Electricity

The bus and I are at US Coach in Berlin New Jersey right now because the bus is a little sick and that is a good place to work on things - the guys there are letting me borrow tools when I need them and are giving me good advice.

There is a wiring problem with the transmission - I am having trouble shifting from forward to reverse. There is a short circuit somewhere and I'm in the process of tracking it down. I have been blessed with amazing weather the last few days and lasting at least until tomorrow I hope. I might be done by the end of the day tomorrow and then I will drive back to Brooklyn! The wiring on the bus is all original as far as I know - 30 something years old. Interestingly, the wires that are failing are all in the engine compartment - high heat and oil and dirt and water taking their tole. And most of the problems I have found so far is crimp-on connectors falling off the wires - hopefully I will just have to replace all these connectors and not have to replace all the wires themselves.

I am looking for a space to park the bus in doors in NYC. This will be very important for the next phase of things - actually getting the microscopes setup and experiments working. I can't deal with worrying about the microscopes getting stolen all the time - the bus is too easy to break into.

Transmission On Floor

Transmission Wreckage


Transmission On Floor


Transmission Push

The bus limped from NYC to US Coach Repair in Berlin, NJ to fix the transmission. I realized just how lucky I was when they took the transmission off and you could see what was happening inside - well what was happening is that gears were turning into piles of metal.

So I was really lucky for two reasons - one, I was actually able to drive into the shop instead of having to be towed. And two, that the gears disintegrating into little metal bits didn't get wedged into any of the other gears and do even more damage.

So, they took the entire tranmission out on a dolly (the thing must weigh 1000 lbs at least) and replaced the planetary gear set. These gears are involved in both overdrive (third gear) of the tranny as well as somehow fundamentally involved its function in the other gears as well. There was basically nothing left of the planetary gears when we got to them. Fortunately US Coach Repair had a replacement part on site and managed to get it in there. These guys are amazing - they know how to fix this old bus, and I am so lucky for it.

Well, finally it came time to put the thing back together - never as simple as taking things apart, right? It took three of the guys and a crow bar to get the thing back on. Kenny, the main guy working on it, my dad, and I then took the bus for a spin down the Atlantic City expressway, and the bus shifted into overdrive for the first time since the night we pulled into Urbana. in October.

Now we are bringing the bus back to parent's place near Valley Forge, outside of Philly. My dad, Ed, and I will work on a bunch of stuff, like getting the passenger seat and stove installed and more secure and doing some other woodwork to finish up some of the things started in Cali but that we never got a chance to complete.

The Making of Workstations One Two Three

The stations are assembled, and they are really great. As you can see, the heights are adjustable, but they are strong as heck - I was sitting on them and bouncing up and down earlier and everything is really solid. Daniel and my measurements were right on the money, and there is plenty of space behind them at the bottom of the wall to remount the charge controllers and circuit breakers.
Very exciting!!

Scope Station One

Ed and I put this together yesterday with our donated microscope.
'nuff said!

Home

Robin, Biostar, and I slowly rolled across the GW bridge last night and rumbled down Amsterdam Ave into a prime, free parking spot on Amsterdam & 115th street. Lynn gave me the warmest homecoming I could ask for - hugs, kisses, tea, and Guinness cake!!

Lynn and I spent the day relaxing and enjoying the nice weather - it is great to be back after my two months on the road. The trip home was indeed an Odyssey, but it's telling will have to wait for another day.

Broken Down in PA

Broken Down in PA
Originally uploaded by benDT

This picture was taken on route 80 near Washington, PA. We were expecting to make it home late tonight - instead we got towed to this out of the way intersection near a truck repair place. This seems to bode badly for the transmission - this time it is a mechanical problem, not electrical. Robin and Lotus are in the left corner - there have been many lows on the trip - but right now feels the lowest.

Robin

Robin


Starter Motor

This is Robin, relaxing in the parking lot of the truck repair place we got towed to on the East side of Columbus, Ohio. We had been having trouble with the fuel system for a day or two, and kept stalling and not being able to start the bus and spending lots of time with our finger on the starter. It turned out the the starter solenoid needed replacing - but we were still learning that the truck places are NOT the places to be with a bus. The truck people basically said no, they wouldn't fix it, at least not for a week and for less then the bus was worth. Hey - at least they let us camp in their parking lot.

So then we got towed to N&W bus repair. Great place, great people. They let us work on the bus ourselves - Robin and I pulled the starter motor assembly out ourselves, the Connely helped us test it - turned out it was just the starter solenoid that had failed. So they let us look through the half dozen solenoids they had until we found the right part, and then remounted the thing. AND IT WORKED! My first really serious bus maintenance operation.