Transmission trauma

Last Tuesday when we left Long Beach we noticed a squeal/squeak coming from the area of the transmission we when accelerated from a complete stop. This was the first time we had hitched up and towed the rig since having the new, rebuilt transmission installed last week and we were taken aback by the noise but the truck was running well otherwise so we continued on. The noise continued for the entire 300 mile trip (again, only during acceleration after a stop) so we decided to take the truck in to a Ford dealer in Bend to have it checked. Today was the first opportunity they had open to take a look at it and after running a diagnostic test and taking it out for a test drive they confirmed that we had a squeaking/squealing noise and that it appeared to be coming from the area of the transmission, possibly in the torque converter. The young man at the service counter said they couldn't be sure of the location of the noise without pulling the transmission but since we had just had the transmission installed and the noise had started at the same time they assume it's something in the transmission. Well duh! They are pretty booked up so we have to take it back tomorrow and leave it and hope they can get to it soon, as we're supposed to leave this area on Monday. We'll have to rent a car, which is a pain, but that will be a more economical vehicle to use to drive down to Crater Lake which I'm hoping to do on Wednesday.

For future reference, the Ford dealership that will be working on the truck is Robberson Ford in Bend, OR. We'll rate their work and service after getting the truck back.

Full-timers do find themselves at the mercy of strangers in cases like this and for the most part we've been very lucky in that folks have done a good job at reasonable prices. I usually try to write letters of recommendation and send them to magazines that RVers read, like Escapees and Highways but you can't count on them being published, so I also send a letter to the business that we dealt with and note that they can use any part of it in their advertising or for reference. I'm a firm believer in the "pay it forward" creed of responding to good deeds.

In the meantime, the transmission saga continues...