Another Saturday of Bird things

[Gardner Yeaw]

Mike,
The possible Alaska trip (three years away)is the motivator to get
everything up to snuff. I figure if I get my hands on every part of
the Bird before leaving I will be able to handle most things that may
come up during two or three months on the road.
Anyway, the speedometer is working great now since I cleaned it up
and gave the bearings a tiny puff of lube. It's about as accurate as
the weather man, but it doesn't stick and jump anymore.

Gardner
78FC33





--- In WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, "Mike Hohnstein"
<MHOHNSTEIN@...> wrote:
>
> And U wanta take a trip to Alaska?? Should be very interesting.
> MH
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Gardner Yeaw
> To: WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com
> Sent: Saturday, August 04, 2007 9:28 PM
> Subject: [WanderlodgeForum] Another Saturday of Bird things
>
>
> Ah yes, I reserved today for doing little projects on the Bird.
> First, I wanted to find out why the throttle seems to hang up
just a
> little above idle. I couldn't get it to hang up or bind while
> standing still.
>
> Next, I wanted to get the blowers from the inoperative dash AC
> to run just for air circulation. I can see on the schematic that
> there is a 30-amp breaker between the switches and the power
source,
> but I couldn't locate it. There is no power to the switches.
> I suspect the breaker is above rather than down in the front. I
did
> not want to take that apart today so I put this one on hold.
>
> I moved on to project number three, disconnect the speedometer
> cable from the cruise control so I could pull it up through the
hole
> in the dash and reconnect the speedometer without reaching under
the
> dash and risking shorting a few old wires. I had tried this
several
> weeks ago but could not get the collar to loosen, I soaked it
with
> WD-40 and today it broke loose. Success.
>
> Number 4; straighten the square aluminum extension on the bottom
> of the front strut of the large awning. One of the PO's must have
> brushed a tree or something bending the bar causing the struts to
> press tightly against the coach body when in a stored position.
That
> is one tough piece of aluminum. My vice threatened to rip off the
> bench when I tried to bend the bar. I wound up sticking it into
the
> receiver hitch on the bird and using a large pipe wrench and my
> foot. Another successful project.
>
> While I was doing these repairs I had the generator running for
AC
> and to keep the Snapple cold in the icemaker (It was 95 around
here
> today). I shut it down and went inside the house to take a shower
> and get the grease off. I came back out, all spiffy and clean, to
> take the bird back to the storage facility. I tried to start the
> generator, I tried to start the generator, and again, I tried to
> start the generator. Nothing! Then I noticed the automatic choke
> mechanism had fallen off the carburetor. I opened it up,
reconnected
> it to the carb and reinstalled the spring, heater and hold-down
> screws. Still it wouldn't start. Then I saw that one of the spark
> plug leads had come out of the coil, so I put it back in, and it
> fired up and ran fine. So much for staying clean!
>
> So now, generator running, AC cooling, radio blasting, a cold
> Snapple by my side, I head for the storage facility. I notice
that
> the throttle is sticking again, so I pull over and try to figure
it
> out. I am beginning to suspect it is the transmission cable that
is
> binding, but I wasn't able determine that for sure. I will
examine
> it when things are a little cooler.
>
> Now I am finally at the storage facility. I pull the emergency
> breakaway cable out of the toad to set the brake, and proceed to
> disconnect safety chains and the Blue Ox tow bar. As usual, I
have
> to rock the toad a little to get the pins out. But this time,
after
> I pull the pin, the toad starts to roll slowly toward the bird,
> threatining to create a `Gardner ` sandwich. Seems like my $900
SMI
> braking system isn't doing its job!
>
> So I jump in the toad, return it to normal mode, and move it out
> of the way. I park the coach, store the tow bar in the storage
> compartment, and proceed to clean up and prepare the coach for
> storage. I lock up the coach and get in the toad, no keys! I
> wandered around in the dark searching the coach and the gravel
lot
> over and over and over. Finally it dawns on me, maybe you had
them
> in your hand when you put the tow bar away. Well, needless to
say, I
> found them tangled in the safety cables under the tow bar in the
> storage compartment.
>
> So I managed to fix two things, put three things off, and loose
> my keys. I think I will take Sunday off.
>
> Gardner
> 78FC33
>
>
>
>
>
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>