Double Header - Prevost Ft. Worth / Marathon Grand Prairie

[Jerry Winchester]

In an extraordinary feat of coordination, I was able to pull off a trifecta today as all the maintenance gods lined up in my favor.

First issue was that the new bus had 4 rock chips in the driver side glass. I call Prevost while the windshield special was on, buy one and have them hold it until I can come by in a couple weeks.

I also have the high tech crapper to finish (knew the issue, needed the fix)' so that was a Marathon issue. So I called the Marathon service manager and say, "Dude, my coach is going to be over at Prevost having the windshield changed, could you send the technician over there and I'll personally help him pull the crapper and he can take it back to your shop or we'll fix it right there on the wash rack. He's good with that.

So I show up last night, get parked, eat the worst dinner ever and off to bed. 7am sharp the doorbell rings. Then for the first time, I get to use the cool doorbell camera / intercom system since Rae is in the shower and I'm still on snooze waiting for the bathroom to clear out. Tech guy says he's ready to go. I tell him I'll unplug the coach and pull it in the door shortly.

I pull in the shop and he has the windshield there in the rolling rack and the man lift ready. I mention to the jr. shop manager guy that I suspect my front roof AC might be acting up since the fan blew okay, but I didn't think the compressor was cycling.

He rolls the man lift to the side of the coach, whips the cover off and there is a burned starter condenser. He yanks it out, we do some Internet detective work and while they can't find the factory spec'ed starter assembly, the find the individual pieces down the street for $30. Pops them in, AC now cooling like a mutha.

Then as scheduled, the Marathon tech shows up. We yank the toilet out and he leaves for their shop (it can't be two miles from Prevost). Rae and I slip off to the Waffle House for breakfast and on the way back to Prevost, Marathon calls. Toilet is done and he is heading back to Prevost.

Get to Prevost, windshield is done, AC is buttoned up, we install the crapper and have a few test flushes and I am out the door by 10:30am. Everyone did either exactly what they said or more and nary a snag.

And to top it off, I get over here to the Grapevine RV park and my cousin the IT guru shows up with my new iPad2 about the the time I shut the engine down.

I think I'll go buy some lottery tickets. I never have days like this. And I was only moderately drugged - even better.

[truk4u]

Only you could pull all of that off in 3 1/2 hrs! Let us know the results of the Waffle House Smothered and Covered deal when you try the new Crapper, it will for sure have to be up to it's highest technological capacity.:p

[charlesebrownjr]

A true test would have been to go to Joe T. Garcia's for lunch and order several of the meals for 2.

Speaking of Double Head...ers, Tonight the "REAL TEST"

[charlesebrownjr]

JDUB doesn't know it yet, but the two guys from Marathon that showed up in the NASA space suits with the Waste Management (Hazardoust Waste Disposal Unit) and the guy from the EPA, sent his old toilet via FedEx to Houston Space Center and put it on a unmanned rocket. Now in geosynchronous orbit at 22,500 miles in space. In the future, any of you that have complaints about a CRAPPY picture on there satellite should call JDUB not Dish or Direct. Marathon said they just gave him a new toilet!!!:-) They said it was worth jus replacing the old one.

[Jerry Winchester]

Well the Marathon guy did go thru about a case of those blue disposable gloves.

Smothered and covered will run thru the chopper in the am, but I can tell you this - nothing inorganic can go in that crapper. You can chop an elephant turd with corn big as silver dollars in it and you are okay. But don't toss as much as a Q-tip in it or you'll be calling Ghostbusters.

And I got a big problem here with a wife, two daughters, two sisters, two nieces and all their associated friends. A chick won't think twice about trying to flush a Sonic cup full of ball bearings down a toilet, so I'm either going to rig up one of those little monitors to give a pre-flush briefing when the door closes or just declare it a bio waste site and make them all hoof it down to the Pot-O-Gold for their every thirty minute commune with nature.

[BrianE]

As the Jeep would say................."Now THAT was funny.

Attention Prevost Prouds: This is as serious as it gets!

[BUSTER]

On the day that is the regular tax day...that usually requires large amounts of Vodka before retiring and telling one last OBAMA joke...one bad ass day america!!! this is more than funny !!!
Now that OBAMAis running for re-election I hear he was going to appear at Liberty Subaru in NJ because he wants to hang out with Rick....how's that for starting trouble...as a matter of fact...since it is April 15th...I am under the affulance of incolol.

[JIM KELLER]

Oh No Mike, Say it isn't so !

[phorner]

JDUB, that's simply incredible.

However, I fear that with an experience such as this now in the rear view mirror, you've about used up your good karma for a long, long time....

[garyde]

:cool:The official Marathon rcommended alternate Commode;http://www.sportchalet.com/product/300381_0563660.do

Magazines not included

[aggies09]

This is an incredible sequence of events. I am more than impressed with all of the parties involved. Kudos on a well planned service event.

[GDeen]

So when the throne is removed what is left to keep the anacondas from escaping? Set a dope bucket over the hole?

[Jerry Winchester]

There is no hole. That's the problem. This new technoturdomatic reduces every taco converted deuce into liquid that flows down what looks like a 2 1/2" rubber hose. That way, you can theoretically repeal some of the anaconda laws of physics by placing the toilet anywhere you want and just running a hose to the black tank.

Old design - figure out where black tank fits, place toilet directly above it, design the rest of the coach around it.
New design - design coach how you want it, install turbo-chop-o-matic wherever you want then run hose to black tank.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Old design - figure out where black tank fits, place toilet directly above it, design the rest of the coach around it.
New design - design coach how you want it, install turbo-chop-o-matic wherever you want then run hose to black tank.

So basically you are saying your previous coaches were kind of like sophisticated outhouses, while your current coach, which took you about a day to plug up has moved into the modern world with indoor plumbing?

My concern would be if I were able to cause the turdomatic to fail so quickly, what must I do in the future to prevent a repeat performance? I would suggest a diet which tends to produce smaller Anacondas or.......never mind. You get the picture.

[rfoster]

Is that Blender a Kitchen-Aid or Ronco-matic ?

[Jerry Winchester]

So basically you are saying your previous coaches were kind of like sophisticated outhouses, while your current coach, which took you about a day to plug up has moved into the modern world with indoor plumbing?

My concern would be if I were able to cause the turdomatic to fail so quickly, what must I do in the future to prevent a repeat performance? I would suggest a diet which tends to produce smaller Anacondas or.......never mind. You get the picture.

Hence my post. I'm saying your coach was designed around the location of the crapper where this coach seems to have no similar restriction.

I also said it would handle "organic" material - so a double rest ring anaconda is fair game. However, feminine hygiene products are not. So the problem is how to keep every chick on "Code Red" the hell away from my bus when they need to tinkle.

Mango Mike spent an hour driving back from work last night offering me suggestions between fits of laughing till he cried to angst over how he could use this in the future to somehow cause me offended grief. We may have a round table discussion about this at POG X.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Just to set the record straight, you cannot lay claim to toilet placement flexibility.

My Liberty and many others like it have toilets located some distance from the receiving tank, a feature made possible not only by excellent plumbing system design, but by a HeadHunter toilet which in concert with said design evacuates Anacondas and delivers them to distant receiving tanks. And the toilet does this without moving parts in the flow path. Unknown to me however is if there is a working limit. Thus far, with the exception of a flush valve that failed to stop the flow of water on one occasion, we have not had to need any other repairs or toilet removal. Must be a Marathon thing.

[garyde]

So, the high selling point for Jdub was the Veg-a-matic John? We all have our priorities.

[truk4u]

It's not a Marathon thing Jon, remember the Royale, then remember the previous Marathon and now the latest Marathon with the Binford 6000 Turd-A-Nater. All these great buses had the same issue, the Crapper gave Jdub problems. My understanding is NASA is at work with a possible solution!:p

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Here's his Buddy Mango helping with another Crapper malfunction and plugged hose!