How often to grease stuff under the bus?

[belfert]

I have now driven about 8,000 miles since my bus was last greased.  I will leave in 10 days for another 4,000 mile trip.  Will that be too long to go if I don't grease things before I leave?  (Oil has been changed.)

I have to work and I don't really have a good way to get my bus over to my normal service place.  I guess I could try greasing things myself.  My maintenance manual only lists about a dozen grease points although they don't list the slack adjusters.

[Bill B /bus]

We put on 15-20K miles per year. I grease  and change oil twice per year. It is a two day job. Front end one day, then the rear and oil change the second day. That does include brake adjustment. Coming out of the winter is just a grease job as the oil change is done just prior to settling into the winter campground in the Rio Grande Valley.
We have some 40+ grease fittings so it takes a while.

Bill

[Jon]

This might not apply to other coaches, but Prevost calls for certain maintenance items such as a full chassis lube at 6200 miles.

[lostagain]

As often as possible. Definitely at oil changes, sometimes sooner. Same with any machine I have. Some get grease every time they get used. On the bus, I do the drive shaft U-joints every couple thousand miles. Better than having a U-joint come apart on the road and the drive shaft flail around... Greasing is good preventive maintenance. It also allows you to inspect things as you go. Some fittings only take one or two squirts. Too much will damage rubber boots. Or you don't want to fill the DD3 brake chambers with too much grease. Or you can not grease, and drive from one break down to the next...

JC

[eagle19952]

This might not apply to other coaches, but Prevost calls for certain maintenance items such as a full chassis lube at 6200 miles.

Which equate to approximately 100 hours.
The construction industry generally goes 200 hours on oil and daily on many types that work in the dirt.
Trucks hauling dirt, Chassis and drive-line once a week or less
Grease is cheap stuff

[belfert]

Grease is cheap, but the labor to pump it in isn't.  I don't have an issue paying for the labor, but the logistics of getting the bus to the shop are the issue for me this year.

It is clear I need to grease the bus before I head out again.  I'll have to see if the shop has time to do it this upcoming week, or I will have to crawl under and do it myself.

[TomC]

Greasing is much easier with either an air operated or battery powered grease gun. Too many spots where trying to get a manual grease gun into place is just not happening. I have an air operated with 2ft hose-works well especially greasing the brakes and king pins. Good Luck, TomC

[chessie4905]

If you have someone else grease your coach, it is best to have a factory grease diagram to give him to get all the locations. I have a copy of mine laminated to use when doing mine. BTW, even with a diagram, you can't be sure he'll get them all, but it can't hurt.

[buswarrior]

Tom's comment x2

Get more hose for your grease gun, and power it with air/battery.

The easier it is, the more likely it will get done.

And, macho bs aside, none of us can run a manual grease gun like we could in our youth.

Stop greasing when the greasing is done, not when you're hands are getting tired...

happy coaching!
buswarrior

[Templar52]

You can grease the kingpin, the universal joins,the tyrod ends,entry door hinged, brake cams as you want. There is no problems to overdo. But the ankor pins are a little more complex. If you over grease them,the grease will fall on the brakes and inside the drums.
So these 8 fittings on a two axes bus should be greased with a great attention. King pins should be greased while someone is turning the stering right to left. Stering box also. To my point of view,a bus should be greased every 4,000 miles.

[belfert]

If you have someone else grease your coach, it is best to have a factory grease diagram to give him to get all the locations. I have a copy of mine laminated to use when doing mine. BTW, even with a diagram, you can't be sure he'll get them all, but it can't hurt.

I use a shop that only does buses so I trust they know what they are doing.

[chessie4905]

We always jack the wheels slightly off the ground to be sure grease gets in.

[Jon]

I use a shop that only does buses so I trust they know what they are doing.

The low man on the totem pole in a shop is given the job of greasing a coach. Based on a whole lot of anecdotal evidence from about 3700 members on our web site it is common for fittings to be missed, fittings to be overgreased, and for the grease monkey to keep pumping grease until it squirts out of the rubber boot, eventually tearing the boot leaving the fittings exposed to all the dirt and crud coming off the road.

On my last two coaches, both of which had a history of Prevost service each had at least two grease fittings that never saw a drop of grease. I am not suggesting everyone needs to grease their own bus, but everyone needs to personally verify the grease job was properly done. It really pisses mechanics off when a layman looks over their shoulder, but the shops brought that on themselves with some really crappy work quality.

[DoubleEagle]

Virtually the only person that will do a thorough job of getting every fitting is the owner and driver of the coach. Over-greasing is a problem, but so are missed fittings and fittings that won't take grease because they were bypassed previously. Then you need to take the fitting off and fish out the dry grease and spray penetrating oil in. There are hammer actuated oil injectors that will force oil into the fitting under pressure (Northern Tool has them for one). If you can't get the grease to flow in properly, then that joint or fixture will need to be replaced at some point (usually that point is after someone has sold it to another poor slob who will not know about it until they try to grease it). 

[chessie4905]

I keep a handful of various grease fittings to replace bad ones that wont take grease or allow a tiny stream to leak back out. Also 45? and 90? ones.