Let's say a person who shall remain nameless has dropped a 3/8 X 1 fine thread socket head bolt down the accessory drive after removing the Generator drive.
Is there room for the bolt to hide in there for some period of time and suddenly get picked up by the gears and destroy same. Or will it be a catastrophic start up?
Nameless person anxiously awaiting your response.
Can you see it down there? With a camera, or small mirror? Can you fish it out with a magnet? or a wire? I think you should get it out before running the engine.
JC
(https://busconversionmagazine.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Ftheghostbus.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2012%2F04%2Fwpid-2012-04-22_17-08-57_24.jpg&hash=af0ba493dd6dd522deef22e6565c9fb6b48e5039)
here's what i would do... rotate the motor by hand 10 times...if it makes 10 revolutions.... i would pray, drop the oil pan and hope like heck i found the bolt... ::) ??? ::)
I would support Eagles' method. Turn it by hand until you retrieve it.
It'll be ugly if it's running while searching for a way out!
If you need a reason for a repower, Fire it up!
Here's my story up to this point. I have started the engine and run it for several minutes a couple of times, even moved the bus, but I have not driven it on the road. I don't think there is room for the bolt to drop all the way through and into the pan. Looks like it would have landed on the Crank gear and immediate destruction would have occurred on startup. There are 6 bolts on the generator drive and 4 are required for the pulley drive I installed. I used 4 of the bolts and I have one left. I can't find the missing bolt either on the ground or on top of the transmission. Seems to me like I have dodged a bullet unless its hiding in there somewhere just waiting for me to get on I75 in downtown Atlanta.
I just can't believe I dropped the bolt in there, but I can't account for all the bolts and I may start running down the road screaming and waving my arms.
Ouch. I see a few sleepless nights in your future.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Well-you wanted to pull that engine and take it apart anyway, didn't you? Good Luck, TomC
You can pull the cam gear and use a strong magnet if it's in there you can retrieve it,but I doubt it is there they come to surface in a hurry when you start the engine not very pretty when they do
Quote from: luvrbus on October 02, 2015, 07:49:32 AM... they come to surface in a hurry when you start the engine not very pretty when they do
Yeah, that's what I was thinking, too.
Whew!! I can see more teeth flying than in a Georgia street fight!!!
That happened to our 4104 many years ago.Luckily, patient work with a magnet on a flexible shaft retrieved it. If it happened today, I would buy one of those optical scopes like Harbor Freight sells to look down there til I could see it to retrieve it. If you leave it in there, very likely it will dislodge in future and cause a catastrophic (read expensive) engine malfunction. Gears strip on cam causing valves to hit pistons also. No brainer...retrieve it or pull trans and flywheel hsg.AND it won't fail at a convenient time, if there even is one. At least you can examine condition of clutch disc, flywheel, pressure plate, rear crank seal, and renew hsg. cover.
He has started it and ran the engine only place it can lodge is on the gears,the rear plate is smooth there are no cavities for it to hide.I think he got lucky myself it's in the oil pan with the rest of extra bolts and nuts
Quote from: luvrbus on October 02, 2015, 10:20:58 AM
He has started it and ran the engine only place it can lodge is on the gears,the rear plate is smooth there are no cavities for it to hide.I think he got lucky myself it's in the oil pan with the rest of extra bolts and nuts
i would look...started and ran are two different things ???
how much/long did it run ?
Then drop the pan first. If you find a bolt in there....is it the one you dropped or one from somewhere else in past? That pan gasket needs replacing anyway and you can clean and repaint. At least this way you'll start getting to know your engine.
OK, nameless person has purchased a device from Harbor freight with a camera and a probe. Soon as the rain lets up I'm gonna LOOK down the hole.
I can't stand the suspense each time I start it. Yes, sleepless nights until I can verify it is not sitting there waiting to explode. My right brain says I didn't drop it down the hole, my left brain says "are you sure"?. Both sides need to be in agreement.
Thanks for all the replies. Hope to see you all at the Arcadia Rally.
Turns out it was a nonissue. I took my new toy out and decided to look in the hole in the top of the bell housing. 2 seconds and I had found the missing bolt. Raked it out with a piece of wire and my sleepless nights are over. On to the next crisis.......
Yay! Happy ending!
See. I thought you could fish it out...
JC
So it wasn't in the gear train after all the worry ? with the newer style step up drives it's impossible to drop a bolt in the gear train fwiw
Yay, tragedy has once again been averted. I love a bus story with a happy ending. Phil
Good News John!
Happy that worked out for you. The "not knowing" is terribly stressful... I'm sure you are quite relieved! Congrats!
Kev
I hate using a magnet down a hole that has metal-- the magnet sticks to every piece of steel it touches. When is someone going to market a magnet pick-up that you can turn off and on? I have a non- Harbor Freight camera probe that sometimes is useful, and sometimes not. I always stuff rags or a towel on the lip of the hole so if I do drop a nut or bolt it won't fall through. For peace of mind, I would drop the oil pan and then take off the flywheel housing if the bolt is nowhere to be found, with camera or outside the engine somewhere.
--Geoff
I think he found it on the outside of engine in the hole on top of the bell housing.I have a set of magnetic sockets I don't go near the back of DD without rags and my sockets.
The magnetic sockets are must when changing a injection pump on a 6.2 or 6.5 GM diesel damn that bolt was hard to retrieve I had to remove the complete front end but it only happen once to me
Quote from: luvrbus on October 09, 2015, 08:32:21 AM
I think he found it on the outside of engine in the hole on top of the bell housing.I have a set of magnetic sockets I don't go near the back of DD without rags and my sockets.
The magnetic sockets are must when changing a injection pump on a 6.2 or 6.5 GM diesel damn that bolt was hard to retrieve I had to remove the complete front end but it only happen once to me
Hey, Clifford, what is that? A magnetic socket that holds the nut or bolt after you unscrew the thread until you remove it by hand? I didn't know that they exist. Sounds useful.
Yep I bought my set from Mac Tools a little pricey but they are strong and will hold, a nut is hard to remove from one so I just thread a bolt into it to remove the nut