Yeah. Sold Pokey, but not without a heavy heart. We made 2 trips to Moab and
while he ran great, we have to go over at least one 12K' pass in any direction
we go to leave home. He was going 18 MPH on the homebound trip and the descents
were worry-some as well with no engine brake or retarder. I considered just
about everything and finally decided to sell Pokey and build my own. I bought a
37' Thomas Built bus from the local ski area. It has a 8.9 Cummins pusher,
Allison tranny, Telma driveline retarder and and Espar (like Webasto)
engine/water system heater. The bus really climbs the hills and comes down with
no worries. I considered a later model Bird, and may have one someday, but our
use is more camping oriented and Pokey, and all Birds, are just a little too
fancy for our use. I spent alot of time fretting over friends spilling beer or
dropping guac on the carpet. If the dogs went I found myself vacuuming when I
souled be enjoying time off. Guess I just a little to
picky, but that is one of my characteristics that drew me to Birds and gave me
alot of pleasure from owning one.
The new bus is getting industrial rubber flooring and more 'user friendly"
interior treatments. A simpler system throughout as well. I learned so much from
owning and working on Pokey that the project is easier in many ways, but has set
the bar high for my expectations. I actually looked for another Bluebird bus to
build, but came across this Thomas at a great deal and is is well built, just
doesn't have a bird on the side.
Here is a link to some pics of the project:
http://ImageEvent.com/reddog/1990thomasbuiltbusdogbus
I have to say that I miss Pokey and still watch every Bird go by...maybe
again someday. At any rate, I still monitor the board and enjoy the banter.
Thanks for asking about Pokey.
Doug Engel, Gunnison, CO, Bird Usta Be, now 1990 Thomas 37' builder/head
scratcher.
mbulriss <mbulriss@...> wrote:
Doug,
What? Did I miss that you sold Pokey? What's the Thomas 37'? A
schoolie conversion? No offense intended.
Mike Bulriss
1991 WB40 "Texas Minivan"
San Antonio, TX
--- In
WanderlodgeForum@yahoogroups.com, Doug Engel
wrote:
>
> Leroy,
> Just a heads up, it is very common to have trouble with you
injector pump next. When the lift pump starts to fail it starves the
injector pump, causing premature wear from lack of lubrication
(compounded by the ULSD that we now run). If you start to notice poor
fuel economy, you might get your injector pump pressures checked, just
to avoid walkin' again.
> Doug Engel, Gunnsion Co. Bird Usta Be, now 1990 Thomas 37', 8.9
Cummins, "Hormone Derange"
>
> Leroy Eckert wrote:
> For 2 years the Cummins engine in my SLT has taken spells
of surging on acceleration, not shifting properly when that happened,
and would from time to time blow out a huge cloud of black smoke. I
changed filters, air and fuel, cleaned injectors, checked for
codes(none) etc, etc. It quit Sunday land left me walk'n. The problem
was the fuel lift pump was running but not supplying adequate fuel. I
replaced the pump and it runs like new. This problem was similar to
the one I had on my Kubota Genset. FWIW
> Leroy Eckert
> 1990 WB-40"Smoke N Mirrors"
> Niceville, FL
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> Boardwalk for $500? In 2007? Ha!
> Play Monopoly Here and Now (it's updated for today's economy) at
Yahoo! Games.
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
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