| Author | Message | ||
| William R. Graf (Billfrombrazil) (170.164.50.119)
Rating: N/A |
After quite sometime without communication capabilities our son set up a web site and gave us a webmail address. Our reason for losing communication was our move out of the house and into our Crown, fulltime. We moved into the bus the last week of November in Nebraska and it went below 10 degrees twice that week. The bus isn't sufficiently insulated or heated for that! We survived however and headed for Texas. We had no problems on the way down to Edinburg and got a good (or should I say great?) 8.3 MPG. After two months at Rio Grande Bible Institute we went to Houston and had a battery cable rub through the insulation on top of the frame. Praise God the ground cable from frame to engine failed to make a good connection for some reason only HE knows. That connection only began to fry and smoke when I was underneith trying to find the defect and I was able to pull the cable out of the lug on the end with my hands. Got that fixed and after a week at a college there headed on to Flagstaff, AZ and another college. On the way we hit a rough sandstorm that had other motor homes looking for shelter and the Crown hardly felt it. We were held up in a truck stop for a full 24 hours because our debit card triggered an automatic blocker when I tried using it at a pump along the Texas/Mexico border. That was all for the good though because we pulled into a rest stop on I-17 right alongside Niel and Wanda and their bus! Niel signs himself Niel4Jesus on the board. It was great to meet them face to face! Now we are in Yucaipa, CA and will be here in S. Cal for a couple of weeks. The old Crown has made it full circle. It left L.A. to serve at the mining town of Ray, AZ for 20 years. Then it made a number of trips from Phoenix to a camp in British Columbia. From there it went to North Carolina where I bought it, then the midwest and now all the way back to the place of its birth. Expect to get many more miles out of a great running machine. Some have said they would like to see our conversion including the lift I made for Sandi and all. If you are in the Southern California area let me know and mabe we can get together while here. Note the new e-mail address billfrombrazil | ||
| Henry R. Bergman, Jr. (Henryofcj) (65.194.145.40)
Rating: N/A |
Glad to hear your Crown Super Coach did a super job for you. Us Crown owners must hang together, or we will hang separately. He he he. How did your old girl handle such FREEZING temps? Coldest mine has gotten was only +14 F next to the bed. About 5 blankets or soosss. Bet you had lots of antifreeze in the radiator and winter fuel in the tank. Amazing coaches aren't they. CROWNS FOREVER!! Henry of CJ. | ||
| William R. Graf (Billfrombrazil) (204.130.172.11)
Rating: N/A |
Henry, Most of that cold weather we were just sitting so only had to worry about keeping us warm. I had two ceramic disk heaters going and the catalytic heater which I reinstalled in the only bit of wall space I had to spare, the stair well. It isn't too efficient but it helps. I have a Webasto type heater installed but it is an old one I got second hand and has a problem with pumping too much fuel through it. I have had too much other going on to take the time to tear into it. I had changed all the fluids in the bus, including the coolant, so there was no worry there. I run a 50% antifreeze mixture in everything and with the water treatment filter in the system I don't plan to change it again for a good long while. I had to give the engine just a sniff of ether to get it started down below 20 degrees but really didn't have any trouble. Our fuel there in Nebraska is a winter blend anyplace you go. In Flagstaff, AZ I was fortunate enough that it wasn't cold enough to really cause any problem other than smoking quite black on the hills for awhile that morning we left there. Our engine is in really great shape so I don't have to worry too much about running it under adverse conditions. I had never run Cummins too much in the past, allthough I did run a semi with one years ago. They have a good, well-earned, reputation though. With care this one should last us as long as we want to run it. I ran a Perkins 4 cylinder diesel in our pickup in Brazil over 260,000 miles under very poor conditions and it still had oil pressure and power like a new one when I got rid of it. I was impressed again this past week with the suspension system on the Crown. I would like to find out how to align the rear axles on it though because the front one runs out of line with the rear. | ||
| R.C.Bishop (128.123.221.221)
Rating: N/A |
Bill..call West Coach in Chino 800 929-2258. They are Crown folks...bought all the inventory of parts, etc. when Crown went out of business. They may be able to help with the alignment problems. They also have a web site. Thanx for keeping us abreast of your progress. Are you at Fuller? Are you headed back to Brazil? RCB | ||
| William R. Graf (Billfrombrazil) (204.130.172.11)
Rating: N/A |
Thanks R.C. No, we are presently at the Master's College in Santa Clarita. Will probably be going back to Yucaipa this weekend, then we are not sure. Sadly we cannot return to Brazil because Sandi cannot stand the international flight. The doctors say no long travel like that, so instead we live in a bus! | ||
| Henry R. Bergman, Jr. (Henryofcj) (65.194.145.48)
Rating: N/A |
Hello Bill; When I had my '74 10-wheeeler examined/inspected up here in Oregon, the guy(s) told me the Crown was very close.... ....to a logging truck chassis with a bus body on top. Has a standard leaf spring tandem drive rear end(s). If you are experiencing some chassis misalignment any good HD truck alignment shop can fix it right up. CROWNS FOREVER!!! Henry of CJ '74 tandem. | ||
| R.C.Bishop (128.123.221.207)
Rating: N/A |
Henry.. what if his Crown is like mine? No Springs. Bags....  RCB | ||
| Mark R. Obtinario (Cowlitzcoach) (204.245.250.2)
Rating: N/A |
The same thing should apply. Crown used off the shelf class 8 truck parts. Any good HD truck alignment shop should be able to help you out. Lee's Line-up in Chehalis, WA does almost all of the school buses, log trucks, etc. in SW WA. Good luck and happy trails. Mark O. | ||
| R.C.Bishop (128.123.221.184)
Rating: N/A |
Thanx, Mark...Good to know. RCB | ||
| Henry R. Bergman, Jr. (Henryofcj) (65.194.145.41)
Rating: N/A |
Hey Bill Again; Just curious if your Crown has any interior insulation, and if soosss, do you know what kind and how much? I have not yet decided how I am going to do the insulation in mine, thus the question. Also, could you guess how much heat you were pumping into your coach at minus 20 and how warm did... ...it keep the interior? I am still trying to decide how and what kind of heating I am going to have. While the plan is not to be in very cold weather, knows knows what evil lurks in the hearts of man. CROWNS FOREVER!! Henry of CJ. | ||
| William R. Graf (Billfrombrazil) (170.164.50.119)
Rating: N/A |
Henry, There is foamboard in the walls, not sure just how thick, and then 1/4 inch plywood which I have since covered in a good share of it with wainscoating (knotty pine). The roof has the original batting in it and then our water tanks are on top (four long low tanks for a total of 200 gallons capacity) and they are foam insulated and then covered with metal. I replaced the floor throughout with 1/4 plywood, 1/2 energy shield aluminum backed foam insulation and 3/4 T&G plywood. Then presently the front 1/3 has oak flooring and the remainder commercial grade carpet. I found that after I took the original floor out there was a space about 8 inches high that was not insulated and that allowed a great deal of cold to enter. Have since put 1/2 inch energy shield along most of that. Also get quite a bit of cold air coming in around the poorly sealed emergency door on the side in the rear, the rear window/escape hatch, the custom made side door, and the elevator up front that I put in for my wife. With all that it is rather difficult to keep up with the heat! Don't know how much total in BTU's we were putting in but it sometimes wasn't enough! We usually use two ceramic disk heaters running on the 1,000 watt setting and then turn on the propane fireplace in the morning to aid in warding off the chill. After that if Sandi uses the oven at all it is usually okay. We both want it warmer than most due to our 20 years in Brazil and the fact that since Sandi's last surgery her whole circulatory system seems to be less than efficient. I was in a bus from Illinois that had sprayed foam insulation throughout. The people use it year around and run a 15 kw gen set continuosly on the road. They heat only with heater strips in the three air conditioners down to -10 degrees. Guess you trade off in difficulty and expense of heating if you scrimp on the insulation. Bill | ||
| Patrick Young (165.247.224.244)
Rating: N/A |
Howdy Crown Fans I have a couple of Crowns for parts, and a Gillig and a Ford. All my parts stuff benefits my non-profit. Addvice is free, as I love buses. Also, Hello Henry! Pat Young Fresno CA Wheelchair Project |