Our Bird on the Road in Mexico

[birdshill123]

Hi everyone. We are siitng in a nice RV Park about 100 feet to the
ocean. I will post some pics tomorrow. I promise I wont make our
trip into a blog on the Forum but I will post things that might be
of interest to BB owners. Yesterday was a great drive. No problems.
rBut I was worried about my brakes. I seemed to lose a lot of air
when the brakes were applied. before we left our home in Northern
Mexico i did the test where you hold the treadle down and see how
how much air you lose in a minute. Was fine. This a.m. we were on
the road just South of Culiacan. THis is about 220 km. north of
Mazatlan. Drug capital of Mexico. If you are a fan of CSI they did
one show where they went to this bar frequented by Sinaloa Cowboys.
They all drive fancy pickups with thousands of dolars of chrome and
stainless. We are in the land of these cowboys. The toll road from
Culiacan to Mazatlan is very expensive. I entered the toll booth,
paid my 181 pesos (about 17 bucks) and as I handed him the $ I heard
air p--sing out from the LF wheel area. I pulled ahead and went
under the bird. Lots of air coming from the air chamber. Culiacan is
a major agricultural city so I knew we would be able to get repairs.
But I would have to pay to go through the toll gates. The mgr. told
me to drive right through and we did!! I was afraid of the chase car
but nothing happened.

We found this shop called Martinez Clutch and Brake. Great guys.
Within 5 minutes a dirty mechanic crawled in the dirt under the
Bird. He went and got his little wagon that had a homemade steel
tool box and went to work. In minutes he had part of chamber in his
hand. Put it all back together with a new diaphragm and discovered a
cracked hose that had a small leak. Went into the shop, made A new
hose, covered it with HD plastic loom and reinstalled. Set both
slack adjusters and adjusted a rear valve for the Park brake. All
the while the Mexican truck drivers were drooling over our Bird.
They love classic vehicles!! In an hour they were done. Now comes
the best part: In Canada most HD shops charge from $70.00 to $95.00
an hour. Then they add in shop supplies and other misc. charges.
Here is what I paid:

exchange rate is about 10.8 pesos to the US$ Do the math.

Labor: 1 hour 181 pesos (about$17.00)

air hose:77 pesos
diaphragms :108 pesos ( I wanted a spare)

etc. etc.

The whole bill came to $433.84 pesos about $40 US!!!

Try that anywhere North of Mexico. Great mechanics who really new
their stuff. I noticed the test bench they built to use on trailers.
It was on wheels and had an air connection for their compressor , a
glad hand, a treadle and an old fashioned lever style Park brake. I
was impressed.

The moral of this story is that any of us with old Birds should
consider checking all those items for signs of age. Heck if we are
going to change our tires every 3 years surely the brakes should be
looked at.

We are going back to that shop on our return trip and have them pull
all the drums, check the rear service brake chambers, etc. Might
have to leave it for a day but I have confidence in these guys and
of course as a bonus the price is right. All the HD shops and parts
houses are within 3 blocks. They have 7 locations in that city!!

Bruce
1988 FC35
La Reina Gitana

[Terry Neal]

Thanks for your report Bruce. You obviously found a great shop to work
on your Bird. Be safe in your travels & keep us up to date on your
trip. Good read when it's -5 outside at noon up here.

Terry Neal
Bozeman, MT
82PT40
74FC34



birdshill123 wrote:

> Hi everyone. We are siitng in a nice RV Park about 100 feet to the
> ocean. I will post some pics tomorrow. I promise I wont make our
> trip into a blog on the Forum but I will post things that might be
> of interest to BB owners. Yesterday was a great drive. No problems.
> rBut I was worried about my brakes. I seemed to lose a lot of air
> when the brakes were applied. before we left our home in Northern
> Mexico i did the test where you hold the treadle down and see how
> how much air you lose in a minute. Was fine. This a.m. we were on
> the road just South of Culiacan. THis is about 220 km. north of
> Mazatlan. Drug capital of Mexico. If you are a fan of CSI they did
> one show where they went to this bar frequented by Sinaloa Cowboys.
> They all drive fancy pickups with thousands of dolars of chrome and
> stainless. We are in the land of these cowboys. The toll road from
> Culiacan to Mazatlan is very expensive. I entered the toll booth,
> paid my 181 pesos (about 17 bucks) and as I handed him the $ I heard
> air p--sing out from the LF wheel area. I pulled ahead and went
> under the bird. Lots of air coming from the air chamber. Culiacan is
> a major agricultural city so I knew we would be able to get repairs.
> But I would have to pay to go through the toll gates. The mgr. told
> me to drive right through and we did!! I was afraid of the chase car
> but nothing happened.
>
> We found this shop called Martinez Clutch and Brake. Great guys.
> Within 5 minutes a dirty mechanic crawled in the dirt under the
> Bird. He went and got his little wagon that had a homemade steel
> tool box and went to work. In minutes he had part of chamber in his
> hand. Put it all back together with a new diaphragm and discovered a
> cracked hose that had a small leak. Went into the shop, made A new
> hose, covered it with HD plastic loom and reinstalled. Set both
> slack adjusters and adjusted a rear valve for the Park brake. All
> the while the Mexican truck drivers were drooling over our Bird.
> They love classic vehicles!! In an hour they were done. Now comes
> the best part: In Canada most HD shops charge from $70.00 to $95.00
> an hour. Then they add in shop supplies and other misc. charges.
> Here is what I paid:
>
> exchange rate is about 10.8 pesos to the US$ Do the math.
>
> Labor: 1 hour 181 pesos (about$17.00)
>
> air hose:77 pesos
> diaphragms :108 pesos ( I wanted a spare)
>
> etc. etc.
>
> The whole bill came to $433.84 pesos about $40 US!!!
>
> Try that anywhere North of Mexico. Great mechanics who really new
> their stuff. I noticed the test bench they built to use on trailers.
> It was on wheels and had an air connection for their compressor , a
> glad hand, a treadle and an old fashioned lever style Park brake. I
> was impressed.
>
> The moral of this story is that any of us with old Birds should
> consider checking all those items for signs of age. Heck if we are
> going to change our tires every 3 years surely the brakes should be
> looked at.
>
> We are going back to that shop on our return trip and have them pull
> all the drums, check the rear service brake chambers, etc. Might
> have to leave it for a day but I have confidence in these guys and
> of course as a bonus the price is right. All the HD shops and parts
> houses are within 3 blocks. They have 7 locations in that city!!
>
> Bruce
> 1988 FC35
> La Reina Gitana
>
>



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