My MCI 9 Is showing fresh oil between the drive Axel tyres. No oil showing on the inside tyre, or on the break shoes. I assume a seal leak? Or could it be the Axel to hub gasket.The wheel has a cover so I cannot see the end of the axle until I pull the wheels.
If its a seal are they normally available from truck shops or are they hard to find?
When pulling the axle is it better to drain the oil or is it possible to jack the axle leaning it to keep the oil in?
Thanks
John
Just had a tag seal and a pinion seal done on my bus and the tag axle seal leaked all over my brakes. The pinion seal leaked all over the airbags and the differential housing. are you sure it is not your pinion seal???
John,
When you say it is leaking between the drive axle tires, do you mean between the left duals and the right duals or between the 2 tires on one end of the axle? Jack
Jack,
Between the two tyres on the end of the Axel. I only noticed it by looking up from the pit though the holes in the wheel. Not a lot but you can see its new and very wet.
Thanks
John
John,
The wheel covers that I am familiar with can be removed by removing every other wheel nut. Look closely at the cover and I think you will see that every other nut has a hole in the wheel cover that is large enough to slip over the nut. Maybe you will luck out and only need an axle gasket or maybe just tighten the drain plug in the end of the axle (if your axle is so equipped). Jack
Thanks Jack I will try that today
John
I'm with Jack in thinking you may get lucky and just have an axle gasket problem. To answer your other question, no, you don't have to drain the diff to work on an axle. There shouldn't be much oil runs out when you pull the axle but you should check the level after you are done anyway.
John, I don't want to be the harbinger of bad news, but when I discovered fresh oil between the drive tires it was the wheel seal. I did both sides and had to add about a quart to bring the level back up when I was done. I hope you get lucky, and it's just the axle end gasket leaking back to the hub because of the cover. That is a simple fix that doesn't usually require removing the wheels. There are some good threads in the archives here that will walk you through a seal replacement however, if that's what it takes. I especially liked the greased board (hiway sign worked excellent) for slipping off the wheels without removing the lugnuts. No lifting involved! ;D
Good Luck, Will
Not a bad idea to wonder how old your diff/axle lube is.
You can be sure that the last commercial owner didn't bother changing it for preventive maintenance...
This would be a good time to drain and re-fill with fresh lube. One bucket will leave you some top up for later axle seal maintenance.
And to ponder going synthetic?
happy coaching!
buswarrior
BW- At how many miles would you recommend a complete oil change on the differential? My bus records show mine is getting close to 80K since they changed out the original oil.
Thanks, Will
Go with full synthetic.
John
John, I just did one of mine. A CR 45010 seal, yours should be the same. Tom Y
Re: how often to change the differential lube.
Hadn't thought too much about this before, so hauled out the Maintenance Manual.
The MCI manual recommends an initial change of the factory fill between 1000 and 3000 miles, which sounds good for 1975, but then it goes on to recommend the differential be drained, flushed and filled every 750 hours or 25 000 miles! 18 quarts of gear oil at a pop?
And the transmission and the wheel bearings at the same time.
WOW? That seems a bit too frequent?
Off the top of my head, I can't remember the recommended interval for the modern highway trucks, but it is a LOT further than the MCI recommendation.
Ok, who can resolve this bit of disturbing research?
happy coaching!
buswarrior
24000 miles according to the book for the frenchybus. I dumped it last week (about 50,000 miles and 4 years). I dumped it because there was an alarming growth of filings on the magnet on the drain plug, not because I had read the book - just did that now out of curiosity. I hope the fuzzy magnet wasn't a harbinger of bad things to come. I suppose my 10 speed is long overdue as well.
Quote from: buswarrior on May 26, 2009, 11:19:41 AM
Off the top of my head, I can't remember the recommended interval for the modern highway trucks, but it is a LOT further than the MCI recommendation.
97 International 9400 (twin screw,OTR tractor) =every 100K Miles. I guess oil and or components have vastly improved since a lot of these busses were built. Mitch
Will, my Prevost manual for a 1996 with a Rockwell differential shows 100k with 75/90 gear lube or 250k with synthetic oil
good luck
Thanks for the input. I think I need to add a lube change to my list of things to do, Will
The longer my fatigue addled brain works on this, the more sense it makes...
The brakes would need relining somewhere close to that mileage, give or take, depending on usage, which covers the wheel bearing lube, as best practices would dictate a wheel end tear down for the brake job....
It's in the shop anyway, so combine brake job with diff and tranny oil change makes some sense. Heck, every second engine oil change cycle fits fairly well too.
These recommendations wouldn't have been made lightly.
Filling that diff by hand.... oh boy... ok if you have a method of powering the gear lube through a hose...
For the big truck, for a manual fill method, I use a piece of clear plastic tubing sized to fit the fill hole, and then a funnel to fit the other end. Best is three people, one to lie underneath to supervise the fill, one to hold the funnel, the other to pour the 5 gallon bucket of gear lube...warmer day sure helps the rate of flow! once a gallon down or so, lying the bucket on its side, spout up high and rolling it to control flow makes it way easier on the pourer's arms.
However, compared to the coach, this is easy standing on the frame around the fifth wheel with the tube snaking down to where you need it...on the coach... hmmmm, ideas? Threading the tube down through the engine floor access hatch and pouring from inside has its risks, in spillage and gear oil stink.
Pouring from an elevated platform alongside the drives, tube snaked in from the side....?
For sure, over the years, there have been improvements in gear metal materials, methods of manufacture and lubrication, and continue to be right now! Somewhat unceremonious work, but makes a big difference to the fleet/person maintaining the equipment.
happy coaching!
buswarrior
Its easy to add the gear lube if you have one of those pump affairs that fits on the top of the pail (and a wife to run the pump). But make sure the hose is SECURELY attached to the pump because the thick oil develops a significant backpressure. I have the streak down the front of my coveralls to prove that.
I'm sure you could jury rig something with a pail and a hose and a funnel and a couple of buddies but by the time you were all done I think a trip to Harbor Freight would look like a really good idea.
Yes, good note, Bob. Wear old clothes, gear oil will not come out!!
And it will be everywhere, a sack of rags and a bag or two of absorbant.
You will make a mess...
happy coaching!
buswarrior
how many of you guys are running 80/90 gear oil in both your manual transmissions and rear end??
Grant
I put 85/140 non-synthetic in the diff but I'm going to drop that again and replace it with 85/140 synthetic. I am worried enough about the filings that I want to flush it again fairly soon. I haven't looked at a book for my transmission - as a matter of fact I don't have a book for it so I don't know what I will use there. 10 spd RR (RTO I believe) if anybody has the book I'm open to advice.
thanks Bob