Yeah, one thing comes to mind real fast.  You want to see the old parts, and
you want to look under your rig and see if what's under it looks brand new,
and looks like what he says is the old one.  This guy is vague as hell as to
what he is finding, and what he is doing.  Never ever take the first price
on a major repair, always get a second opinion.  when in doubt bite the
bullet and get the second opinion from the manufacturer, even if it cost a
bit.  If it was the clutch pack that let loose, worse case scenario Eaton 33
spline set up $250 retail.for a clutch pack kit.  Add about 3-4  hours
labor.  Joe Blows Shade Tree garage is not going to do this kind of work,
they just replace assemblies.  And three weeks, I sure hope you wrote the
mileage down when you dropped it off.
Whitelightning

 I?ve got a few more answers; more information. Rather than
speculating I did what I should have done 3 days ago. I called the
mechanic and ASKED him; ?how much is this costing me??. So far, about
$600. Parts for the pumpkin ( I thought this was a truck not a coach )
came from a dealer and bearings from somewhere else. The mech?s
explanation for all this is as follows: The dealer said this
combination was the second one he?d sold that week. The mech?s
approach was that there was a design flaw that caused a whole big
bunch of these things to go belly-up and if he were to buy one from
the junk yard he might be doing this whole job over again in 3 months.
He knows me well enough to know that I?m an awful jumpy, anxious guy
when it comes to my vehicles not running right. I?m of the opinion
that the mech is figuring to give me peace of mind; he?ll do the job
extra right, once and for all by putting new parts that DON?T have
this design flaw in them. He said the whole rear end was just loaded
with little metal parts and it appeared that the mechanism had been
running dry for quite a while. Maybe poor maintainence, maybe poor
design. No matter. It was shot. He?s got the old parts and even took
pictures of the old mechanism to show me. Should be ready this coming
week ( AHEM! about time! but can?t rush a good thing ) and all the
other stuff that was wrong with it will be fixed, too!
Pittman arm, horn, four ways, trailer light plug, brake controller.
fuel line sender something leaking, etc.
The only thing I?ll have left to do is have the driver?s side arm rest
fixed. Unfortunately, he?s not an upholstery man.
OK guys. Have at me. I just feel that a) I know my limitations, b)
fixing things like this is not among those limitations, c) this guy
seems trustworthy and talented and d) it weren?t no good to me the way
it was.
You are all allowed to have a shot at me for being a) gullible or b) a
wimp. Last, I?m going to be towing my horses around with this vehicle.
No I?m not rich because I have horses. Just the opposite.
EquusKeepusBrokus! But maybe having this thing fixed for a little too
much money will give me one less thing to worry about when I?m out on
the freeway with the nags. How much is serenity worth?
But thanks to everyone who offered advice/insight/observations.
Update when I get it back and actually drive it
Larry

I think they run in the $600 to $700 range.  no GM but something like
a Eaton posi unit.

---
Elbert Clarke
elbert.clarke@**adelphia.net
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