Annual Maintenance / Repair Cost

[Bob Lawrence]

Hey Ryan,
Thanks for the reply.
Randy Dupree said the compressor was around 300 bucks.
I have a mech at Powell Brown's ranch here in Mathis, Texas that works for 30
bucks an hour!
He replace all the hoses in the engine compartment when the rad was pulled.
Figure he can do the job reasonably. He said no problem getting a rebuilt one
out of Corpus Christi. Mathis is 30 miles north of Corpus.
When the compressor gets changed out, the two remaining hoses in the engine
compartment will be changed on the compressor.
Each year on the road I'm replacing all the 24 year old stuff.
He will also replace 3 of the protection valves.
Bob Lawrence(Formally out of Seattle)
84 Pt36
Laguna Atascosa NWR, Los Fresnos, Texas

> Bob, I'll have to check my records, but it was on the order of $1200
> for the job. Most of that was labor - while they were back there they
> replaced some soft cooling lines that were falling apart and that
> added quite a bit. I just took it to the local big rig garage to have
> the work done.
>
> I don't know that it's necessary to replace it just because it's old.
> These are supposed to last a very long time. Any truck shop should be
> able to test yours and tell you if it's still working like it's
> supposed to. I don't think they fail catastrophically - mine didn't
> leave me stranded or anything, just took a very long time to air the
> bus up and when they tested it, it was only putting out a fraction of
> the air it's supposed to.
>
> -Ryan
> '86 PT-40 8V92
>
> On Fri, Feb 27, 2009 at 4:10 PM, Bob Lawrence
> wrote:
> > Hi Ryan,
> > How much was the air compressor and where did you get one? I'm
> > thinking about replacing mine just cause...just cause it's 24 years
> > old.
> > Bob Lawrence
> > 84 P36
> > Los Fresnos, Texas
> >
> >>
> >> I've had my coach one & a half years now. I've spent $413 in oil &
> >> filter changes (supplies only, labor was my own) but I've spent just
> >> over $5,000 in repairs. Most of that five grand went to fix three
> > real
> >> problems - a minor transmission tweak, a new alternator and a new
> > air
> >> compressor. The rest were minor things as best as I can tell the
> >> alternator and air compressor were original on my coach so after 20
> >> years, it was time for them to fail. No big deal, but you do need to
> >> budget for this sort of thing.
> >>
> >> How much work you can do for yourself makes a big difference. I
> > don't
> >> know enough to do the heavy mechanical work, but I have replaced
> >> engines in cars so I'm not completely inept, either. I could have
> >> saved at least a grand on labor had I replaced my own alternator &
> > air
> >> compressor but I didn't feel like doing that work and I had the
> > money
> >> to pay someone else. I could have also spent another three grand on
> >> labor if I hadn't fixed all of the little stuff myself. If you're
> >> handy around the house you'll save a bunch of money doing light
> > repair
> >> work on the house parts of the coach.
> >>
> >> -Ryan
> >> '86 PT-40 8V92
> >>
> >
> >
>