?'s and Observations

Rocket Heart · 07-19-2008, 12:21 PM

First off. The trip back to Ohio from Yellowstone - 1802 miles - burned no oil!! Transmission cooler howled like a banshee when in the mountains - quiet on relatively flat land. Unit handled very well in all types of wind and rain. Very pleased with that - hand driving is the secret.

Lot's of campers on the road and in the parks. All Illinois campgrounds were full on I- 80 clear across the state.

Have a problem with my Magnadyne radio - in dash. Keeps on going off intermittenly - especially when on the Sirius channels. Doesn't seem to have any problems otherwise. Any help here???

Gas mileage sucked on the way out west but was good on the way home = blew my estimated busget buy $600.00 - allowed for $1600.

All in all a great trip but really glad to be home.

Rocket Heart · 07-19-2008, 12:21 PM

First off. The trip back to Ohio from Yellowstone - 1802 miles - burned no oil!! Transmission cooler howled like a banshee when in the mountains - quiet on relatively flat land. Unit handled very well in all types of wind and rain. Very pleased with that - hand driving is the secret.

Lot's of campers on the road and in the parks. All Illinois campgrounds were full on I- 80 clear across the state.

Have a problem with my Magnadyne radio - in dash. Keeps on going off intermittenly - especially when on the Sirius channels. Doesn't seem to have any problems otherwise. Any help here???

Gas mileage sucked on the way out west but was good on the way home = blew my estimated busget buy $600.00 - allowed for $1600.

All in all a great trip but really glad to be home.

Outbumn · 07-19-2008, 02:55 PM

We just drove from Virginia to Forest City for GNR. Averaged 8 MPG towing the cruiser. That was at 60 MPH and in cruise control once we got out of the mountians of Maryland and West Virginia.

FrontRangeRVer · 07-19-2008, 03:52 PM

The transmission cooler "howled"???

skigramp · 07-19-2008, 05:10 PM

Tom ...

I live in Wisconsin and travel back and forth between here and Cheyenne quite often (family there) ...

The elevation in Cheyenne is 6000 feet ... where I cross the Mississippi river the elevation is about 800 feet ... the wind generally blows out of "one of the wests" (SW, W, NW) across the plains ...

So I regularly get better fuel mileage coming back from Cheyenne than going to Cheyenne ... downhill and a tail wind ...

(I-80 in Nebraska rises about 8 feet every mile that you go west)

Rocket Heart · 07-19-2008, 08:36 PM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by FrontRangeRVer:
The transmission cooler "howled"??? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

At least I think that's what it was. Read in the Allison manual that there is a cooler for the transmission. It was very noticable whenever there was a heavy demand on the tranny. We were towing a PT Cruiser 3300# and at times the tranny noise was very loud. A howeling sound is the best I can describe.

My next letter will be to Workhorse/ Allison to see if that is normal.

We were in the Black Hills and then up to Yellowstone - passed through some very high alltitudes over 8800 ft at times and 7 - 8% grades.

Once we were on "flat land - Illinois to Ohio there was little cockpit noise.

porscheracer · 07-19-2008, 08:58 PM

I doubt if it was the cooler. Transmission, maybe - or more likely rear end. In any case, I'd have it checked ASAP.

skigramp · 07-20-2008, 02:17 AM

Our previous unit was a '99 Adventurer built on a Ford chassis. The V-10 engine cooling fan was on a clutch and only came on when the engine temperature rose above some threshold.

The fan seldom came on unless I was climbing steep hills or crawling through city traffic in hot weather ...

I do have not first hand knowledge of the Workhorse chassis ... but could the noise you hear be your fan turning on ...

CHIPPYSGT · 07-20-2008, 02:48 AM

I'll put my money on the radiator fan kicking in. I had a class c that did that when I lived in Lone Pine and went up into the mountains to camp. The first time it happened it sent thoughts of $100 bills flying out of my wallet thru my head. Turned out to be functioning normally.

Rocket Heart · 07-20-2008, 06:16 AM

Well I'd like to think it was the fan but my past experience with this coach and my previous one leads me to believe it was tranny. The noise was in the doghouse not in the front end and not like the cooling fan.

I'll let you all know.

Pusherman · 07-20-2008, 10:38 AM

Regarding your Magnadyne radio shutting off by itself, mine did the same thing. Had it replaced under warranty. Works fine now.

Fakrwee · 07-20-2008, 05:47 PM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Rocket Heart:
Unit handled very well in all types of wind and rain. Very pleased with that - hand driving is the secret. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Ahh, what were you using before

Glad you had a great trip. We're leaving in Sept. to DC for a month. These last weeks get very long.

Tom

Rocket Heart · 07-21-2008, 06:10 AM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Fakrwee:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Rocket Heart:
Unit handled very well in all types of wind and rain. Very pleased with that - hand driving is the secret. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Ahh, what were you using before

Glad you had a great trip. We're leaving in Sept. to DC for a month. These last weeks get very long.

Tom </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Well believe it or not I found a Muldavian truck driver who used his elbows....taught me how to drive that way too. Worked well on donkey carts and scooters but was horrible driving a motor home.