Eagle ride adjustment

Cary and Don · April 08, 2011, 09:56:11 AM

After our long drive home and reading the directions on the Eagle site about the height adjustment, we know the ride needs to be adjusted. We did a little measuring according the the directions posted and it appears to be two to three inches low in the rear. It drives like a pick up with too much weight in the bed.

We could probably do this ourselves, but was wondering if anybody knows of someone in central California that can do this. There is a ton of screw showing for the adjustment. The suspension was rebuilt 2003 and the ride level set then. According the the directions it should have been checked and reset after it had some miles on it.

1973 05 Eagle
4107 GMC
Neoplan AN340

luvrbus · April 08, 2011, 10:06:05 AM

Don, you need to plan a trip to Vegas and have Gray at B&B set it up for you with the rear low the boogies are going to need to be re indexed not a job for the faint of heart and you need scales or a jack to get it right fwiw HB Industries in El Cajon did adjustments on Eagles at one time might give him a call also

good luck

Cary and Don · April 08, 2011, 10:33:54 AM

We wish we had the time to make this stop, or go by you on our way home. But my parents, 90 yrs old, were stuck at home in bad weather and a non op generator at home. Getting home became the primary goal. We can plan our next trip with this stop in mind. We were hoping that there might be somebody in the Sacramento area. That was a long shot. We were hoping to go north to Oregon and Washington this summer, is there anybody up there?

1973 05 Eagle
4107 GMC
Neoplan AN340

Busted Knuckle · April 08, 2011, 01:55:38 PM

Kaiser.

Cary and Don · April 08, 2011, 05:00:34 PM

Do you have any contact information for them? We did a little measuring on the body today. The front frame is about 11 1/2" in back of the front wheel and 10" at the drive wheels with a full fuel tank and 100 gallons of water. Guess it needs adjusting. Might be why we couldn't get it up our steep driveway. If it was 14" it might go up the driveway.

Don and Cary
1973 05 Eagle
4107 GMC
Neoplan AN340

Boomer · April 08, 2011, 05:11:55 PM

Clifford might get mad at me but Southern Oregon Diesel is capable if you can talk them into it. If you bring some gorillas with you I can show you how in my shop, my last bogie index job damn near blew my heart up lol.

Cary and Don · April 08, 2011, 05:14:09 PM

We just got to thinking. If we used our jacks to get the body level. What would happen if we adjusted the ride height to the 14". That didn't sound too hard. Then we could have the bogey adjusted later by somebody who knows what they are doing? Would that damage anything? That way we might be able to get it up the driveway and home.

Don and Cary
1973 05 Eagle
4107 GMC Neoplan AN340

thomasinnv · April 08, 2011, 05:17:28 PM

see there, if ya had airbags it'd only take a minute.

David Anderson · April 08, 2011, 05:21:01 PM

Don,

You need to do the way Smoothjazz has it shown on the height adjustment threads on the Eagle board. Don't raise the drives first. The bogies need to be done first. I've done my own and it is a 2 day job for me. I had to borrow and engine hoist to lift the bogie arm and made a puller to remove the arm from the spline. It is a tough job.

David

Boomer · April 08, 2011, 05:23:02 PM

You could do that but your bogies would be so light that the first time you touched the brakes the tires would slide flat spots on them.

eagle10 · April 08, 2011, 05:38:29 PM

We adjusted our 1984 Eagle 10 up two inches on the rear dual axle in our back yard using my little dirt pit. 1 and 7/8 wrench and a come along was used to turn the nut. We soaked the threads for about three days with WD40 and PB Blaster. It took my wife and I about 8 hours of hard work but we could not find anyone who knew how to do it. (Or would do it) As I remember, it was one inch of thread=2 inches of height. Follow the directions in the service manual.
I would hire it done if possible. Not fun!
We just sold the Eagle 10 today so now will be dealing with air bags on the new coach.

luvrbus · April 08, 2011, 06:04:37 PM

I'll take the torques over the jello bags any day, Don it is best if you could have somebody do it right the first time then you probably will never have to do again then let Dick Kaiser in Eugene do a 3 axle alignment while you are in the Northwest.
Southern Oregon could do it if Boomer loaned David his scales the antique feed house scales David has just don't cut it lol

good luckl

Cary and Don · April 08, 2011, 07:07:12 PM

Now for the ugly part. How much is this going to cost? It sounds like it can be pretty time consuming. Maybe if we soaked those bolts before we left it would make it easier. At least all the parts look pretty new. Nice to know that we shouldn't have to do it again though. We were beginning to wonder on that. We were hoping that if we could raise it some we could get it home.

Don and Cary
1973 05 Eagle
4107 GMC
Neoplan AN340

white-eagle · April 08, 2011, 07:22:28 PM

i paid $500 to have my bogies adjusted, and i helped/learned/made sure it was done right this time. if you can jack up the arm, soak the spline with oil, they will somewhat slide off. the problem is, no one jack's up the arm to take the pressure off the spline, so you have to hammer it some. the guy that did mine had a custom removal tool. he had 2 wedges welded together with a mount that allowed them to be raised up with a bottle jack. as the jack raised, he "tapped" the bogie spline area, and the wedges would force a little more with each hammer hit. They don't come all the way off. when you get to the edge, you should be able to move the arm down a couple splines.

follow the directions on the web site for proper adjustment. if you weigh it 1st, then you know how many splines to move down to hit the sweet spot.

Everyone that said do the bogies first is correct. if there is any question about wether to do the drives, front or bogies first, re-read the beginning of this paragraph.

good luck. Do it right the first time. Read the Eagle board. Ask for help before needed. You'll get it.

Boomer · April 08, 2011, 08:31:18 PM

Don, a lot of labor can be consumed getting the bogie arms off and on. If yours have been indexed recently and they used copius amounts of never seize, they pop right off. I have had to remove the whole arm and file all the splines with a triangular file before also. Southern Oregon Diesel had a machine shop fabricate a special 1 7/8 clamping ratchet to turn the adjusting nuts which makes things go a whole lot faster. Accurate scales is the first step, as Clifford says. Without them you are guessing.