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Manny & Darlene's Eagle 05
Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2009 10:19 pm
by buscrazyinFL
Re: Manny & Darlene's Eagle 05
Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2009 8:20 am
by rusty
Manny, Thank You for taking time to start your post. I think this section is the best idea of all. It makes our site a special place.
Keep it going Wayne
Re: Manny & Darlene's Eagle 05
Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2009 8:37 pm
by buscrazyinFL
Post #2
As you can see from the previous post and the pictures of our bus as it was when we purchased it, it appeared to be in pretty good shape, but we did want to address some maintenance issues that were called to our attention when we had the bus inspected before we purchased it.
The first day we saw our Eagle, we met the previous owners at Heartland's Coach shop in Arcadia. Being a newbie, we wanted to have the bus inspected by a qualified shop, so we set up a time to meet the owners (and of course the BUS) at Heartland Coach. It's funny because when we first stepped inside, it smelled so nice and the music was playing and the atmosphere was set (pay attention now) all this was for a purpose. We later realized on our trip home a week later, WHY it smelled like air freshener...it was to hide the horrendous smell of the exhaust fumes coming inside the bus. The inspector had told us the mufflers probably needed to be replaced, and HE WAS RIGHT!!! So as soon as it was ours, we set up an appointment to have that issue addressed. We had new mufflers installed, the front seal bearings replaced, some of the air lines replaced, and we also had the exhaust from the generator reconfigured so the tail pipe extended to the side so the fumes would not be coming up into the bus from underneath. We also had the generator serviced and the oil changed. These maintenance improvements made a HUGE difference in our bus!
Re: Manny & Darlene's Eagle 05
Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2009 9:04 pm
by Dreamscape
Manny,
Thanks so much for taking the time to post pictures of your Eagle. I noticed the chrome tips, nice touch.
Both of our engine exhaust pipes exits out the passenger side, that way I can see the black smoke from my mirror, lets me know when my foot is too heavy!
I'll bet you don't need the air freshener now!
Very nice Eagle!
Re: Manny & Darlene's Eagle 05
Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2009 9:30 pm
by buscrazyinFL
Re: Manny & Darlene's Eagle 05
Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2009 9:30 pm
by van
First class job on posting the photos Manny
.the wood work on the interior is fabulous
Re: Manny & Darlene's Eagle 05
Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2009 10:08 pm
by Songman
Outstanding idea with the PVC, Manny. We're planning to do something similar on mine to catch the oil but never thought of PVC. That is a great idea.
You have one beautiful bus!
Re: Manny & Darlene's Eagle 05
Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2009 10:17 pm
by Kentucky Steve
Buscrazy,
That's one nice coach there buddy. Its the details like you keep adding that make all the difference in the world. Hows about some pics of the bays. I'm guessing that they are pretty nice too? You have to watch out for me as my idea antenna is always on and listening.
Nice coach, more pics please...
......
.........Kentucky Steve ................
Re: Manny & Darlene's Eagle 05
Posted: Fri Jan 09, 2009 10:21 pm
by buscrazyinFL
Post #4
The next issue we wanted to address was to provide more sleeping accomodations. The couch does make a pretty nice size bed when open, but we have older kids both married, and one of them gave us one of our greatest joys three years ago...our sweet granddaughter Hannah. Sometimes they get to travel with us, not all at once, but still, we wanted to make them comfortable when they are with us. We also were not happy with the table and two chairs (as seen in an earlier picture). It just wasn't practical. So we did some searching and actually got a pretty neat idea from a bus family who were traveling full time for a few years. They had an idea for converting a dinette into a sleeper. So we took the basic idea to Creative Coach in Lakeland, FL and together we came up with this dinette/sleeper/storage and it works GREAT!!! It wasn't cheap, but they did an excellent job and we are SO pleased with it. It was one of the things we kind of splurged on, but it was important to us. By the way, Creative Coach has probably one of the finest paint and body shops in the country for big rigs. It's really their specialty. We have seen their work and it is awesome.
This first two pictures show the dinette. The bench cushions were made at a local upholstery shop.
The table top comes off and you'll see the tall removable polls underneath. When the table is off we lay it up against the inside wall of our bus behind our leather chairs.
Once those taller polls are removed it is replaced with a shorter poll support. We keep this stored in a closet inside the bus when it's not being used.
Now you are ready to flip part of the bench lid over to rest on the shorter support. Notice the back bench lid has piano hinges. This will be the foundation for the mattress. By the way, there is plenty of storage available under the "L" shaped benches. We keep our sheets, blankets, towels, and pillows stored there.
Here is the mattress. We had this made at the same local upholstery shop that made the bench cushions. We had them also make a vinyl envelope style cover that the mattress slips into so we can store it in one of our bays when not being used.
Re: Manny & Darlene's Eagle 05
Posted: Sun Jan 11, 2009 7:27 pm
by buscrazyinFL
Post #5
Ever since we've had our bus there was a problem with the brake light switch. It would stay on all the time. When we went to the 2007 Arcadia Rally, which was just a few months after we got our bus, I started asking around to see if another Eagle owner may have had the same problem, or know how I could fix it. It just so happens that Sonnie Gray was at that rally. I met him and asked him for his advice. He was kind enough to help me look for the brake light switch, supposing that it was under the dash, but it wasn't. His next thought was that it must be in the tunnel in the back, so when I got home I started digging,removing the carpet in the rear, removing the bed, etc. and sure enough, there it was in the tunnel! I ordered a new switch from Jefferson out of OK and replaced it and that did the trick. Of course, now I was left with having to repair (or replace) that carpet in the back, which we weren't that crazy about anyway, so we decided to replace it. We bought new carpet (actually a remnant) and new padding, both at a good price, and had a fellow busnut friend, Ace, (who happens to be an excellent carpet installer) put it in for us.
Here is the old brake light switch in the rear tunnel
Here is the prep work before the new carpet was installed
New padding
New berber carpet