Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Starters

Did you know that engine starters only have so many starts in them? Oh yes, I learned that from my dad when I was a little kid on the farm. One of my jobs was to move the trucks on the farm. When my dad was planting the crops I would be in charge of the truck with all of the seed and fertilize in it. I had not yet been put on the tractor as I was only 7 years old. At 8, I got to drive the tractors in the field. Anyway, My dad would make a round through the field and I would crank the truck and move over closer. Next round, I would do the same thing. My dad finally had all of this he could take one day and told me and my granddad, his dad, that starters only had so many starts. "Quit moving that truck so much". Granddad laughed but I was not in a position to laugh, that was my dad talking. He was granddad's boy, he could laugh.
Well, I remembered that story again this morning. We started the coach, in the rain, and hooked the bug to it. Everything was great. I moved it and then shut it off. When we got ready to go, no starter. I was able to coax just one more start out of it. I did not kill the engine the entire trip. When we got to the campground in Lexington I killed it. I let it cool off a couple of hours before trying it. No start. In fact, it was frying my battery. I sprayed the battery with the fire extinguisher while trying to get the cables off the battery. Worked. No fire.
If you recall we just put this starter on last month in Selma, Al. I paid 2 young guys 37 bux to do it. Well, this time I will be jacking up the coach and doing it myself. Went to Autozone and ordered a starter today. It will be here tomorrow. Maybe I can get Teri up in there to get the old one loose. What do you think? If so, I will have pictures. So, remember there are only so many starts in a starter. Some last for years, some last a month or two. Treat your starter good. Without it you are not going anywhere.

As you can see things were a bit wet this morning. We followed JR and Jeannie Slayton. Was a good trip, just wet. Oh, we look forward and in reverse all of the time. See the bug in the monitor?
Teri and I made a run over into Va. We had planned a day of geocaching but the rain and starter got us. She was ok with it but I know we have some serious geocaching coming up soon. She has a talk on the subject coming up later this week.


Cumberland Gap Tunnel.



This is a cool tunnel.




My favorite part of any tunnel is coming out the other side.




The sign speaks for itself. We did not get good pictures as it was just too wet. Rain was everywhere.


I am telling you, this is a beautiful area. The trip was great, even with rain. It is impossible to relate the beauty we experienced today. What a ride.
Hey, we are at a campground near a horse track, same property. We have million dollar coaches everywhere. Get this, I saw a 5th wheel horse trailer with slideouts. Then a big class A motorhome for horses. This is wild. I promise to get pictures. You are not going to believe it.
Have a great week and stay with us. The bug tracker worked good all day, WD0AFQ-1. The GMC tracker left us on the side of a mountain, WD0AFQ. I just can not keep the things working. Blew the GMC radio a couple of days back so I have a hand held radio back on it. The power is only 5 watts so I guess that might be the problem. Oh well, I will get it all worked out when we get back home. You can see Teri and me running all over Georgetown, Ky, this evening, if you check the bug tracker.
See you tomorrow.
Dan





1 Comments:

At May 7, 2009 at 10:12 AM , Blogger carl s said...

Dan,

Changing out the starter is easy. Might be a little heavy for Terri though. Just hang on to your tools. When I removed my starter to make room to remove the axle shaft (to replace the CV boot) I dropped my 1/2" ratchet right on my head. Had a knot for a week!

Carl S

 

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