2000 diesel 4x4 Concourse,

[caconcourse]

it was a very expensive Tylenol to avoid that potential headache but avoided the high probability of having to get the bottle jack out and deal with it on the road. What made me the most nervous was the chance of blowing a steer tire, and with this thing being higher up, the thought was not palatable at all so I just went ahead and fired up my credit card, they look pretty awesome as well.

I took our "new to us" Chinook on our first long road trip to the 4 corners area with the old tires, figuring I could get one more trip out of them. We blew out our front passenger tire at 65 mph on an Indian Reservation road 80 miles from the nearest service center, in 100 degree desert temperature. The good news is the Chinook tracked perfectly straight with the blown tire, and was easy to pull over. We waited for about three hours for roadside service to change the tire with the (older, but nearly unused tread) spare, and we ran the generator to run the air conditioner while we waited.

Our Progressive insurance included roadside assistance, and they were great, calling periodically to check on us while we waited. They also called ahead to a tire shop (also 80 miles away) to make sure they had tires in stock to replace the front tires, so they were expecting when we arrived around closing time, and we were back on the road with fresh front tires by the end of the day. I wouldn't have tried myself to change the tire on the side of the road with the bottle jack, as well as dealing with the very heavy spare.

That is one reason I would never give up having a spare, because even with roadside assistance, you could be hours from help, and with no spare, even they couldn't help much, unless we got a tow.

[Blue~Go]

That is one reason I would never give up having a spare, because even with roadside assistance, you could be hours from help, and with no spare, even they couldn't help much, unless we got a tow.

I agree with you on that. I had a friend who carried a spare but no jack, nor the necessary tools (for example you need a socket extension due to the duallies being dished). His reasoning was that he couldn't do the change himself, so why? But of course someone might come by who could help but maybe they are in a car and wouldn't have the right tools or jack (but if you did...). Or like you say, even road service might be able to help sooner if you have some of the tools and supplies (and tire).

Tires are much better nowaways (I remember a friend's grandmother describing their cross-country trip in the first half of the 1900's - they carried many spares and were constantly changing tires!). But still... I guess I'd just feel dumb if I didn't have one (and I hate sitting!).

[sm350bl]

It has been awhile since I have really done any kind of an update on this project. The truth is the concourse has been sitting in indoor storage until recently. about four months ago I pulled it out to start going through the chassis mechanical's. Went through the front end, did ball joints, wheel bearing hub assemblies, rotors, pads, calipers, seals, new oem auto locking hubs.

Then I went after the rear end, tore the hubs down, new hub bearings and races, seals,rotors pads, calipers as well, dump the pumpkin and put in new gear oil. also replaced the mor-ryde insulators. while this work was going on in-between gaps of time in between waiting for parts I managed to replaced the toilet flush valve and clear up my water leak so I could now leave the pump on. replaced both tank dump valves with new valterra's. Did the LED chandelier and fan upgrade mod to the bathroom roof vent.

Then I went into the engine. Figured I would just open the whole situation up and comb through it. Ended up doing turbocharger up pipes,collector and gaskets to seal up the exhaust leak there. replaced the high pressure oil pump and lines to the heads. lifted the valve covers and replaced the glow plugs, under valve cover wiring harness's and valve cover gaskets. re-sealed the fuel bowl and replaced all the vibra-locs on the fuel lines. then did the common stuff like a water pump,vacuum pump,tensioner, idler pulley and belt, along with a new radiator, spent alot of time going over the usual rub points for hoses and lines, routed and loomed accordingly. at this time I did install some extra gauges, exhaust temp, trans temp and a boost gauge. While the dash was opened up I went ahead and tackled my front heated seats not functioning. It was nice to get those working again.

I wish I had taken more detailed pictures but I was kinda in the zone to keep the momentum going. Now I am comfortable that I have done due diligence on the chassis's ability to take us to Montana in the fall to visit my mom hassle free. Over the weekend we took the chinook up the California coast from Santa Cruz to the small coastal town of Pascadero, just to put some miles on it. We made several stops on the way back down along the coast. While the girl was taking pics of the ocean, I though it was a nice setting to take pics of the coach,lol. I currently have the dinette and sofa removed for deep cleaning purposes. Pics for amusement.

[sm350bl]

straggler,

[sm350bl]

Does anyone have a picture of what their under the sink storage area looks like? I found wooden pieces under the couch that look like they were part of the interior but didn't figure it out until last night. I believe the previous owners son in law disassembled the cupboard area under the sink for unknown reasons but I am hoping I have all the parts to put it back together, but a picture to show what its supposed to look like would be extremely helpful.

[chin_k]

Rich, maybe easier if you post your picture of the pieces, and we can tell you if it match ours. What do you think?

[sm350bl]

I certainly can do that. I will have an extra piece in the pile because I took out the divider in front of the furnace to remove it from under the dinette. I was looking at the pieces yesterday trying to figure out where they came from, one had a cutout that i believe now is for the sink drain pipe. I will see if I can get them out of the garage tonight for a pic.

[sm350bl]

Here are the pieces i have, also a pic of how it currently looks under the sink.

[68camaro]

It has been awhile since I have really done any kind of an update on this project. The truth is the concourse has been sitting in indoor storage until recently. about four months ago I pulled it out to start going through the chassis mechanical's. Went through the front end, did ball joints, wheel bearing hub assemblies, rotors, pads, calipers, seals, new oem auto locking hubs.

Then I went after the rear end, tore the hubs down, new hub bearings and races, seals,rotors pads, calipers as well, dump the pumpkin and put in new gear oil. also replaced the mor-ryde insulators. while this work was going on in-between gaps of time in between waiting for parts I managed to replaced the toilet flush valve and clear up my water leak so I could now leave the pump on. replaced both tank dump valves with new valterra's. Did the LED chandelier and fan upgrade mod to the bathroom roof vent.

Then I went into the engine. Figured I would just open the whole situation up and comb through it. Ended up doing turbocharger up pipes,collector and gaskets to seal up the exhaust leak there. replaced the high pressure oil pump and lines to the heads. lifted the valve covers and replaced the glow plugs, under valve cover wiring harness's and valve cover gaskets. re-sealed the fuel bowl and replaced all the vibra-locs on the fuel lines. then did the common stuff like a water pump,vacuum pump,tensioner, idler pulley and belt, along with a new radiator, spent alot of time going over the usual rub points for hoses and lines, routed and loomed accordingly. at this time I did install some extra gauges, exhaust temp, trans temp and a boost gauge. While the dash was opened up I went ahead and tackled my front heated seats not functioning. It was nice to get those working again.

Dang, I was looking for a project to do so I decided to take out the original Mr. Coffee Maker and replace with slim Keurig coffee maker. I was pretty proud of myself until I read what you did and got depressed...haha. Great job on your projects, it always feels good to accomplish so much.

In my defense, it has been well over 100* degree heat index:)

[sm350bl]

It has been awhile since I have really done any kind of an update on this project. The truth is the concourse has been sitting in indoor storage until recently. about four months ago I pulled it out to start going through the chassis mechanical's. Went through the front end, did ball joints, wheel bearing hub assemblies, rotors, pads, calipers, seals, new oem auto locking hubs.

Then I went after the rear end, tore the hubs down, new hub bearings and races, seals,rotors pads, calipers as well, dump the pumpkin and put in new gear oil. also replaced the mor-ryde insulators. while this work was going on in-between gaps of time in between waiting for parts I managed to replaced the toilet flush valve and clear up my water leak so I could now leave the pump on. replaced both tank dump valves with new valterra's. Did the LED chandelier and fan upgrade mod to the bathroom roof vent.

Then I went into the engine. Figured I would just open the whole situation up and comb through it. Ended up doing turbocharger up pipes,collector and gaskets to seal up the exhaust leak there. replaced the high pressure oil pump and lines to the heads. lifted the valve covers and replaced the glow plugs, under valve cover wiring harness's and valve cover gaskets. re-sealed the fuel bowl and replaced all the vibra-locs on the fuel lines. then did the common stuff like a water pump,vacuum pump,tensioner, idler pulley and belt, along with a new radiator, spent alot of time going over the usual rub points for hoses and lines, routed and loomed accordingly. at this time I did install some extra gauges, exhaust temp, trans temp and a boost gauge. While the dash was opened up I went ahead and tackled my front heated seats not functioning. It was nice to get those working again.

Dang, I was looking for a project to do so I decided to take out the original Mr. Coffee Maker and replace with slim Keurig coffee maker. I was pretty proud of myself until I read what you did and got depressed...haha. Great job on your projects, it always feels good to accomplish so much.

In my defense, it has been well over 100* degree heat index:)

68camaro , It is driven by my mechanical paranoia and OCD. Its 20 yrs old, 88k miles, and since it sat for several years in storage I found most parts to still be original. So things like the alternator for example I figure is prob half worn out so I better replace it for peace of mine and it snowballed from there. I also asked myself what don't I want to be stranded by on a long stretch of empty highway out in the middle of nowhere?. Stuff like that I think about , and then end up spinning out about it because I think about it too much. Now luckily I can do this work myself. If I had to pay a repair shop normal wages, dear god, it would prob be a 10k labor bill. The only thing I want to be worried about when im going down the road is do I want the seat warmer on or not

PS: Anybody should get a free pass to anything physical in 100 degree weather. I would much rather be in Antarctica than Arizona myself so I completed and whole heatedly understand.