So as if my rant yesterday about wheel bearings…. BTW, thanks for all the texts about spelling “Timken” wrong… thanks. I was blowing through that mess just pissed off trying to get out all that’s happened on this being in the middle of the sanmich …. hey, my spelling should be legendary by now! So have no fear, I can spell Themkien… or was that Chemklin……
But that’s not today is about…. again we have been the recipients of the big end of the stick. You know those awesome Delco, organic, riveted brake pads I was oozing about a week or so ago? I mean I thought we had fallen into the brake pad honey pot! Well, Delco too has sold their soul to whatever dude who has been winning the contracts to produce pads for brand after brand…….. Delco had swapped…. without notice mind you…. to bonded pads on the part number we had found!!!! Those guys……… OK, they have squeelers…. so what! So the search is back on for a better organic pad. We will still stay with Delco…. for now. I want a full contact riveted, organic pad……. fire up the truck babe, we’re headed to town…..
So anyway, I hope I ranted in a good quick way that time…. I could do more! Naaaaa…. how about this…….. with the Explorer diesel getting back onto the road, follow this project because it will go pretty much like most anyother sale of a coach “in great condition”. Hey it is, you guys watched us build it but when any coach changes hands and gets back doing it’s thing after some time sitting….. there are things that must be done…….. and see, even with this awesome machine with a new drive train!
We had gone through all the brakes but you bet I’m now replacing all the rear wheel bearings with new Timkens … installed a quad bag… of course completely renewed the fuel system to pump diesel when the drive train was installed… just finished that project but still there are 2 categories of things that need to be done….
o things that need maintenance since the coach was last on the road. The tires are too close to out of date now…….. the brakes should be completely flushed from it sitting here in Florida for 1 year…… all belts, hoses, seals, etc. must be inspected and greased. Oh, and EVERY switch needs to be flipped…. things stop working because they can!
o Things the new owner wants to have done. We knew we needed to investigate further into engine insulation… we only had the original… John understood this and could see past the current noise of that turbo-diesel just under the floor. We have the seating out with intentions of increasing the insulation as well as replacing that original … what 22 year old ….carpet. Hey that labor had to happen anyway! The electric sofa….. a bit on the too much if you ask me but with the furniture out we found the motors brushes needed cleaning…. another “negative” to the sale gone
Yep we dropped a couple of big birds to some who looked at the coach in @ 2 hours.
I can be safe in using this as an example because being a diesel and on the upper end of the prices…… you need to look past what is in front of you and look at how things can be with a little work.
Every coach you look at will need work, they all need a serious complete investigation when you purchase it so your next expense won’t be a tow bill. You must look past say an electric sofa that doesn’t work…. brother it can be fixed! There has been buckets of cash poured into this coach… from Explorer Vans who completely .. frame off.. restored this coach in 1997. New cabinets, new wire harness, new flippen everything! I just put $45,000 upgrading to the Hum V turbo-diesel drive train and Kubota diesel generator, quad bag and a few other things. It was documented this was a grade A coach and it took 6 months for someone to recognize what it can be and stepped up to a coach he would never be able to afford to build!
Yes, I’m talking to you prospective buyers out there…… if you spend less than $10,000 buying a GMC…. brother THAT will be a smaller check to get it reliable, good looking and comfortable! Oh yeah, I can hear it now…. I got this super deal on a perfect one for cheap…. whatever, the fickled finger of fate could cause that but I doubt it!
Guys, purchasing a vehicle isn’t a matter of finding a golden rainbow… heck even a super doper garage find will need a ton of work… they are $) YEARS OLD MAN! DO NOT forget that…. sorry for that….. I’m giving out some tough love here because some search for a coach that’s perfect right now and needs nothing… let me help you out on that……
(it don’t exist!)
John of course wants new carpet… 22 years old, it needs to come out! He understands this is a one off experiment and is willing to pick up the reigns of the horse and ride it and for that understanding he has a coach at a price I cannot believe! The previous owner… since the restoration BTW…. understood the best thing he could do for his girl was to let her go and the new owner has graciously committed to be the best steward for the coach he can. Hey, you and I come and go…. the motorhome stays so John has an very important and fun if I may add job of taking care of his new baby. Say congratulations, this is how it’s supposed to be Lastly about this…. it’s not an enigma in that I have another coach just purchased on the lot with the same positive outcome. An original Palm Beach… a survivor not a restored coach like the diesel…… the same scenario has happened. A survivor was purchased from a GMC club member for like 20 years. The owner understood he had to let his girl go and Bill graciously accepted the stewardship……. I’ll give you that story tomorrow.
So the guys are showing up…… I’ve moved my office… well at least where the computer is to the inside office. Sad but I have to spend time in both places now. Hey, the only thing guaranteed in life is changes so we’ll see ya later and thanks for your support….
.
.