It wouldn't go anymore

[ferndaleflyer]

Take off for Darlington, SC with race car in tow. Tach stops working, oh well, I keep going. Notice volt gauge isn't working right, keep going. About 1/2 way there I pull up to a stop light in the left turn lane the light turns green and my DP don't move. Motor is running, generator is running, we aren't moving. After awhile I figured that the alternator had stopped and the battery that supplied the juice for the transmission was dead. Now What? Middle of no where. I ran an extension cord from the nearest compartment, Generator is running, connected my maintainer up. Then I hooked a set of jumper cables from the house batteries to the chassis batteries. Viola, everything works so I get it out of the road. Taped the extension cord to the side of the bus, bunggy cord the battery compartment as near shut as I could and headed up the road. I mean Jed Clampet had nothing on me. So today I find 2 bad batteries and it goes in the morning for a alternator. Life in an RV

[ferndaleflyer]

All seems good. They rebuilt the alternator and came to my home and installed it. I hooked up all the new batteries and everything seems to be good. Maybe they will post this

[ferndaleflyer]

They came today and replaced the alternator but I am not home. I’ll go tomorrow and connect the batteries and give it a try. Should be ok.

[RLS7201]

Twice I've hade alternator failure while on the road. My system charges all batteries from all sources. All I had to do was start the generator and finish the days drive. Alternators are easy to find for a 460 gasser.

Richard

[ferndaleflyer]

That is an undeserved compliment. But thanks. It a good unit. Monaco. I do all I can but some things I wish I would have farmed out. And I try to stay ahead of things.

[Matt_Colie]

What all of this told me is that FerndaleFlyer knows his coach better than most. So many would have had to wait for a tow to take them to a shop that would not be able to do anything before Monday.
Good Show FF
Matt_C

[ferndaleflyer]

Went by the shop yesterday evening and they still had not got alternator. I have to go out of town for a few days so the bus will have to wait. They kicked this post to the back oif the bus so I had to go find it.

[LouLawrence]

Sounds like you are on the right track! Good luck and give us the end of the story when you can.

[ferndaleflyer]

OK, Sat evening it was check batteries. The chassis one is about 24in long and 18in wide. It was less than a year old and ok as were both cables hooked to it. There are 3 more big 12 volt batteries hidden below that in a sliding tray. Here was a mess, cables carroded and 2 of the 3 batteries had failed to the point of leaking acid into the tray. What a mess. I removed the batteries and took baking soda to all of that mess in the tray. Used a stainless steal wire brush and cleaned all the cables and connections till they looked new. Last thing I did was paint the tray 2 coats of acid resistant paint. Early Sunday I headed to town, 25 miles, got 3 new batteries came home and installed everything back to the way its supposed to be. This morning they came and removed the alternator and I have yet to hear back from them. More later!

[schlep1967]

It's all about the attitude. I know what I can't do. Now it's time to figure out what I can do.
One of the items always available along any highway are steel cords from discarded truck tires. If something needs tied up, just look around.
I've fixed an nonfunctioning motorized awning with aluminum foil and a bobby pin.

[ferndaleflyer]

I have been told that I have done so much with so little for so long that I can now do almost anything with nothing. Life in an RV.

[JaxDad]

One of my fathers favourite lines, usually directed towards my mother, was “It worked didn’t it?”

[wa8yxm]

I would have just jumpered house to chassis.. and in fact did that on my Gasser.. But I now that path might not be that easy on a DP due to placement of the batteries (mine were close enough to get by with a single jumper all "Under" the RV)

[BarabooBob]

Never underestimate the ingenuity of a RV'r stuck along the road (or in the turn lane.) We were driving up the Coquihalla Highway (British Columbia) on the long steep section with our Class C and the engine started to loose power and speed. I was praying that we would get to one of the infrequent pull offs before it died. I limped into a pull off and it died as soon as we were totally off the road. I popped the hood and stood there looking at the engine expecting something to magically show me what the problem was.
I started to wiggle wires in the hopes that something would start working. My wife yelled out that the heater wire started running. I jambed a thin piece of wood along the side of the offending connector, ran a jumper to activate my battery isolator and used the coach battery to jump start the RV.
The battery would now charge off of the alternator and we finished our trip back to Wisconsin.
That is called farmer engineering here in Wisconsin. I am also a farmer welder (meaning that my work may not be pretty but it will hold up to abuse.)

[WNYBob]

MacGyver at his best.