so corroded, he could not get anything loose, just to replace the EGR valve. he told me because it was so cramped underneath, it took 3 guys to wiggle the assembly out.
I took a look underneath and I was amazed at the corrosion. even the radiator support was rusted to the point where failure was just a bump away.
He said there was less than 20K miles on the coach. He had the ATA plumbing laying on the bench. I was amazed to see how corroded the tubes were, both outside and INSDDE and I thought to myself, all that rust is going through the ATA unit and into the motor... just amazing.
I guess it's 'for sale'. Not for me. I'd not even want to pay the repair bill for the EGE valve replacement at $130 bucks an hour plus parts 24 x $130 is a chunk of change... $3 grand plus for what should be a 250 dollar job.
Looked so nice on the outside but what a bomb on the underside.
Moral of the story is, heated inside storage, or at least inside storage on concrete is much better than parking a unit in a dirt lot somewhere. Moisture ruins any unit and it son't take long either.
Underneath, it was a mess. The coach looked like it was stored in a field during the off season. Everything underneath was corroded. It was in the shop for a Cummins EGR valve replacement and the tech was into a solid 24 hours to replace the valve (normally on an accessable engine), a 30 minute job.
The tech had to pull the entire exhaust manifold and turbo off the engine because all the bolts were so corroded, he could not get anything loose, just to replace the EGR valve. he told me because it was so cramped underneath, it took 3 guys to wiggle the assembly out.
I took a look underneath and I was amazed at the corrosion. even the radiator support was rusted to the point where failure was just a bump away.
He said there was less than 20K miles on the coach. He had the ATA plumbing laying on the bench. I was amazed to see how corroded the tubes were, both outside and INSDDE and I thought to myself, all that rust is going through the ATA unit and into the motor... just amazing.
I guess it's 'for sale'. Not for me. I'd not even want to pay the repair bill for the EGE valve replacement at $130 bucks an hour plus parts 24 x $130 is a chunk of change... $3 grand plus for what should be a 250 dollar job.
Looked so nice on the outside but what a bomb on the underside.
Moral of the story is, heated inside storage, or at least inside storage on concrete is much better than parking a unit in a dirt lot somewhere. Moisture ruins any unit and it son't take long either.
