Update and Feeling Very, Very Frustrated!

So I left you in Casper, WY and not doing a float on the North Platte.  The temps are hanging in the high 90's, even into the 100's!  We were there for 3 days.  We found what looked to be a neat meat market in town, Brattis Meat Market, and went to see what they had.  We managed to help keep the economy running:-)

And the several items we have had so far were delicious.  We also got some grocery shopping done, and happened to notice the truck needed to have an oil change so took care of that as well.  

Then we went north to Buffalo, WY to a KOA that we had stayed at before for a couple nights.  Still horribly hot, but we took a nice drive out through Crazy Woman Canyon and circled back to Buffalo.

A very interesting, narrow, winding road

Had to negotiate around a few natives on the way back.

Then after our 2 nights there we needed one more stop to get to our week long destination on the Missouri River near Cascade, MT at Prewett Creek RV Park.  We decided to try Billings KOA, the very first KOA in America by the way, and all they had left was one site, and water and electric only.  Since it was 50 amp we took it.  The heat was even worse in Billings, over 100df!  And man, was it packed!  We were in the cheap seats, and that was okay, but we did walk around and they have some really nice sites, albeit for over $100/night.

They were completely full by 7pm.  So a quick one night and then off 250 miles to Prewett Creek up through the middle of nowhere.  It was a beautiful morning with great views, so we were feeling really good, right up until the alternator quit again!!!!  That's right the warranty replacement alternator for the other "new" alternator that quit after 1000 miles, with only 6000 miles on it.  Unbelievable!  And it is Saturday, and we're in the middle of nowhere, and where we are heading is also in the middle of nowhere, and we are going to be in limbo most likely until at least Monday.  But with the new Blue Sea ML-ARC I was able to combine the battery banks and let the generator power everything, that is until the generator starts surging, not all the time mind you, just often enough to stop our hearts, because if it quit, we would be done.  But it kept running to get us into our site at Prewett Creek.  We replaced the fuel filter hoping that was the problem and ran it for 15 minutes or so and it seemed fine, but until we run it for a long time we won't know for sure, another impetus to get an alternator.

Since we had no phone service for most of the trip we couldn't do any research on alternator shops, etc.  But when we got situated, there was a shop in Great Falls, 40 miles away that said it was still open, so I called.  Got a nice guy on the phone that told me he didn't rebuild our kind of alternator, a Leece Neville because he couldn't get any parts.  Okay, so we tried to calm down and realize there just wasn't a lot we could do until Monday, so that gave me time to do more research on maybe replacing it with a different brand of alternator.  No, I didn't even contact the guy that sold us the two bad alternators, even if he would warranty it again we had lost any confidence in him that remained.  Never again, another place on my "dead to me" list.

So I pounded the forums looking for ideas, parts, replacement experiences, any thing that could help us out, and to try to get some insight into what was happening.  Of course anytime you go to social media for info you have to try to glean the useful info and toss the other.  But after a time it seemed that several folks with Monaco built coaches had good success replacing the Leece Neville with an American built Delco Remy 28si alternator.  It is a more modern and more efficient alternator and was supposedly a direct bolt in exchange with the LN.  Okay so now we have somewhat of a plan, and luckily we were going to be here for a week.  And as it turns out with the incredibly hot and unusual weather the fishing on the Missouri is under "Hoot Owl" restrictions which say you can't fish from 2pm until midnight, and it has curtailed most of the fishing, that combined with the smoke made us decide to not bother with fishing while here, which turns out to be a good thing since we have other things to accomplish:-)

A company in California was recommended and was the source many of the folks that had switched to a Delco used.  I called the shop in Great Falls first to see if they could get a Delco and was told it would take 6-8 weeks!  So we waited for the California place to open up and gave them a call and they told us 10-12 weeks, why, but of course, because of Covid.  We called an alternator shop in Billings to see if they had one, no but they could probably get one in 2-4 weeks, but they had a rebuilt LN like ours.  Remember Billings is 250 miles away.  That gave us a fall back position that we really didn't want to do.  Nothing in Helena, so we started looking in Missoula where we would be, if we could get there, in a week or so for 2 weeks.  Found a shop there and discussed the problem and he said call him back in 5 minutes and he'd see if he could get the Delco.  We waited and called and he said he could get one immediately, now immediately means it would have to be shipped in, and they normally come in 2 days, but sometimes they would upgrade it to overnight as a favor.  We confirmed it was the right part number, pad mount 200 amp, etc, the price was acceptable, so we ordered it.  Now Missoula is "only" 150 miles away:-)  In about 30 minutes he called back and said they agreed to overnight it, he had a tracking number and it was supposed to be in the next day before noon.  Wowser!

So Jan and I formulated a plan, we would remove the bad alternator, drive down to Missoula, have lunch at a great pizza place we like, go to Costco and the grocery store, and then stop and pick up the new alternator, and drive back.  Sounds good right?  On the way down I get a call from the shop and he says the tracking says now it will be here before 4:30 pm.  Ouch, okay, we can work with that and besides we are already more than halfway there.  Enjoy our lunch, fight the crowds at Costco, grocery shop, and mosey over to the alternator shop at around 2pm, no sign of it, but the tracking still says by 430.  Okay, we run a few more errands, have coffee, and chill out, and stop back at 3:30pm, still no alternator.  I then notice the sign in the door says they close at 4pm, what if it doesn't come by closing, no problem he will stay open.  Great shop by the way, Auto Electric Service, Larry is the owner.  He couldn't be nicer and feels responsible for Fedex's mess up.  Do I need to go on, does the alternator come, NO it does not.  And the tracking says delayed with no update delivery info!  So back we go to Prewett Creek.

We spend the next day on pins and needles as we watch the tracking first say it is in Great Falls???  Then it shows in Missoula, and finally it says out for delivery, Larry says he will call the instant it arrives.  So he calls at 3:30 and I missed his call, when I look at my phone there is a voice mail, which says call me as soon as possible?!?!?!?  Oh no what could be wrong?  I call and he says the dimensions of the pad mount are about 3/4" shorter than your LN.  Oh NO.  He said the LN was 5" on center, and the Delco was 4 1/4" on center.  He asked if I had the correct part number, I said it was the number the California company gave me as a direct replacement for the LN.  He says he will give his supplier a call, and I say I will do some research as well.  First I went out to the engine compartment to check it and what do I find much to our delight, another set of holes!  I measure and they seem to be 4 1/4" on center.  We never saw them before even though we had removed the alternator 3 times by now.  They just never registered.

You can just see the extra hole in this picture

I call the shop and tell Larry what we found and now seem to be back on track.  So the next thing to do is to see if I can get the bolts in these other holes that have corroded and rusted a bit over the years.  I spray them well with penetrating oil and work the bolt in and out but I am not really gaining on it, and terrified if I break the bolt off, we will really be screwed.  Our neighbors, Kevin and Penny who we had been talking to back and forth with, had offered to help, and offered any tools they had that I might need, very nice of them.  Well it seemed I would need to get a tap and die kit to clean out the threads, so I asked Kevin on a whim if he had a kit, he said no, but he did have a thread cleaning kit.  Wow, just what we need, and something I had never heard of before now, and sure enough it was exactly what the doctor ordered, it made short work of the threads so I could easily turn the bolt in and out with my hand.  More progress!

Jan and I are both big believers that things always happen for a reason.  Our plan was to get the new alternator, and have them evaluate what was wrong with the old one and see if it was worth rebuilding.  So when we went down the first time, I had them remove the pulley, and keep the old  alternator for evaluation.  So if the alternator had come in that day, we would have looked at it and decided it wouldn't fit and sent it back.  Interesting, huh?  Also as Larry and I were talking about what things could cause alternator failure, he mentioned a possible weak battery putting too much strain on it, and how old were my batteries?  I told him I had just replaced my chassis batteries this winter, but my 4 house batteries were 7 years old.  He made a face:-)  Could one of them be bad, and I'd be surprised that they could last this long?!?  So that made me think some more, bad thing, and I thought of the times I had wondered why it was taking so long to charge them back up after boon docking and why I wasn't getting as much out of them that I thought I should.  Now I will admit part of the reluctance to replace them is cost, they are AGM size 4D batteries and they cost dearly, more than $550 each.  But I knew I was kidding myself to think they could go much longer, so a battery shopping I went, and Jan brought up a very good point that there is no sales tax in Oregon so maybe better to buy them there.  Online I found a few places, and after inquiry, we were back to 10-12 weeks delivery and over $700 each.  Wow.  So after a couple more calls and finally to Empire Battery in Eugene where we were going to be.  He had them in stock, at a better price that I had been finding, and he would deliver them to the coach where we were having some cabinet work being done, that way he could help me lift them, 135# each, and he could take the cores back.  Another project complete, well sorta.

So yesterday Jan and I went back to Missoula, another 300+ miles round trip, picked up the new  alternator, confirmed the mounting, and installed it, and ran the engine for about 10 minutes and all seems good.  

Big size and weight difference, Delco on top

Working on adding pulley and checking connections for compatibility

It fits!

Engine running, all is well (fingers crossed)

The real test will be when we drive it a substantial amount of miles to see.  But right now, good news finally.

2 days ago another fire started only a few miles from us, the Harris fire, already over 26,400 acres and only 13% contained.  It was started by lightening, and when the wind is right the smoke is unreal, you can hardly breathe, luckily since we are in a canyon, most of it goes over and around us.  They have set up yet another fire base in Cascade about 5 miles up the road.  

Right from our site

And to give you an idea of how many fires there are in our area.

Fires out here a fact of life, like hurricanes in Florida and the Outer Banks, tornadoes in the Midwest, blizzards in New England, rain and drizzle in the Pacific Northwest, on and on.  We have been coming out west for many, many years and yes this year is bad, but doesn't seem particularly bad or any worse than other years, who knows?  

So tomorrow we give our new alternator its first test, we are driving about 250 miles to West Glacier, keep your fingers crossed for us.