| Author |
Message |
Jim Shepherd (Rv_safetyman)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, November 06, 2005 - 11:09 pm: | |
Over on the MAK board, Brian Diehl was nice enough to post a thread a while back asking about my progress. I thought I would post my progress on this board as well. Most of you have heard that I have been installing a Series 60 with an Eaton 10 speed AutoShift truck transmission in our Eagle.
Well, I have cleared a couple of major hurdles. On Oct. 27th, I was able to start the engine. Pat wanted to be there and she burst into tears when it started with no significant problems.
On 11/4, I finally got my hydraulic clutch (Volvo truck parts) problems resolved and was able to back out of the shop under power! I then made a 50 yard drive beside the shop and made a 2nd to 3rd shift which confirmed that all three computers were talking to each other.
I am in the process of changing the air compressor and then I will be able to drive the bus around the neighborhood. I still have to button up several systems, but that is about a day or two worth of work.
So now, the challenge will be to put on at least 500 miles in the next couple of weeks in order to build up my confidence that all of the systems will work (and continue to work). Assuming the weather will cooperate, I should be able to do that before Thanksgiving.
I still have a few things to complete on the interior, but most of it is at a very functional level. The AquaHot works great and we have plenty of power with the Wrico generator and the Trace SW2512 inverter. Pat’s washer and dryer may even be working. The conversion is very "Plain Jane", but it is quite functional. Most of the components have been operating for over a year and seem to quite reliable. The exterior is not much to look at, but that will improve with time.
If there are no significant problems, we will head to Arcadia for Bussin 2006 with the Eagle. Our plans would be to leave in early December and store the bus at Jack Conrad’s house and fly home for Christmas with the kids and grandkids. We did this last year with the motorhome and it worked out great.
If we run into problems (or out of time), we will make the trip in our car or perhaps the motorhome. We really prefer to make the trip with the bus, but we will be in Arcadia one way or the other.
If that all works out, maybe I will be able to spend some time to update the bus project pages.
Jim Shepherd
Evergreen, CO
’85 Eagle 10
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Sonnie Gray (Catskinner)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, November 06, 2005 - 11:34 pm: | |
Jlm
Congradulations, That is a milestone.
I know how you feel, it was very exciting
when I first drove my Eagle with the Cat
Power. If you are going thru Dallas when
you are heading to Jack's, let me know and
I might be able to come and meet you somewhere
for a cup of coffee.
Goodluck!
Catskinner!
Sonnie and Patti Gray
Pottsboro, Texas
0/5 Eagle 3406 Cat |
Robert Wood (Bobwoodsocal)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, November 07, 2005 - 2:53 am: | |
Good deal, Jim! Happy happy! Always nice when a plan comes together. Bob |
Sojourner (Jjimage)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, November 07, 2005 - 7:44 am: | |
Congratulation Jim & Pat!
It a challenges to get “state of art” engine swap to work successful.
As I always say “one thing at a time” to getting a project finish.
Again congratulation on all your effort to see & hear it move to a joyful sight…YEA!
Hope everything is well to readied for adventure trip to Jack & Paula’s rally.
Proverbs 1:5 A wise [man] will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels:
Sojourn for Christ, Jerry |
Bill Gerrie
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, November 07, 2005 - 8:34 am: | |
Jim
Congratulations!! I know how you must feel now that all the hard work is almost over. It always feels great when all the planning and trial and error actully works out. You have been sucessful in putting in an engine that most of us only dream about. I'm sure Pat is just as happy it worked out. Bill |
Jim Shepherd (Rv_safetyman)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, November 07, 2005 - 3:55 pm: | |
Thanks everyone for the kind words.
Today I went to get the replacement compressor and they have to order it. I will not have it till Friday. What a frustration. I need to get miles on the bus!!
You can almost bet the house that it will start snowing next week in our area and I will be in a world of hurt!
At least this will give me time to work on some of the interior things.
This has been a long frustrating year. We have had several major health issues in the family that have prevented me from doing much work on the bus. Most of those issues are now resolved (as best as they can be) and it is so frustrating to be so close.
This bus conversion community is a great bunch of folks!!!
Jim |
niles steckbauer (Niles500)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, November 07, 2005 - 4:10 pm: | |
Jim - I have a feel'n you'll be spend'n lotsa time hangin 'round da back a your bus at Bus'n 2006 - Congrats - can't wait to see it - Niles |
Dale L. Waller (Happycampersrus)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, November 07, 2005 - 4:19 pm: | |
Congratulations Jim, Thats great.
I understand very well your frustration. seems like everytime I want to work on mine there is always something else in the way. It's an addiction I guess, but I hate to even have to mow the yard because I could be working on the bus.
Oh don't get me started about having to wait on parts.
Dale |
Bob Belter
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, November 07, 2005 - 5:10 pm: | |
Congratulations, Jim,
The thrill of "first motion" is greeeeeaaaatttt!!!
I got to do it twice in my -01 Eagle. First, with the 6v92t/Allison 750, and then with the Cummins M-11/Roadranger 10spd OD.
Lots of us are waiting for your impressions on the performance/behavior/efficiency of the Autoshift.
Enjoy/s/Bob |
Buswarrior (Buswarrior)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, November 07, 2005 - 8:06 pm: | |
Hello Jim
HOORAH!!
There is a video available from Eaton on how to use an Autoshift. Have you got it?
Let me know if you can't get one, or if you have any trouble with the driving part.
Never mind any naysayers, it's a great tranmission for your application, and an absolute joy to drive once you remember that it is in charge, not you!
No shift linkage, only the clutch on take-off, and 10 ratios. What more would a busnut want?
happy coaching!
buswarrior |
david anderson (Davidanderson)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, November 08, 2005 - 9:20 am: | |
Way to go, Jim!!!
David |
Jim Shepherd (Rv_safetyman)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, November 08, 2005 - 9:44 am: | |
Just a bit more information on my engine/transmission choice.
As I was working on the bus conversion, I made all of the changes in the rear bedroom structure (raising the bed 13 inches and building “bridge” structures – you can see what I did on my bus project pages: http://www.rvsafetysystems.com/busproject.htm) so that when I hit the lotto, I could install a Series 60 (or other four stroke). Well, I did not hit the lotto, but my 6V92 spit up. A rebuilt 6V92 was about $12K. I was able to buy the engine and transmission for a little over half that amount. I have several thousand more in new parts and pieces, but that will add to the reliability (I hope). I have not had time to tally the cost, but I am probably still less than the rebuild cost. The only compromise is that the engine has over 600K miles. If it was taken care of, I should be able to run it for the rest of my life. I did have new bearings rolled in. The transmission was run on a dyno before I picked it up. I have replaced/rebuilt all of the exterior parts (WP Turbo, PS pump, air compressor, etc).
The AutoShift was selected because it gives me a .74 overdrive for perfect gearing. The additional benefit is the large number of gears for any situation. Additionally, it is a mechanical transmission which should give me good reliability of the mechanical components and good efficiency. Eaton is fantastic about furnishing technical information manuals on-line (www.roadranger.com).
Buswarrior, I have not seen the video listed on the Roadranger site. I did download the operators manual and have studied the operation in some depth over the past two years. However, one can never get too much information and I would be interested in getting a copy.
Jim |
Buswarrior (Buswarrior)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, November 08, 2005 - 8:00 pm: | |
Stand by.
happy coaching!
buswarrior |
H3-40
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, November 08, 2005 - 8:39 pm: | |
Hi Jim! Nice write up on the progress of your Eagle so far. As I was looking over your different description pages, I noticed your generator section. What size is it that you installed? And as for your remote radiator, is it installed directly opposite of the generator meaning, is it, the generator, on the left side of bus and radiator on right side and it looks as though the generator is mounted directly to sub floor of bay floor? Do you have any means to service it this way? Reason I ask is it appears to be exactly like the one I put in my H3 and I couldn't service it without sliding it out to reach both sides because fuel filter is on one side and oil dipstick and oil filter on the other. I could have save a bunch of bay space if I could have mounted mine sideway as yours is but I saw no other way than to put it on a slide-out for ease of service! Also one pic shows a fan mounted on a bulkhead with a duct going over the generator motor to generator housing. Is that fan exclusively used for cooling the generator? Is the OTHER fan exclusive for cooling the coolant in the radiator? What temperature does your unit usually run at? Just trying to figure out and compare numbers.
Hope to see your rig in Arcadia so keep up the good hard work you obviously are doing!
Ace |
Jim Shepherd (Rv_safetyman)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, November 09, 2005 - 10:21 pm: | |
Hi Ace. The generator is a Wrico 10 KW. All of the service items are on one side. The generator is mounted on a wood/lead/wood base as I recall. The generator is mounted on the driver side front bay. The radiator housing is mounted in the center, so I have a third of a bay on the passenger side. The cover to the outside has a small service door, where I can do normal service (need a special funnel to add oil). I can remove the whole side fairly easily if I need to.
I debated long and hard as to how to mount the radiator. I had this generator on the toterhome I built, and because of some poor design on my part, it tended to have high heat shutdown frequently. That was a real pain in the rear and I did not want to have a repeat on the bus.
I did not want to use the bus radiator, so I opted for remote. That takes quite a bit of space, but it really does help the heat load in the generator compartment in my opinion. I now only have to remove the generator heat (and some slight engine heat) with the small squirrel cage fan. The radiator fan is a huge squirrel cage unit from Wrico. I have run it in the bus quite a bunch under some reasonably heavy loads, even though it has not been on the road. The water temperature stays right at the thermostat rating (190 as I recall). I have not run it in very high temperatures (probably 90 degrees max), but I am confident it will stay right at the same temperature. Once I get one of my engine/generator fire detection units hooked up, I will be able to tell you exactly what the generator compartment temperature is at any given time. As a side note, one of my customers says that he can tell when the roof airs turn on by the slight changes in the generator compartment temperature.
If you need actual data, I need to run it in the next few days to do a service (hopefully before I head down your way). If I do drive the bus down to Arcadia, we can run the units and compare data directly (assuming we can find a way to duplicate the load).
Most of my installation is based on Dick Wright’s recommendations.
Jim |
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