04-09 Camp Freightliner

From 04-09 Camp Freightliner

We both attended Camp Freightliner at the Freightliner Service Center in Gaffney, SC which is in upstate SC about 50 miles west of Charlotte, NC. We were one of two couples in attendance. All the others were the husbands only with the wives out shopping or just relaxing in the adjacent waiting room. It costs $100 for one or $150 for a couple. We both highly recommend that the wives attend. It is a real bargain considering they feed you three nice meals and provide a ton of information in the notebook and CD they give you along with the classroom presentations. The instructor, Mike Cody, was both entertaining and informative. He knows a lot about the freightliner chassis and the various engines used over the past years.

From 04-09 Camp Freightliner

I was able to get some key questions answered. The most important was resolution to a nagging concern about the amount of oil to use. The first time I took the coach in for an oil change in Jackson, Mississippi, the dip stick measured way over full. I took it back to the dealership on the way out of town, and they drained at least a gallon of oil out. When I got to the next campground, it still measured over full and I drained another quart or two. At the next oil change, the same thing happened, but the Cummins Dealer in Columbia, SC convinced me they had used what the book specified and that the dip stick needed to be recalibrated. Well the CAT book says 22 quarts of oil and in Columbia they added 2 more to fill the oil filter for a total of 24 quarts. It turns out Freightliner had gone round and round with CAT over this issue since the engines were blowing excessive oil out the bypass tube. They finally determined that 19 quarts is the correct amount for the size sump pan in the engine used in a motor home. That is how much they installed when I had it serviced and the dip stick reads correctly at the full mark. So now I know how much to specify for my engine.

We stayed an extra day to have our coach serviced. We had the major 24 month service performed plus a couple of extra things so it took all day. So we went to Cowpens National Battlefield which is discussed in our next post. We also stopped by the Chesnee Telephone Company and had a nice visit with Hannah Lancaster, her brother Bud Askins, and Annette Williams. While at BellSouth one of my jobs had been to interfaced with the Independent Telephone Companies in SC. The folks at Chesnee were always a delight to work with.

We met a lot of nice people at Camp Freightliner. We especially enjoyed spending time with Jim Matheny and Mark and Bev Hollobaugh. We had a great meal together at the Highway 11 Restaurant which is near the Cowpens Battlefield. (Note the size of the salad bowls - in ole timey metal wash basins.)

From 04-09 Camp Freightliner

Jim also joined us one morning for breakfast at Strawberry Hill which as the name implies is on a hill where they grow strawberries. Unfortunately the strawberries were not quite ready for picking.

From 04-09 Camp Freightliner

We love finding local restaurants like this.

From 04-09 Camp Freightliner

We also had a nice meal one evening at Applebee's with Tom and Debbie Bartholomew. It is always nice to meet new people and learn more about them and the places they live and have travelled. Most RVers are the nicest people you will ever want to meet.