Need help with 3208 cat and fuller 10 spd

thomasinnv · July 27, 2012, 02:31:43 PM

A friend of mine wants to fix his bus and sell it. He is 78 and has been suffering with Parkinson the last 3 or so years, so he just can't drive it anymore. There is an issue with the clutch. It is a 1964 38' superior bus, rear engine. The conversion was done in mid 80's and the power train replaced with a 3208 cat and 10 speed fuller. Last time he drove it (about 3 years ago) shifting started getting hard, he pretty much had to slam gears as the clutch was not doing it's job. He has had the clutch mechanism rebuilt in the past, all the cylinders or whatever. I know nothing about this setup. He said it might be an air assist, but believes it to be hydraulic. I crawled under it and took a look, but I know nothing about truck transmissions. It has a round solenoid or cylinder or motor of some kind about the size of a small car starter on top of the trans which I assume is the splitter but I don't know. It has about a 3/8 hose coming right out of the bottom of the bell housing with a plug on the end of it. Can anyone tell me anything about this setup? How is it adjusted? Is it air or hydraulic? We are going to put new batteries in it and get it started next week. It is in Fruitland Idaho.

thomasinnv · July 28, 2012, 05:15:59 PM

wow, nobody? I thought for sure at least Clifford would have something.

robertglines1 · July 28, 2012, 06:11:23 PM

Past me: the hose with plug sounds like someone has changed something? I'm not a standard guy. sorry Bob

robertglines1 · July 28, 2012, 06:23:08 PM

See if that has some old grease in it. Might be a remote grease line???

thomasinnv · July 28, 2012, 06:38:30 PM

well i was thinking that if it is in fact a hydraulic clutch, it might be for bleeding the slave cylinder, if the salve cylinder is internal and not external like light duty vehicles. I didn't see anything that looked like a slave cylinder attached to the transmission. I Googled it but couldn't find any information other than the fact that fuller did make a hydraulic clutch assembly for HD trucks.

luvrbus · July 28, 2012, 06:45:34 PM

All I ever saw with the hose was for grease to the throw bearing he probably has the double disk clutch that you adjust on the clutch ring with a gauge it set so long both disks are stuck to the center plate bad combo there Derrick a 3208 and a 10 speed fuller lol

All the hyd clutches I seen on the bus are like a Prevost the slave cylinder is out side the transmission check out a Prevost parts books it show the slave cylinder on a Fuller if it is a hyd clutch there will be a reservoir some where around the clutch pedal at the dash area that you can bet on

TomC · July 29, 2012, 09:23:20 AM

If you do have to change out the hydraulic clutch linkage, switch all components to the Freightliner Cascadia hydraulic clutch system. Very reliable and then you'll not have to worry about trying to get obsolete parts for it. Since Freightliner does all their parts by vehicle serial number, you can use BR7013 to price out the parts to see if you want to go that way. Good Luck, TomC

thomasinnv · July 29, 2012, 05:06:50 PM

Thanks guys. Clifford, I will go by there in the next couple days and get a better look at it, and I will check out the pedal to see if it is in fact hydraulic. He built the bus back in the mid 80's and repowered to the 3208 and the fuller 10 spd because he said he always wanted to be a truck driver. Said he has regretted it ever since.lol.

thomasinnv · July 29, 2012, 05:08:20 PM

Oh btw, the probelm didn't arise after being parked for 3 years. The bus was driven regularly until the problem arose with the clutch, and it has been parked since then. The problem came first.