Kittys' OUCH, again !!!!

kanyonkitty · 08-09-2007, 03:04 PM

Hey Ya'll,

First I've had internet access in a while, I miss being in touch. Well, just west of Wichita, KS I "roasted" a bearing, pretty badly

. Had to be towed, so I called Good Sam ERS, they dispatched tow service. I was taken to Adventure RV on west side of Wichita. Wonderful folks. Mom and I were permitted to plug into 30 amp service and stay on the lot in Sunny while parts were obtained and repairs made. When dealership closed, we were locked on the lot of course, so we planned accordingly.

Brad & Keith start to assess the damage, roasted bearing, brakes and drum

The tow driver told them about the pinching of the wires, so they checked that out and they said because I thought fast enuff to turn the battery off, I prevented "MAJOR" damage. Basically cooked the battery, battery cable, a connector and filled battery box with battery acid. Contacted Good Sam about this damage, and they are sending me some forms

I now have new wheel bearings on all 4 wheels, new brakes on the front axle, new seal and new drum. The heat from the bearing was bad enuff, but with the extreme weather temps, well, just insult to inury. The total bearing job was $662.45, and tow damage was $232.73(Good Sam to re-imburse me for this)

In light of the problems, it has still been a wonderful trip, since I don't have plans to go west of the Mississippi for a long long long time.

Hopefully here are some pics:

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CAN ANYTHING ELSE CAUSE ME PROBLEMS?

Kitty

PS: Yes, YES I was the one that had to back Sunny onto the tow-trailer.

emam · 08-09-2007, 03:18 PM

Wow Kitty, it sounds like some trip. Glad no one was hurt, and glad you turned the battery off in time. That looks like it could have been some major damage.

Hopefully we'll never have to back our Sunline onto a flatbed trailer

Pat & Cindy

Poppy & Nana · 08-09-2007, 03:36 PM

OUCH is right....hope the rest of your vacation is trouble free!

**PTHutch** · 08-09-2007, 03:37 PM

Hey Kitty,

Sorry to hear about the bearings and battery. Do you know how the battery cable got pinched. Just asking so we can check to make sure our cable isn’t getting pinched.

Glade to hear you got everything taken care of.

Hope the rest of your trip is safe and uneventful.

We missed you at the 2007 Eastern M&G –we’ve already got a 2008 Eastern M&G scheduled – check it out.

Hutch

**Tweety** · 08-09-2007, 03:55 PM

Oooo...poor Sunny

Glad you got her fixed with out total disaster. Yes yes yes you MUST come to the next M&G. We had an AWSOME time !

**Sunline Fan** · 08-09-2007, 04:14 PM

Wow Kitty, it looks like you got really lucky there. That looks like a situation that could go from bad to worse very quickly. Hope you have an uneventful rest of your trip.

Jon

Al in PA · 08-09-2007, 04:43 PM

Wow! I'm glad you were able to avoid worse damage. You are very attentive to details to have caught the wiring problem. Most of us would have been so busy dwelling on the bearing issue that we may have missed the wiring problem until it was too late. I hope the remainder of your trip goes smoothly.

kanyonkitty · 08-09-2007, 07:17 PM

Thanks everyone for your kind words. OK, now to explain "how" the wires got pinched. The tow truck driver wrapped a chain under the front cross member and attached it to the main beam of the frame. When he cranked the chain tight, it pinched the hot wire against the front cross member. No sparks, but a whole lot of SMOKE! By this time he was on the other side of the Sunny re-checking that front chain, he saw the smoke, said "Holy Sheet", he jumped back to the offending side to try to un-do the chain as quick as possible (not something you can undo quickly). I panicked and reached for the battery shutoff. Thank goodness nothing was really damaged as far as electrically goes. Soo, I don't believe this is a major concern, UNLESS YOU GET LOADED ON A LOWBOY TRAILER

My Camping World credit card loves me, well, until I get home and pay it off. But, I will get reward vouchers to spend in Camping World, and the new one in Winchester, VA should not be far from opening.

I got a chance to read about the M & G, and I will make my res. as soon as I get home. Hope they will still have a place for me. I would call sooner, if some of you can give me the number and maybe possible site #'s to ask for?

In Branson, Mo tonight, leaving in the am, slowly headed home. Branson is a busy place, but easy to navigate. I've been here for two nights, full hookup, cable, and wi-fi, overlooking the town of Branson for a whooping $15.60 per night thanks to Passport America. If anyone is interested in joining PA, please let me know, as they have a referral/reward system.

I am slowly downloading lots of photos of my trip on Webshots, so I will post a link to them later.

Kitty

Trailblazer · 08-09-2007, 08:06 PM

Wow Kitty, you sure are lucky. Sorry to hear about your incident, however I am glad to hear everyone is okay. Here's hope the rest of your trip is enjoyable and less exciting than this incident.

**PTHutch** · 08-09-2007, 08:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kanyonkitty

I would call sooner, if some of you can give me the number and maybe possible site #'s to ask for?

Hi Kitty,

Not to seem too pushy

but,

Phone # for Buttonwood is 717-436-8334
Web site is http://www.buttonwoodcamp.com/

As far as sites:
Site # 98 is a pull-through if you want one of those
Site # 88 is a back in and will back up to the center area where we meet and close to the tent.

Other good sites would be:
Sites # 81 or 66

Hope this helps
Hutch

SanDimasJoe · 08-09-2007, 09:08 PM

Kitty,
I'm curious. How did you know it was a bearing that got fried? What gave you the indication. I'd like to know in case it happens to me.
Thanks

Joe

purplesuebug · 08-09-2007, 09:25 PM

Kitty,
Never a dull moment..............glad to hear all is fine except your purse but that can always be refilled!!! Glad you found a connection, I was just telling Sue the other day that I had been missing your comments and wondered where you were. Marshall

**Sunline Fan** · 08-09-2007, 10:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SanDimasJoe

How did you know it was a bearing that got fried? What gave you the indication. I'd like to know in case it happens to me.

Joe, while I can't speak for Kitty, we had a similar situation happen to us on the 2653. We were on the highway and happened to pull off for gas and found the EBC read "Er" for error, plus we had no trailer brakes. Fortunately we had a good long exit ramp. We pulled in to the gas station and my dad noticed the wheel was all black, so he went up and put his hand near it only to discover it was very hot! He took the remaining water in a water bottle and poured it over it to cool it some. We later found after nursing it to a Sears parking lot that everything was gone on it, just like Kitty had. I'm interested to know how she found the problem with the aluminum wheels, since there's no paint to burn off of those.

From the pics, it appears her SOC magnet is missing from the LF center cap, so maybe what could burn up did. BTW, ours got so hot it melted all our lug nut caps and center cap, plus burned the paint off. Needless to say that wheel, now repainted, resides in my room

.

Jon

nasa42a · 08-10-2007, 06:42 AM

Kitty...

Wow! I can't believe how close you came to losing the entire TT! Or how lucky I was not to have the same problem (07/27/07 Que forum post "36 Day Roadrun").

Based on these experiences:
==>from this point on, I'm getting my wheel bearings repacked every year or every 10,000 miles, whichever comes 1st!
==>And in the future, if I get a new trailer, I'm going to NOT trust the factory's initial bearing pack...I'll get it done to start with.

Frank

**PTHutch** · 08-10-2007, 07:23 AM

Here in NY, as part of the annual NY Inspection on trailers, they’re supposed to pull the wheel and check the brakes and bearings, which some times helps in identifying potential issues before they become problems.
I’m just not sure if they only have to check one wheel or if they have to pull & check all wheels.

But I agree with Frank, keeping track of mileage and making sure routine maintenance is performed is important.

Hutch

kanyonkitty · 08-10-2007, 07:29 AM

Good Morning Everyone,

A few more answers: I never felt a problem with Sunny, luckily I had to stop for a red light, and a lady in a car got my attention and told me I had a tire smoking. I turned right at the light to go around the corner into a McDonalds lot, and the center cap(with my Sunline magnet) flew off. I had no wheel wobble, and did not see the smoke since I had been moving, so I'm not real sure how you'd know about a bearing problem unless you just get lucky and someone tells you, or you manage to see smoke or feel a wobble.

Now, to the bearings: they were hand repacked in November by my school bus mechanic (he said one "had" been loose). So, according to my records, I had about 6500 miles on them when the one went. Brad at Adventure RV said in these extreme temps, they need to be greased more often than normal, you know the normal once a year or 10-12K miles. I now have a tube of green grease & grease gun, as I was told to do 3 pumps every 1k miles for the first 3k miles with the new bearings.

My aluminum rim is now a slightly different color, so that baby got hot. I meant to take pics of the "remains" of the bearing, but forgot to. And let me tell you, there was NOT much left.

Hopefully here is a link to my Open Roads Singles post, detailing my trip:

http://groups.msn.com/OpenRoadsSingl...34737197148715

YeeHaw, just got off phone with Buttonwood Campground. I'll be arriving Thursday June 19th, departing Sunday June 22. Site # 88 (thanks Hutch)

Well, not sure when I'll have a connection again, so I might be gone a few days(again).

Kitty

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Galaxiedriver · 08-10-2007, 05:56 PM

Kitty, you were quite fortunate. Glad all is well again and no serious damage or injury occurred.

We had a similar experience on our trip out west in 04. I failed to adjust the brakes during the trip and on the way home in Nebraska the right rear brake assembly self destructed. The adjusting bar was so loose it fell off and the rest of the shoes, springs etc. totally came apart inside the drum. One of the shoes became wedged against the drum, heated it up and smoked the whole thing. The plastic hub cap melted and fell off somewhere along the highway and my nice white wheel was chared brown. I didn't know about the damage until we pulled into a campground and heard this awful screeching. Fortunately for us, the bearing was OK. I had all the tools and took the wheel assembly apart. After studying the situation, I decided to remove all the brake stuff and limp home with brakes on three wheels. That worked. The following week, I replace the whole drum assembly.

Now, I carry a spare set of bearings, and a set of shoes, springs etc. I do the same when I drive the Galaxie on a long distance run.

Every 1000 miles now, I adjust the brakes and every 3000 I repack the wheel bearings. I inspect the tires every time I leave on a trip and every time I gas up.

Paul