Air Bag Replacement Questions

[MCIGenes]

       When I said it was a good time to replace the Damaged air bag, I meant it is better to do it at home than on the road somewhere. Another good reason is it helps me justify the new pit I spend the last few months putting outside the shop. I have a pit inside the shop that I built before I got into buses, so it is not as long as it should be for  working on  certain areas of the bus. It worked great when I replace my MC8 front air bags with rolling lobes, but it also ties up the shop for longer than I wanted. Some friends of mine do concrete and we decided to put a bigger pit outside the shop and more cement in from of the shop. It took a while to get it done with their schedule and other jobs going on but we got it done about a month ago. I took lessons from the old pit and how I did that one in 1999. I built the forms in 2 half's on a portable car lift then I rolled them out and joined them together out side the shop.  When we were ready to set the forms into the hole we just connected straps to the bob cat fork lift tines and set it in.
   In this pit I put scaffold pockets in the concrete walls, so I can raise sections of the floor on 6" intervals. That way you can raise the floor to a suitable height for what ever you are working on. Right now the rear bags are right at my eye level and it is easy to work on. I am taking my time because I am also building a camping/road leveling system that I will incorporate into the old system when I put it all back together. Speaking of which I just got some more parts for that project so I better get out in the shop and put it together so I can test it. I need the current bags functioning so I can test the camp/road system before replacing the nicked bag. Thanks again for sharing your experience with the bags. 
   Ed, did you ever get your bay door struts rebuilt or replaced? I just finished doing the rest of mine when I replaced the bay door rubber hinges. Now they look as good as they work.
Gene  1975 MC5B

[Ed Hackenbruch]

Not yet Gene. Got a line on somebody that is thinking about replacing his with gas struts, told him i wanted his old ones, haven't heard from him yet.

[MCIGenes]

       Well, I got the old bags and rings out tonight, but I have a problem with bolt length. My bus has been plated due to pin holes in the air beams so the 1/2" plate at the top of the bag mount requires longer bolts than came with the kit. Does anyone know if the plate kits are supplied through MCI or a third party vendor? 
   The top bolts were in the worst shape because dirt and road grime can sit on them and rust them over time. I used a 3" cut off wheel on a zip tool and cut the bolts off at the nuts. they were so rusted I doubt if I could clean them up enough to reuse them anyway. The bottom bolts came off better, but I have new bolts that fit that location anyway.
   Does anyone know about a source for the longer bolts? I will call MCI in the morning to see if they can supply longer bolts. 
   I started cleaning up the surfaces tonight but is was getting dark so I will finish it in the morning.
   Is there any suggestions about any kind of sealer that could be used when reassembling the bellows to the metal surfaces?  On a new surface it might not be needed, but these surfaces are far from being new. I will sand them as smooth as I can and paint them up good before I reassemble the system. 
Thanks for any information anyone can give me.      Gene     1975 MC5B

[thomasinnv]

Don't use any sealer on the bags, just bolt them up. The longer bolts can be had from Mowhawk MFG, or Luke @ UScoach, or Caylor supply.

[Lin]

You can get it all from Luke at US coach.  When you buy things like air bags from him, he would ask if it were plated and send the right bolts.  They do cost a little extra.

[MCIGenes]

Thanks for the advice on where to get the longer bolts. I ordered my bellows kit from Mohawk and they did not ask about if the bus was plated or not. I will call them now and see if they have them. Thanks.

Gene

[MCIGenes]

FYI   The bolts in the original Bellows assembly are 1.25" long. There is a longer bolt(1.75")  normally used on GM buses and that part number is 2354549. They are $3.07 from Mohawk, so I ordered 24 of them. I have 2 new bellows kits and there are 12 bolts in the top ring where the plate is. Mean while the bus stays over the pit. No rally/gathering this weekend.


Gene

[Geoff]

I had exactly the same problem with short bolts and plated air bags, and had to order the longer bolts.  Oh, and I used silicone as a sealer top and bottom.  No leaks.