Cruisemaster's Further Adventures

Cruisemaster, our RV, had been performing faithfully since Minnesota. Then, between Vancouver and Squamish,...

Bam!

We suddenly heard a curious noise. Every time the right front wheel went around, it went "Bam!" I stopped, got out and looked underneath but couldn't see anything unusual, and couldn't imagine what could be wrong. I started up again and tentatively tried driving slow, which produced Bam!...Bam!...Bam! Then I speed up a little, and got Bam!Bam!Bam! It didn't stop, but it didn't get any worse either, so I decided to try to drive, gingerly, to a garage. I got quizzical stares from pedestrians and bicycle riders, but nine slow miles later, I pulled into a nice Midas Muffler shop. The kind people there took me right in, diagnosed the problem (a small scrap of metal caught in the disk brake) and sent me on my way — for free! Thanks, Midas!

The Steps

When you opened the RV's side door, you could flip down two folding steps to make it easy to step down to the ground. The steps had a nice, uniform, rectangular shape. I always remembered to flip them up before driving away from a camp site, until one day in Squamish. They were still down when I crossed a narrow bridge, and I heard a horrible scraping sound from over there where the steps were. When I stopped to look, I found that the steps were no longer rectangular but were swept back into a streamlined shape, and they no longer flipped up. In short, they were magngled beyond repair, so I spent a while on the ground with a wrench removing the steps and disposing of them in a dumpster. I never really liked them, anyway (sour grapes!) but until I figure out what to do about it, I really must remember to exit the RV carefully, as that first step is now a big one... all the way to the ground.

The Brakes

The brakes had performed perfectly during our long crossing of the flat prairie provinces, but here in mountainous B.C. I noticed some changes. The brake pedal started feeling a little soft and very slowly descended. Then came the time I stepped on the brake and the pedal went right to the floorboards. Yikes! Further tests showed that the brakes worked Ok most of the time, which was fortunate, since we were in mountainous territory and it was a couple of days before we could get to a town with a mechanic. Feeling a surge of loyalty to Midas after their splendid service earlier, I stopped at a Midas and they replaced the master brake cylinder, only this time they charged for their work.

Cruisemaster is 28 years old. For a vehicle this age, we have to expect things like this will happen and take them in stride.