emergancy service on the road.

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LeAnn

emergancy service on the road.

Post by LeAnn »

Has anyone expeirneced a rare occassion where emergancy road service has been needed on your BF motorcoach and you have not been near a service dealer? Have you ever been refused service by a service area?

We have a large RV dealership in town (not BF). They have told me that if it is not an RV they sell, they will not assist us with the vehicle. I understood that with prior authorization from BF, any dealership could help us.

Thanks all... :wink:

LeAnn
User avatar
Mel Wilbur
Posts: 617
Joined: Thu Aug 11, 2005 2:39 pm

Post by Mel Wilbur »

Regarding the spare item catagory, many coach manufacturers do not include spare tires for liability reasons. As for air bags I have owned a few class A diesel and gas coaches and none of them came with a spare air bag so I would not expect Born Free to include them. Not a bad idea to have a spare air bag just in case but we have never had one fail in any of our coaches equiped with them (20 years)
Mel & Connie
Charlotte

Post by Charlotte »

LeAnn...I have Good Sam Emergency Road Service which I purchased 2 weeks before I left for the Durango, CO Rally. When coming home I had a mishap with my levelers & called them on a Sat. around 6:00 PM. I was in any area that was not very populated. As I could not move my BF, I was very anxious thinking I'd have to wait till Monday before they'd be able to get someone out to help me. Not so...They had a fellow out to me within an hour or so. Meanwhile, Good Sam Rep. was calling me every 20 minutes or so to make sure I was okay. The fellow that fixed the leg on my leveler gave me all kinds of infor. & was courteous, thorough & friendly. I was in Utah at the time & haven't had a problem since so I don't know about other areas. All I know is I just renewed with them again as my experience with them was great. I've never had any other issues on the road with my BF. It is an absolutely wonderful RV built with quality materials & backed by a company that does it's best to satisfy all.
LeAnn

Post by LeAnn »

Thank you for you insights. I looked at every "nook and crany" on the BF and it never occured to me that there was not a spare tire....missing the obvious.......where would you mount or store it on a 24 or 26 ft?

Thank you for the insights, we have AAA, and I think Good Sam will be a good investment.......

Have a wonderful labour Day - the trees are just starting to change in Northern ND. Should be in fall colors last week in September - depending upon the weather.

LeAnn
Charlotte

Post by Charlotte »

I store mine under the sofa in my 26' RSB model...
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whemme
Posts: 2110
Joined: Mon Aug 15, 2005 8:05 pm

Spare Tire & Rim

Post by whemme »

I bought a new spare tire and rim and keep it in the left side storage comparment under the Flexsteel sofa on my 2002 BF 26' RSB unit. It fits well in the front most part of this compartment because it can be moved forward against the front wall of the compartment and really does not protrude back very far to block very much of the compartment door opening.

I have never had to use this spare since first having it in a 1999 BF 24' RB unit for 54,000 miles nor in my current 2002 unit for 10,000 miles. I do have a AAA +RV roadside service agreement but they will only tow you in (if possible) if you blow a tire. They most likely will not have a suitable replacement tire on hand to get you on the way. Worst case, you may be parked for a day or two while a suitable replacement tire is ordered in. So having a spare tire and rim inside your coach provides AAA (or Good Sam or whoever else you work with) a means to get you on the road again quickly
Bill Hemme - Spencer, Iowa
E-mail: whemme@earthlink.net
2002 Born Free (Ford E-450 V10) 26' RSB
2016 VW Golf GTI - toad
Bill Ruh

Spare Tire & Rim

Post by Bill Ruh »

Hi LeAnn,

Our 1991 came with a roof mounted spare and rim with stainless steel cover. I think it is original equipment, but few people have them. I am just barely strong enough to carry the 65-pound tire/rim down the ladder one-handed, but it is nicely out of the way.

FWIW, I really like having a spare, but haven't used it in six years...
bill crommett

Post by bill crommett »

Our dinghy is a Chevy Tracker. It has little usable back seat space, so we re-arranged the back area and carry a well secured spare tire for the BFT. I do not intend to have to move it again myself, because I will always carry some kind of RV road service.
BOB& KATHY GELLER

Post by BOB& KATHY GELLER »

WE JUST RETURNED FROM THE VIKING BF CARAVAN. THIS ALLOWED ME
TO VIEW MULTIPLE WAYS OF CARYING SPARE TIRES. WE USED THE UNDER THE COUCH TECHNIQUE. DRAWBACK=REDUCED STORAGE SPACE,AN IMPORTANT FACTOR ON A TRIP THIS LONG. 2. ROOFTOP STORAGE-ONLY RECOMMENDED FOR OLYMPICWEIGHTLIFTERS 3. CAN DE PLACED IN TOAD BUT CAN BE A HASSLE IF IT IS GOING TO BE USED-DEPENDS ON TYPE TOAD AND SPACE AVAILABLE 4.TOW BAR SPARE TIRE ACCESSORY ATTACHMENT- MOUNTS IN MIDDLE TO HITCH
RECEPTACLE-DRAWBACK-MAKES ACCESS TO REAR STORAGE COMPARTMENT AWKWARD AT BEST 5. SPARE TIRE HOLDER MOUNTED TO REAR BUMPER FRAME ON PASSENGER SIDE OF COACH. THIS LOOKED TO ME TO BE THE MOST FUNCTIONAL WITH NO OBVIOUS DRAW BACKS. I GUESS EVERYBODY ON THE TRIP NOW KNOWS WHAT I WAS DOING LATE AT NIGHT WALKING HEIDI(OUR BERNESE MT. DOG)
mwthorns

Spare tire

Post by mwthorns »

We carry an unmounted spare tire that could be mounted in the event that a tire would be destroyed and need to be replaced. We carry this tire on the roof wrapped in a tarp to protect it from the sun. This is obviously a compromise stratagy. We were very lucky with our only experience with a flat tire. When we noticed that it was flat we pulled into a Pilot station and a tire service that was there to service an 18 wheeler fixed our tire and we were back on the road in about 30 minutes. We also have Good Sam road service, you can't always be that lucky. We have never had to use the spare that we carry so we don't know how practical this would be. We started doing this after hearing on two occasions about problems obtaining a replacement tire compatable with the other tires on the vehicle. I was curious if anyone else does this and if so what their experience was.
lassen
Posts: 120
Joined: Sun Aug 14, 2005 10:56 am

Post by lassen »

BoB & Kathy...


My water heater is located on the passenger side so I opted to use the Hitch Reciever. Had a local Farm Machine Shop fabricate one using 2" tubular steel. It has the tire placed directly over the bumper not protruding behind it, and it does not rest on the bumper itself. It is hinged at the back side so you can pull a pin and tilt the tire backwards for access to the storage compartment.
I have some photos that I can E-Mail or if someone knows how to post them here, let me know.

Jack
Jack & Jan
2005 24RB
LeAnn

Post by LeAnn »

Hi Jack,
I would be interested in the pictures of the spare tire fabrication that you had done for your BF.

Thank you for the great ideas - roof, under the sofa, and hitch.

Bob and Kathy - if you see another BMD walking it's owner and the plates say ND, it is probably us - say hello.

Thanks to all - have a great weekend.
LeAnn
:D
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BornFree_n_Now
Posts: 168
Joined: Sat Aug 13, 2005 9:28 pm

Pictures of your Fabrication

Post by BornFree_n_Now »

lassen wrote:BoB & Kathy...


My water heater is located on the passenger side so I opted to use the Hitch Reciever. Had a local Farm Machine Shop fabricate one using 2" tubular steel. It has the tire placed directly over the bumper not protruding behind it, and it does not rest on the bumper itself. It is hinged at the back side so you can pull a pin and tilt the tire backwards for access to the storage compartment.
I have some photos that I can E-Mail or if someone knows how to post them here, let me know.

Jack
Hi Jack,

We also would be interested in seeing pictures of your fabrication ~~

Have an enjoyable remainder of the weekend.

Regards,

Larry & Sharon
Larry & Sharon
2002 26' RSB
Suzuki X90 4x4 Toad
lassen
Posts: 120
Joined: Sun Aug 14, 2005 10:56 am

Post by lassen »

LeAnn...Send me an E-Mail as you don't have an address listed on the memberlist where I can send the pictures to. Thanks....
Jack
Jack & Jan
2005 24RB
lassen
Posts: 120
Joined: Sun Aug 14, 2005 10:56 am

Post by lassen »

Larry & Sharon.... Send me an E-Mail. I get an error using the address you have listed. Thanks....

Jack
Jack & Jan
2005 24RB
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