I was towed three times and had some kind of damage all three times.... If I ever own another coach, I can assure you it will NEVER be towed.
They can come get it on a low boy trailer if they want, but I will never allow to be towed again.

My experiences were with the generator door shoved so far back into the lower front cap that they had to do major body work to fix it.... Another time I ARGUED with the tow truck driver to get him to pull the drive shaft, he refused and towed the coach in neutral....a BIG NO NO.
I documented same on the tow report, and as such they gave the tranny an overhaul when they got it to the shop.

Call Ed Dobbs.... he's the Vice President of Spartan Customer Service.... his cell number is 517-231-1343.

He gave me the number and told me to give it to anyone I thought needed it.... sounds like you're a pretty good candidate!

Once I got to him it seemed my issues were taken care of..... GOOD LUCK!

quote:

Originally posted by Lug_Nut:
Joe, It appears you are not going anywhere tonight. I would disconnect the Chassis batteries for two or so minutes. That will hard boot the tranny via the ECM. By the way, the chassis batteries are the two 12 volt batteries (the only 12 volts there) that are aft of the six volt stack. To disconnect, just remove the main ground only (-).
If you can do it tonight, great, If not do it in the morning.
Best of luck, we have been there, not real nice.

Peter

It's pretty dark out now, so I might try that in the morning.

BTW, the KGDB has THREE chassis batteries.

joe

quote:

Originally posted by Latitude:
Joe
Not a 'Good' thing. But you say the Transmission 'Faulted'

What happens It goes to Neutral??? or??

If you are getting the 'Fault' with no vibration and or noise and you can still be mobile, I agree with the others travel under your own power to the nearest truck garage.

Best of 'Luck'
Rick

It sets off the alarm and looses power. When it gets slow enough, it locks into first gear. At least, that's what I think happened the first time. The other times, I think it was already in first. After it happens, I can't shift at all. Not even into Neutral. The tranny seems to reset to Neutral after I shutdown the engine, since I can restart and then it's in Neutral again.

joe

quote:

Originally posted by Nathan Focht:
A search of that error code for Allison gives a "No Output Speed Sensor DTC (P0721, P0722)" return. That does not sound like an error that would ruin the tranny as long as you manually force the gears.

I don't see any way to "force" the gears. The up/down buttons didn't do anything when I tried to use them. Maybe there's something else I need to do?

joe

quote:

Originally posted by rebelsbeach:
I was towed three times and had some kind of damage all three times.... If I ever own another coach, I can assure you it will NEVER be towed.
They can come get it on a low boy trailer if they want, but I will never allow to be towed again.

My experiences were with the generator door shoved so far back into the lower front cap that they had to do major body work to fix it.... Another time I ARGUED with the tow truck driver to get him to pull the drive shaft, he refused and towed the coach in neutral....a BIG NO NO.
I documented same on the tow report, and as such they gave the tranny an overhaul when they got it to the shop.

Call Ed Dobbs.... he's the Vice President of Spartan Customer Service.... his cell number is 517-231-1343.

He gave me the number and told me to give it to anyone I thought needed it.... sounds like you're a pretty good candidate!

Once I got to him it seemed my issues were taken care of..... GOOD LUCK!

There's such a thing as a low-boy that will take a 45' coach? Even if they were to do that, I think it would have to be unloaded and driven under some bridges on the route. There's bridges up here in the boonies that are 14' or less, and the KGDB is 13'4" on it's own.

joe

"Another time I ARGUED with the tow truck driver to get him to pull the drive shaft, he refused and towed the coach in neutral....a BIG NO NO".

I thought they could just pull one axle and tow the unit without removing the driveshaft. Looks like that would save time and a lot of trouble, if towing is absolutely necessary.

quote:

Originally posted by ricere:
"Another time I ARGUED with the tow truck driver to get him to pull the drive shaft, he refused and towed the coach in neutral....a BIG NO NO".

I thought they could just pull one axle and tow the unit without removing the driveshaft. Looks like that would save time and a lot of trouble, if towing is absolutely necessary.

On my tow we locked out the air brakes and pulled the shaft so it was a free rollign axle. It take a few minutes but it is 100% and no worries. (until they bounce the cap off of the boom)

quote:

Originally posted by FlyingDiver:

quote:

Originally posted by Nathan Focht:
A search of that error code for Allison gives a "No Output Speed Sensor DTC (P0721, P0722)" return. That does not sound like an error that would ruin the tranny as long as you manually force the gears.

I don't see any way to "force" the gears. The up/down buttons didn't do anything when I tried to use them. Maybe there's something else I need to do?

joe

I am not an expert so take comment for what they are.... The transmission has two numbers. The first is the max gear YOU want it to go into and the other is the ACTUAL gear it is in. SO, if the error is a speed sensor, you might be able to select 2 gear and limp forward. But, in another post you mention that it is not driving at all.

That model Allison is it? You might be able to physical find that sensor and try a simple replacement. Not sure if that is an external sensor.

quote:

Originally posted by ricere:


I thought they could just pull one axle and tow the unit without removing the driveshaft. Looks like that would save time and a lot of trouble, if towing is absolutely necessary.

The first time the driver removed one axle AND the drive shaft, but he beat the housing of the drive shaft so bad it bent the drive shaft.....
And that was the least of the issues with that tow....

You're also right that low boys would or could have a height issue as well....

quote:

Originally posted by Nathan Focht:
I am not an expert so take comment for what they are.... The transmission has two numbers. The first is the max gear YOU want it to go into and the other is the ACTUAL gear it is in. SO, if the error is a speed sensor, you might be able to select 2 gear and limp forward. But, in another post you mention that it is not driving at all.

That model Allison is it? You might be able to physical find that sensor and try a simple replacement. Not sure if that is an external sensor.

According to the data plate behind the driver's seat, it's an Allison HD4000MH transmission. The booklets that came with the coach are for either the 3000 or 4000 series, with either the WTEC III or Allison 4th Gen Controls. I have the 4th Gen Controls.

When it faults, the display only shows one number (on the right). Which is the current gear. The left side, which should show the gear I want, is blank.

And yes, I can drive it, at least a little. It doesn't fault right away. I have only moved it a couple hundred feet since I got to the Valero station where I parked it. I restarted it three times to get it this far. Granted, it was only about a quarter mile to the exit ramp, and I got to that before I finished slowing down. I restarted on the side of the roadway on the off-ramp. It was maybe another quarter mile from there to the Valero, and it faulted again before I got there.

I'll try the battery hard reset in the morning, but I'm not sure how far I can go to test it. Once I leave the parking lot, I'm committed to some distance in any direction before I could possibly turn around. And there's no cell coverage here, so the payphones at the station are my only way to communicate. Except for putting the Motosat dish up again, of course.

joe