Bus door

[Billysurf]

Hello bus friends! We have a bus door that still uses air. It's been working great for the longest time. Until a couple weeks ago. Now it doesn't always close properly, but will occasionally, if I pump air out of the brakes. But not always.  Also, at night locking it from the inside, you really have to put everything you've got into pulling the door closed in order to push the latch.    Any ideas what the deal is?  I also dump the air from the door (red lever) when we turn off the bus.

Another quick question - Is there an attachment that goes on the little level inside the door (used to close the door) that ours is missing?

[lostagain]

You need to service the air cylinder that operates the door. Look in the manual for the procedure. It is not that big a deal. I did on a D3 a few years ago. The door worked like new again after I was done. I can't remember exactly what was involved, but it wasn't that bad.
I don't see anything missing on the lever for the lock.

JC

[buswarrior]

What lostagain said.

It all looks good and stock to me too.

Once you get into the guts of the thing and learn the adjustments, you'll have fun fine tuning it.

happy coaching!
buswarrior

[Zephod]

Are you draining your air tanks at the end of every trip? It's recommended because fluids can build up in the tanks otherwise. I drained as a routine, the tanks of a reserve bus at work having had to use a reserve bus. Clearly nobody else had bothered. My feet got sprayed with oil, water and something like bacterial strings - all from the air tanks.


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[Billysurf]

 Thank you so much everyone! We are not currently draining our tanks. How do we do that?

[brmax]

Zephod it sounds like that bus had a severe cold  
Agree its a great pratice draining on a daily. That has been lightened in training i guess.
Fwiw i started in late eighties replacing all dryer carttridge on a yearly. This seriously helped my fleet and they were that same ih system. Kept my but in the warm also in winter as before them dryers would freeze up and a truck down is no good. I had dumps and plows, it woulda worried the h out of me if i had kids out there because of that. Its the best investment i made in brake maintenance.
I find these mci tanks on mine and assume others have the drain "up" mid tank level, go figure. Now there is likely a brilliant answer but i can only see a road clearence advantage. But againthese tanks may be have an inside tube from base of tank. Always been curious of that one.
Bill i use a old broom stick with a screw on its end side to hook at its end, the tanks have rings on the drains and this helps hook to pull and release a bit of any water without climbing under.
Good day there
Floyd


And thats a nice lookin bus there Bill that front is just cool

[Billysurf]

 Thank you Thank you brmax !!    We appreciate the kind words as well!   Are the tanks behind the tires?    And how many are there?

[Zephod]

Thank you Thank you brmax !!    We appreciate the kind words as well!   Are the tanks behind the tires?    And how many are there?

You might have a button on the dash to press to drain your tanks (the Thomas I usually drive does). Others have drain cocks below the drivers window, accessible only from outside. A few of the old and crusty wrecks that shouldn't still be on the road don't have drains and the tanks are drained by repeatedly stomping on the brake with the engine off. Leaving the ignition on with the engine off will ensure you can check your LAB as part of the process. Don't stop pumping when the parking brake pops, keep pumping til the air stops hissing.

Tanks are usually forward of the mid section. Roll underneath to see where exactly.


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[Dave5Cs]

MCI's have drains. Some are auto drains but you have to look to see which you have. If it has a pull ring you need to block your rig up as per the book and attach pull cables or get pull cable drain to install from NAPA 1/4"" generally.
You will more than likely have two long tanks behind the front axle on the wall of the wheel well, I wet tank other Park tank. 3Ed tank in the tool bay under the driver on the underisde of the floor. That is your Accessory tank. And 1 final one in the rear lefthand bay which is either your wet tank or dry tank depending on how your Bus is set up.
If you attach cable pulls to your drains like mine bring the cable into or out of the wheel well and use some kind of a guide to keep it out of the way of anything moving so you can just reach in and pill a loop on the end when you need to drain the tanks.
The auto drains are nice too if you have a large enough bank account to support them.... HTH
Dave5Cs

[buswarrior]

Auto drains have a notorious reputation for not working. Ingenious device, if you see the cut-away schematic.

They gum up and that's it. Found way too many of them on vehicles under 5 years old holding a lot of water and goop back when activated with the pin in the centre of the hole.

You can put good money on a bet that any auto drain in an old worn out commercial coach had nobody look at it during it's descent into our hands.

So, from our heightened maintenance and limited funds position, a busnut needs to witness what comes out.

You want to know what is coming out, how much, how little, for whatever duty cycle you are operating the coach.

The sudden appearance of darker goop signals a compressor problem.

Regularly empty tanks, with an air drier is good. The arrival of moisture indicates the air drier is not doing the same job it was doing before.

Save your cash, put in manual pull cable style, routed to the coach exterior, and get down on one knee and peer underneath when you pull 'em.

Preventive maintenance and familiarity is what prevents breakdowns!!

happy coaching!
buswarrior

[eagle19952]

Auto drains have a notorious reputation for not working. Ingenious device, if you see the cut-away schematic.

They gum up and that's it. Found way too many of them on vehicles under 5 years old holding a lot of water and goop back when activated with the pin in the centre of the hole.

You can put good money on a bet that any auto drain in an old worn out commercial coach had nobody look at it during it's descent into our hands.

So, from our heightened maintenance and limited funds position, a busnut needs to witness what comes out.

You want to know what is coming out, how much, how little, for whatever duty cycle you are operating the coach.

The sudden appearance of darker goop signals a compressor problem.

Regularly empty tanks, with an air drier is good. The arrival of moisture indicates the air drier is not doing the same job it was doing before.

Save your cash, put in manual pull cable style, routed to the coach exterior, and get down on one knee and peer underneath when you pull 'em.

Preventive maintenance and familiarity is what prevents breakdowns!!

happy coaching!
buswarrior

totally agreed...you will never become one with your coach with auto drains...

[Branderson]

MCI's have drains. Some are auto drains but you have to look to see which you have. If it has a pull ring you need to block your rig up as per the book and attach pull cables or get pull cable drain to install from NAPA 1/4"" generally.
You will more than likely have two long tanks behind the front axle on the wall of the wheel well, I wet tank other Park tank. 3Ed tank in the tool bay under the driver on the underisde of the floor. That is your Accessory tank. And 1 final one in the rear lefthand bay which is either your wet tank or dry tank depending on how your Bus is set up.
If you attach cable pulls to your drains like mine bring the cable into or out of the wheel well and use some kind of a guide to keep it out of the way of anything moving so you can just reach in and pill a loop on the end when you need to drain the tanks.
The auto drains are nice too if you have a large enough bank account to support them.... HTH
Dave5Cs

That's exactly how mine is set up with the cables except they are mounted in the fender walls. I completely forgot to drain them last year and I had some water when it got serviced.

[Billysurf]

Air drained but door still won't close.  It's weird, i don't see anything in it's way, it opens and closes fine except when I I try to close it the last 2 inches.  Major resistance.

[Zephod]

Air drained but door still won't close.  It's weird, i don't see anything in it's way, it opens and closes fine except when I I try to close it the last 2 inches.  Major resistance.

Something slipped?


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