Florida Trip

["EZ"]

Wow! Holy cow. That was a nightmare. I've sold trucks to the towing industry for 15 years. There are some VERY professional towing companies out there. AND there are some like the clown that towed your Coach. Sorry you didn't get a good one. Those class 8 tow trucks cost over $500,000 now. So, normally you don't see a "clown" that operates one of those. Those guys go through some extensive training. One thing I would look for is how new and clean the truck is that the towing company sends out to tow your motorhome. The guys that keep their equipment looking new/clean will also be the company that spends the money training their operators. Old/dirty looking equipment? Extremely fat guys with nasty looking uniforms or no uniform? Steer clear of them!!

 

[Fish]

Wow! Holy cow. That was a nightmare. I've sold trucks to the towing industry for 15 years. There are some VERY professional towing companies out there. AND there are some like the clown that towed your Coach. Sorry you didn't get a good one. Those class 8 tow trucks cost over $500,000 now. So, normally you don't see a "clown" that operates one of those. Those guys go through some extensive training. One thing I would look for is how new and clean the truck is that the towing company sends out to tow your motorhome. The guys that keep their equipment looking new/clean will also be the company that spends the money training their operators. Old/dirty looking equipment? Extremely fat guys with nasty looking uniforms or no uniform? Steer clear of them!!

I had a combination of clean newer tow truck and dumpy guy in dirty uniform. Didn't mention he also broke my air connection, the truck stop didn't have another valve so they plugged it for me. I have to find a valve for it when I finally get it home. He also didn't leave all my driveshaft parts with the truck shop. When they went to hook up the driveshaft so I could leave they didn't have enough parts. Owner of the truck shop had to call the tow guy and track down the truck told him to pull over and absolutely not move, then drive to him to get the rest of my parts.

 

[Fish]

On my silverado brake dragging and getting hot, when we got to Florida and rested up I bought new front pads. Cleaned everything up and put them on, everything seemed ok. A week later it started dragging again and getting hot. So I bought a new caliper and installed it.
Everything fine for a few days then started getting hot again. I was really bumfuzzled. Finally I find on the internet that a brake hose can deteriorate from the inside and cause this. Fluid will go to the brake fine but be blocked on the return.

So I bought a new brake hose and installed it, it's worked great ever since.

Resort discourages working on your own vehicle on site so I had to do all his pulled up under my shade gazebo hiding like a criminal, lol.

Hopefully this coming winter I won't need to do any insurance arguing or mechanic work when we go south.

 

["EZ"]

On my silverado brake dragging and getting hot, when we got to Florida and rested up I bought new front pads. Cleaned everything up and put them on, everything seemed ok. A week later it started dragging again and getting hot. So I bought a new caliper and installed it.
Everything fine for a few days then started getting hot again. I was really bumfuzzled. Finally I find on the internet that a brake hose can deteriorate from the inside and cause this. Fluid will go to the brake fine but be blocked on the return.

So I bought a new brake hose and installed it, it's worked great ever since.

Resort discourages working on your own vehicle on site so I had to do all his pulled up under my shade gazebo hiding like a criminal, lol.

Hopefully this coming winter I won't need to do any insurance arguing or mechanic work when we go south.

Normally some grease on the slider pins will fix a sticking brake. Thanks for the heads up on the deteriorating hose. I never would have thought of that.

 

[Fish]

Leaving Thursday morning and driving straight through to pick up the Camelot from Gerzenys body shop in Sarasota. Supposed to be ready Friday morning, they're putting the diamond shield back on the front end Thursday
Then going to Lake City Florida to Casey Jones RV Park for 2 nights to rest up from the all night driving. $30 a night full hookups. Pull thru.
Then spending one night at Deer Run RV Park in Troy Alabama where all my trouble started, $30 a night for water and electric. Pull thru.
Then a night at Clarksville RV Park in Clarksville TN, $50 a night. Pull thru. This one always troubles me cause it's only 2 hours from home but I just don't want to drive those extra 2 hours. The trip from Troy to home is too long.

I stop at Clarksville on the way to Florida also, just to check everything out and rest up for the next day haul. I guess it's worth $50 to not over extend myself and get in a problem.

 

[AbdRahim]

Never drive longer than is comfortable. I often stop overnight three hours from home or an hour from thee campground, if it is getting late, or it has been a long drive to that point. For me six hours max, and try for less.

 

[Fish]

Home now.

Clear front protection installed by outside vendor at body shop is coming loose. It has a warrantee but I just found it they insist on replacing it where it was installed. So that's not going to happen until fall when we head back to Florida.

Had a front fender brace break, driver side. Pulled over at a rest area just to stretch my legs and fender was sticking out. Very lucky I pulled over when I did or it would have broken the whole panel. I had a big turtle spit out at me by a semi and ran over it on that side the day before, that's all I can figure that caused it. Then the screws in the fender rattled out.

I found some plumbers strap in my tool box and fashioned another brace and duct taped the top of the fender for peace of mind. Made it home with it still intact.

Another project for summer.

 

["EZ"]

It's always something, right?