| Author |
Message |
Bob Baldwin (Bob4106) (66.56.100.54)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, August 27, 2003 - 4:37 pm: | |
Hello people new to the bus convertion had a few motorhome but always wanted a bus what i have is a 1962 gm 4106 the convertion is at 90% and from what i seen on some ads that some buses can level their buses after they park with the air bags i like to know what i need to do to do this and where i can find the things to get this done is their anything on the web i thank you for you help |
two dogs (209.245.236.147)
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Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, August 27, 2003 - 7:06 pm: | |
Bob.....
your air bags will leak down when the engine isn't running....the levaling system you are talking about is mechanical (screws)..and costs about 3000.00....or ,you can jack it up & block it as needed. |
bob m (68.35.161.40)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, August 27, 2003 - 9:17 pm: | |
I have an air compressor mounted on my generator engine and always have air. I have manual valves installed to the air bags and can level the bus when parked. A side benefit is prior to main engine start after a few weeks of non use i krank the generator, air up the system set, the proper ride height and when the main engine fires i can drive off |
Ross Carlisle (Ross) (66.238.217.4)
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Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, August 27, 2003 - 9:21 pm: | |
If your air bags do not leak, you most certainly can build a manual air leveling system. The reason most busses leak down is beacuse of leaky leveling valves. The leveling system isolates the automating leveling valve, taking it out of the equation.
You need 3 solenoid valves per corner. The front counts as one corner. One valve will isolate the automatic leveling valve in manual mode, one will manually fill the air bag and the other will manually release air.
You can get the valves from MSC for about $30 each. You need 9 of them.
Ross |
Rick White (Ipn) (206.176.148.173)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, August 27, 2003 - 10:33 pm: | |
Bob,
The rehab truck here in the Dallas Fire Department has a Klumuel (sp?) Auxiliarly Air Compressor. It is plumbed in to the primary air tank. It runs off of 12vDC. If the air pressure falls to 70# the compressor kicks over and runs until it hits 95#. This would maintain your air pressure. It works great for us and we never have to wait for the air to build up before we can roll on a call.
Downside is we have to always be plugged in to shore power at the station & run a Vanner battery conditioner to keep the battaries toped off. But that should not be a issue in most conversions. |
John the busboy (12.82.139.124)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, August 28, 2003 - 3:20 am: | |
So, if your air bags leak, where do they leak from? This may seem like a trite question, but I am planning on putting air bags on the Big Yellow Thing...........I bought a clip off a Volvo-White.
John the busboy |
Bob Baldwin (Bob4106) (66.56.100.54)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, August 28, 2003 - 8:52 am: | |
My other question is the gm bus i have is a 1962 4106 with a 8v71 and a three speed allison. When driving should you have to lift off the fuel peddle some for it to shift or no. Because i thought i needed to because it was time to shift and it didn't.
The other is how much are the alternators for this kind of bus. Because not sure looking in too it but the light stays on. The one on the dash thats all i got for now. Or is it a generator can i use a volt meter to check it as well. Be easy on me now i'm new at this |
Ross Carlisle (Ross) (66.238.216.32)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, August 28, 2003 - 9:03 am: | |
"So, if your air bags leak, where do they leak from? "
When I bought my bus, it had one leaking right where the rubber is vulcanized to the metal end plates.
Ross |
Peter E (Sdibaja) (200.76.240.28)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, August 28, 2003 - 10:08 am: | |
Bob: you said "...8v71 and a three speed allison . When driving should you have to lift off the fuel peddle some for it to shift or no.Because i thought i needed to because it was time to shift and it didn't."
I think the shift points are supposed to be road speed dependant only, (__at least that is how mine works__)… it shifts at the same speeds no mater the position of the foot feed, even with no foot in it at all
Peter |
Rodger (69.21.80.115)
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Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, August 28, 2003 - 10:37 am: | |
Bob,
I'm not the expert in this group but I'll give your q's a shot based on personal experience with my vintage Prevost and input from others.
Using the bus' air bags for leveling is an economical way to go but adding a 12 vdc compressor to keep the system pressure up is almost a must. Either that or you'll need to fire up the bus' engine when the bags or a bag leaks down. On my bus that would be about around once a week. My leveling system is some planks, which are only occasionally necessary since I'm accustmed to being half a bubble off most of the time anyway. A friend recently parked his Beaver MH in our drveway. He spent about 15 - 20 minutes fooling with the HWH leveling system before he was satisfied. I can level our bus with the planks that quick.
A former owner of my bus replaced the bigger than necessary - unless your bus still has orig. bus a/c - and expensive ($800+) OEM alternator with a belt driven 24VDC truck alternator. It does the job fine and can be easily repaired or replaced. To check the alternator output, just put a voltmeter on the batteries with the engine shut down. This should be done several hours after the batts have been fully charged, so the surface charge has bled off. If the voltmeter reads at 12.5V or higher, put a load on the batts until it drops a little, then fire up the engine. With the engine running, the voltmeter should now read whatever the alternator is sending to the batts.
My Allison MT644 4 spd seldom upshifts at the appropriate time. Usually it shifts too early leaving the engine at rpm too low and causing the engine to "lug". To keep the rpms up, I use it like a "semi-automatic, especially on upgrades, selecting the next gear up when the tach hits my target rpm. My target rpm on the flats is 1800 and 2000 on the upgrades. In city traffic, below 40 mph, I put it in 3rd to keep it from hunting back and forth between 3rd & 4th.
Anyone whom wishes to correct any of this is welcome to do so. |
Craig Craddock (24.127.59.100)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, August 28, 2003 - 4:38 pm: | |
V730 my transmission up shifts at max rpm in each gear with full throttle application. The following is different from what I have heard others say, if I am at a partial throttle acceleration mine will upshift about 1800 prm's.
I do not let up on the throttle upshifting I think RJ stated if you do. at the correct time you will get a smoother shift.
Down shifting I select the lower gear before I need it. That way it will down shift at max rpm's about 2150, if I let it down shift automatically it will be at about 1800 rpms. I do not know if this is the correct operation of a V730 but mine has always worked like this. If I am stopping or going to climb a hill where I know I will end up in first gear I select first while still in third and mine will down shift at max rpm for each gear about 2150. This has worked very well for me in climbing and using my jakes to come to a complete stop. I can tell it really saves on my brakes. So far the drive train has held together. Going down hill as long as I keep my rpms below about 2275 it will not upshift, but if I do not it upshifts. I do not like this upshifting. I should not be running that high any way. Just thought I would mention this upshift in case this is the nature of the beast, so someone might not get in trouble someday. I haul a heavy trailer and even with a jake I have to stay on my toes not to over run the max rpm's sometimes even in first gear on some of the California Coast range in some places.
I am only posting this because, as I remember reading some previous post not every ones transmission shifts like this. I am happy with the way it works except the downhill over max rpm upshift.
Anyone have a opinion if my shifting of the trans itself is OK and if the driver is being to much of a Cowboy in his operation of the shifting????
I have left the gate open! |
Erich (216.132.61.162)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, August 28, 2003 - 6:53 pm: | |
Would you prefer an Exploded engine due to overspeed to an uncommanded upshift? |
Stan (216.95.238.97)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, August 29, 2003 - 8:48 am: | |
Erich: Do you know at what RPM a DD 2-stroke is at risk of exploding? |
Craig Craddock (24.127.59.100)
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Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, August 29, 2003 - 3:15 pm: | |
Stan
I doubt if anyone can really answer that question straight out.
During WWII the Navy ran for a while some of their DD engines at 3900 rpm's, all they expected from them at that speed was 45 minutes run time just enough time to get on the beach head. I do not know how long they actually went or exactly what did happen to them. Later they slowed them down to 3400 rpm's because of prop cavatation and at the the lower speed their nautical speed was still the same. Some of these inline 671's were rated for 425 and 450 hp. No this is not a typo. It is in some of the DD manuals.
I do understand that the higher the rpm's the shorter the engine life, which is also the same when increasing horsepower. I believe within reason most of us will never put enough hours or miles on our engines for a little deviation to affect us. Of course that is just my opinion because you could destory your engine almost immediately after all it is a machine!!! Murphy is waiting for us.
I have always been under the impression that all of the V engines are a weaker cousin then the old inline DD's.
I have had my inline 671 governor set anything between 2350 and 2450 for the last 10 years. I do not run at the max. very often and most of the time, when I do it is for only a few minutes . I have ran it as long as 200 miles at 2450, flat and mountain climbing. I am sure my engine has less vibration above 2200 rpm's this is where it seams to smooth out. I am not recommending this for anyone else, just pointing out my experiences. My association with a inline 671 goes back to the early 1950's when one of our was a 300hp Turbo that we hauled alfalfa hay over the grapevine to LA nightly. I was also around about 80 of them that we pumped water with, that ran 24 hours a day. These engines were totally maintained in our shops. The WWII info came from a friend that was a DD engine mechanic and had a DD shop for 58 plus years before semi retiring to selling parts and giving advise between his travels & fishing. His training came from the military, DD itself, and the school of hard knocks.
Erich
I do understand many will think I am crazy about my rpm's. That is the reason I was not to concerned about the 2275 rpm's when my V730 upshifted. I personnally would prefer the engine to stay in gear and not upshift. [ the idiot protection, I assume ] For safety going down a hill I would rather the V730 did not upshift and not throw me in a situation of surpise now having to brake to slow down enough get back in the lower gear again. I watch the rpm's very very closely now to insure that it does not upshift. Before, I did not worry about couple hundred rpm's over the suggested governed rpm's of 2150 if the engine was holding at that speed. I would rather be there then, then braking if that was a choice. I have had every mechanical assembly apart and inspected so short of metal fatigue I know everything is as good as new or new.
I am sure many will disagree with my way, but that is how I treat my poor old 4104 it has given me good service so far for many years.
I have to reason to believe it will not contuinue to do so. I do understand what can happen to an engine that is over reved. In 1979 one of my drivers came off the North bound Grapevine at an estimated 100 mph, loaded with 3650 gals of 98% sulfuric acid. Yes, we got to rebuild the top end of that Cummins. Lucky no one or anything else mechanically was hurt. |