Dave Myerhofer’s experience, dedication and pride carried him to his second national championship in the UMA Maintenance Competition at Motorcoach Expo 2018 in San Antonio.
His scores on written and hands-on diagnostic tests had to excel — he was competing against other former champions.
“I’ve been working on buses for 29 years with the same company. It’s something I fell in love with. I take pride in the buses and feel like they are mine,” said Myerhofer, who turns wrenches and runs computer diagnostics at Kobussen Trailways in Kaukauna, Wis.
Myerhofer was awarded a trophy and check for $2,500 from the Maintenance Competition sponsor, ABC Companies. ABC Executive Vice President and COO Roman Cornell, who presented the trophy and check at the UMA Leadership Awards celebration, said motorcoach mechanics are “the unsung heroes of our industry.”
The first runner-up was Greg Lammers of Cavalier Coaches in Owatonna, Minn., who received $1,000 and a trophy. Second runner-up Peter Haunold of Royal Highway Tours in Fairbanks, Alaska, received $500 and a trophy.
Myerhofer elicited a roar of laughter from the 2,000 industry members in attendance when he said, “We’re not grease monkeys anymore, we’re technicians.”
About 70 percent of the maintenance work on a modern motorcoach is performed without getting greasy fingernails, said Myerhofer, who also won the maintenance competition three years ago. He and a staff of four technicians maintain 100 school buses and 10 motorcoaches.
“We have been able to extend the drain intervals on oil changes so there is less to do there, but there are more electronics. We service our coaches every 13,000 miles. We do an oil analysis and have a huge checklist, with probably 50 points, that starts at the front bumper and goes all the way to the back,” he said.
Myerhofer said that while electronic management is a major part of maintenance these days, “The electronics are not as much trouble as people would think. MCI builds a good bus. There are 13 computers on the bus and you have got to understand how they talk to each other. I try to go to any schooling I can.”
Proud of coaches
Myerhofer feels a sense of pride when he watches one of his motorcoaches hit the road.
“There is a feeling of accomplishment when I pull it outside and see it fixed,” he said. “I’m a big part of the trip. If something goes wrong, the drivers call me 24/7/365 — 95 percent of the time I have an answer for them.”
Lammers started working as a mechanic while still in high school.
“I grasped it, and I got into the motorcoaches more than the school buses,” he said. “My grandfather was a mechanic. I was always taught that if you know how something works, you should be able to back-track and figure out how to fix it.”
Lammers was the Expo maintenance competition winner in 2008, 2014 and 2015. He was the runner-up in 2011 and 2013. He credits his four decades of experience for his success in the competition.
“We have always had a good preventive maintenance program here. I think that is why I do pretty good,” he said.
Continuing education has been an emphasis in his career, which began professionally with Cavalier in 1977.
“We had about 20 school buses and four GMC motorcoaches,” Lammers said. “I tell new guys that when I started the throttle pedal was still connected to the engine by a cable. Those GMCs were old two-stroke Detroits with manual four-speeds. Everything was mechanical, nothing was computerized.
“Now the whole bus is computerized from the HVAC to the lighting, engines, transmissions and brakes.”
Fleet manager
Lammers is now fleet manager overseeing the maintenance of Cavalier school buses and motorcoaches at nine locations in Minnesota and Iowa. He supervises 31 technicians caring for about 350 pieces of equipment, including 17 motorcoaches, support vehicles and several school buses.
“I haven’t worked in the shop full-time since about 2005 but I keep up. If you are going to oversee people and they come to you for answers, you have to have some ideas,” he said.
Last summer his home shop was a man short for a few weeks so Lammers had to work in the shop.
“I still have it,” he said. “I’m not as good as I was 20 years ago because of my physical abilities. Some of this is big, heavy work. But I still understand how things work.”
He thought he was retired from the maintenance competition until he heard that the prize money was being boosted with the ABC Companies sponsorship.
“When they upped the ante to $2,500 to win from $500, I thought maybe I will come out of retirement. I loved the idea of the competition, the camaraderie and the networking with people.”
Haunold, also the second runner-up last year, credits devotion to his trade and the Alaska tour cycle to his success in the maintenance competition.
“Every time I see one of my coaches on the road, it is like one of my kids,” he said. “It is neat to see the guests going to Denali and other destinations because of what we do to keep them on the road and keep them safe. It is critical that our inspections are spot-on.”
Haunold’s shop keeps its fleet running nearly non-stop from May through September. Then each vehicle gets a thorough check-up and rejuvenation, he said.
“When October hits we bring the coaches in one by one and do a seven-page inspection to make sure every component is ready to make another season.”
Increased complexity
The organizers of the maintenance competition have tried to come up with tougher diagnostic problems to compensate for technicians who continue to become more skillful despite the increasing complexity of modern motorcoaches.
“It was a lot tougher than in the past,” Myerhofer said of this year’s competition. “There were some missing lights and things underneath the bus were quite different and tough to find — some air lines and electrical stuff that were disconnected. You had to look hard. There are a lot of smart people there.”
The competition also shines a light on the motorcoach industry, Myerhofer said. “It shows the pride and quality of the technicians who work on the buses. When our buses leave the yard, customers can realize there are good people working on them and they are safe to drive. Anything mechanical can break. If we know how to fix it before it is on the road, then all the better.”
