Freightliner Custom Chassis Service Center

While we were at National Indoor RV in Lewisville in April, we started having an intermittent problem that some of the gauges on Gracie would not work when we turned the engine on. The loss of gauges was a problem, but almost more so was a buzz that would not stop. While there in Lewisville, we found that we could disconnect the engine batteries for a period of time and turn them back on, and it would generally make the gauges work. But... sometimes, that didn't fix it, and we had to tap or move a relay for the dash / accessories. On our way up to Virginia, we dealt with it by not turning off the engine all day and pretty much had success with disconnecting the engine batteries to resolve it each morning.

When we were leaving the farm, after disconnecting the batteries, it started okay with all the gauges, but, we (ill-advisedly) turned it off when we were hooking up the Jeep, and then everything we tried wouldn't work to get the gauges working again -- for about 30 minutes of delay. Finally, something we did reset it and we got on our way to Lynchburg.

In Lynchburg, we tried to apply some debugging techniques that had been suggested by a technician at Freightliner Custom Chassis when Carl had called to ask for help. Unfortunately, when Carl got the dash pulled open, following the wiring was not as simple as we had hoped, and we decided that the debugging was beyond our capabilities. The good news was, Freightliner Custom Chassis was just south of us in Gaffney, SC - "only" about 250 miles away. Better to seek help there, now, than need to return when we were further north or west. We called to see whether they had appointments available, and they did, for July 20, but the lady we spoke with said that we could come in as a "work in" customer, and if they had time, they would "work us in" to their schedule. We decided to try that...

So, Sunday, we drove from near Lynchburg, VA to near Gaffney, SC. Monday morning, we left Cherokee RV Park bright and early (well, "early" for us, as we pulled out just before 7am, and I'm not sure how "bright" we were), arriving at the Freightliner Service and Training Center well before their opening time of 7:45am. We got on the "work in" list and found a spot to park in their "campground".

The campground is actually pretty nice - although it is just a gravel parking lot with electric hookups, we got the end space so we're right by the woods.

It is mostly level, and has 50A service. There is also a dump station and a place to fill with fresh water.

When Carl checked with the office again after noon on Monday, we were 3rd on the "work in" list (we don't know whether that was the same as the morning or not). They feel confident that they will get to us on Tuesday or Wednesday, and in the meantime, we are comfortable and may be able to visit things around Gaffney. When he checked Tuesday morning, we were first on the "work in" list, and she thought that it is possible we will get into the shop on Tuesday afternoon.

A look "up" the campground to the RVs on the other side of the parking lot...

... and then back "down" the campground on the side where we are parked - Gracie is way at the end, with the red Jeep parked sideways in front of her.

In the meantime, we've gotten some tasks done - including some blog maintenance - I've added a "Maps" category with a couple of views of our travels so far this year, as well as a Google Map link to where we currently are located - all of which I hope to keep updated as we go. Let me know if they don't work for you - I'm trying some new options.