Pulled out Friday afternoon for a weekend bicycle ride about 100 miles away. It was the first time i had used the bus since the end of Feb. It felt so great to be loading up supplies, bikes, filling water tanks etc. This was also the first trip with the water heater and shower system checked out and working.
About 70 miles away we smelled something hot while stopped at a red light. I made the corner and found a spot to pull off. The whole back of the bus was under smoke which smelled strange to me, a combo of hot oil, rubber, wiring, about everything except coolant. The left rear dual was all oiled up, and while looking through the wheels my friend spotted flames. She ran to the bus for a fire bottle and i grabbed one out of a luggage bay. The fire was easily put out, thankfully. While keeping an eye on it in case the fire started again, the inside dual blew out, scaring both of us.
A mobile mech comes out and pulls the wheels off. When he removed the dust cover, it contained 2 axle bolts that were completely out. I could see that a few more of them were backed out about an inch. He backs off the brake, and reinstalls and tightens about half of the axle bolts. After mounting my spare and the outer dual, the mech said i was good to go, and asked me to pull ahead a bit so he could get his chocks.
I pulled ahead a couple feet and the couch just stopped when i put the clutch in. I told him something was still hanging up. After readjusting the brakes off, the same thing happened. I told him the bus should actually be rolling backward, that i felt something was not right. He had it back in the air and showed me that he could turn the wheel (albeit with a lot of effort). I again said things were not right, but could tell he was getting angry with me. He said it was as good as it was going to get and that i could leave.
It is now dark. Ten miles down the road as i am being passed, i notice smoke again in the cars headlights behind me. I pull in a gas station, we get out, and the brake drum is cherry red glowing and hot! Fires bottles are brought out again. This time both duals blew out, and a small grease fire had to be put out.
A different mech came out on Sat to look at it. He came out Sun with wheels and tires, and puts it back together. We start down the road and stop to chk at 5 miles. The remaining 5 axle bolts have worked loose and some oil is on the wheel. He tightens it up and says to "walk" it in to town, about 6 more miles, and stop. The bus only made it 4 more miles before the axle came out. I noticed the speedo climb, so pulled way off the highway. No local tow company (within 100 miles) would come get the bus, so the mech tore it apart on the shoulder of the highway. The rollers fell out of the hub when he took it off. The inner bearing was shot, with the race "welded" on.
I know this is getting to be a long post, so to shorten it up, it took two days on the side of the highway before i could move the bus. Thanks to Luke's for having the parts on hand and being able to next day air them out to us on Mon morning.
Questions and concerns. Right now i don't even want to drive the bus, my whole attitude toward this has changed. The mech said it may have damaged the tube, as it was difficult to remove and install the axle. He had to cut the race into 4 parts in order to get it off. Once one piece was removed, the others came off easily. He spent approx 45 minutes with an air grinder in order to be able to put the new race on. He said i may have to have the end of the tube cut off and a new one welded on, which sounded even more expensive than this already was. On the way home i stopped about 4-5 miles to chk on things. The new bearings were just slightly warm, other 3 cold. I drove it 5 more miles and new bearings maybe a slight bit warmer, but just barely warm to touch, others were cool but maybe warming a bit. I drove it about 10 miles, and all 4 corners were just warm. I drove about 15 miles and things had not changed, so i said a little prayer and drove home. The temps had not changed when i checked them at home.
Should i drive it or not? Should i bring it to a shop to have the work done on the road all checked out? At the time i still had 22" wheels and tires, so had to switch to 22.5" wheels with used tires in order to get home... guess i am just saying the expense of the trip was all sudden and unexpected and i am thinking it may be a while before i can afford to even thing about doing anything with it. Plus right now, it just does not seem like something i even want to do.
Lessons:
- fire bottles are a must, at least 4 of them.
- dust covers can hide problems until too late
- for me, towing insurance will be a must. Any ideas of good ones?
- good idea to always pack extra underwear and socks! :)
- good mechanics are hard to find, the first one was a DOT inspector!
Ouch!
That is the experience we all dread. I understand the feeling of not wanting to drive the bus, I had a similar feeling the week before my vacation because I started to loose confidence in it. Fortunately I pushed ahead and had a great time.
New bearings will run a little warmer as they set in. I replaced bearings on a pop-up I had one time before a trip and became very concerned after touching the hubs. They were very warm. After a few hundred miles they settled in and never got above what I would call normal temps.
Good advice in your "Lessons", I use Good Sam's Club and I like them. You can search for "road side assistance" or one of the service providers and you will find a lot of information on the services.
Where your rear bearings grease packed or oil bath? I am wanting to inspect mine but it will be a winter project if I can do it.
Link to my experience with road side assistance:
http://www.busconversions.com/bbs/index.php?topic=1527.msg12929#msg12929
Hi John,
I'm so sorry about your experience. I completely understand how hard it can be on your emotional state to be broken down. The only solution to regain confidence is to drive. However, I highly recommend you try and figure out why the bearing and axle bolts failed. It doesn't sound like that was addressed. I don't understand how your axle bolts could back out or fail other than the hot hub causing that to happen. I think you would definitely be well served to figure out what is the cause of the failure and address it. Then you can have confidence in the solution.
Once you have this expensive experience paid for I think a trip down to the cities to C&J bus would be something work considering. JD and crew should be able to fully investigate your axle and make sure no lingering issues exist. Also, if the axle tube does need replacing you have the option at C&J to not cut and weld, but to replace. JD has a jig they built that can pull the tube out of the differential and press a replacement one in. It would be worth considering this route if the price is right.
I agree with Barn Owl's post about bearings running warmer for a while until they seat in. I had a wheel seal failure that caused my bearings to get toasted on my passenger side drive wheel. I had to replace the bearing cones (on the hub) and bearings as part of my fix. The new bearings ran at least 15 - 25 degrees hotter than the other side for about 1000 miles. Now they run at the same temperature as the other side.
John,
As you may have guessed it is easier to become a DOT inspector than a good mechanic.
If the break drum was cherry red I would at a minn change the brake pads.
Different size tires can change the load factor and heat up one side more than the other.
Put the correct size tires on change the brakes and try it out. When the work is done on
your bus watch and make sure they use a torque wrench on everything.
Until your confidence is up on the bus keep the dust cover off.
One more item to add to my spring check out..... Remove chrome simulators and check All of the bolts.
IMO
Skip
It sounds like you are all fixed now as for the bearing issue goes. My guess is the bearing was bad & the vibration caused the axle bolts to loosen. If ALL axle bolts weren't installed, they will fail sooner - there is a good reason the manufacturer put so many in there. ;)
If I was concerned about the axle tube, I'd start looking for a good used axle assembly. You should have time to find one at a reasonable cost.
That first mechanic needs to be held accountable for his incompetence. If a 'lay person' knows something isn't right, he most certainly should have known! His 'professional' assurance that all was good could have cost you your bus & more if not for your preparedness.
Thanks a lot guys, i am already feeling better! I knew my funk would not be permanent as i really love busing. But man, what a depressing trip home that was. I just kept thinking that there must have been some indicator that i missed that was trying to tell me things were not right. I mean i have had wheel bearings go out on a car, and i knew about it right away from the sound and feel of things.
Barnowl, thanks for the link you gave about the towning,, i will get to work to get that in place before i turn another wheel. The bearings were grease packed. Also on my shopping list is a 3/4" ratchet/breaker bar and sockets to fit things back there.
Brian, i have saved your note about the shop in the cities - what part of town are they in? You are right on about getting this weekend paid for!! YIKES. You asked about the axle bolts being loose - when they took off the wheels on the good side (curb side) to replace with the 22.5 wheels, those axle nuts looked good but were not really tight either! So, i think i can get by without those dust covers for quite a while. Think i will just paint the ends of the axles to match the wheels! I really like the idea of being able to inspect those nuts when i do my "walk around."
I had driven the bus about 60 miles on Wed to warm it up before changing the oil and filter. We stopped at a Dairy Queen and my friend thought she smelled something hot. While she went in to order, i walked around again. I felt the tires, but never thought to feel the hub area. And i had not loaded my digital thermometer or i would have used that. Could not smell anything myself. Drove the 30 miles home, and niether of us noticed anything else when we got back.
You guys have made me feel much better, MUCH BETTER, about new bearings running a bit warmer. That had me quite concerned on the way home. It is a relief to read what you have said about the new ones.
Skip, i too wondered about the DOT inspector/mech. When the second mech arrived on Sat, he said this thing should be out of service! He knew the first mech, and was surprised that he put us back on the road. I asked about the brake shoes,, was wondering if the glaze should be taken off the shoes, and was told he did not think that was necessary, that it would come off on its own soon enough. Yeah, now i need to save up money for 4 new 22.5 tires for back there. Any ideas of good ones or where to buy them? I could use saving a few bucks about now!
I appreciate all of you saying to get back on the road. I already am feeling better.
BTW, i have two dust covers for sale! Would make a nice little parts cleaner or maybe a good fondue pot for traveling! It would hold at least 10 forks easily!!!
Kyle, i was typing when your post hit.
I felt the same way about the first mech. Was not sure if i was justified or if it was just my run-away emotion about the entire weekend. Have thought about what steps to take. Yep, i was sooo thankful for the 4 fire bottles on board. One under the sink, one by the driver seat, and one on each side in my luggage bay. I will not move the bus until i replace those for sure!
John,
Is it possible the brakes were hanging up, which caused everything to heat up, and resulted in the loss of the seal and loosening of the axle bolts? Maybe the anchor pins are rusted and not allowing the shoes to release properly.
C&J Bus Repair is in Bloomington, two exits south of I494. About 4 blocks east of I35W.
www.cjbusrepair.com (http://www.cjbusrepair.com)
Their labor rates are not cheap, but they are fair, and they do excellent work. In fact, if they can't do the job correctly, they won't do it at all. Nothing is done half-assed there.
Give them a call. Talk to JD. He'll give you the straight story. Tell him Brian and Craig sent you.
Craig
John,
The single best advice I have for you is to trust your instincts! When you are dealing with a service provider of any type and you don't have first hand knowledge of their capabilities, listen to your gut.
I tend to trust people first until they prove me wrong and that has cost me dearly several times. It's a hard lesson.
Even when you don't know the first thing about the subject at hand and you are dealing with a pro, go with your gut.
Len
Craig, i don't know which came first, the brakes hanging or the bearing failing, but my guess is it was the bearing. The second mech said the pins were good, the s-cams were good etc. OK, i will try to set aside some money to get down to the cities and have those guys check things out. I would certainly feel better about setting out on another trip with it knowing things had been inspected.
Len, you are 100% right. I know a bit about cars, and certainly less about buses and air brakes etc. But i did know that something was wrong when the first mech had me pull ahead. I knew that the bus should not come to a halt on its own the way it did. I knew it should have started to roll backward on the slight incline we were parked on. But then i started to second guess myself. I thought maybe something was still really hot back there, and that it would clear up, after all i had just been told things were ok by a DOT inspector!!! Live and learn. If i had gone with my instincts, i guess i could have called a second mech later on, but that would not be a easy decision to make. It sure would have saved me heartache and money.
John,
I would say you had a bearing failure. The bearings failed and let the hub run at an angle on the axle tube and put a big load on the axle nuts/studs. Generally when this happens the axle shaft breaks at the flange end of the axle shaft; breaks at the spline end are usually torque. Once the axle nuts/studs have failed the hub angles enough for the brake drum to rub on the brake shoes and lots of heat is generated enough to burn out the axle seal and heat soak the tires to their failure point. When the first mech jacked up the axle it unloaded the brake shoe to drum load so that he could turn it, although the drum was probably rubbing on top of the shoes from the weight of the tire and hub assembly, once he let it down the weight of the bus was now pushing the brake shoe against the drum and you know the result.
Quote from: Lee Bradley on June 07, 2007, 08:27:01 AM
John,
I would say you had a bearing failure. The bearings failed and let the hub run at an angle on the axle tube and put a big load on the axle nuts/studs. Generally when this happens the axle shaft breaks at the flange end of the axle shaft; breaks at the spline end are usually torque. Once the axle nuts/studs have failed the hub angles enough for the brake drum to rub on the brake shoes and lots of heat is generated enough to burn out the axle seal and heat soak the tires to their failure point. When the first mech jacked up the axle it unloaded the brake shoe to drum load so that he could turn it, although the drum was probably rubbing on top of the shoes from the weight of the tire and hub assembly, once he let it down the weight of the bus was now pushing the brake shoe against the drum and you know the result.
Lee, that is a pretty good story and I could see how that could be the case for what happened. Still, I'd wonder why the bearing failed?
I had a bearing failure a couple of years ago. It just failed no idea why. It was late at night and was pulling a 5% grade at 60MPH and I pass a truck and checked my mirror to pull back in and saw smoke the truck started flashing his headlights. By the time I got pulled over the axle had come out around 6 inch. Couldn't use the brakes to slow down as that wheel would grab and make one hell of a noise. The cone was welded to the spindle and took about 3 hrs to get it off and polish the spindle up so the new cone would fit up. Have put on around 15K miles since with no problems ... I guess it was at the end of its life.
Ron
When I pulled the old wheel bearings on the front axle, we inspected the bearings, and discovered way to much wear on the rollers they were pitted and grooved, who knows how many miles were on these bearings, I called Mohawk........the bearings were cheap, with the weight, stress and age on these old buss animals it wouldn't take long to go bad if a roller split! I was wondering if maybe Smart Tire or a similiar product would have shown a temperature increase before a total failure? If the brakes were cherry hot this temperature would have definately affected the air pressure........temp goes up......press goes up! A first out indication that there might be a problem!
Pat
Thats quite an interesting idea about using the tire monitors as a warning device. I am sure the tire pressure was up enough for them to sense the increase. Probably could have saved some damage depending on the timing of the air pressure increase.
Well, i am feeling better after reading through all the input from you guys. After shopping for and buying towing insurance, and buying new fire bottles, i will bring it in and have the bearings on the other 3 corners checked. Certainly do not want to ever go through this again.
A a 4104 owner this post got my immediate attention.
Lee's post is very informative and answered a bunch of questions I was going to ask. It is still hard for me to believe that those axle nuts can come off if they are properly torqued and have good lock washers, but obviously Lee has experienced this very thing.
I inspected mine right away and discovered that each rear axle has two studs about 3/4" longer than the rest but aren't in the same positions on each wheel? Does this extra lenght mean anything except that maybe someone has replaced them and didn't have the shorter studs?
I will now be sure to check the torque on both axles but this probably won't mean much since they have probably been installed for years.
Quote from: gus on June 07, 2007, 06:41:39 PM
. . . It is still hard for me to believe that those axle nuts can come off if they are properly torqued and have good lock washers . . .
You would be surprised at how much the loading on the bolts can change with a small misalignment.
In Lee's scenario, the axle nuts were loaded way above their limits when the bearing failed. Once the studs stretched, the preload from the initial tightening was gone.
The nature of the rotating cyclic loading will encourage the nuts to loosen as the bolted parts 'walk around'.
I have found that sometimes the studs weren't properly installed in the hub & that's why they stick out farther than the others. I have also found some studs to be longer, so you might need to check on that the next time you have the axle out.
Quote from: John Z on June 07, 2007, 06:27:34 PM
Thats quite an interesting idea about using the tire monitors as a warning device. I am sure the tire pressure was up enough for them to sense the increase. Probably could have saved some damage depending on the timing of the air pressure increase.
Well, i am feeling better after reading through all the input from you guys. After shopping for and buying towing insurance, and buying new fire bottles, i will bring it in and have the bearings on the other 3 corners checked. Certainly do not want to ever go through this again.
Having the wheel bearings inspected and adjusted correctly is something all of us busnuts should put on our list of things to do if we have not done them during our ownership. We have bought used buses with who knows how many miles on them and how long its been since the bearings were last serviced. This on my list for my Neoplan before I make any long trips. I just found out my bus has a factory rebuilt 8-92, last night while replacing a manifold gasket and exhaust elbow, dated 1999.
My Dina needed to have all of the wheel bearings replaced when I got it home. I believe C&J also replaced the races on some or all of them.
JD said I was lucky neither of my tag wheels came off on the trip home. He showed me one of the bearings and it was badly pitted.
Just a thought, what if the prior ownner at one time had the bus towed & removed the axles to prevent the rearend from turning the automatic transmission and reinstalled the axles and not tightening the axle nuts. A long shot. Ray
That is a possibility but if the wheel bearings run in rearend oil/grease you will have a mess on wheels you can't miss and if they use wheel bearing grease it would probably shear the studs/bolts before the wheel bearing failure and brakes overheating enough to explode the tires.
I think those bearings are oiled with differential gear oil, Is it full? Lee's scenario sounds good, but to be safe, a fryed wheel bearing may be secondary. Maybe the shoes cammed over and stuck or it has piggy back spring brakes and a blown emergency diaphragm. Having a brake hang is not normal, especially after it cooled down and the first mechanic had put the axle back togather. You can use a hand held temp probe to shoot thru the wheel hole and get a drum temp and you should watch that real close until you are sure the problem is solved.
Those bearings can be either grease or oil, depends on what a PO wanted & what seals were put where.
Bearings go bad every day. The bearing life charts show life of 99+% of the bearings. That means some won't last that long.
If one of the bearings went out, the axle would hold the hub straight while the bus was jacked up But once full weight of the bus was put back on it, the axle will flex & allow drum to hit the top inner & bottom outer edge of the shoes.
There was a problem when the mech jacked up the bus & turned the wheel by hand (- with difficulty that should have told him something's wrong), but bus wouldn't roll when let down.
Complicated machines often present complicated symptoms of a simple failure.
I don't think any rear wheel bearings are intentionally oiled with differential oil. I have a bunch of older large trucks and none of them use this system and I have never heard of this system. It may be because the gears and bearings use much different kinds of lube oil.
This has come up numerous times before and from my experience the only time diff oil gets into the wheel brg is when the seals fail, then it oils the brakes and messes up the wheel.
FWIW, my 1963 International tandem axle dump truck has Rockwell axles & the wheel hub shares oil with the axle. There is only one seal & that is between the OD of axle tube & ID of the hub. I'm sure there are other styles out there. . .
I've been in the trucking industry for 30 years, and until I got involved with buses had never heard of a rear axle that was oil lubed with grease bearings on the ends. I personally have never seen that setup until now. 99% of the trucks I've seen use the gear oil to lube the end bearings. When I bought my bus, one of the first things I did was to change the front grease bearings to oil for better high speed cooling (virtually all trucks are oil lubed-some trailers have sealed grease bearings).
As to using the tire monitors to detect over heating (I have them on my bus), the only way you could tell you were getting higher pressures maybe caused by higher heat would be if you were constantly pushing the button to see if the pressures had changed since the only time the alarm is set off is when it detects a low pressure situation. Good Luck, TomC
Wow. Lots of good posts here, certainly a lot to think about. One of the thoughts that keeps rolling around in my mind, is maybe to switch to the oil bath bearings when i have my bus checked out. How complicated and expensive would this be to do?
I am not familiar with how the oil level would be checked, but this sounds like it would be easier to chk and keep an eye on that pulling it all apart to chk on a greased bearing.
I am not sure about doing this on the rear axle, as if the diff is leaking, then wouldn't the bearings be running dry? I am not sure what the level of the oil in the diff is compared to the tubes and if it would reach the bearings or not. I imagine some sort of level check on the oil system, and that does seem workable to me.
The second mech told me the s-cams, anchor pins, adjusters were all in good shape. So he was quite certain it was a bearing failure.
Everybody get out there and chk those fire bottles though. I had one that the gauge said was good, but it did nothing when i tried to use it.
Bearings need to be in a perfectly clean lubricant and environment.
Are you sure no grindings contaminated the area near the bearings?
There are many brands of bearings, some from overseas. They may be acceptable, but my experience has led me to specify only Timken.
I know Japan has the capabilities to grind very close tolereances. If there are any bearing experts with experience of other brands, please reply.
Ed Roelle
Flint, MI
I have a '31 Chevy 1.5 ton dual wheel flatbed, a'42 GMC military 6x6, a '52 GMC 6x6, a '60 White WC22PLT dump(Originally a tractor), a '70 Dodge C900 tractor(230 Cummins), a '59 ALF fire truck(Cat diesel) and a '71 Ford WLF fire truck. I also had a 2.5 ton Reo military 6x6 with Rockwell axles. All these trucks have GMC, Dana or Timken diffs.
These are all heavy duty except the Chevy. None of these trucks use differential lube on the wheel bearings.
The military trucks specifically caution about letting diff lube into the bearings because it washes out the grease. Of course these trucks are built to drive in rough terrain so, supposedly, one axle could be starved for diff oil on the side of a hill.
I realize that oil hubs are different, but I'm only talking about differential oil.
Hi Gus,
It doesn't matter how many old trucks you have, or have had, we are talking about buses here. As Kyle pointed out , at least some buses were available with either graesed or differential oil lubricated bearings. Our GM 4106 has differential oil lubricated bearings. It requires a different seal for each type of lubricant so when servicing the bearings be sure to get the right seal.
It really is great that this board is available so that, if we pay attention, we can all learn something new. Since you no doubt have the maintenance and parts manuals for your coach, perhaps if you look at them you can verify what several people have been trying to teach you. Learning should be a lifelong endeavor.
Good luck, Sam 4106
Gus, You sure do have a nice collection. Wish we lived closer. . . . .
As for grease vs oil bath,
-In regular everyday service, oil bath is the way to go which is why most commercial trucks use it.
-In occasional use, grease may be better suited as it stays put where oil drains off the top part of the bearing leaving it vulnerable to rust. Could this be why some trailers use grease?
The factory manual for my old dump truck mentioned the axle was to be level when checking axle oil level.
Seems like it is easier to keep grease behind a seal than oil. Has anyone tried to use grease to stop the dd from leaking? ;)
I had to sell that truck :'(
But I sold it to a busnut :)
Now I have another busnut buddy ;D
The things we learn when we least expect it.
Like TomC. I've always worked with axles that were wet, (oil lubed from the differential), and I took for granted that my hubs were wet lubed also. But I got to thinking about what Gus said so I got out my maintenance manual and turned to section 13 where there is a drawing of the bus with all the lubrication points.
Low and behold, my hubs, both front and rear are hand packed with grease. So now I have one more yearly maintenance task to perform..... packing the wheel bearings in the rear.
Thanks Gus, I would have argued all day long that my differential was the same lube system that was on my trucks. I think you may have saved me and possibly a few others from a costly failure.
All I can say is, everyone, get out your maintenance books and look it up to be certain you are doing the correct thing!
Dallas
GO BUSSING!
Is there anyway by visual inspection to know if you have grease or oil rear bearings?
Laryn, just check your maint. or parts manual. Or better yet, pull an axle sometime. It doesn't take too long. And you can take a look at your bearings that way. Despite Sam 4106's comment, I'm pretty sure all v-drive GMC parlor coaches have grease-packed rear bearings separate from the oil diff. lube. Seals (should) keep everything isolated. In fact, the fill line of the diff. should give some clue as well, since i'd have to be parked on a really steep side grade to get oil to even run down my axle tubes.
Here's a pic taken last month of my RR hub after packing it and setting the outer nut, but before I cleaned it up, put the seals on, and put the axle back. The red stuff is synthetic bearing grease.
Cheers,
Brian B.
Cool....No one documents better than you Brian. Being able to see what was done, in addition to just reading about it, makes all the difference in the world. So, now that you have done it, how would you rate the difficulty of inspecting and repacking the rear bearings? Are new seals required or recommended every time it's done? How long should it take to perform this preventive maintenance? Any special tools required?
Yeah, what do you use to tighten that big nut? That can't be a very common tool, at least not in my garage.
Laryn, I know I could do the other side in a fraction of the time. I have never done anything like this before, and knew next to nothing about how the rear axles and hubs of a "big rig" go together. Every bus project of mine seems to be a new experience for me!
It took me a long time to get the drum off due to the rust. I ended up getting a hex head drive from Sears and used a small impact and some torch heat (and a LOT of PB Blaster) to get them free.
Check the book, but if the seals are in good shape, they should be able to be re-used, although I'd go ahead and get new axle seals as cheap insurance. I also got new axle nuts, since I boogered up the outer one getting it off. John Z., NAPA sells the thin-walled 4" socket (About $30), but it likes to slip off when hogging down on it. I had to use the 1" impact to tap it off. Return springs on the shoes were a big pain for me, also, since I didn't have the proper curved tool.
If you've done this sort of heavy work before, and have the right tools, I'd think it is easily doable in a day, assuming you don't find something else to replace, like a shock or the air bellows. Once you have the duals off, you might want to "kill a lot of birds" under there!
HTH,
Brian
The axle nut wrench is a cheap sheet metal tool available at most truck supply houses. Measure the nuts on your axle and get the exact size. The inner nut is only tightened enough to preload the bearings (the tricky part) and then the lock washer is put between the nuts. You may need a new lock washer if the old one has been bent over too many times. With the lock washer in place it is not necessary to excessively tighten the lock nut. Done properly, you will never wear out the cheap wrench.
Hi Brian,
You are painting with a pretty broad brush when you state that "...all v-drive GMC palor coaches have grease-packed rear bearings...". Had you said that all v-drive GMC parlor coaches ORIGINALLY had grease-packed rear bearings that would have been more believeable, although you still would be painting with a broad brush. My GM 4106 MAY NOT have had differential oil lubricated bearings ORIGINALLY but it has had since I have had it (18 years).
I was in my pit readjusting my brakes, after a recent brake job, when I discovered a leaking wheel seal. Since I was just replacing a rear seal, I didn't remove the drum from the hub. I used my cheery picker, with the boom extended, to pick up the whole unit by wraping a chain around the drum. I got the new seal from the local bus company. It was for a MCI-9 but the number matched, which leads me to believe that MCI-9s also have differential oil lubricated rear bearings. To be sure differential oil filled the hub after everything was back together I simply overfilled the differential.I also made my own wrench out of 1/4" flat iron to fit the 4" nuts.
I think Dallas put it well: "The things we learn when we least expect it.". Your milage may vary.
Good luck, Sam 4106
Okay guys, I've read enough, you've scared the #$%^ out of me.... I'm having all wheel bearings and brake hardware inspected before I depart Phoenix for Gulfport, Miss. Anything else I should have looked at, while the wheels are off.
Know any good shops in Phoenix? Has anyone dealt with All Aboard America in Mesa, Az? Any shops to stay away from?
Maybe I should start a new post with this question.
Bill
Just make sure you follow the sequence in the manual for the proper pre-load on the bearings. Other wise the bearing could be to loose or to tight and you could cause major damage.
Ron
I'm NOT messing with it.... Will pay someone to do this.
;D
Bill