Beached Bus

[truk4u]

Michael,

Take it to Nashville Prevost!

[Coloradobus]

Our last coach had a cracked piece of metal inside the door that the inside pull handle was attached. Marathon warned us that all electronics in the coach would be in jeopardy if any welding was to be done. A bare minimum, all batteries had to be disconnected!!! Prevost Mira Loma found it easier to remove the whole door to repair that cracked weld.
Would an RV dealer know this, I ask? When we have had a major repair, we have made the 1000 mile trip (one way) to Mira Loma and sat with the coach and called it a road trip. Our travel time is valuable, since we both still work, but some things are necessary for piece of mind..

[Jon Wehrenberg]

CObus is right. If there is welding to be done at the very least all the connections to sensitive stuff like the DDEC and ATEC computers need to be disconnected. If there are any house computers they need to be protected by disconnecting them as well.

Welding on our buses is not rare. As can be seen repairs often need weldiing, but Prevost often has recalls where the fix requires welding. The most common reason for a welder to be used is if one of the inner drive axle wheel studs breaks and the tool to remove it fails to work. Then the only alternative is to weld a nut on the end of the stud so it can be removed using the impact wrench.

Welding is OK, but precautions need to be taken.

Removing the battery ground may be how some would do it, but I have removed the power connectors at all electroninc devices so there is no connection between those devices and the chassis. It is more troublesome, but on those occasions when I have welded on my bus I have had no problems.

[phorner]

Michael,

I have never had to have any body work done on our bus, and hopefully never will.

But there have been several posts in the couple of years that I have been a member of POG that speak to the work done either by Prevost directly or a Prevost factory authorized service shop.

It is difficult enough to find a place that you can trust to perform a basic service on a Prevost, let alone get into the fabric of one. I always worry about what happens when something goes wrong, as they almost inevitably do. Once you start taking things apart, you never know what you will find. I want a contractor that I can trust when unexpected things happen. Most vendors shine when everything goes well. Few do when problems arise.

If it were mine, I would do whatever it took to have the repairs made either at a Prevost factory service center or a service facility specifically authorized by Prevost.

Good luck with your repairs.

[hhoppe]

I think a specific proceedure of protecting the electronics should be obtained from Prevost. Maybe this can be gotten from the Prevost Rep. at the POG / OKC rally. Your not concerned with the batteries doing damage in this case. The power from the welding machine sent from the work piece through the coach to the welders ground connection is the culprit. We better get a read friom Prevost.

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

There is on the right hand engine compartment door, on the inside a decal of Prevost origin that specifies in red letters the procedure and precautions for welding on the bus.

If you don't have it call your friendly parts man and he will sell you one.

JIM

[tdelorme]

It's not the Prevost electronics that would concern me as much as the devices that are convertor specific. Disconnecting the batteries will cover the Prevost stuff and hopefully everything. What about electronics that have their own battery backup? I would think that those items may be grounded to the frame at the attachment points, so is there a possibility of damage when welding on the coach? I would disconnect every battery including the gen set, unplug or disconnect every invertor, charger, TV, microwave and anything I could think of that could suffer damage. Michael, do we have you worried yet??

[michaeldterry]

Michael, do we have you worried yet??

Nahhhhh - more like TERRIFIED!

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Gentlemen.......A number of you have indicated to remove the battery ground. Where specifically are you getting that information? If I remove the battery ground, and then clamp the ground for the welder on the bus have you not negated what you just did? Would it not be more appropriate to disconnect the power leads to all elctronic devices?

When I first started welding on my bus due to a broken wheel stud I was instructed to remove the DDEC and ATEC power connections at the modules. That bus had no other computerized devices. I would follow the same method to isolate computerized devices even though it will be a lot of work.

BTW, I doubt if there will be damage to electronic devices if you do weld on your coach and the reason the items are isolated electrically is to prevent that slim chance damage will occur from happening. I have seen shops weld on vehicles with computers and electronics without any harm even though they were not disconnected. It's the old risk versus reward equation.

[gmcbuffalo]

I think one of the key factors is a welding ground close to work being done. Some the electronics don't become part of the electrical circuit path.
GregM