Florida Trip

[Fish]

A little bit of every topic in this post so I'll put it in this forum.

Left Marion, IL on Dec 3. Planned on arriving at The Glades RV Resort 40 miles east of Ft. Myers on Dec. 6. First stop Clarksville TN. Nice little campground there we like. It's only 3 hours or less from home and makes the rest of the trip shorter.
Left there, filled up, next stop Troy, Alabama. Nice place called Deer Run. Only $27 if you don't need sewer. Went to leave morning of Sunday Dec. 5 and had a crank but no start. Changed fuel filters, primed, no start. Figured I couldn't get anyone on a sunday so called the office and paid for another night and continued to work on it. Not hearing the lift pump running. Cracked the water separator a few times to let air out if that was the problem but no luck.

Called coachnet Monday morning. They ran me through troubleshooting lists, all of which I'd done already, then said they'd get me a tow to a shop. I asked about a mobile mechanic and they said they'd pay for that call but if that didn't work I'd then have to pay for the tow. Or I could be towed then and they'd pay for it. Didn't leave me much choice.

Clown shows up and starts to hook on, I ask him if he's taking the driveshaft loose or pulling the axles. He says "I've been doing this 22 years, we're only going about 8 miles, believe me it won't hurt a thing". I said Allison disagrees and you'll not move this without doing one or the other. So he tries to get his fat ass under there and can't, so calls the shop we're going to and they sent someone out to take the driveshaft loose. This had me so rattled I didn't notice he didn't take the rear mudflap off. I did notice he lifted the Monaco way in the air so his lazy clown ass wouldn't have to bend over to put the tire straps on the wheel lift.

Got to the big truck shop and I showed him the damage I found. Crack in front cap. Misaligned generator door/tray. Misaligned front electrical bay door. Underneath of front cap all scuffed up. He reached in the generator bay and pulled on a brace and acted like he'd fixed everything. I told him I'd be filing a claim, took pics, got his bosses card.

 

[Fish]

Spent the night at the truck shop on the generator. By the time clown got me there it was 3 pm. They started on it the next morning. I was scared I'd have to have a new lift pump. There were guys crawling all over the wiring and testing things for 4 hours, one guy at least and 3 at most. Lift pump is hid on the passenger side of the cummins under the ecm. Lift pump finally started up due to mechanic moving wires. Bad connection. He cleaned everything and tied the wires up where they wouldn't be flopping around and secured the connection. $600. I wasn't displeased as I was afraid I'd be spending 2 grand for a new lift pump. They were good people. They did a few other small things also.

Went back to Deer Run for the night of Dec. 7 and headed out morning of Dec. 7. Filled up immediately and headed to Lake City Florida and Casey Jones RV Park. Nice little stopover for $30. Dumped the tanks. Left out morning of Dec. 9 for The Glades. Got here and got set up.

 

[Fish]

So since we got here and set up I found the rear mudflap bent up my rear electrical bay door. It turns down at a 45 at the bottom and now part of it turns at a 90.

Called coachnet a few days after we got here, they said they'd handle dealing with tow company claim. I had informed them of damage before Monaco was even fixed in Alabama. I called North Trail of Ft. Myers, got voicemail at collision center twice and no return call. Being stubborn I kept calling and finally got someone. They said the quickest I could get an estimate was Jan. 24. Very disappointing.
The next day I finally got a call back from the person I had left the voicemails for. He confirmed Jan. 24.
Coachnet sent me a claim no. and assigned me a claim representative. I sent them pics and explanations of damages. I called Gerzeny's RV World in Nokomis FL yesterday and actually got a real person, they gave me an appt. of Jan 6 for an estimate. 90 minutes away but worth it not to have to deal with arrogance. Now trying to find a week open at an rv resort/campground around that time and visit and play golf with friends at Sarasota. Long shot but I'm trying.

 

[Fish]

And the end so far of this long saga:

I got 7.1 mpg except for the night I ran the generator all night long and I got 5.1 on that tank.

Monaco pulled my 2010 Silverado ext cab 4x4 great on the way down.

Did I mention my tst 507 tire monitors showed my silverado front wheel getting to 149 degrees just north of Tampa? Well it did and we spent about an hour there at a rest area. Front right brake apparently hanging on the truck. After I figured it out I pumped the brakes a bunch, and after it cooled down we went on and had no more problems. I need to look into that though.

 

[MapNerd]

Crazy ride. Glad you managed to keep your cool

 

[Rich-MLsRV]

Sorry to hear about your experience with a tow truck operator. Good that you were insistent on disconnecting the drive shaft. I’ll remember this in case we ever need to be towed. Thanks for posting to educate us.

 

[Fish]

Finally found a place in Sarasota. Sun n fun for 115 a night. 4 nights.

 

[Fish]

Estimate is $16600. Clown also crushed my generator exhaust and a lot of fiberglass on the front cap has to be reglassed on the backside.

 

[Fish]

Coachnet rep said yesterday that tow company had turned it over to their insurance company and we should have a claim number Monday. I am very relieved and kudos to coachnet.

 

[Fish]

This really drug on for quite some time. Goodyear Towing first agreed to pay the claim, then started refusing to cooperate with adjustors or even talk to them so I turned it over to State Farm, my insurance company. Should have done this at the outset. (things I'll do different next time and should have done this time, have a mobile mechanic look at it first, and if a tow is absolutely necessary insist it be on a lowboy trailer)

State Farm got to work quickly, told me to get it fixed, issued me a check for the $16,600 minus my $500 deductible. I made an appointment for the repairs.
Approximately 2 weeks after I filed a claim with my insurance company I got a lot of subrugation instructions, as in don't have any contact with Goodyear Towing or their reps, don't sign anything, we'll keep you apprised of the situation. Then a few days later I got an email that State Farm had deposited my deductible back into my checking account. Apparently it didn't take them long to get Goodyear Towing and their insurance company to see the light.

Dropped the Camelot off at Gerzeny's RV collision center Friday april 22, then we came back to IL. Supposed to be able to pick it up in 2-3 weeks.

 

["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?