On the road to Houston for a month or till the kids piss me off, trips in a motor home are seldom without drama. The new to me 2002 40' Country Coach Allure did its thing before the trip could begin. The bedroom slide would not retract. As an aside; Slides are a bargain with the devil, when parked they give a feeling of room and make life easier but as with all things there are also tradeoffs. The first tradeoff is slides are problems waiting to happen. I can not tell you how many times as a State Park camp host I've had to help campers fix a stuck extended slide.
This AM our planned "first light" departure for Silver City, NM was delayed by a stuck extended bedroom slide. Best I can tell there are two major types of slide mechanisms, Jack Screw or Hydraulic, I've had both and I've had problems with both. The Country Coach has two slides, both Hydraulic, a friend has a bus with one slide hydraulic and one with jack screws, the worst of all worlds. Anyway cut to the chase: I had just had what is one of the best Country Coach maintenance shops not located in Oregon (BCCMSNLIO)go through the Bus checking all the fluids and systems, they may have missed one. The slide hydraulic system was low on fluid, that was the good news, the bad was because I do not know the CC systems yet it took several hours and a call to "the best CC maintenance shop not in Oregon" to fix the problem. A half cup of transmission fluid and the bedroom slide works like a champ and we were on the road. Now the question is did the "BCCMSNLIO" miss checking the slide hydraulic fluid or do I have a leak. The good news is there are no signs of a leak, that could also be the bad news because there is a lot of plumbing between the pump and the slide.
The CC Bus parked Harris Beach:
We have had our share of problems with the new Bus, all expensive but most caused by my not knowing the systems. The bus is sound, it is just the nut behind the wheel.
See you on down the road.
