The steering on my 1975 MC-8 was getting loose. I took it to a local place thqt does a lot of work on big vehicles. they sais I needed new kingpins, wishbones, and bushings. The total cost would be between $1500-$2000. Does this sound like a good price? They checked the rest of the bus over and said everythinf else with the bus is in good running condition. This is my first bus and I dont know too much about the going rates. Any comments would be appreciated.
Thanks
John
Well, first question I'd have is, "What the heck are wishbones?" Far as I know, there aren't any on an MC8.
I could see maybe needing maybe kingpins and suspension bushings in the torsion bars.
You can check these yourself. Typically when suspension bushings are changed they are replaced with urethane bushings, which typically are yellow in color. They don't tend to wear out. King pins are a bit tougher to check as you need to jack up the front tires and put a bar underneath and check for play.
However, the more common cause of steering play in the older MCIs is wear in the steering box itself, which is a non-integral type power assist (i.e. a big freakin hydraulic ram attached to the front axle) along with possibly worn tie rod ends, u-joints in the steering column, worn power assist ram joints, and rear end suspension bushings. Even the ride height adjustment of the air bags and weight distribution can affect steering.
I guess before I shelled out $2000+ to replace parts that may or may not need to be replaced, I'd probably want to take it to someone who's very knowledgable about MC8s rather than Kenworths.
Where are you located? Maybe someone here can recommend a shop that specialized in buses, and not trucks.
craig
Im located in northern ohio between Cleveland and Akron. The shop works more on 40'+ motorhomes rather than trucks. But Im going up there now so I will ask more questions and post what he says. Also I just wanted to add, that the steering was responsive to the left but to the right there was almost a quarter turn "play" in the steering wheel.
Thanks