Mountain Driving with 1995 42', 42,000 lb. Blue Bird

[Ron Thompson]

Brad,

Man am I glad you jogged my memory about that bus fire during the Houston evac.
I remember seeing that thing burn too. What a tradgedy.

Yes, you are right about a fire on a coach being a serious matter. I was just
thinking about what I would do if I was in the bedroom and a fire broke out in
the galley. There is no door to get out. I tried the windows in the bedroom
and you would have to have a pry bar to get them open. I don't think they have
ever been open so they are stiff as hell. Going to have to lube them to get them
moving again. A little WD-40 will do wonders. I notice too that the window
latches are very difficult to release. One of the windows I had to go get a
screw driver to get the latch to release. All of the windows are stiff like
that. Is that a usual thing on these Blue Birds?

Thanks again Brad.

My best regards,

Ron Thompson
Waller, Texas
1995 Wide Body 42" BB
Detroit Diesel Series 60 470 HP
Kubota, 4 cylinder, 1681 cc.
Phone 936-931-2802 land line
cell..713-295-0119 Cingular

brad barton <bbartonwx@...> wrote:
Ron,
One more ramble and I'll quit.
Marty is right about heat. A dragging brake on a tour bus evacuating nursing
home patients from Hurricane Rita in Houston, blew out one time on I-45. The
driver didn't understand English, so he continued on after the tire was changed.
The brake heated up again even in stop and go traffic. The wheel became red hot
and caught the rear of the bus on fire. The driver failed to notice until
portable oxygen tanks used by the patients began exploding. The bus turned into
a crematorium for 24 of those patients. I'll never forget watching the bus
burning up live on TV. Also, I left my magnetic retarder on by mistake in
Flagstaff and nearly caught my 84 Bird on fire. I burned through the air line
that operated the driver's seat slide. Imagine smoke coming from under your
coach and you're struggling to get to the extinguisher with your seat next to
the doghouse. Fire on a motorcoach is almost as serious as fire on board an
airplane. Brad Barton 00LXiDFW
bbartonwx@...

To: WanderlodgeForum@...: martingregg598@...: Tue, 26
Jun 2007 00:32:18 +0000Subject: [WanderlodgeForum] Re: Mountain Driving with
1995 42', 42,000 lb. Blue Bird

Ron, if you have a Allison HT-755 five speed with a retarder, I have know
advice, if you have a 1995-42' you should have a Allison HD-4060 and a DD series
60 with a 3 position Jacobs engine brake. Jacobs's brakes close the valves and
turn the cylinder into a compressor creating braking horsepower, each position
adds more cylinders. I haven't driven a 95 in the mountains but I have driven
over a lot of the passes in the Cascades, Montana, Idaho and so on, but I can't
imagine that if your in the right gear at the right RPM that the engine brake
won't hold it back. For me with a less effective Pac Brake, it is 4th gear at 50
mph at about 2400 rpm's on a 6% or so, on a steeper grade it's 3 gear at 35-40
mph and I almost never have to use my air brakes. If I am in 4th and it starts
to run away, faster that I like, I use the brakes to get the coach down to the
speed that I can select the next lower gear. If the Jacobs brake doesn't hold
you back, maybe there is something wrong
with the Jacobs brake? As for the "Drum type" air brakes, if you have been on
the road for a time and the ambient temp. is hot, and If you ride the brakes for
a long period of time the drum can expand away from the shoe and you lose your
brakes. With some real bad luck you could heat the wheel up so hot that it heats
the tire up and blowout.Marty95 BMC 37Kennewick Wa

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