Circus Ramblings from a Dodge50 owner

Ramblings on the Dodge50 front. 7th November 2003
The http://www.dodge50.aimoo.com Community is now up and running and while I am away in France and Spain during Jan, Feb and March this will be the place to leave your requests for help, vehicles and parts for sale, wanted items and general enquiries. There are 2 administrators, (me and TheBarrelShifter) and 1 moderator (Littlegem) and between us will be updating and answering questions on the site.

We are moving out of our house in two weeks and will be on tour untill we return from Spain so Emails to me with general questions might take longer for a reply than leaving a message on the forum, you can leave me private messages via the members profile list which I will check regularly.

I am fitting my computer and screen into the bus and will be running it with inverters so not only will I be able to use GPRS ( General Packet Radio Service) to update and download without the cost of a mobile phone dialup charges, it costs £2.37 per megabite rather than X amount per minute and as long as I can get a signal I can do it from most of europe, or so I have been told (We will just have to wait and see won't we, otherwise it will be internet cafes) we can also watch DVD's, play games and our son can do his education bit as well. I am also fitting my Surround sound Stereo system, oo eerr.

It looks like a new engine will be fitted before we leave the uk and maybe a gearbox as well, I am starting to aquire the spares I need to take with me like, clutch slave and master cylinder, exhaust gaskets, wheel cylinders, brake shoes and fittings, fan belts, wheel nuts, wheel bearings, hub seals, alternator, all types of nuts and bolts and anything else I can think of.

I am also hoping to fit belly boxes and cut off at least 5 inches from the body skirts to give more ground clearance, fit 8.5 x 17.5 tyres and 3 inch blocks under the road springs to raise the body.

If we do all this in four to six weeks I will be amazed but as soon as we are out of this house I can just get on with it, it is so much easier being on tour as we will have no bills from the house, and you know how much money houses suck up, we won't have to worry about nearly half as much stuff like the landlord coming round, paying all the bills on time etc. etc.....

So what am I doing with my car, trailer and Big Vern our S75 Dodge50 van?
Well the trailer is being scrapped, Big Vern is being filled with the stuff from the house that we want to keep and storing him on a friends land all covered up and wrapped in canvas to keep him warm, the car I am not sure what to do with, it spent 4 months this year parked at my mums fully insured and taxed, yet was only used twice and it's mot ran out when I wanted to pick it up, so I had to pay £300-00 to get it sorted as my son Otto was in hospital and I couldn't do the work myself. Will it end up at my mums again? I want to sell it but Shealagh (my wife) thinks we should keep it!! Where? Is what I say and to what cost, sell it and be dammed.

Well it all started on thursday 23rd october when after trying to leave home in yorkshire and finaly leaving at about 6-30 pm. we drove down to the bottom section of the A1 and parked for the night, all was fine, wood burner cooking nicely, tv reception great, so all fine there then.

Next day we left for London and had to be in Bethnal Green at 3-30 pm and knowing London roads we set off at about 12-00pm, we got on to the A10 and followed it into bethnal green and found the park where we were working without a hitch, well one missed turn but no problem. The man we were meeting was there, gave us a key and let us set down for the night.

So far so good.

Saturday. did the job, 3 hours of drop in circus skills for the kids of Bethnal Green as part of a larger community project. It all went well and we had a great time. We left London via the A2 and got to the M25 and went down the M23 to lewes in sussex. It had all gone like clockwork. We parked up in Lewes for the night and had a great time.

Sunday. Day to drive to Blackpool and be ready to work on monday 10-00am.

The idea i had was to get driving at about 10-00am but my wife had different ideas, she wanted to go for a "quick cuppa" with her mate up the road. Yeh quick cuppa, after an hour and a half she returned with the kids and we deceided to get on our way, it was here the problems started. Where to empty the toilet before we get onto the motorway, I have my usual places where it is ok to do it but my wife thought that driving 20 miles out of my way to do it was silly, so she got me to drive to a local common to do it, we were going to dig a hole and hay presto.

I didn't want to do it there so when we arrived I just said NO NOT HERE and ushered the kids and my wife into the bus and drove off towards my first choice which wasn't realy out of the way. We arrived about an hour later and the toilet was sorted out and we were ready to go when I noticed the dog was missing.

We were at a place the dog knows better than anywhere else and after calling him him and looking about we gussed we had left him at the previous place we were at, 30 miles away.

We raced off as fast as we could and got to the place and no sign of the dog, we looked everywhere a friend came and helped but still no luck. I called the police and thy said they had had a reported missing dog, after an hour or two we had him back. But by now it was 5-00pm and I still had to drive to Blackpool.

We got on our way and after the usual weekend roadworks on the M25 and M1 we got on to the M6 and as we were going up it I got flagged down by a trucker, My wheel baring in the trailer had broken up and there were sparks everywhere according to the trucker. We limped to the next exit and found a dead end street, it was called cemetery road and parked up for the night with knowlage that the job in Blackpool was not going to happen.

I phoned the lady i was ment to be working for and we arranged another day so no loss there, I managed to get the trailer recovered by my vehicle recovery (Through CIS) insurance and after a couple of hours we left Walsal and headed for home, all was fine untill we got 88 miles from home and there was a knocking sound coming from down below in the running gear, we had just got off the M42 on to the A42 when the knocking turned into a shuddering / loud knocking and we pulled over into a sos layby.

I had a look on the passenger side but not the drivers side as it was coming to rush hour and there were to many trucks whizzing past.

I phoned the recovery number again and they sent out a large recovery truck and the man had a look around and the noticed the missing 3 wheel studs and the 3 nearly off nuts on the remaining 3. The bloody wheels nearly came off.

Here came the hard bit we had to get the Police to set up a rolling roadblock so we could slowly turn the bus around as it was going to be a rear end lift. After that we got a phone call from the insurance company, we couldn't all go in the recovery vehicle, two of us would have to go in a taxi to the local town and get a train home and they would pay us back.

Bastads.

We sorted the taxi and deceided that I would take our daughter with me in the recovery truck and return in the car to pick them up. My wife and son spent their waiting time in a pub watching the simpsons and eating good food while i sat on the recovery truck bed for 88 miles and then when I got home I drove the 88 miles back to pick them up and then another 88 miles back home again.

What a bloody nightmare.

I now have to change the rear stub axle with the bus parked in the street, at least I got him to leave it outside my house with the dodgy wheel next to the path, only its a busy path.

So thats what happened, and after resting on tuesday i drove to Blackpool wednessday ( 3 hours ) worked for six hours and then drove home (2½ hours).

Now we have three weeks to move out of our house, fix our other dodge and sort out thee bus.

What a life eh.

Untill next time, dodgy greetings to all

Karrier














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S56 Bus / motorhome & S75 workshop / van owner

greg@dodge50.co.uk
dodge50.co.uk™
www.dodge50.co.uk
www.circusbox.co.uk

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go to http://dodge50.aimoo.com

Ramblings on the Dodge50 front. 2nd October 2003

www.dodge50.co.uk

Those of you who read my ramblings on a regular basis will have noticed that I have removed the last one because I have a bit of a dilemma. Maybe you can help me with it.

As you know I recently bought a dodge 50 S56 bus.

In all fairness I bought it in a rush and probably didn't look over it as well as I should have, and I except that there was a certain amount of work to be done. That saying certain problems arose after I bought it which meant I had to return to the dealer for help. I was treated as a trouble maker and made to feel as if my requests for help were unreasonable.

To me this showed a lack of professionalism and left me feeling abused and upset. As this person has used my site for commercial purposes to advertise his vehicles for sale and done so on a good will basis, I feel unable to support or recommend him to anyone wanting to buy a dodge50 in the future.

I know a number of people who are very dissatisfied customers, I also know a number of people who are very satisfied customers. This is where the dilemma comes in.

On the one hand This site has always been intended to supply anyone who visits it with help, information, support and somewhere to exhibit all the wonders of these fantastic vehicles. It is very important to me that when I promote someone on the site that I and others are getting a fair deal. This is why I felt it necessary to inform people of the treatment I received as I want to forewarn people based on my experiences.

On the other hand I don't want to start naming and shaming people, as I am aware that there are always two sides to a story and don't want to be accused of using the site for venting personal criticism's.Which is why I have taken the previous Rambling off the page and the BlogSpot.

So what do I do?

If there is someone out there treating us customers badly How do I let you know?


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On a lighter note we went to the Trolleybus Museum at Sandtoft,the other day its near a place called Belton in North Lincolnshire, it is the worlds largest collection of electric Trolley Buses from all over the world, there are Buses from 1929 and they have restored many from europe and the uk.
I will be puting a special 'it's not a Dodge but I like it' page up soon and I will put the pictures I took there.

We arrived at about 2pm and found out it was closed and only opened once a month, but the man we spoke to said we could have a look about.

It was brilliant, as we walked around looking at the buses outside, volunteers who were working there kept coming up to us and saying things like "I've opened the door to the exhibit, you can go in and have a look if you like". By the time we left we had had a ride on a 1939 Trolleybus, looked around the main storage depot with 51 Trolleybus in, seen inside a 1940/50 prefab house which is kitted out down to the toast rack, we had a look at the shop fronts and all the while there were people on hand to answer questions. Bloody Marvelous.

So we thank the people at the museum for all their kind help and letting us in when they were closed. Here is the web address for them www.sandtoft.org.uk


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greg@dodge50

http://www.dodge50.co.uk

http://www.dodge50.co.uk

r

HELP NEEDED. We are looking for secure storage in the Yorkshire area a.s.a.p.for the contents of our house, we don't want to store loads and if there is a bit of park up then thats even better. even if you are somewhere else in the country or know of somewhere please let us know.

On the other hand does anyone have a field to rent anywhere north of London and south of Newcastle with access where we can put our own shed up. This is a serious request and we expect to pay rent, please send me an email to mailto:greg@dodge50.co.uk or phone or text me on 07766 052 215.

I spent the best part of the week sorting out the ignition, replacing the steering with power set up, clutch slave cylinder kit and fuel tank water trap.

Lots of sun and also some snow ( it was still very sunny and warm ) and working , or should I say getting help from a local who couldn't speak english like I can't speak French, John Pierre was brilliant and helpful and with Nick the Dodge owner and Matt with his S56 Bus and S56 van on hand we got everything and the drinking done on time.

I Must at this point mention a couple of things relating to replacing the manual steering with power steering, firstly when aquiring said power steering unit you will need to get

1. Power steering box with its original steering drop arm, 2. Fluid Reservoir with hoses, 3. Secondary Belt pulley, 4. Original Steering UJ ( cos the splines are a different size on the power unit), 5.Hydraulic pump and hoses.

Take out the radiator as this will help loads, and the engine sound board and make sure you have the correct tools, you will need a ball joint splitter, club hammer, various spanners, socket set with a 24mm socket for ball joints, WD 40 and patience.

Make sure the correct steering box is fitted, I have been told by some people at Renault Tech div. that a mark two box and fitting plate will fit in a mark one Dodge and vice versa but its the steering UJ that's different and length and spline sizes can vary, so if you are fitting a power steering box make sure you have all the bits...... like the four bolts to attach the pulley wheel with, the bolts and fittings for the hydraulic pump, the right size steering UJ and 2 liters of hydraulic fluid, its the same as what goes in an automatic gearbox.