Periodically Exercising the Bus

[davidbrady]

Guys,

What are your opinions on long term parking and periodic exercising of the bus? I've always shot for every 30 days by scheduling in three week intervals knowing that my schedule is bound to slip a bit. Seems like a great way to keep the upper end lubed and the transmission seals in good shape. With a retarder it takes no time to warm up the transmission fluid. My route is about 60 miles and takes an hour. What's your approach?

[cmillsap]

(04-15-2017 13:05)davidbrady Wrote:  Guys,

What are your opinions on long term parking and periodic exercising of the bus? I've always shot for every 30 days by scheduling in three week intervals knowing that my schedule is bound to slip a bit. Seems like a great way to keep the upper end lubed and the transmission seals in good shape. With a retarder it takes no time to warm up the transmission fluid. My route is about 60 miles and takes an hour. What's your approach?

David,

I just try to use the bus periodically. We use it about 4 times during the winter months on short trips and live in it during the summer months. I do exercise the drive train to some degree while it sits in the garage. My suspension drops to the bump stops in about two weeks so I crank the engine and let it run for 20 or so minutes to allow the bus to rise back to road height and cause the air dryer to spit a few times. The tranny get warmed up in the process. Low humidity here, so no problem with moisture in the engine or air system. I keep an on-board smart charger running on the chassis batteries while the bus sits. I also check the tire pressures occasionally to make sure they stay fully inflated as the bus sits. I think it takes a considerably longer period of time than a month for the seals and rubber components to dry out and deteriorate.

I exercise the house related items periodically such as operating the water pumps, flushing the toilet, operating the air doors, running the ACs and TVs just to exercise the Techlink & Crestron by operating some of the items they control.

This seems to work for me.

We all love our Prevosts and try to keep them in tip-top running condition but sometimes I think we just baby them too much. They aren’t that much different than a car or truck. My F150 sits for months on end while we are on our summer trips and it doesn’t seem to hurt it.

[ERNIEE]

Since we have had our coach for a couple months, most of that time has been spent going back and for to Prevost for service. She now holds air in the bags and on the gauges. Two weeks ago, had our first trip. I had to replace the pop off valve on the water heater. Love the ride and quiet.

[cmillsap]

(04-16-2017 09:01)ERNIEE Wrote:  Since we have had our coach for a couple months, most of that time has been spent going back and for to Prevost for service. She now holds air in the bags and on the gauges. Two weeks ago, had our first trip. I had to replace the pop off valve on the water heater. Love the ride and quiet.

Ernie,

With the Wanderlodges, you were pretty much on your own to keep them maintained unless you were fortunate enough to find a local truck or bus repair facility willing to work on a Wanderlodge.

It must be nice that you have a Prevost Service Center close to home.
Since Marathon is close to Prevost there in Ft. Worth, I'd bet they would be willing to fix any of the household items on that Liberty that you may need help with. Gary, Bob and the other Techs there are dependable and professional. I know it ain't cheap but somethings we just can't do it ourselves. Every time I've been at Marathon, I've seen other converter's coaches there for service.

We're at Prevost Mira Loma presently having the bus's annual service done. It's a 250 mile trip one-way and usually a two day stay in their parking facility as there is always something else that needs attention while we're there.

[cmillsap]

(04-17-2017 15:53)cmillsap Wrote:  

(04-16-2017 09:01)ERNIEE Wrote:  Since we have had our coach for a couple months, most of that time has been spent going back and for to Prevost for service. She now holds air in the bags and on the gauges. Two weeks ago, had our first trip. I had to replace the pop off valve on the water heater. Love the ride and quiet.

Ernie,

With the Wanderlodges, you were pretty much on your own to keep them maintained unless you were fortunate enough to find a local truck or bus repair facility willing to work on a Wanderlodge.

It must be nice that you have a Prevost Service Center close to home.
Since Marathon is close to Prevost there in Ft. Worth, I'd bet they would be willing to fix any of the household items on that Liberty that you may need help with. Gary, Bob and the other Techs there are dependable and professional. I know it ain't cheap but somethings we just can't do it ourselves. Every time I've been at Marathon, I've seen other converter's coaches there for service.

We're at Prevost Mira Loma presently having the bus's annual service done. It's a 250 mile trip one-way and usually a two day stay in their parking facility as there is always something else that needs attention while we're there.

Post Note: It never fails, during the service today we found that my tag axle lift chambers were inoperative and needs replacing. This is a must to get repaired as the tag air springs are automatically deflated when the slide is extended to remove stress on the chassis structural members when the pins are retracted and the slide moves out.