| Author | Message | ||
| David Anderson (168.215.176.194) Rating: N/A |
I greased all my bus yesterday. (my arm is really tired from pumping). It took a whole tube of grease to lube the Eagle, but I've got 1 of 4 and 2 of 4 clogged grease fittings on my curb side rear and streetside rear torsalastic springs, respectively. I pushed as hard as I possibly could to force grease into the fittings without success. I even raised the bus frame to relieve tension on the springs and still had no success. Anyone have any magic formula to get grease into those fittings? I hate to leave them ungreased. Thanks, David Anderson | ||
| TWO DOGS (63.185.81.3) Rating: N/A |
usually...there is hard grease underneath...unscrew zerk...dig out with a piece of wire,wash out with liquid wrench(with nozzel)..replace zerk with a new one (.50) grease is REAL important | ||
| Henry R. Bergman, Jr. (Henryofcj) (63.224.197.10)
Rating: N/A |
Lots of time the coach must be lifted off of its axles to properly lube all the points. Particularily the front end with the steering and stuff. Must be "unloaded" to free up the ... ...grease passages. And..actually, with a lot of hand held grease guns, you can gun down... ...no....wait...wrong grease gun!! What I meant is that you can apply a lot of pressure... ...more than some air powered commercial guns like at an auto shop or somewheres cab apply. If... ...the zerts are frozen, then the pressure upon them must be released. Can old hard grease... ...prevent thousands of pounds of hydralic pressure from breaking it loose? I do not know. Usually it is a problem with the grease PATH being restricted by chassis loading. Also be careful that you do not over do it with pressure, particularily on ball joints... ...tie rod ends and u-joints. You can blow out the seals real easy with a hand pumped grease gun. This is why some air powered grease guns have pressure regulators to prevent too much grease... ...being employeed, blowing out the seals. Anyway, we learned all this about a thousand... ...years in auto shop back when they had such classes in high school. Good luck ..and grease 'em!  | ||
| Gary McFarland (Gearheadgary) (209.128.79.46)
Rating: N/A |
OK Henry. I have to ask. Why are your posts one line at a time? Not giving you a hard time, I'm just curious on how you post to the list. Gary | ||
| Tony (64.215.196.135) Rating: N/A |
David Take out the Greese Zert, take a small screwdriver and take out the greese that you can get to, Take some Fuel oil and put It In a squirter bottle, wash out the remainding Greese, put back In the Greese Zert and put In your Greese. the reason that the greese wont go In Is that It has hardend up. Tony | ||
| David Anderson (168.215.176.213) Rating: N/A |
Arrghhh, I finally got it done. I took the zerks out cleaned it all out and sprayed it with brake cleaner. I then screwed my grease hose direcly to the threads. With all I could muster, I squeezed and finally got that old grease to break loose. I did have to raise the bus rear end to relieve tension on the torsalastics. It was really hard, but it's done. BTW, I did raise the front end to lube all the fittings. It was posted in the Eagle manual as the correct way to lube the front end. No problems up front. Thanks for the input. David Anderson | ||
| Gary McFarland (Gearheadgary) (68.79.101.181)
Rating: N/A |
Good god guys, what is this a skoolie list? buy new ZERKs they're about fifty cents each for chrissakes. Gary | ||
| Johnny (4.174.106.218) Rating: N/A |
I've found brake cleaner works best to remove old grease. Just give it time to evaporate. | ||
| David Anderson (168.215.176.224) Rating: N/A |
Gary, I got this same response on the Eagle busnuts board. The fittings were not clogged, the grease pathways were clogged with dried grease. New zerks would have been no help at all. I could remove the zerks and easily push grease through them, no problem. I had to screw the gun on to the frame of the suspension in the zerk fitting hole so I could put two handed force to the pump to purge the dried up grease. I used the brake cleaner up inside the threads to dissolve as much old grease as I could inside the pathways. It worked pretty well, too. I will drive the coach a couple of hundred miles and do this all over again to reassure myself I have 100% penetration. I want to see it ooze out all around the pivot points. David Anderson | ||
| DrivingMissLazy (66.168.175.51) Rating: N/A |
There is a tool available that you hit with a hammer to force new grease thru the old grease that has hardened up. Everybody with an old vehicle should have one I think. BTW Gary, a new zerk does not solve the problem!! Richard | ||
| John that newguy (66.217.105.101) Rating: N/A |
(heh heh heh... pretty BOLD, Gary.... Hee-hee-snicker) Zerk Zapper Greasebuster Grease Plug Cleaner http://www.launchpadforlearning.com/searchresults.aspx?q=ZERK%20ZAPPER http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3844049220 | ||
| mclough (65.137.130.234)
Rating: N/A |
how often do yall grease your bus. i have had my bus since march and driven 4,000 miles. i dont even know where my zerks are. morgan www.outreachacrossamerica.com | ||
| Gary McFarland (Gearheadgary) (209.128.79.46)
Rating: N/A |
Sorry-- It sounded like you guys were cleaning the zerks. are the zerks connected to lines that go to the part? In that case, remove the far end of the hose and hit the near end with air. Had to do this quite a bit when I was apprenticing as a millwright... Gary | ||
| John that newguy (66.217.105.101) Rating: N/A |
Hey Gar... The Zerks are in the part to be greased (like an old kingpin or ball joint). Once that grease has baked into the hole, there just ain't much that will push anything through it, aside from a wire probe, some solvent and an impact greaser. Most garages will ignore the clog and move on. They'll see you later for the more expensive repair. DIY always the seems better route, if you're young enough to crawl around under the vehicle. If you're like me, it pays to have the manual, the time and the perseverance to boldly go where the garage guy is telling you not to: in the pit or under the lift with him while he does the job. Be a pain in the arse? You bet. It's your money they're spending. | ||
| Gary McFarland (Gearheadgary) (209.128.79.46)
Rating: N/A |
I'll have to admint, I've never had that problem. I have had to blow out lines when the zerks are remote and had to grab for a "Better" gun when the passages were sticky, but never had to go beyond that. I mean...a grease gun exerts enormous pressure. Gary | ||
| No-one special (66.217.105.101) Rating: N/A |
See that, Gar? Something new's been learned! I'll bet it's just a matter of time before we'll read your text, saying: "WOW! Stainless Steel -does- corrode and rust in sewage!" (mmmmphh...bwaaahahaha) | ||
| Gary McFarland (Gearheadgary) (209.128.79.46)
Rating: N/A |
You'll never know because I will have successfully turned Straw into gold and I won't hang out with any of you riff-raff any more. gary | ||
| David Anderson (168.215.176.179) Rating: N/A |
Mclough, My Eagle manual shows lubrication intervals for suspension and steering every 6000 miles. I'm playing some catchup here as I can see Houston Metro didn't follow that schedule too well. I found that out the hard way when I had to replace most of my front end stuff to the tune of over $7k. Those big bad boy bus parts are pricey. Lubrication will be one area of coach maintenance that I will learn to excel at that is for sure. David Anderson | ||
| John Rigby (24.174.238.253)
Rating: N/A |
Mclough. Please be sure you are keeping our old decrepid 4104 grease now, When you move up to your new Prevost I want it in as good a shape as possible. John PS How are my brakes working now everything repaired?? | ||
| mclough (63.235.53.136)
Rating: N/A |
hey john, the brakes are good now ($735) they had to do alot of machining and welding and i got a big ride from freightliner. then on way home from Talladega race the front tire blew and was another 325 for roadside service. i think instead of praying for a prevost i need to pray for more donations to support this ministry. "anyone got any 4104 parts for doantion" Thank Gopd only a few races left im going to . Charlotte NC Darlington SC Miami FL then i get 2 months to work on bus and get ready for 2005 morgan www.outreachacrossamerica.com | ||
| Henry R. Bergman, Jr. (Henryofcj) (63.224.197.10)
Rating: N/A |
Well Gary, I write the posts with only one or perhaps two lines at a time because I am full of one liners, plus I have a kind of a one line brain which is not too smart, plus the main reason is it is a kind of writing style making the post much easier for a person to read rather than having to dig thru an entire long winded and stupid paragraph trying to keep you eyes in place and without getting lost in the long paragraph and having to start re reading the post all over again. Does that make any sense and does this post read any easier than the other none sense that I posted earlier about grease zerts usually being positional thus not allowing grease to pass thru them rather than having old grease physically prohibiting any fresh high pressure grease being introduced into the zert? Wow! | ||
| R Johnstone (Chilebrew) (67.234.233.163)
Rating: N/A |
This is better. Now work on your punctuation. | ||
| TWO DOGS (63.185.64.188) Rating: N/A |
and bring me some coffee | ||
| Gary McFarland (Gearheadgary) (68.79.101.181)
Rating: N/A |
I was wondering if you used a Cellphone or something to post to the list that would only do so many characters at a time or something. Thanks--it won't bug me anymore. Gary | ||
| John Rigby (24.174.238.253)
Rating: N/A |
Morgan, Get road side assistance and towing insurance $85.00 per year. What speed were you going when it blew? How was it to handle? Do you have power assist or shepard steering.Any damage? I just want to know what I am getting for my money. John | ||
| FAST FRED (4.245.230.199) Rating: N/A |
If youre pulling the grease fittings the marine outboard dealers have nifty SS units. They seem tougher than the stock units and should require less maint . For those that "NEED" the very best ,or to show off. FAST FRED | ||
| BrianMCI96A3 (208.13.135.211) Rating: N/A |
Stainless steel grease fittings "SEEM" tougher than mild steel ones??? If you have eve attempted to drill stainless you would know why they seem tougher Stainless is just plain tough Brian | ||
| Stan S. Teal (66.19.72.197) Rating: N/A |
Not if you pee on it. | ||
| Marc Bourget (209.142.38.81) Rating: N/A |
The correct drill and correct technique helps quite a bit. Some alloys of SS are particularly susceptible to work hardening right at the "red zone" the interface of the drill and the cut. One technique is to be agressive on feed, slow the drill and increase the feed into the material to constantly "get under" the work hardened layer. Takes practice, eats drills due to higher stress. Onward and Upward Marc Bourget | ||
| BrianMCI96A3 (69.34.171.129) Rating: N/A |
"Takes practice, eats drills due to higher stress." Yep, I can't tell you how many thousands of holes I've drilled with ease in mild steel... but stainless, thats a whole different animal... Even with practice it eats lots of drill bits. Brian | ||
| Johnny (4.174.109.28) Rating: N/A |
Carbide bits work wonders when drilling stainless. The worst I've found to drill, cut, or otherwise work with are the old cast-iron pipes in my house. Cutting ONE can easily chew up 2-3 carbide Sawzall blades. | ||
| Tom Caffrey (Pvcces) (65.74.66.104)
Rating: N/A |
Johnny, that's the wrong tool. I had to have some cast iron pipe cut in the last month, and they use a tool that resembles a multiwheel tubing cutter and a chain wrench, except that it is a lot bigger. Then, instead of rotating it around the pipe, the tension on the cutter chain is set so that when the handles are pulled together, the pipe pops apart at the cutter wheels. It takes 1 to 1 1/2 inches of clearance to get it on the pipe. It's awkward but quick and clean. For what it's worth, Tom Caffrey PD4106-2576 Suncatcher | ||
| Marc Bourget (209.142.38.81) Rating: N/A |
Johnny, Probably because you have the blade speed tooooooooooo high. cutting speed for cast iron is slow compared to regular steel. Most people chew up hack saw, sabre and sawzall blades by running them too fast Onward and Upward | ||
| Johnny (4.174.109.218) Rating: N/A |
Tom: Most of the pipes I had to cut didn't have 2" of clearance--a few barely had enough for the Sawzall. | ||
| Marc Bourget (209.142.38.81) Rating: N/A |
A soil pipe "snap cutter" was my motivation to go back to college. I was working on a remodel for a very wealthy man who had "reaped" his final harvest - selling his large Avocado operation in San Diego to a developer. I dug the ditch/hole 2' wide 4' deep 7' under the house to install "T" into the house septic system for the detached maid's quarters. Never having used a snap cutter, which takes some practice, cuz if you don't get it right you have a series of "domino" events, repeated cuts that continue to break "dirty". The plumber, whose name I forget but will forever remember, placed his large frame in the ditch and wedged himself back in the hole. I could see his legs etc. up to his armpits. He snapped out the old, was fitting the new, when the lady of the house forgot the warning and used the upstairs toilet. The panic in his voice as he realized his fate, the cussing and seeing the fresh turds and "Black water" (which was too fresh yet to be "black") plopping on his stomach was all the impetus I needed to go back to college and do well! The next job, I would have been in his place (but slim enough to escape, I point I just realized while recounting this story). Part of my history that motivated the "Onward and Upward" mantra. Marc Bourget | ||
| Marc Bourget (209.142.38.81) Rating: N/A |
I said "T". It actually was a sweep wye Marc | ||
| Gary McFarland (Gearheadgary) (68.79.101.181)
Rating: N/A |
That's a pretty crappy reason to go back to school. Gary | ||
| Marc Bourget (209.142.38.81) Rating: N/A |
My resolve to do well was signficantly "firmer" than the substance that motivated that resolve! LOL! Onward and Upward Marc Bourget | ||
| Tom Caffrey (Pvcces) (65.74.66.104)
Rating: N/A |
Yeah, Johnny, I know what you mean. Sometimes, there just isn't enough room. Tom Caffrey |