| Author | Message | ||
| jjrsmp12 Rating: N/A |
Ok, now that my starting problem is fixed. I took her for a 1 hour drive today, everything nice. Except my drivers side is 12" and the passengers side is 14". Not sure how I didn't see this before. I did take the rear wheels off on the passenger side to repair some wheel well, but not the front. Anyways, any suggestions? Should I lower the one side to 12"? Or raise to 14"? Also, any directions to detailed instructions? Thanks | ||
| TWODOGS (Twodogs)
Rating: N/A |
grease job | ||
| david anderson (Davidanderson)
Rating: N/A |
jjrsmp, Which side? The street side is heavier. I highly recommend you get familiar with the Eagle 10 manual on "raising and balancing" the Eagle. You need a manual: http://www.coachinfo.com/ There is a 20 page (approx) on how to raise and balance the eagle torsalastics. It would take me 2 hours to write and tell you how, and I'd still leave something out. I did mine and it all took about a week to get everything done. The most difficult were the bogies. I had to have an engine hoist to lift each side and fabricate my own axle puller. The factory ride height is 14.5~14" so don't lower it to 12" There is a huge difference in handling characteristics from 12 to 14. Do all this AFTER you are converted. That way all your weight and balance will never change. Good luck David Anderson | ||
| jjrsmp12 Rating: N/A |
After reading some of the other posts regarding this, I have a couple of questions. I did order the manual which should be here shortly. Also, a friendly email of some of the procedures with pics helped. I assume you need to remove the tires to get access to the bolts. Jack stand under the axle and jack up the frame? Also, is the amount of thread left from the locknut to the end of the rod the amount left for adjusting? If I have 1" left, I can unscrew the lock nut 1", tighten the adj screw 1", and I have 2" rise? | ||
| david anderson (Davidanderson)
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You only have to remove the bogies. Yes, 1" = 2" rise. Once you get the manual it will be more self explaining. Soak the bolts for a week with liquid wrench before attempting and clean the threads with a brush or buffing wheel. The bogies are a bear to handle. Don't just raise the drives and fronts. You have to weigh and balance the coach per the book to distribute the load. I used the jack and pressure gauge method since I don't have wheel scales. I believe the wheel scales would be more accurate, however. David | ||
| jjrsmp12 Rating: N/A |
Another question. I went out and looked at the threaded rod. I'm a little confused. The documentation I have shows loosening the lock nut and then turning the bolt clockwise to raise. I have no thread at the end of the bolt. Does turning the bolt clockwise push the bolt towards the "outside" of the coach? I'm trying to explain this best I can. The Eagle manual even shows just a small portion of the bolt extending past the locknut. I can't believe with only 385,000 total coach miles, my thread is used up? | ||
| jjrsmp12 Rating: N/A |
You know, another thought. We bought the coach in August. Didn't notice any lowered drivers side. It seems like all of a sudden, the side seemed lower. Interesting. | ||
| TWODOGS (Twodogs)
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show him a picture of your MCI Chuck | ||
| jjrsmp12 Rating: N/A |
Ok folks, you won't believe this. I went under the rear axle on the drivers side which is the low side. Passenger side is around 13.5" Drivers side is around 11". I took pics of the adjustment rod for the bogie axle on both sides. I couldn't believe my eyes. On the drivers(low) side, the bogie axle was missing the lock not entirely! Not even there. The shackle is pushed upwards on the rod (as if you were i guess lowering the coach) next to the adj nut. The 13.5" side, the lock nut is at the end of the rod, as are the other nuts. Weird. I apparently 1st need to get a locknut, put it on the missing rod, tighten the nut back to original position. And then I don't know, we'll see. What do you think? I'll post pic shortly. | ||
| TWODOGS (Twodogs)
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check around more...you might have had a part of the suspencion colapse...the torsion bars are always under stress...was this bus used up north ,where salt was used on the roads | ||
| jjrsmp12 Rating: N/A |
Here ya go.   Bad and good bogie. Ok, now, can someone give me the exact bolt size and thread needed to put this back on. I assume I need to jack up the frame and tighten the bolt back to where the good one is. Thanks | ||
| ChuckMC9 (Chucks)
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This guy  asked me to post this this photo/link - I'm not sure how it's exactly relevant to the Eagle, but shows what an MCI stuck tag axle looks like. | ||
| Bob Oakman (Bobsbus)
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Judging by the dirt and grease covering it, I'd say it has been that way for a while. It may not be related to the front end hight. I think torsion bars are scary, but its nice that they enable you to make adjustments. Nice photo of "That Guy".  | ||
| jjrsmp12 Rating: N/A |
Are longer bolts available for the torsion bars? I think I read this on another board. Also, is it complicated to install longer bolts? | ||
| TWODOGS (Twodogs)
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nobody will ever know me unless I wear them happy faces at 'bussin' | ||
| TWODOGS (Twodogs)
Rating: N/A |
it's going to take HOURS to clean up those threads...& it looks like just putting a nut on it won't fix it...there is still a posibility that if it sat a long time ...that it 'STUCK' like CHUCKS bus....(due to not being greased since it left greyhound) | ||
| jjrsmp12 Rating: N/A |
If it has been that way for a while, why the sudden drop in drivers side height? I know it was not sitting that low a few months ago. I'm puzzled. | ||
| jjrsmp12 Rating: N/A |
Also, given the possibility I need to have it serviced, can someone give me contacts in the Ohio area? Thanks | ||
| TWODOGS (Twodogs)
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it just "LOOKS" like nothing happened 'suddenly"...if it was parked with that tire on a hump..(or little hill)...kinda like when Chucks air bags drained & sat there for a while | ||
| TWODOGS (Twodogs)
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you are not "that far" away from LUKE in N.J. | ||
| TWODOGS (Twodogs)
Rating: N/A |
find somebody in your town that has a steam cleaner | ||
| ChuckMC9 (Chucks)
Rating: N/A |
"it just "LOOKS" like nothing happened 'suddenly"...if it was parked with that tire on a hump..(or little hill)...kinda like when Chucks air bags drained & sat there for a while" Yup, dat's what happened. One day it's ok, the next, the sunofagun be stuckup. | ||
| TWODOGS (Twodogs)
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I think GREASE is the most unused item in a busnut world.............. it was drained more than a day tho Chuck..huh ?? | ||
| Richard Bowyer (Drivingmisslazy)
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The torsion bars can be re-indexed, but this is not a job for the faint of heart. Take it to Luke. Richard | ||
| david anderson (Davidanderson)
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jjrsmp, Those look like the drive axle beams, not the bogies. The outer lock nut doesn't have torsion pressure on it. All the lifting pressure is on the inside nut. The pictures look dirty, but all that can be cleaned up. As long as the integrity of all the metal is good, you are ok. I pressure washed everything, buffed it clean, then sprayed everthing with underbody coating. Don't coat the bolt threads, however. Lube them with oil. It looks like you have no more threads left on the first picture. The pic without the nut still has a bit of thread, but not much. As Richard said, I've heard you can reindex, but I've never found anyone who has done that. In studying how the torsions are assembled, it appears to reindex, you would have to remove the 1/2"? bolt from the elongated holes at each end then turn the entire beam on the tube on the shaft about 30 degrees, drill a new bolt hole in each end and reinsert the bolts, all a very big job. Your bottom picture shows the rubber pooching out of the beam which is a sign of fatigue. My drives have a bit of that, but since I balanced the coach last year all is holding up well, and I still have 1 1/4" of thread left. You may be in for a large expense, but that is the price we pay for these big toys I guess. Jefferson Truck charges $1K to install a beam and $2K for a rebuilt beam. It is a couple of days job on each beam. I don't know what Luke charges. You can buy beams from International Bus and Jefferson. Get everything cleaned up and read the book before you do anything. You will know more after that. David Anderson | ||
| jjrsmp12 Rating: N/A |
Well folks. Here are the updated pics:   I cleaned up the threads nicely, and sprayed some penetrating oil. Purchased a 1 7/8" wrench, jacked up the frame, took off the bogie wheel. THERE IS NO WAY ON GODS GREEN EARTH I WILL EVER BE ABLE TO TIGHTEN THAT BOLT! I have a good 4" of thread left to tighten. Still stumped as to the sudden drop on drivers side though. Still wondering if tightening that bolt will level it out. I talked to Luke today and discussed the possibility of dropping her off for fixing, but it's quite a jaunt from Ohio. Anyways, any tips? How in the hell to get that bolt tightened. | ||
| TWODOGS (Twodogs)
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was it the bogie wheel on the other side that you had off ?? | ||
| david anderson (Davidanderson)
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I'm not sure why you can't turn the nut. You have to jack up the frame and get the drive wheel off the ground. This unloads the suspension. While you have it unloaded, grease all the zerks. The book shows where they all are. When I did this on mine I just slipped the 1 7/8" wrench on the nut and pulled away, not easy by any means. Draw the forward nut out a couple of turns then the rear nut a couple of turns to avoid twisting the beam. Again you need to raise the bogie suspension (actually you lower the arm) if you raise the drives. If you don't, you're going to overload the drives. Each spline on the bogie arm equals 500lbs of force. I had to move my bogies 2 splines each side for a load of 2000lbs on the axles. I tried to load your pictures but it was too big a file for my slow modem. I gave up. David | ||
| niles steckbauer (Niles500)
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Bob - "judging by the dirt and grease covering it, I'd say its been that way for a while" - were you talkin about 2 D's ? - Niles | ||
| jjrsmp12 Rating: N/A |
That must be it. I jacked up the frame in front of the bogie and also jacked up the bogie itself and removed the bogie wheel. I didn't jack up the drive axle. Do you need to do this? I thought by raising the frame it would remove the strain on the suspension. Should you have to raise the drive axle where the tires clear the ground? Thanks | ||
| jjrsmp12 Rating: N/A |
Also, the manual states to jack up the frame behind the wheel well to relieve tension on the suspension. I jacked up the frame in front of the bogie only. Sooo, I suspect I need to also jack up the frame behind the drive axle and ALSO jack up the axle itself? Correct? | ||
| david anderson (Davidanderson)
Rating: N/A |
jjrsmp, You're getting ahead of yourself. When you get your manual, all this will be explained and it will keep you from making any mistakes. Be very careful when lifting the bus. Think safety. David |