Community Forums

gemini5362 · 06-02-2012, 11:18 PM

I purchased a 2005 allegro bus a month ago. I purchased the good sam roadside assistance package and a Platinum Warranty package. The friday night before memorial day weekend. I was on my way to a friends daughters wedding. As I was driving along I looked behind me and saw smoke coming out from under the engine compartment. When I stopped I saw diesel fuel everywhere. ( I assumed from what I saw that I had a cracked high pressure line) I am not grousing about the line breaking. With only 36,000 miles on the coach that was just one of those things that happen. Where I did have problems and want to get some ideas from other class A owners is I could not get the coach towed. I was only 20 miles out of Fort Smith, Arkansas which is a fairly big city. I was 5 miles from Poteau Oklahoma which is a small city but is bigger than a one stop light town. I called good sams and they called the nearest tow truck to me on their list. When the driver called me I told him that it was a 38 foot diesel pusher. He immediately told me that he could not tow that big a coach. I called good sams back and told them what he said. They tried a couple of other options and finally told me they could not do anything but if I could find someone they would pay the charges. Luckily I had a towed vehicle with me so my wife and I went to a local truck stop and got some tow truck numbers from them. The first number I called told me they did not tow motor homes but gave me the number for someone that did. I called the number I was given and was told they would have no problems towing it. I called good sams back and told them the tow service that would tow it. Good sams called them and called me back with the information that it would be 7am before the operator could come get me. I had vehicle trouble about 7pm and by this time it was 11:30 pm. We were sitting along a busy highway with the flashers on so we decided to just drive the car home ( we were about 50 miles from home and actually lived about 15 miles from the tow service that said they could tow it) We got up early the next morning and was back at the coach by 7am. We waited until 8 then called good sams back. The person I talked to at 8am did not seem to know anything about our situation so I gave them the number of the tow service that would tow it. It was going to be about a 40 mile two for them and I was going to have them tow it to an RV dealership that could work on the engine and was near the tow service and about ten miles from my home. Finally about 10:30 good sams called and said they were going to send a repair mechanic out and they would attempt to repair it. The mechanic arrived at about 11 found the broken line and by the time he went back to his shop and found a line he could make work it was 2pm before we were on the road. I realize this is a long post. My question is does everyone have trouble getting their coaches towed. If it would have been something non fixable along the road I dont know when it would have been towed to a repair shop. Also I did not really like leaving it along side the highway all night. I realize it was a holiday weekend but am worried about what would happen if I was somewhere very rural or if I had been in a place that did not have a shoulder wide enough to pull off on. I can honestly say that in the month I have had the coach that one section of road was probably the only place I have driven that had a wide shoulder to pull off on.

bluepill · 06-03-2012, 12:15 AM

Holiday weekend plus night time is often a problem for HD towing. Keeping a HD rated tow driver on call at night is an expense to the owner, and it's not always possible to get a volunteer for holidays.

sdennislee · 06-03-2012, 12:25 AM

Agree night time can be difficult. I had both COach Net and Good Sam, the only time I needed a tow was around 9:00 PM GOod Sam sent a wrecker that would have been more suited for my BMW, something similar to a 440, Coach Net the biggest wrecker I've ever seen. Took him about an hour to get me out of the mud. I was 30 miles form Cincinnati, OH and about the same from Dayton, OH both big cities. THe best anyone could do given the hour was 8:00 AM next morning.

SteveSkinner · 06-03-2012, 12:29 AM

Personally I would avoid towing at all costs
I have been in your situation all be it 11am not pm. Good Sam wanted to tow the coach to the closest rv dealer - which was the limit of the policy anyway as it happened. I rang the dealer and requested a road side call and preferred to pay his travel. I would have looked for a mobile diesel mechanic had that not worked.

Just For Fun · 06-03-2012, 12:55 AM

We were in the Sierras two weekends ago at Lake Isabella and stuck in thre mud. We used our Progressive insurance for road side assistance. After about 6 hours and two other tow trucks getting stuck in the mud next to us, we were finally freed.

Out rig is a 38 Winny and we did sustain some light damage.

bluepill · 06-03-2012, 01:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SteveSkinner

Personally I would avoid towing at all costs
I have been in your situation all be it 11am not pm. Good Sam wanted to tow the coach to the closest rv dealer - which was the limit of the policy anyway as it happened. I rang the dealer and requested a road side call and preferred to pay his travel. I would have looked for a mobile diesel mechanic had that not worked.

Good point. Towing should be considered after other options. The problem with roadside diagnosis and repair is that only simple failures can be dealt with. With all the special tools and diagnostic equipment that may be needed on modern vehicles, even a well-equipped mobile truck may be of no help.

ga traveler · 06-03-2012, 09:29 AM

You are lucky that it was not towed. About half the time, our customers had a problem when their coach was towed. Broken fiberglass, transmission damage, lost bolts for driveshaft, etc.

1ciderdog · 06-03-2012, 10:16 AM

I've had the misfortune of having my diesel pushers towed three times. On each occasion the tow truck operators were knowledgeable, removed or disconnected drive shafts, were careful of body & undercarriage. Roadside service could not have resolved the issues. Two of these tows were on Saturdays and it took two or more hours for the tow trucks to arrive. On the Monday tow the tow truck delay was about an hour.

dfunde01 · 06-04-2012, 12:24 PM

The one time I needed to be towed was due to a Allison ECM power issue. I have been told that especially on the 40'+ coaches the only safe transport is a low boy. Each coach is different and towing with the rear tires down is risky. I suffer damage to both front mirrors and the exhaust system on my previous 03 45' Navigator. On a problem with Cummins I would call their 7x24 number and have a mobile tech dispatched.

Dave

Just For Fun · 06-04-2012, 02:38 PM

As we are interested in trading up to a 40ish foot diesel, what is the answer? To tow or not to tow.

It seems like the only good way is to have "zero deductible" (or close to zero deductible on your insurance) which is very expensive and not worry!!!!

RVThere · 06-04-2012, 03:38 PM

Genimi's problems sound very similar to problems I had with Good Sam roadside assistance. 6PM Saturday night break down on I-78 in PA. Good Sam says they're trying to find a tow but can't find one. Finally after I become a PITA, they 'find' one who gets to us at about midnight. Turns out they called him at 6PM, he was willing to tow us but Good Sam would not pay his rate. Finally approaching midnight, they gave in and paid his rate. Good Sam also kept me on hold for 45 minutes on the Mass. Turnpike before they told me that they could not send a tow to me because the Turnpike contracts with their own tow services.

Switched to AAA and had no trouble getting a tow last summer in Casper WY.

FlyingDiver · 06-04-2012, 03:54 PM

The real answer is that if you need a tow, you need to get a tow service that actually knows what they're doing. And you need to know when the truck or operator they send isn't up to the job and tell them to go away. There are services out there for the really big rigs, and they can do the job. You just might need to wait a day until they can get it done. Don't let someone try to tow you who isn't prepared to do it right.

We had to be towed once. Here's a rig that can do the job for any size RV: Flying, Diving, Cruising, and RVing! » RV Tow

I did make one mistake then - I didn't think to use the HWH jacks to raise the front wheel for him to get his dolly under it. Would have make getting set up a little faster.

He did know how to properly pull the drive axles, and had the covers to replace them with. And he chained up the mud flap.

If you ever need a tow within a hundred miles or so of Schenectady, NY, Mike at Pro-Motion is the guy to call.

CoachNet (or Spartan) paid for that tow, and I think the bill was on the order of $3k.

joe

akadeadeye · 06-04-2012, 05:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FlyingDiver

The real answer is that if you need a tow, you need to get a tow service that actually knows what they're doing. And you need to know when the truck or operator they send isn't up to the job and tell them to go away. There are services out there for the really big rigs, and they can do the job. You just might need to wait a day until they can get it done. Don't let someone try to tow you who isn't prepared to do it right.

We had to be towed once. Here's a rig that can do the job for any size RV: Flying, Diving, Cruising, and RVing! » RV Tow

I did make one mistake then - I didn't think to use the HWH jacks to raise the front wheel for him to get his dolly under it. Would have make getting set up a little faster.

He did know how to properly pull the drive axles, and had the covers to replace them with. And he chained up the mud flap.

If you ever need a tow within a hundred miles or so of Schenectady, NY, Mike at Pro-Motion is the guy to call.

CoachNet (or Spartan) paid for that tow, and I think the bill was on the order of $3k.

joe

Joe,

Did he pull both axles or just one? We had a tow with a similar tow truck in Memphis that Spartan ordered and paid for and the driver pulled one axle. When Spartan found out about that they complained to Coach Net that he should have pulled both. I didn't know any better. All turned out fine. The Allison service people weren't too concerned about it.

Don

Mr_D · 06-04-2012, 06:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by akadeadeye

Joe,

Did he pull both axles or just one? We had a tow with a similar tow truck in Memphis that Spartan ordered and paid for and the driver pulled one axle. When Spartan found out about that they complained to Coach Net that he should have pulled both. I didn't know any better. All turned out fine. The Allison service people weren't too concerned about it.

Don

After over 50 years of RV'ing we finally needed a tow. Friday morning with a dead starter.
They pulled the driveshaft and towed it about 8 miles to a FL shop that told Coach Net they could work on it right away, and when we got there said "Oh no, we never told them that!" Coach Net then authorized another tow of 16 miles to another shop and we we out of there at just after midnight.