MAYCO's 1982 310 TD

[Isuzusweet]

Is it just me, or does Bob get louder after working so much on his fleet of aluminum?

GET SOME SLEEP BOB!

Cheers
Tony

[mayco]

Have you ever been watching a movie with sub-titles and you press the "volume up" button hoping the letters would get bigger? Not sure why this made me think of that.....

[mehes]

Mayco,maybe I'm sick too but I was thinking the same thing about subtitles.


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[mayco]

Heyyyyy Lance! Im going to PM you about some back related stuff. Was thinking of you this last week.

[mayco]

So I took the 310 in for alignment this morning. My regular shop wasnt equipped to do vehicle of that size so had to search for somewhere else. Ended up taking it into a shop near the interstate here that specialises in big rig semis and larger fleet vehicles. When I went in to try and schedule the appointment, the service manager seemed a little reluctant to do the alignment. I assume because of the age and the word "motorhome". I quickly explained that it was just a P30 series chevy motorhome chassis, told him that the tie rod assemblies, ball joints, and bell cranks were all new with new air bags and steering stabilizer and shocks. He changed his tune after hearing that and I was able to hand him the alignment spec sheet from SuperSteer. They probably have 10 to fifteen bays as you pull in their lot. I got a kick out of watching the mechanics in each bay turn their heads and get a good look at the rig as I pulled in this morning...hehehehe, vanity right? Oh well.
She IS a pretty rig no doubt!

So ill wait for their phone call when finished.........I dont know about you guys but man, it makes me really ANXIOUS every time I hand those keys over to ANYBODY! Even though they are reputable, professional, long term business here locally, it still bothers me bad to hand those keys over. I know, Im just weird, but soooo much love and care has been put into bringing that girl to where it is today.........I just get nervous.

Mike

[PeterH-350LE]

Originally Posted by mayco

....
So ill wait for their phone call when finished.........I dont know about you guys but man, it makes me really ANXIOUS every time I hand those keys over to ANYBODY! Even though they are reputable, professional, long term business here locally, it still bothers me bad to hand those keys over. I know, Im just weird, but soooo much love and care has been put into bringing that girl to where it is today.........I just get nervous.

Mike

Haha, I know that feeling. I don't even let them drive it for the State Inspection and most of the time they are very glad...

[bobmiller1]

Wish you lived closer to me Mike...I'de do the alignment for you. Regards, Bob

[tevake]

The hope is that they will respect the work resently done, and carry on in the same spirit.

Good luck with it Mike, I too get nervous leaving it in others hands.
Standing by for the glowing report of steering improvement
And confidence gained.

Cheers Richard

[mayco]

Picked it up at 5:00 and hit the highway home. It feels really gooooooooooood! Drivers side tie rod was pretty sloppy when I removed it. Steering wheel centered well and just one more improvement in tightening up that front end. That ball joint incident kinda put the fear of god in me and Im just glad to have these done. It does feel much better. Happy camper, PLUS I did something I had never attempted before, and that feels really good.

Thanks for the support fellas! I mean that!

Mike

[mayco]

Me too Bob, I would love to watch/help? with the process. Of course getting to see and hang out in your shop for a few hours would be pretty dang awesome too!!!!! Maybe some osmosis would take place!

[mayco]

Headed 100 miles south last night to Sam Parr wildlife area in southern Il. Last hour of the drive was well after sunset. My headlights suck. Thank god for my new led fog lamps but the headlights are on the list. Anyway, first trip out after new tie rod ends and professional alighnment. So far replaced bell cranks, shocks, stabilizer, airbags, all ball joints, and lastly the tierods. Man o man. Two lane road all the way down last night. The work done so far has been worth every single nickel, every single hour, and every busted knuckle!!!!!! Tracks WONDERFULLY down the road. Two finger driving, (if you wanted to) all the way. Sooo much less stress after driving a few hours. (Except the part about not being able to see with my headlights on low beam). Golly, it exceeds my expectations in performance.
WOOOOOHOOOOOO!!!!!!! She continues to run really well also. Toally worth the time n money for that suspension and linkage work. Lovin it!

Mike n Lynn

[bkahler]

Personally I think good steering that is one of the most important parts of making a ride less stressful. If you're constantly correcting the steering wheel while driving then you're you're just slowly wearing yourself out on a long drive.

Glad to hear you're happy with all the work you've been doing!

Brad

[mayco]

First thing I noticed Brad was my shoulders and upper back werent so darn tight after driving. Good stuff.

[mehes]

Mike, good work. It's really a nice feeling to have a machine you can trust. Now you know your front end is in fine shape. There are no iffy parts for you to worry or wonder about. You know first hand they are good and installed properly because you did it yourself. Now you got me thinking about my front end. Did you happen to mention to Linn what a good job you did? Happy travels. Let us know if you find anything to fix those headlight.

[mayco]

Ok, Ill fess up. Lynn did most the work while I was watching football.
God I love her!

Sam Parr Fish n Wildlife area.


Wrigley gets within 100' of water and in he goes! Jumped off the end of the dock here and swimming back to shore.


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[tevake]

Great follow up report on the improved steering that a tight front end can make.
Remarkable what a hard working wife can accomplish in her time off. ��

I also really appreciate how you are able to mix significant improvements in the condition of your coach and still manage to get good use from it as you go.

Neat camp site, and happy dog. Loving it!

Cheers Richard

[PeterH-350LE]

my favorite pictures...Classic Airstream at camp

[Vycan]

Mike,

I totally understand. I even get nervous letting the Mrs drive. Mostly because I always cross check all my gauges, and when something goes wrong, I just calmly keep her running straight, decelerate gradually to the shoulder and diagnose. Not to disparage the Mrs, but in hectic situations she is not as calm, and recently our normal has been issues. So as I finish going over her systems and build my own confidence in DD again I will have less concern with the Mrs driving.

-Vycan

-Vycan

[mayco]

Originally Posted by tevake

Great follow up report on the improved steering that a tight front end can make.
Remarkable what a hard working wife can accomplish in her time off. ��

I also really appreciate how you are able to mix significant improvements in the condition of your coach and still manage to get good use from it as you go.

Neat camp site, and happy dog. Loving it!

Cheers Richard

As I slowly got the new parts installed the steering got incrementally better. I guess I wasnt expecting it to ever feel as good as it does now. I dont have much experience driving a vehicle with this large of a chassis so I didnt have a baseline to compare it to. About the biggest Ive driven on any regular basis was a one ton dump truck, sometimes a 1.5 ton but not often. So I guess Im a bit surprised how good it feels and how well its tracking now. What a difference this will make on multi-days driving.

[mayco]

Need some mechanical advice on my Generator fellas. Its been getting harder and longer to start here lately. Today could barely get it to fire. It would hit and want to start then die out. Here is what I found: Im getting an intermitent spark at my points. Have to use my ipad camera to see the gap but clearly when it sparks across the points the motor immediately wants to start. But, then the points fail to spark and she does nothing. I cleaned connections of wires at coil and at the back of the points where there is the wire from the coil and the one from the condenser. Im hoping its a bad condenser. Is there a way to test if its the condenser or the coil? Measured the gap at the points as best I could and it seems reasonable. .020 as per spec. Lightly cleaned the points with emory board. I have serviced plugs, plug wires, oil n filter, air filter.

The other question is does anyone have a parts source for a condenser. I have the Onan 6.5 Genset.

Thanks for any advice or information fellas.

Mike