The Virtual Coach

[Just Plain Jeff]

It seems that we have to buy coaches that someone else designed and spend all our time and energies looking at this one and that one; finally making a compromise and plunking down serious Lew Bucks, keeping our fingers crossed that we got a good one.

Since there is no kidding around on POG, I say that we begin to list the stuff we would like to see put in a single package on a coach that, based on all our experience, would be the perfect coach.

Here is my first little list to kick things off:

1. I would go Series 60 now that we have one.

2. The 45 works.

3. Stainless and rivets.

4. Four roof airs with heat pumps.

5. Granite floor laid on the flex-Kevlar substrate.

OK, I'll stop there...anyone for #6?

[Joe Cannarozzi]

Currently the power plant of choice for us gravel buggies up north is the new series of cat motors with twin turbos up to and including the C-15 625hp and whill im on the subject why isint the new electronicly shifted roadranger manual transmissions the current standard.For fuel milage, preformance ,durability and reliability the 13speed roadranger with computer controled shift tower would be my choice. They have a clutch pedal that is used from adead stop then the computer takes over and shifts it like an automatic, a 13 speed automatic, but youve got the durability of one of the best heavy vehicle transes ever. If your on this web sight I,m sure most of you are capible of driving tractor trailer. Go to any KW or Peterbuilt dealers and test drive one with a C-15 and auto-shift 13

[Jerry Winchester]

A fellow O-State alum pulled in to Jackson Hole while I was there in a SOB coach with a 600 hp Cat engine. It was one bad sounding boy.

As long as we are coveting, I think we would like our next coach to be an XL2, probably a 45er. I am tore on the AC. Bunch of roof airs and it looks like a Winnebago, but they have to be cheaper and easier to service than Cruisairs. But the Cruisairs let you clean the roof line and when working are fine units.

I would also like one of those beds that Figaroa put in that H at the rally. Having the ability to bunch it up so a normal size guy can walk around the end of the bed was pretty cool. I am also a big shower guy, so that was nice, but I am glad there are no photos of Jeff and I standing in the shower at the same time.

I also covet better organization in the bays and some folks have that down. As for the exterior, I am somewhere between subtle with light bling. Even Rae laughed at Jim's comment about the truckers and the "all that money and no taste" comment. I have seen that in spades.

And I want thousands of LEDs. Just to make Jon crazy.

[Just Plain Jeff]

Jerry, there ARE fotos of you and I standing in the shower at the same time.

I am just waiting for the right moment.

[Jerry Winchester]

I thought only Libertys came with the secret shower camera?

[Just Plain Jeff]

On roof airs:

When you have four roof airs on a coach it does NOT look like a Winnebago.

It looks like tract housing.

Liberty coaches do have secret shower cameras. They are chromed, lit with LEDs, but usually don't work. The Millennium shower CAM is online 24/7, which is a test of Nelson's new TCIPC theory.

Jerry, we're on the net.

In the shower.

I went to OSU too, but we effete Eastern Liberal snobs refer to that as Ohio State University, a small but pretty good football team that also has a couple of classrooms to support the endowment, which of course, supports the football team.

[Ben]

Jerry,

The XLII's usually have integrated awnings that completely hide the roof airs and make the coach look very sleek. You'd also gain a bunch of basement storage space.

The main problem I have with roof airs is noise. They rumble a lot more than cruise airs since the whole unit is right above your head instead of hiding half of it in the basement.

[rfoster]

Some of my wants already exist on newer coaches:
Power Awnings
Big Screen TVs
No Carpet
Chingadingaleers
More LEDs

Timer controlled Generator to come on at predesignated time for cooling after an extended absence.

Prefer Cruise airs over roof -clean roof line and quieter

Low Profile to No profile Satellite Dish and over the air TV antena needs to be concealed or desinged into the coach much like some car radios with the antenna in the windshield
Power drivers door window (for fast food drive thru!)

I have heard that certain Nascar drivers preferred SOB because they could get it with Cat Motor that supposedly would smoke the DD 60 on power- but no confirmation of durability and longivity-cause those guys are not gonna keep em or drive em.

better lights on the dash gauges

A quieter Webasto

Roger that

[Jon Wehrenberg]

I'm going to beat Roger (my buddy who is giving me an M3) in the bling contest, but it is going to be tough to improve on his comments.

Why would anybody spend more than a million bucks for a coach you can't drive in the dark because you can't see the dash lights? Good one Roger.

And how about that Webasto? We have a meg-horsepower generator that you have a hard time hearing, and a big bag Series 60 in the rear that is hard to hear when it is being started, but to heat our interior we have a device that sounds like a 747.

And with a path about 10" wide that goes from front to rear and is guaranteed to accumulate dirt and footprints why is it not some hard surface like wood, granite, marble or even laminate? And as if that wasn't so obvious, when that path is carpeted as it is usually, why does it have to be light colors like pale gray or beige?

Lets talk about some of the mechanical things. Can anybody say "leans"? As long as the Norgrens contribute to the leans and servicing them is in everybody's future, is it not possible for Prevost to spend a few dollars on tubing and instead of locating each Norgren where only people with a grease pit can get at them, how about locating every one of the 10 to 15 Norgren valves on a common mounting point at the top of one of the bays so every single one can be serviced and tested easily. As long as we are asking Prevost for the impossible is there anybody else that thinks it would be a neat idea to use a front door latch that is not prone to failure?

And while I'm complaining, I want to flog the fool that replaced the Jake brake with the engine retarder that drives my transmission temperatures up to the moon if I am not careful with its use or braking. Does that idiot realize that when you need some form of help with braking such as going down a steep hill, you have to limit the use of the retarder because the transmission temperatures have gotten so hot you have exceeded the limits on the fluid?

And finally, I want the engineer that designed the fuel filling system that pukes fuel to spend a few weeks filling my bus. He will not be allowed to change his clothes, and he will have to walk around in shoes filled with #2 diesel fuel.

[Joe Cannarozzi]

I,ve got a Cat motor in my Pete, its got 800000+ the thing has never failed to get back to the barn never been on a hook goes 5000+miles before needing a gallon of oil and there is nothing like mannually downshifting through 10 or 12 gears with the jake on !

[Just Plain Jeff]

Joe: Of course the Jake in a Pete with a manual is Jon's most fervent wish.

Oh, I would add to the virtual coach:

A heavier duty front end to accomodate Lew's True Value.

[dalej]

Man this new coach sounds awsome, is it going to be at POG II in Santa Fe? Can we keep the price down too, I'd like to be able to trade every 5 years or so just to keep up with all the latest tech & blingy stuff. Seems I always wanting to add it to our 86.

[rfoster]

Dale - You hit the nail on the head- I would hope to see that coach in Santa Fe and at the right price
- I'll trade if the price is right
Go Bob Barker
Roger that

[Just Plain Jeff]

Liberty Coach committed to the following:

If a POG member has an interest in a specific coach, they will bring it to a POG rally to get the deal done.

Roger, THAT!

[MangoMike]

The wants:

• I really like the idea about the power washer built into one of the bays. I don't have a wash bay in my garage like JW, so this would be a nice treat in keeping that baby shinning.

• A really good pin point reading lamp above the co-pilots chair.

• A better set of headlamps

• Built in vacumn system

• 8 x 10 glossy of Jon and Lew.... (naked)

MM

[Just Plain Jeff]

MM:

Did you lose that picture AGAIN?

[rfoster]

I don't know for sure, but that sounds to me like the opposite of Bling- I am not interested in that photo
Roger

[MangoMike]

Fast Roger,

No problem. and yes... we still have that photo of you :) Should bring a pretty penny on ebay, or the next UCDA rally.

MM

[Kevin Erion]

Jon, I 2nd your thoughts about the trans retarder, I am now up in Yellowstone and this is my first trip with a 17000LB trailer, try slowing this without toasting the trans fluid. I own and have driven 80,000lb trucks with jakes and I for the life of me can not understand why some SOB took the jakes away and used this retarder(retard)! And I was told the retarder cost way more than the jake's, now I know why.
Kevin

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Let me see if I can put this in perspective.

Prevost takes a very good coach and in the interest in improvements they do the following:

They put fuel fill capability on both sides and just so you know they improved the coach they made it so it would puke #2 all over you.

Then they replace a perfectly good Jake brake with a transmission retarder that is guaranteed to fry the fluid, so when Allison downloads the data they can say "sorry we can't repair this under warranty because you fried the fluid".

In the interests of improvements they replace the dual sealed beam headlights that preceded the Ford plastic headlights. The improvement benefitted the oncoming traffic, at the expense of the Prevost driver who can no longer see deer in the road at night until he hits the deer. My old dual headlights would make the road look like daylight.

But because of the complexity they are apparently still working on trying to get my dash lights bright enough so I can actually see the gauges at night.

[Jerry Winchester]

And I thought I was the only one who couldn't see the gauges at night. Since I have no retarded retarder and a working Jake brake, I can smuggly descend any hill in comfort with the knowledge the transmission police won't be coming round any time soon.

And Jon, we both know that Prevost Car people read this board (or at least folks with a @volvo.com address, so maybe they will get the hint. I would actually like to see them appoint at least one guy to respond or be a point of contact for this group and their questions. Come on guys, quit lurking and get in the game :D

And to Ray and Kevin, out on a big trip and no photos for your buddies? What's up with that?

[MangoMike]

You can probably win the Bling contest hands down if you could get the gauges to sparkle at night with illuminance.

Mike

[Ben]

Look out, I've been watching Jerry's credit card bills (ya know, us computer guys can get into anything electronically)...

I noticed that he just ordered more bus bling:

http://tinyurl.com/hp2jz

http://www.liquidation.com/shared/auction/images/photos/2350/2349294.jpg

[Kevin Erion]

Jerry,
I am a little ashamed to say that the only camera in this bus is a throw away Polaroid. We are sitting in the West Yellowstone Grizzly Bear RV Park. Very nice and quite. A trip to Old Faithful in the morning and a loop of the north side on Thursday and then down to Zion River Resort for a few days to see the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. Man, this beats the Hell out of Work!
I want to learn about the power system that Marathon has given us, just does not work the way one would think. Truck4u, we need to talk, I think you and I have some close coaches, I have #545. I get a little mad with the invertors and the Generator. A topic for Santa Fe, maybe we can get a Marathon tech to show up?
Kevin

[Just Plain Jeff]

Kevin:

One of the rule of POG (insert laugh here) is that the person who brings up an idea owns it. (This tends to stiffle creativity somewhat, but also produces interesting results).

Call Marathon and get 'em to show up!

[Jon Wehrenberg]

And not the sales types, but the techs that can get into the nitty gritty.

[Ben]

Jerry is still charging up a storm. This time, he bought a carbon fibre headhunter toilet!

http://www.headhunterinc.com/images/Toilets/Carbon%20Fiber.jpg

He's knocked 40lbs off the weight of the old one (down to 10.9lbs now)... he's hoping to win the dragracing competition at POG II.

http://www.headhunterinc.com/carbon_fiber.htm ("http://www.headhunterinc.com/carbon_fiber.htm")

[Just Plain Jeff]

Now this is marketed to those who have to, 'hurry up and go?'

Where do the LED lites come into this one?

[Jon Wehrenberg]

That is actually his driver's seat for the long non-stops from Polk City to Houston.

[Just Plain Jeff]

Please pardon my ignorance, but...what are "Chingadingaleers?"

[rfoster]

Chingadingaleer:
The word is derived from the red neck dialect (that rhymes) originating in Oklahoma and like manure is spread across the Southwest into Texas and on into the Southeastern US. It is seldom used north of the Mason-Dixon line. The word with its multiple syllables dissolves like this: Chin- a sound heard when inserting coins into a slot machine - anticipating a pay back that never materializes, - chinga- a sound heard when a vendor puts money into his cash register ; or something similar to a wind chime - makes noise to a point you don’t want to hear any more, dinga - originating from the sheep herds in Oklahoma as in dingle berries located near the source of lamb fries. Completely useless, but exist in reality- they just kinda hangout and hang on. Leer- derived from the French, and mutilated by the redneck community to emulate something along the lines of the chandelier. Flashy, Bright, Shiney, useless, expensive, and is almost always found attached and eventually evolves into Liberty BLING ! So there. Plain English no Latin
B. S. Webster

[Jerry Winchester]

Roger,

I thought "chingadingaleer" was from the old okie word "chingalator" which was any part on any machine that didn't have a proper name.

Example; "I don't know why the tractor won't start. We checked the starter and that chingalator that hooks up to it and it won't crank."

We had a sand delivery unit at Halliburton that was listed on the equipment board as a "chingalator" because it came from the plant with no official name or designation. Thus it got the generic moniker.

[rfoster]

JDUB:
I was following Jons lead: If you don't know the answer - we will make one up.

[Just Plain Jeff]

I knew you were 'fluffin' me. (See I get around). In the stuffy, self-indulget north we call those dealies, "watchamacallits."

[Jon Wehrenberg]

I can see Ben right now trying to figure out how to use these words in his next book.

[matsprt]

I have to ask...is this any relation to our "el chingadarea" we have over here in the southwest ??

Michael

[Jerry Winchester]

Michael,

I think you are exactly right. A chingalator from south of the border.

[Coloradobus]

Here in our neck of the woods, those things are called "Dumaflotchies".

[Jerry Winchester]

Jim,

I think they also call them a "hootis" in your part of town.

[Joe Cannarozzi]

Lets get back to the original thought of the thread.


I would like a option that I could remotly opporate the toad while pulling it. To be able to start it and then take it from neutral to drive and then visa-versa so I can use it for a pony motor going up hills. On demand of course. We dont need propane injection:rolleyes: We would also enjoy a screen door entrance.

To be continued

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Joe,

Sit down, take a deep breath and relax.

You are starting to scare me.

The answer is obvious. Instead of worrying about the toad, add a second 8V92 in the first bay, and power the front wheels. When you do that I want to see you light up them tires at the stop light drags.

[lewpopp]

Now there is the exact use of a chingadingalateer. That whatchamacalit is what you need to operate your toad from the bus. Make sure that when you toad gets to the top of the hill the remote has a "Whoa" button on it.

[Joe Cannarozzi]

Now everybodys thinkin:D