Recent content by gvvaughan

While I'm actually located in Arizona, the GXV is currently at my mechanic's shop in La Junta, CO after having had a few regular maintenance issues taken care of. Rob Pickering is the owner of the shop, and incidentally was the original importer for the 1017A chassis back in 2010. He is...

I forgot to mention that I was unable to register this GXV in California (long story that involved 9 months of visiting DMV, CHP, CARB & EPA for impossible to satisfy inspection certificates), so it continues to enjoy permanent registration inside a Montana LLC. I would be more than happy to...

Here's the original forum post from the previous owner who sold this GXV to me, which has more exterior photos that are still relevant, and also plenty of interior photos so you can see the huge improvements from my total interior rebuild and massive electrical modernization...

In case you're wondering why I'm selling such an awesome rig? I was living full time in here with my wife and dog when we noticed that some of the original alder was starting to lose its edge banding, bow with the heat from the old electrical system and beginning to peel away from the habitat...

2010/2023 GXV Global Traveller Mercedes 1017A 4x4 Expedition Truck Mileage: 34,XXX Price: $295,000 Current location: La Junta, CO. Regular specialist service (most recently September 2024): Full 2025 annual service at my expense before you collect Spare parts included: ~$3,000 worth of spare...

Howdy! Yep, Betts of Sacramento. They seem to specialize in brakes and service, but were willing to take my rig across the street for diagnosis of any transmission issues (but didn't need to in the end), and they took my drums to another shop to have the alignment checked. They have been...

Hi! Thanks for asking :) And yes -- more or less: Betts diagnosed everything properly for me, and found nothing wrong except one of the front drums is slightly warped. The manual says that within certain tolerances, the drums can be resurfaced no more than 3 times. Since the warped drum...

I met with a tow truck driver to successfully move the rig to Betts in Sacramento, and the shop I was moving it from said that the shaking under braking was from the front end, and not the rear as I was originally told by the service desk, but that they had since repacked all the front bearings...

I originally bought it with a plan to drive to the tip of South America (before COVID made borders more challenging), which does have some extremeley high altitude sections... there are roads in Chile and Argentina above 20,000ft. At best that trip is extremely delayed (not only by the...

Hi Sitec, I'm also leaning towards warped drums and/or bent shoes being the problem given the circumstances that led to the issue. Interesting how you describe letting the air out will let the shoes contact the drum and lead to this issue as everything cools unevenly though. Also the diesel...

Hi Roger, 1224 is definitely a better chassis than the 1017, especially if you have a turbo and plan to be able to cold start at high altitude. Since buying mine, I've learned that a good rule of thumb is that you really want at least 20hp per ton... prior to the habitat refurb, I was north of...

Thanks for the manuals link. Purchased! I don't have a windows machine, but I have some intel macs in the loft which I can probably get Windows installed onto, and in the worst case any decent shop will have suitable laptops that can run it. Super useful :) I'm also far from a mechanic, but I...

That's very kind of you to offer, thanks. I'll keep in touch as I try to work with the shop that has my truck to get a better diagnosis. Betts truck parts has a shop in Sacramento too, so that's a useful contact to have, thanks! All the 30+ year old leaf packs on mine were completely...

Yes I was with the truck for the tow, parking lever was in the off position, the red hydraulic pressure light was off on the dash, and there was no squealing as the tow truck started pulling. Buuut... I agree that the likely cause is from foot and/or parking brake not being properly disengaged...

No, that is great to know. I'll be very happy to never have to go through this again, should I ever need to be towed in future. I had the shop do that already, but from there they couldn't figure out what parts need repair or replacement. I'm worried that they are just being lazy and don't...