MC9 Tag axle bearing seal....

[Iver]

I noticed oil leaking on the tag axle wheel from the inner seal.  It seems to have happened
rather quickly.  No sign of oil leaks before. 
Anyway, is it necessary to remove the wheel or can I remove the wheel, hub and bearings
as one unit like some cars?

Thanks, Iver

[gumpy]

Technically, it's possible to get the wheel, drum and hub off in one fell swoop.... if you very large and green.

Physically, I think it may be impossible, simply due to the weight of all the pieces. The tire weighs in at around 100 lbs. The drum probably around 80 lbs. Then, the hub would have to come straight out to clear the brakes, which means you'd have to slide the wheel straight out. Difficult at best.

I recommend you pull it down piece by piece and do it right. Take the time to clean and inspect the brakes while you're in there, and do any maintenance needed. If you have a leaking seal, chances are you have soaked shoes and drum anyway, so you'll need to remove and clean all that. While you could clean the shoes by taking it apart the way you asked, you wouldn't be able to clean the drum if it's attached to the hub.

I just did two of mine that were leaking (tag and steer). Took a few hours each. I replaced the seal wiper on one due to pitting. That one took a few minutes longer.

FWIW

craig

[johns4104s]

I just finished my two front and both tags, not to bad. I also had bad S-cam bearings , worn brakes, bad slack adjusters, bad air cans and in one case the drums were machined way to much over. Not to bad a job but i gained a lot of help from Grumpys/Craig,s web site.

John.

PS I have to tackle the drives next. It has helped being able to use all the parts from one of my 4104,s I did 10 years ago.

[cody]

We just got done replaceing a wheel seal on our iggle, on the drive wheels, I watched and learned as BK and Booger did the work and it wasn't complex, just time consuming, the inner seal had started leaking so that meant the drives had to come off, then the brakes backed off, the hub and axel came out then the drum, the seal was pulled off then came the clean up, the pads had oil on them so everything needed cleaning, wasn't as complex as I thought it could be but the parts were heavy, the brake drum alone was massive.

[buswarrior]

No matter which way you do it, in pieces or with the assembly whole, you still need a way to line up the heavy hub to slide straight on, or you'll damage the seal as you struggle.

I would suggest that many of us are beyond that time in our lives that attempting to lift a bus brake drum by hand is a good thing.

There are specialized carts available that grab hold the heavy bits and roll them in and out for you.

For the more financially efficient busnut, to do it whole, a little rolling cart may be assembled to roll the assembly on and off the axle.

Use fixed metal wheels, 2 inch is fine, you want it to roll straight, platform is sized big enough for the duals to sit on too. Adding some expanded metal of other gripping material to its surface is good too.

Jack up the axle in question, both sides, opposite side just needs to be close to start, then fine tune your adjustments on the side to be removed. Little cart goes under the tire, jack brings it down to just balance the weight of the tire/wheel/drum/hub assembly, centre big nut fastener is removed and yank it off, cart rolls it off and away. You just balance it there. Duals are easier, as they just balance themselves. Single needs a little more attention, a helper makes everything go smoothly, you can do duals by yourself.

This requires a careful eye to the setting of the jack to ensure the assembly is in balance, or it won't come off, as the jack is either hanging it or the coach weight is sitting on it. Bound up, you won't easily get it to pull off.

Re-assembly, eye ball through the centre hole, roll it up close, fine tune the jack, roll it straight on with a balanced push.

I love my coach, but not enough to hurt myself working on it.

happy coaching!
buswarrior

[Iver]

Actually the first place I looked was Craig's (Gumpy's) web site to get the blow by blow instructions.  Thanks Craig.
I have seen the dollies you can buy to help remove wheels but I really don't think one would be hard to build so
for future work as well I think building a dolly would be a good investment.  I don't do the heavy stuff any more.
  Thanks for all the input,  Iver.