Foot Switch stories

[Don Bradner]

On 3/13/2007 at 7:34 PM Leroy Eckert wrote:

>That foot air horn switch! Me to and it always happens at 7am

How many here have foot switch stories? Here's mine...

When we picked up Blue Thunder in Phoenix in January we spent awhile cruising
around without our toad to get a feel for steering, brakes, turning radius, and
so on.

Returned to the consigning dealer and hooked up the toad to depart. Got to the
first stop sign, where there was quite a bit of cross-traffic so I took that
moment to adjust the steering wheel. The air horn started to blare and wouldn't
quit. Great! A short in the steering column. Then it stopped. I made a left
turn, then into a left turn lane where I stopped behind traffic and the horn
started again. People getting rather nervous, and I'm watching my air drop. Then
it stopped.

We pulled around the block and back into the dealer's. A mechanic came out and
we tried very hard to get it to sound, no such luck. He called Blue Bird and
came back and said they told him several possible places for panels to look for
the relay (to disconnect it) but it sounded like a major job to track down. So
he said "There should be a dash switch for the horn." A dash switch for the
horn? Sure, he says "There's a dash switch for everything on a Blue Bird."

Sure enough, there was the switch, "Electric/Air" (I think that's right, I'm not
in the coach at the moment) and we turned it to Electric. Beep Beep. We can live
with that.

We leave and proceed without incident to the Flying J where we took $400 in fuel
(it was half-full and the prices hadn't risen yet), then pulled out into
congested traffic on the side street. There goes the horn again, and it's air,
not electric! The woman in front of me was almost frantic, and my wife says in a
lot of cities I probably would have gotten shot. People I've told this to since
then say Phoenix would be a good bet. Air pressure getting dangerously low, and
no place at all to pull off the street.

Then it stopped, and didn't happen again on the trip to Quartzsite.

You can imagine my relief when I was reading the manual that night and got to
the part about the foot switch...


Don Bradner
90 PT40 "Blue Thunder"
Eureka, CA

[davidkerryedwards]

And I thought I was the only one with the errant left foot horn problem.

Kerry
82 Fc 35
Denver

[Don Bradner]

See, confession is good for the soul!

Chuck: Are you saying your Electric/Air switch also works for the foot switch?
Mine definitely works for the steering wheel center, but not for the foot
switch, which is always air.

On 3/14/2007 at 4:46 AM davidkerryedwards wrote:

>And I thought I was the only one with the errant left foot horn problem.

Don Bradner
90 PT40 "Blue Thunder"
Eureka, CA

[mbrund]

Well the first part of your story is the same as mine. I went to
adjust the steering wheel height, unscrewed the horn button, slide
up the column while I was stopped at a light and when I tighten it
the damn air horn went off. I thought I broke it, thank god the
owner was in the coach with me, he starte laughing and said, lift
your left foot silly, your stepping on the floor air horn button. I
hit is about four or five more times during the test drive because I
am use to resting my foot at that location in my current RV and that
silly pedal that they have there is not comfortable for me.


--- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, "Don Bradner"
wrote:
>
> On 3/13/2007 at 7:34 PM Leroy Eckert wrote:
>
> >That foot air horn switch! Me to and it always happens at 7am
>
> How many here have foot switch stories? Here's mine...
>
> When we picked up Blue Thunder in Phoenix in January we spent
awhile cruising around without our toad to get a feel for steering,
brakes, turning radius, and so on.
>
> Returned to the consigning dealer and hooked up the toad to
depart. Got to the first stop sign, where there was quite a bit of
cross-traffic so I took that moment to adjust the steering wheel.
The air horn started to blare and wouldn't quit. Great! A short in
the steering column. Then it stopped. I made a left turn, then into
a left turn lane where I stopped behind traffic and the horn started
again. People getting rather nervous, and I'm watching my air drop.
Then it stopped.
>
> We pulled around the block and back into the dealer's. A mechanic
came out and we tried very hard to get it to sound, no such luck. He
called Blue Bird and came back and said they told him several
possible places for panels to look for the relay (to disconnect it)
but it sounded like a major job to track down. So he said "There
should be a dash switch for the horn." A dash switch for the horn?
Sure, he says "There's a dash switch for everything on a Blue Bird."
>
> Sure enough, there was the switch, "Electric/Air" (I think that's
right, I'm not in the coach at the moment) and we turned it to
Electric. Beep Beep. We can live with that.
>
> We leave and proceed without incident to the Flying J where we
took $400 in fuel (it was half-full and the prices hadn't risen
yet), then pulled out into congested traffic on the side street.
There goes the horn again, and it's air, not electric! The woman in
front of me was almost frantic, and my wife says in a lot of cities
I probably would have gotten shot. People I've told this to since
then say Phoenix would be a good bet. Air pressure getting
dangerously low, and no place at all to pull off the street.
>
> Then it stopped, and didn't happen again on the trip to Quartzsite.
>
> You can imagine my relief when I was reading the manual that night
and got to the part about the foot switch...
>
>
> Don Bradner
> 90 PT40 "Blue Thunder"
> Eureka, CA
>

[Chuck Wheeler]

I didn't "discover" the foot switch until our first camping trip. We were
having a great time with friends so did not get back to Fort Worth until
about 1:15am. I had told Kathy that I was going to back it in the drive
just far enough to clear the street because our drive passes within about
ten foot of the neighbor's window. The Electric horn did not work so it was
set to "air". When I thought I was about where I wanted to be for the night
I leaned over to look and the horn started sounding. I pressed the horn
button on the wheel a couple of times thinking it might be shorted, then
thought I would just flip it to "electric" since it didn't work. Instead I
hit the musical horn so now I had the air horn blasting and the bus playing
"deep in the heart of Texas"! By this time the most of the nearby neighbors
were peering out their window so I just turned off the master switch and
told Kathy I would "deal with it in the morning. I now know about the foot
switch, and the electric horn circuit has been repaired. Our neighbors
still bring this up at block parties! It's good for laughs.



- Chuck Wheeler -

82 FC 31 SB

Fort Worth, TX

_____

From: WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Don Bradner
Sent: Tuesday, March 13, 2007 10:15 PM
To: WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [WanderlodgeForum] Foot Switch stories



On 3/13/2007 at 7:34 PM Leroy Eckert wrote:

>That foot air horn switch! Me to and it always happens at 7am

How many here have foot switch stories? Here's mine...

When we picked up Blue Thunder in Phoenix in January we spent awhile
cruising around without our toad to get a feel for steering, brakes, turning
radius, and so on.

Returned to the consigning dealer and hooked up the toad to depart. Got to
the first stop sign, where there was quite a bit of cross-traffic so I took
that moment to adjust the steering wheel. The air horn started to blare and
wouldn't quit. Great! A short in the steering column. Then it stopped. I
made a left turn, then into a left turn lane where I stopped behind traffic
and the horn started again. People getting rather nervous, and I'm watching
my air drop. Then it stopped.

We pulled around the block and back into the dealer's. A mechanic came out
and we tried very hard to get it to sound, no such luck. He called Blue Bird
and came back and said they told him several possible places for panels to
look for the relay (to disconnect it) but it sounded like a major job to
track down. So he said "There should be a dash switch for the horn." A dash
switch for the horn? Sure, he says "There's a dash switch for everything on
a Blue Bird."

Sure enough, there was the switch, "Electric/Air" (I think that's right, I'm
not in the coach at the moment) and we turned it to Electric. Beep Beep. We
can live with that.

We leave and proceed without incident to the Flying J where we took $400 in
fuel (it was half-full and the prices hadn't risen yet), then pulled out
into congested traffic on the side street. There goes the horn again, and
it's air, not electric! The woman in front of me was almost frantic, and my
wife says in a lot of cities I probably would have gotten shot. People I've
told this to since then say Phoenix would be a good bet. Air pressure
getting dangerously low, and no place at all to pull off the street.

Then it stopped, and didn't happen again on the trip to Quartzsite.

You can imagine my relief when I was reading the manual that night and got
to the part about the foot switch...

Don Bradner
90 PT40 "Blue Thunder"
Eureka, CA





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Chuck Wheeler]

No it doesn't. I had only owned the bird for about ten days and when I
turned the main switch off I guess I moved my foot. The musical horn and
the air horn stopped so with my understanding at the time I thought it did.




- Chuck Wheeler -

82 FC 31 SB

Fort Worth, TX

_____

From: WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Don Bradner
Sent: Tuesday, March 13, 2007 11:05 PM
To: WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [WanderlodgeForum] Re: Foot Switch stories



See, confession is good for the soul!

Chuck: Are you saying your Electric/Air switch also works for the foot
switch? Mine definitely works for the steering wheel center, but not for the
foot switch, which is always air.

On 3/14/2007 at 4:46 AM davidkerryedwards wrote:

>And I thought I was the only one with the errant left foot horn problem.

Don Bradner
90 PT40 "Blue Thunder"
Eureka, CA





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[Pete Masterson]

Yeah, I found out the 'hard way' that the electric/air switch only
affects the steering wheel center, not the foot switch.

I was fortunate that the dealer pointed out the foot switch. "Don't
step on that," he said, "It's the horn." Of course, try as I might, I
then couldn't not step on it....

Pete Masterson
aeonix1@...
'95 Blue Bird Wanderlodge WBDA 42'
El Sobrante, CA




On Mar 13, 2007, at 10:04 PM, Don Bradner wrote:

> See, confession is good for the soul!
>
> Chuck: Are you saying your Electric/Air switch also works for the
> foot switch? Mine definitely works for the steering wheel center,
> but not for the foot switch, which is always air.
>
> On 3/14/2007 at 4:46 AM davidkerryedwards wrote:
>
>> And I thought I was the only one with the errant left foot horn
>> problem.
>
> Don Bradner
> 90 PT40 "Blue Thunder"
> Eureka, CA
>



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[dthollis1961]

I wasted a half-hour the other day trying to figure out why my bright
lights didn't work.

David Hollis 84FC35 Springfield,IL

[Don Bradner]

(Quotes snipped from the other thread)

My solution - credit goes to my wife joy for the idea - is this item:
http://www.arcatapet.com/item.cfm?cat=6441

Not extensively field tested yet, but it appears to work. Stuck down with velcro
at this point.

Disclaimer: I own the business to which that link points.

On 3/14/2007 at 6:26 PM Leroy Eckert wrote:

>Now that is not a bad idea! Just a little Lone Star engineering that
>works. LOL.
>
>Leroy Eckert
>1990 WB-40"Smoke N Mirrors"
>Niceville, FL
>
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: ronmarabito2002
> To: WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Wednesday, March 14, 2007 9:06 AM
> Subject: [WanderlodgeForum] Re: Looking to purchase used 1992 WB40
>
>
> Do what I did to eliminate hitting the foot switch for horn. Take a
> small bowl and turn it over on top and leave it there. You don't need
> that foot switch anyway. I have two dogs that love to lay up in the
> driver area. They were forever hitting the horn switch.
>
> R.E. (Ron) Marabito, Dallas, TX 92WB40

Don Bradner
90 PT40 "Blue Thunder"
Eureka, CA

[whistles_n_bells]

I am enjoying the stories of the foot switch "surprises." I probably
mentioned in earlier posts that I started driving OTR buses in the
mid-fifties (Continental Trailways). All the GM and Flxible (yes, there
is no 'e' in Flxible) coaches had air horns mounted under the drivers
seat area, just behind the bumper. Of course those were the days of
manual transmissions - and clutches. The air horn button was located
near where your left heel would be resting (no, not on the handbrake
lever), so you would use your heel to activate the air. Placed in that
location, it was difficult to set it off accidentally. I assume the air
switch or button on the various BB models is where the clutch would have
normally been.

On the buses I presently drive, the air horn is activated by a
push-button on the end of the turn signal lever.

Enjoying the forum, enjoying the on-going education on BB coaches.
Thanks

Joe (Pappy) Hagan
St. George, UT
Wannabe





--- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, "Don Bradner"
wrote:
>
> On 3/13/2007 at 7:34 PM Leroy Eckert wrote:
>
> >That foot air horn switch! Me to and it always happens at 7am
>
> How many here have foot switch stories? Here's mine...
>
> When we picked up Blue Thunder in Phoenix in January we spent awhile
cruising around without our toad to get a feel for steering, brakes,
turning radius, and so on.
>
> Returned to the consigning dealer and hooked up the toad to depart.
Got to the first stop sign, where there was quite a bit of cross-traffic
so I took that moment to adjust the steering wheel. The air horn started
to blare and wouldn't quit. Great! A short in the steering column. Then
it stopped. I made a left turn, then into a left turn lane where I
stopped behind traffic and the horn started again. People getting rather
nervous, and I'm watching my air drop. Then it stopped.
>
> We pulled around the block and back into the dealer's. A mechanic
came out and we tried very hard to get it to sound, no such luck. He
called Blue Bird and came back and said they told him several possible
places for panels to look for the relay (to disconnect it) but it
sounded like a major job to track down. So he said "There should be a
dash switch for the horn." A dash switch for the horn? Sure, he says
"There's a dash switch for everything on a Blue Bird."
>
> Sure enough, there was the switch, "Electric/Air" (I think that's
right, I'm not in the coach at the moment) and we turned it to Electric.
Beep Beep. We can live with that.
>
> We leave and proceed without incident to the Flying J where we took
$400 in fuel (it was half-full and the prices hadn't risen yet), then
pulled out into congested traffic on the side street. There goes the
horn again, and it's air, not electric! The woman in front of me was
almost frantic, and my wife says in a lot of cities I probably would
have gotten shot. People I've told this to since then say Phoenix would
be a good bet. Air pressure getting dangerously low, and no place at all
to pull off the street.
>
> Then it stopped, and didn't happen again on the trip to Quartzsite.
>
> You can imagine my relief when I was reading the manual that night and
got to the part about the foot switch...
>
>
> Don Bradner
> 90 PT40 "Blue Thunder"
> Eureka, CA
>