On the Road Again - All Patched up.

Greg and Dale from Greg's Towing and Repair arrived about4:30 EDT with the biggest tow truck I have ever seen. It was bigger than the motor home. It took about an hour to get the coach set on his wheel hoist, remove the drive shaft, and hook up the lights and air supply. Then we were off to the Cummins Power Repair Facility in De Pere, WI, a suburb of Green Bay, with Dorcas, Matilda and me following in the Element. The 3.5 hour drive was uneventful, except when we went under a 14' 1" trestle. Our coach has a nominal clearance of 12' 1", but with the front end jacked up, who knows? Greg was on his toes and crept under the bridge until he was sure he could clear it. The upper 6" of the CB antenna wacked the bridge, but everything else cleared comfortably.

We arrived at the Cummins facility about 8:00 CDT, having gained an hour as we crossed into central time. They were expecting us and immediately backed us into a service bay. Within about a half hour they were taking things apart. It was immediately apparent that they would need to access the engine from the wardrobe inside the coach so Dorcas and I began unpacking the closet. Dave, our service advisor, removed the sliding mirror doors and began pulling carpet to expose the access panels to the top of the engine. Dave 2, our chief mechanic and one of two that worked on the engine, began pulling the valve cover. The best scenario would be that whatever was broken was on the top end of the engine, accessible by removing the valve cover. If it was something down in the cylinders, it would be a much more difficult job. In short order Dave 2 discovered a broken rocker lever. Unfortunately, the part was not in stock. Dang. However, someone realized they had a similar engine in a crate and could scavenge the part off that engine. Cool! Dave 2 pulled the push tubes and inspected some other parts to see if there was any secondary damage, and found none. He began putting things back together and adjusted the valve lash. An out-of-spec valve lash may have caused the rocker lever to break in the first place, although that adjustment is not usually done until an engine has 100,000 miles. It is possible that the value lash may not have been properly adjusted at the factory when the engine was assembled. They buttoned up the engine and it ran like a top, seemingly with less clatter than before. The job was relatively simple and straight-forward, from an engine standpoint. The complicating factor was that the engine was stuffed into the back of an RV, with little consideration given to future service requirements. In order to remove the valve cover and access the rocker assemblies, they had to remove the carpet from the wardrobe and a step in the bedroom (we thought we were going to have to remove the bed!) and several large fresh air pipes passing over the engine. All this through a small rear hatch and a small overhead panel.

The mechanics were super. There were two to three guys working most of the time. They were scheduled to quit at 11:30, but stayed late to get us finished. I pulled out of the service bay at 1:30 am. We had anticipated sleeping in the car, but were thrilled to be able to sleep in the coach. (We had called about a motel, but the rates were out of sight. Something about that football team playing up the road at Lambeau Field). They topped off the engine oil and coolant, both of which were very low, and performed an oil analysis. They also gave us a real break on the charges. I don't know how many hours they spent working on the coach. There were 2-3 guys working much of the time from about 9:00 until 1:00, but the labor charge was only $484. However, the best part is that they considered it a warranty repair. We paid only $125, which was the cost for the valve adjustment. We were very fortunate; it could have been much worse.

All in all, we came out very well. There was considerable stress, and we lost some sleep, but we are back on the road only about a day behind schedule and 200 miles off course. Hopefully we will be in Duluth this evening. All is right in the world again.