Pulling the Engine on a 4106 - Pictures & Video

[OneLapper]

So the time is here!  I found the perfect garage to rent, the old man passed about a year ago and used this garage to build two boats, as well as run his business of restoring and selling old metal machining equipment.  His finished building his last boat at 94, took it for it's maiden voyage, then passed two months later. He sounds like an amazing man and wished that I had met him.  The place is a true reflection of the type of man he was! The shop has a full machine shop attached to it, as well as a wood working shop.  The walls are lined with nuts, bolts, spools of electrical wires, etc etc etc.  Decades of projects, every busnut's dream come true!!

DivineRightsTrip and my buddy Adam met me at the garage at 10am.  We had the engine on the ground by 3:15pm.  That included stopping for lunch and spending over an hour dealing with the worlds most overbuilt tow hitch.  I'll add a photo of that hitch at the end.

The camera snapped a photo every half hour, then we video'd the engine coming out of the bus.

I skipped some of the photos, but here's a good number of them.

This is the garage:



Reading the Engine Removal guide and removing the engine lid with the forklift.



Disconnecting hoses and lines, reading the guide!



Using the forklift to support the hitch while we removed 3 out of 4 bolts on each side enabling us to rotate the hitch down so the engine could clear it.



Using the forklift to support the engine while we remove the four bolts holding the engine cradle to the chassis:



Here's the three minute video of removing the engine:

GM 4106 Engine Removal

Here's the engine on the forklift:



Here's the engine on the overhead lift, now we can easily and safely move it around!  Look how perfectly balanced the engine is when lifted from the hooks on the engine.  The transmission is attached.



Here's a picture of that hitch.  20k miles of towing a 8000lb enclosed car trailer, zero problems.



Look at the rust on that new starter!  I even painted it before I installed it!!!



Beer and bubbly for a job well done!



I'll post more on the project as we move along.  I'm on my way down the shop to pull the tranny and look the clutch over

[fe2_o3]

 Very well done...Thank you...Cable

[HighTechRedneck]

Job well done folks!  Including the photos and video!

And an outstanding shop you found indeed.

BTW, that hitch setup looks like a good plan from here.  Much better than just mounting to the engine cradle.  Just ask Ruthi about what can happen with those.    

[Len Silva]

I like the hitch.  The advantage to that design is that if you use an equalizer hitch, you are actually picking up on the engine cradle instead of loading it.

[Van]

Good job . Never saw a set up like that before, the rust looks familiar LOL . Hope all goes as well on the rebound, keep us to date on the progress, oh, and thanks for the great shots keep em' comin'. Van.

[Chopper Scott]

My only concern is that you just aren't greasy enough  ! Looks like your helper dodged most of the acumulated grime also. That probably explains the rust!!!! You need some leaks! Nothing beats a big shop and the right tools.

[HighTechRedneck]

My only concern is that you just aren't greasy enough  ! Looks like your helper dodged most of the acumulated grime also. That probably explains the rust!!!! You need some leaks! Nothing beats a big shop and the right tools.

Yeah, I was noticing that they were a lot cleaner than I would have expected.  Are we sure that is really a Detroit Diesel and not an imitation?   

[Paso One]

Nice job with the pictures.

The 94 year old guy will turn over in his grave if you don't get that oil and antifreeze cleaned up quick   LOL

That hitch pulling from the frame is indeed a good design. Sounds like it caused you a little grief.

What all are you doing to it before you re install ?? 

[OneLapper]

Thanks for the kind comments!

Here are a few more pictures of the hitch.



Another:



One more:



I'd like to be the one to say that you CAN put a hitch on a 4106 and tow a (at least 8000lbs) trailer without issue.  As I recall, 4 or 5 years ago on this forum, I got beat up for suggesting that I wanted to put a heavy hitch on my bus.  I kept it quiet after I built it, mostly to see what would happen after putting some miles on it.  Well, 20,000 miles and it works!  LOL!

[HighTechRedneck]

With a hitch built like that it worked.  The problem comes when a hitch is only attached to the rear of the engine cradle on a GM bus.  Even then, it is tongue weight that does it.  The linear pull isn't so bad, and the static tongue weight probably isn't too bad.  But the dynamic pounding with a heavy tongue weight is what does the damage.

[OneLapper]

Geez!  The PO was a hack at best.  One of the selling points of this bus was that the PO installed a new clutch just prior to when I bought it.  I was suspect at best, but Luke at US Coach remembered the sale.  Luke did mention that the guy bought new discs and pressure plate, but reused the flywheel surface plate and intermediate plate.  I'm certain of serveral things now: He didn't resurface either plates, he reused the pilot bearing and TO bearing, and most importantly, he never adjusted the spring release fingers on the pressure plate!!!!!  

Note the uneven wear on the fingers.....



And one half of the pressure plate has heavy heat scoring and the other half still has the machining cross hatching visible.



How's that flywheel clutch surface look to you??  Barf.



With the unavoidable clutch chatter, look closely at the springs on the friction discs.  Hammered at the very least, but not broken!




There were only 4! bolts holding the transmission to the engine.  The others were stripped, broken or missing.  The PO most likely over tightened the bolts when he reinstalled the transmission.  The movement of the tranny actually cracked the tranny housing where it bolts up to the engine.

Look closely at the 3 o'clock position of the bell housing, right in front of the floor jack.  There's a section that actually broke off and fell into my drop pan!




Ugh.

[divinerightstrip]

Who shows up in a dress to pull a bus engine?!? pffttt... silly girls.

Actually, I do look quite clean in those pictures!! Humpf.   Well, let that be no indicator of how hard I worked, Onelapper can vouch for me!

Hopefully, when the work is done on this bus, Urge will be next to inhabit the shop for his engine swap!! Just.... I need a new engine first! *sigh*

[NewbeeMC9]

With those outfits, we need a video of breakdancing.


Glad things went well,  amsing how thing work when they are designed to be repaired.

[OneLapper]

More on the Hitch: (skip if not interested!)

When I designed and welded the hitch, the receiver actually pushes up on the engine cradle with quite some force.  The receiver tube actually bows about a half inch with the amount of force pushing up.  I did that to help offset the dynamic forces of bouncing up and down, and the reduce the stress on the rear cradle uprights.

The hitch it's self was easy to install.  I had a shop machine the end plates, I removed the radius bushing endplates, tossed them, installed new bushings, and installed the hitch end plates and bolted it all down tight.  I took schedule 80 tubing, cut a 2x2 hole through it, welded a four foot section of solid 2x2 stock so that the long section pointed toward the back of the bus, then slid the receiver tube over the 2x2 stock, welding the dozen holes I drilled in it to mate the 2x2 stock and the receiver tube, then I welded the butt seam between the receiver tube and the round pipe.  I then welded gussets between the tube and the outside of the receiver tube.

I the slid the tube into the end plates from the inside, one side at a time.  Then I used a huge jack to pre-stress the receiver tube, and welded the tube to the end plates.

I then took 1/4" strap steel and bolted the end of the receiver tube the the engine cradle under the bumper.  Done!

[HighTechRedneck]

Sounds like a great hitch construction!  And you experience with it certainly speaks well of its effectiveness.  Sounds like a great article for the magazine to help a lot of GM bus nuts.  (hint hint)