Classic Motor home get together

[mayco]

Thanks Kota

[choctawmel]

Well rats!
The wife came home today to tell me she has a procedure that Friday. "That's the only date the was open." Rats!
And we talked about going! She says I never listen.

[Kota]

It's a bit of a drive to include in the Colorado Springs activities but Timeless Travel Trailers in Arvada is worth the factory tour. Something to consider on the way there or back.

http://www.timelesstraveltrailers.com/

[mayco]

Great idea. I think we may try to see that.

[tevake]

I was just checking back in the thread to make sure of the dates, and want to respond to twh 731.
Tom and Sue, please do come over for a visit with us there in Colorado Springs.
I will be happy to show you my 345. And I'm sure others will also.
It is really hard to get exposure to live running airstream Mohos as there are not lots of them running around.

I bought mine in fla. While living in Hawaii. It was the first one I had been aboard. I went checked it out, bought it. Then headed out for AZ a couple if days later. A real leap of faith that ended up working out alright for me.

It might be helpful for you to get the chance to check some out in person if you are considering tracking one down for yourselves.

Hope to meet you there.

Cheers Richard

[twh731]

Thanks Richard! Sue and I have purchased a 1970 Safari on Valentines Day. It is in very good condition but like all older AS needs a new axle. We are waiting for it to arrive but in the meantime we are picking away at the small stuff. It is stripped inside except for the original bathroom is intact and actually in pretty good shape. The PO had put new linoleum down and the floor seems in good condition but we are planning to take the belly pan off and inspect the frame, outriggers, and floor. We have been trying to do this fairly large project but...we move cars for a local car dealership that Sue works at. We also have full time jobs, so with moving cars just about every weekend and working all week we have had very little time to actually dig into the bowels of our AS. We did have electrical service installed here at home so that we can plug it in and that went well and most of the electrical stuff that is still in it works. Anyway, sorry for the long post. Thank you so much for remembering our interest in attending the Rally and if we get another dealership transfer ( moving a car from Denver area dealership) we will definitely stop by and meet everyone. If we get the weekend off we will likely be doing some actual work on our AS...make hay while the sun shines, if you will. I'm sure we will meet up at some point in the future as we are very dedicated to getting our AS on the road and meeting other Airstreamers. Thanks again and hope to see you all soon! Tom

[mayco]

We left Sunday and stopped at Pershing State Park in Mo for the night. We had the campground to ourselves. GREAT!! Monday continued west on rt. 36 into Kansas and the 310 was running just beautifully. Not a single hiccup along the way and Rt 36 is a really nice drive. Stopped just west of Seneca Ks in little roadside park to stretch our legs and make a cup of coffee. We were creeping along in the rest stop getting ready to park and all the sudden BOOM ! The front end bottomed out! I thought I had hit a huge pot hole and blew a tire or something. Got out to inspect and found the right front wheel folded under the coach! Snapped the upper AND lower ball joint and some other damage in the process. 30 seconds earlier we would have been traveling 65 mph on the highway! Feeling extremely lucky. So here we sit in between Seneca and merrysville Kansas. More to follow........




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[mayco]

........but she was running REALY GOOD....

[Kota]

Ouch! Let us know how things are going and if there is anything we can do to help.

Dave...

[mayco]

Thanks Dave. I have never in my life met more friendly and helpful people than right here, we stopped counting at 14 folks who stopped and offered assistance. Unbelievable folks. There is a shop about 5 miles away, the owner came down and got started on it yesterday afternoon. We are gonna try and get it driveable so we can get it to his shop today. Parts are another story, we are in a very rural area. Cant say enough about the people here though, even the county sheriff stopped twice to check in on us. Just soooooo grateful it happened when it did. I dont even want to think about what would have been the case if this happened after we had made it to the mountains.

AAA left us hanging without a tow for the second time. Gonna cancel that service as soon as I make other arrangements.

[mayco]

I am going to need an alignment shop somewhere between here and Fort Collins or that general area. The mechanic told me that there is no place around here that could do the p30. They are going to try and measure the best they can to get me on the road but we've got about 1500-2000 miles left on this trip and need to get it aligned somewhere on the road. Not sure how close they can get by measuring off the side that is still intact. So if anyone knows of a shop along US36 that could handle a p30 I would much appreciate.

Obviously Im going to have both sides done, upper n lower, repack the bearings and what not in the process......$$$$$$$. Anything else you fellas can think of that I should have them do as long as its apart? Already have done brakes n flex lines. Amazed that it didnt tear the brake lines or fuel lines in the process. It did rip the mounting bolts out for the Racor but didnt break the fuel lines. Not too much body damage and the tire and rim look ok.

Thanks fellas,
Mike

[Kota]

I've clamped 6 foot levels to the bottom of the calipers and measured front and rear and have gotten remarkably close on tow.

Transwest is south of ft Collins on I25. They do motorhome alignments.

[bobmiller1]

Can you tell me if the ball joints had been replaced recently or the cause if the failure. I would be looking at the left side to see if something is wrong as well. Dam lucky this did not happen on the highway.

[mayco]

Im not really sure if the ball joints had ever been replaced. There is 120,000 miles on the rig. I had just greased the chassis last week so I had been down there looking things over and nothing looked obviously suspect. We had just come off the highway and the rig had been handling really well. I had commented to my wife in fact about how well it was doing in the Kansas wind. When it broke I was just getting ready to park, I wasnt even turning sharp, I was going 5mph or less. Didnt even hit a bump or anything, just snapped the threaded stud off the ball joint. Of course I have no idea what happened first, the top or bottom. We are going to do both sides.
We are both feeling incredibly blessed that this didnt happen 30 seconds earlier or god forbid, a few hundred miles west. I had just commented to my wife a couple days ago about how I wanted to eventually have the major components in the front end all replaced with Henderson. But I was in no hurry.

Soooooo, it could have been much much worse, I dont even want to let my head go there. Not sure what time the mechanic is going to get here today. One of the first people who stopped to check on us is picking up the parts in a nearby city and bringing to the mechanic. (Pretty incredible) these rural folks just couldnt be nicer, We are overwhelmed. Hopefully it all ends well. We'll see.

Thanks Kota for the heads up on Transwest. Not sure how all the timing is gonna work out just yet. We are just trying to be flexible and let things be what they will be.

Mike

[tevake]

WOW. MIKE your story started out so nicely.
Then that pic is stomach turning.
But not nearly as bad as it could have been at speed. But just the sort of incident that stress me at the beginning of a trip.

So glad to hear that folks there are stepping up and being helpfull!

All the best in getting it sorted and back under way soon.

Looking forward to the detailed story around a camp fire.

Hang in there and keep smiling.

Cheers Richard

[tevake]

Too ironic, the next thread after this one is " a complete front end overhaul"

You might PM Vycan, isn't he close to your location, may have suggestions for alignment shop nearby

Richard

[Smartstream]

That is a heck of a way to start a trip. So glad it wasn't any worse and nobody was hurt. As to repair, if the ball joints broke and the A frames were not damaged you may not have an alignment problem. I believe the caster and camber are set with shims where the A frames are attached to the frame. There is no adjustment at the ball joint. It looks like the tie rod is damaged but that sets toe in which can be crudely set without too much trouble. If the A frames or other components are damaged ignore the above. Good Luck.

[bobmiller1]

Alright, now this is really bothering me...something had to lead up to the ball joint failure. My guess is that the lower one broke first, then the second. Was there any recent work done to the Airstream front end ? I E air bag replacement, coil spring replacement, any work requiring the lower ball joint to be removed from the spindle ? I've seen this happen to older POS that you see broken down on the side of the road, but you said that you had just greased the front end before the trip (I wish I could have gone but the 325 is not ready ) just curious, do you do your own work yourself or do you have someone do it for you ? The two possible causes that come to mind with this kind of failure are lack of lubrication or over tightening of the ball joint which is what I suspect. Either way I am glad you are OK, and that it happened where it happened. Hope you enjoy the rest of the trip.

[Vycan]

Mike,

I just returned from my business trip Friday night, and spent SAT and SUN with the family. After getting back to the office Monday I took the time to actually read posts besides the brisk scan, and I was sickened to see your story. Your resiliency in this situation is impressive. I am in Manhattan, KS and cannot leave the area for some time. I also know Hoyt's Truck Shop in Topeka does work on big rigs, and will work on your motorhome. It is out of the way compared to your Northern route through Kansas. If you need something PM me. Wishing you all the best, and hoping you get some good luck to counter the luck you've had so far.

[Vycan]

Current site layout:
49: Kota (Dave)
51: Vycan
56: Mayco (Mike and Lynn)
57: Tevake (Richard)