Looking for "direction

[larry nelson]

Just got back from a weekend trip, about 60 miles, from Springfield, MO to Stockton (Lake) State Park. As I approached my destination, I sensed that
my coach was, well....to coin a phrase....."not right". It seemed to have power but also seemed like I was towing one of those sleds the tractor pull
guys compete with. Like having a few thousand hours in a particular airplane, you sense these things thru your fingertips, your nose, your good ear,
etc.

I was towing the Samurai which weighs nuthin (and I do not use the Brake Buddy for the Sammy)....

At the campground, I got my trusty laser thermometer. Then I "shot" my 6 wheels. I always shoot my brake drums, calipers, at gas stops but this time
I did it at my destination. I did not shoot the Sammy wheels. I saw my "front" rears were running about 130 degrees and hotter then the "rear" rears.
Fronts were about 120. Keep in mind I had done some braking to get into the park.

Didn't think too much about this until coming back yesterday. Once again, seemed like I had to have my foot to the floor much of the time going up
minor grades. I came back home via a slightly different route. A few more curves, same amount of hills.After about 10 miles I pulled into a high
school parking lot. There was a small gradient in the parking lot and I always like to see what happens if I just stop and put it into neutral....will
she freely roll back...she did.

When I got home, I shot all 6 hubs and did not see anything scary. Then I shot the Sammy. 120-125 degrees on a vehicle whose brakes did not get any
exercise during the whole trip where the ambient temp was about 78.

I am going to jack up one side of the coach to feel and hear the wheel bearings in action. Possibly I need some sort of medication for paranoia.

But my fingertips, good ear, and nose don't lie. (BTW, in this episode, no issue with smell).

Thoughts are appreciated.

--
Larry Nelson Springfield, MO
Ex GMC'er, then GM Busnut
now '77 Eleganza ARS WB0JOT

 

[LQQKatJon]

I think you are possibly looking the wrong direction. But that is my opinion. Those brake temps are not that out of wack.

with my personal experience recently and in past years:

1. take off air cleaner and check your secondaries. make sure they are free and working. a spring on side of carb was tight this summer and my
secondaries were not opening right. This was most noticeable trying to accelerate off a stop, and when I hit a hill of any sort.

2. do the same with your distributor advance. quick and free to check to rule a stuck advance out.

3. years ago, my GMC struggled, but it would eventually get to speed and cruise fine. turned out the governor was bad in the transmission and it
was stuck in 3rd gear. so drive and listen to shifts, make sure you are starting out in 1st and that it seems like it is shifting fine.

--
Jon Roche
75 palm beach
St. Cloud, MN
http://lqqkatjon.blogspot.com/

 

[wayne rogewski]

Id start by unhooking the Sammy and giving the coach a drive. Then shoot the temps on the coach wheels.

Take the Sammy out of the equation for the moment to better isolate issues from one vehicle to the other.

Also it would help if you knew what the "normal" temps on the coach hubs were prior to noticing the issue.
--
77 Royale, Rear Dry Bath. 403, 3.55 Final Drive, Lenzi goodies, Patterson carb and dizzy.
Mid Michigan

 

[terry1]

Definitely check the advance weights and look for a burned, broken, or disconnected vacuum hose while you're in there.
--
Terry Kelpien

ASE Master Technician

73 Glacier 260

Smithfield, Va.

 

[Matt Colie]

I am going to jack up one side of the coach to feel and hear the wheel bearings in action. Possibly I need some sort of medication for paranoia.

But my fingertips, good ear, and nose don't lie. (BTW, in this episode, no issue with smell).

Thoughts are appreciated.[/quote]
Larry,

Your thought about medication for paranoia has reminded me.

I was working on something with a younger friend to help. He watched me work the punch list and then double check things and part ways though, (I
don't even remember what I was doing at the time or to what) he remarked,"You are kind of paranoid, aren't you?".

To this I looked up and corrected him, "I am old and paranoid, and the two go together."

Think about it.... Every surviving pilot always does the whole walk around inspection before taking command of that aircraft.
Never ever apologize for being cautious.

I hope you find the issue.

I just completed a complete refresh of an engine because it was a little bit down on power and tripled its lube oil consumption. This was a good
thing to do as it turns out. I saved the engine. I will have pictures and a souvenir piston with me at Amana.

Matt

--
Matt & Mary Colie - '73 Glacier 23 - Members GMCMI, GMCGL, GMCES
Electronically Controlled Quiet Engine Cooling Fan
OE Rear Drum Brakes with Applied Control Arms
SE Michigan - Twixt A2 and Detroit

 

[larry nelson]

I did run the coach yesterday to fill up with gas for this upcoming weekend's trip. Seemed to run fine and after filling up took it onto the highway
and experienced no issues. I am going to pull the air filter and check ops of the carb, and also the distributor, just in case. I have normal "rolling
resistance" it seems, when I do my little experiments at shut down. My transmission is shifting fine. Have a tach, all good.

I always trust my "feel" in these situations. My problem might have been some sort of resistance within the drivetrain of the Samurai. Might pull the
Wrangler this next trip. Going to the same place, only about 50 miles from home. The Wrangler weighs an extra 1,100#, might be a good test.

Matt, I was intrigued by your comment about "refreshing" an engine. Not sure how far you took the process, whether you pulled the engine or did an
"inframe". Takes me back to the days of needing to do a "refresh" on my daily driver so I could make it to work on Monday. That meant pull the heads
on Friday, take to machine shop to pick up Saturday, and put it together on Sunday. No piston work unless the new heads moved the problem elsewhere
(like the rings). My GMC coach engine seems to run strong, does not use much oil, has about 108,000 miles. I have read all the travails of "new
engine" installs and wonder if the engine I have might need to, someday.........be "refreshed". Sounds like you had to drop the pan and pull the
pistons. Interested in if you did that with the engine installed.

As for instincts and paranoia, I was flying my Cessna 195 (330 HP Jacobs radial engine designed in the late 30's) back from Oshkosh about 5 years ago.
Over Columbia MO something started to not feel right in my fingertips. A few minutes later, something did not smell right. I can look down on the left
wheel pant and could see no oil, and no oil on my windshield (always a good sign). A few minutes after that, the sound was not right. With noise
cancelling headsets these days, I swear you can hear the gears move, and the rocker arms do their thing. I was right over Eldon, MO which is near Lake
of the Ozarks. There was nothing but forbidding topograpghy between my position and home, even though only about 70 miles. I landed at Eldon, met by
police (air traffic control seems to always to this when you decide to land immediately). My right side of the plane had oil on it. My number 6
cylinder had a crack almost all the way around, near the base. How much longer would I have had before that thing let go?

Instincts are good.

Thanks for all of the suggestions.
--
Larry Nelson Springfield, MO
Ex GMC'er, then GM Busnut
now '77 Eleganza ARS WB0JOT

 

[Matt Colie]

Larry,

Yes, listening to that little voice can (and has in my case too) save your life. I often say that I have a guardian angel that does not mind working
odd hours.

I pulled the frame out the front, and I will not recommend this to others but it served me well as there were other things on the punch list. There
are some serious complications for this that may not be realized.

If you have a 455 and the lube oil consumption is still less than a quart per thousand miles, I suggest that you not worry and do you best to take
very good care of it. From what I saw in this one that we put 70k on and it have been overhauled at about 95K odo (so now at about 170TT), if it had
not broken a ring land, the wear-out mileage was a long ways off.

In my case, the story gets strange. Other than a date and mileage on a now illegible receipt, I had zero history on the engine. Even as well as it
ran, that was an uncomfortable situation. Now, if I had been able to identify the pistons, I could have bought just one and rings and put the engine
back in service. But, I really wanted to have a 100k capable engine under my feet.

I plan to have the piston with me at Amana.

Matt (has a lot of cleaning up to do still)
--
Matt & Mary Colie - '73 Glacier 23 - Members GMCMI, GMCGL, GMCES
Electronically Controlled Quiet Engine Cooling Fan
OE Rear Drum Brakes with Applied Control Arms
SE Michigan - Twixt A2 and Detroit

 

[Ken B]

> I landed at Eldon, met by police (air traffic control seems to always to this when you decide to land immediately).
> Instincts are good.
>
> Thanks for all of the suggestions.

Quite a few years ago a sheriff pulled up to me and a friend just outside of my hangar and demanded I leave immediately because an airplane was about
to crash. I refused and asked him to leave my property.

The next thing I knew there were police cars from the city, county, state, and university running around all over the airport, including the taxiway
and the active runway. I telephoned the airport manager. He and one airport vehicle had to go out and corral all of the police cars and get them off
of the aircraft movement areas of the airport.

It turned out after almost an hour of waiting no crash occurred though several planes landed and took off, if the cops did not catch them first. The
airport manager had to tell them to quit bothering the pilots (like me) and the moving aircraft. It tool almost 2 hours for them to get bored enough
to leave.

It turns put that an IFR King-air based in the hangar across from me was inbound about 150 miles out when he reported to Center that one of his 2
alternators failed. He had no other problems and would continue his flight as planned. Well someone at Chicago Center notified the County Sheriff
and the police agencies just escalated it from there.

Meantime Center handed the airplane off to South Bend Approach, who handles our area approaches, and did not tell them about the phone call.

South Bend handled the aircraft, he landed, parked his plane in his hangar, and went home. All of this before or during the time that the police were
arriving. They never saw him.
--
Ken Burton - N9KB
76 Palm Beach
Hebron, Indiana