On Monday, July 2 at 9:30 I was to the cabinet of the dentist for the installation of the crown, I came out half an hour from it to go to buy a fan at Lowe's of course in 110 volts to be used in the camp-sites. I arrived in the early afternoon in Mobile, AL, at the Kenworth workshop instead of Volvo to make the servicing of my truck and especially to find a breakdown occurred at the time of my return to Panama City Beach. It was the pressure in the air tanks for brakes, clutch and others which did not go up to 12 bars but only to 10 bars… For starting it needed more than one fifteen minutes so that the indicators of alarm switched off. After explanations to the person in charge of the workshop an appointment was taken for the following day at 7:30. I established my bivouac on the car park under a torrential storm.
In the evening at the bivouac on the
carpark I discovered at the time of my
ablutions a water damage caused by a leak
at the Shurflo Accumulator. Definitely
the evil continued its assiduities since
my return to the USA. Of course I
subjected this new problem to the garage.
The day of July 3rd was hot from all
points of view, temperature, moisture and
sown obstacles. The servicing of my truck
did not raise any difficulty on the other
hand the resolution of the breakdowns was
a long and disappointing test. The cause
of the loss of pressure in the air tanks
was discovered, a broad crack at a
flexible hose caused by a friction on the
frame. After research a company was found
to manufacture a new one. Alas at the
reassembly another leak was discovered on
a rigid hose from the compressor along the
engine. I discovered that the big garages
in the USA do not make brazing as it was
the case at the time of my trip in Africa
in the early 2005. A similar breakdown had
stopped my truck on a laterite track, no
more air pressure for brakes and clutch. A
member of the team of technical assistance
had dismounted the punctured part of the
metal hose to make it brazed at the
nearest village. Waiting lasted only two
hours for outward and return trip. Here in
the most technological country of planet I
ordered the parts at MAN-Bresse, France,
taking into account the 7 hours time lag.
Waiting was four days and the end of the
week for the Truckworx garage. For the
water leak the cause appeared at the
disassembling of the accumulator, an
irrevocable crack due to the pressure
inside, 125 psi. After long Internet
searches, a dealer was found in
Clearwater, FL. The order had placed with
delivery on Thursday, July 5 by UPS. I did
not have any more water supply in the
body. This day finished around 15:30 under
a driving rain. After placing the orders
at MAN-Bresse by Internet I found a
camp-site at 8 km by having a pressure
about 10 bars for brakes and clutch.
It came back in my memory a sermon
by Historical Buddha, Sakyamuni:
“… The fundamental nature of things
Is, in the final analysis, the extinction.
Vacuum is vacuity,
because all that is, is not…”
Quotation of Xiyou Ji by Wu Cheng'en in a
French translation by André Lévy and in the
English tranlation by I.
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| Dave | Crack |
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| SHURflo Accumulator | Crack |
In waiting of the spare parts delivered by MAN-Bresse, France, with celerity I stationed in I-10 Kampground by modifying the road plan again. Weather was very unsettled, rain and sun with a temperature from 27°C to 34°C and a moisture from 50% to 75%.
