Questions about a MCI 102a3

Oonrahnjay · June 20, 2017, 10:36:05 PM

Quote from: J_E on June 20, 2017, 06:33:31 PMTo be honestly blunt, I am pretty fricken ignorant when it comes to working on or around an air ride suspension system.

I had realized that an air suspension system would settle down some as the air bleeds off of the system. Well, I say that even though it did surprise me a little when the bus settled down onto the pan I was using to catch my oil. Luckily, it only made the pan a little difficult to move and didn't create a 5+ gallon headache.

Think of the headache it would have made if it had been your head that the bus settled onto instead of the oil catch pan. It HAS happened. (Actually, it's usually the person's rib cage that takes the pressure. The bus settles onto the person and presses the air out of their chest and until they pass out from lack of air or blood in their lungs, they struggle to scream but they can't get enough air to make even a peep come out. Air suspensions can be deadly.)

4104SoFl · June 21, 2017, 03:47:18 AM

Words of wisdom here. I do not go under the 4104 without being chocked. Not worth my life for a little time. I think time is is what I have. Money that is another story.

Tom Y · June 21, 2017, 05:03:13 AM

When working under it USE blocking. If a bag went it would come down fast.

buswarrior · June 21, 2017, 06:01:04 AM

The busnut has gone underneath the coach with TOOLS...

If you disturb anything pneumatic, on purpose, or by accident....

Airlines, leveling valve arms, the air bags, the tires, sinking ground under the tires... banging rust off some place, something else lets go...

Squished busnuts have often lowered the coach on themselves.

Not a nice way to die, your last thoughts as you are being crushed, that YOU SCREWED UP, by taking shortcuts on properly preparing the coach to go underneath.

Working under the coach is a multi-day affair for many busnuts, there is no shame in using today's available energy to get the cribbing in place, and crawling under it tomorrow, and taking it back off the cribbing 4 days later because you are too sore after the bus yoga...

I have some good railway tie pieces and a selection of 2 x, 4 x, and 6 x lumber to build up the space. It needs to be a crib, not a single stack. Stacks tip over, cribs far less likely to. Pieces of rope and eyes on the bigger bits makes it easier to drag them in and out of place.

An air over hydraulic jack is a blessing as we get older, saving what's left of our diminishing physicality for the job, and not using it up jacking. Get a short one that will actually go under your jacking points, many of them won't.

The ultimate easy is a pit, but it comes with its own set of VERY significant hazards to you and everyone at your place.

Be safe and continue to be

happy coaching!
buswarrior

Scott & Heather · June 21, 2017, 10:27:14 AM

I'm betting for sure you have an Allison 748 ATEC trans. You have a touch pad to control it right? Open up your rear most luggage bay on the drivers side, up near the top of the bay next to the "tunnel" you should see a couple of dzus fasters you can use a screwdriver to open. A door should drop down and you should see a ton of wiring and the ATEC control box etc.

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J_E · June 22, 2017, 06:00:53 AM

Thanks. I have seen the ATEC box in the engine bay. I do have the touch pad with buttons for R,N,D,3,2,1 and a red warning light. I will got with 748 until I have a chance to crawl under and find the tag.

Thanks also for all of the input on the air suspension. Seems like a sticky post for how to safely work under a bus would probably be a good thing to have? Or did I just miss it somewhere?

Is there a company that will do a roof raise? At 6'4", my head is touching the existing roof and a few more inches would be nice. I could probably manage on my own, but would also like to see what options are out there to have it done. I have seen the one series of MCI conversion websites, but I have gathered that the guy that made them was not exactly trustworthy and never saw much about the guy that supposedly took over afterwards. On the flip side, being a former submariner, short ceilings and confined spaces are not a new experience.

dbldragon · June 26, 2017, 03:24:48 PM

Your bus looks like my buses twin . Same color and drive train. Did it still have the lift in it when you got it ?
Chuck

Geoff · June 26, 2017, 07:20:58 PM

I don't know which button I pushed but I just looked at hundreds of photos of someone doing an MCI conversion and thought about how I did what they showed on their interior and it brought back memories of my conversion. I spent ten years on my conversion and it was done right and I know I'll never have do it again because it was done right the first time. I would never do another one. Just maintaining is all the work I want anymore.

--Geoff

J_E · June 26, 2017, 07:48:28 PM

It does still have the lift. I eventually figured out that the key on the top left of the dash also goes to the lift, but haven't taken the time to figure out how/if it works. Just finished taking 18 of the 21 seats out of the bus. Just swung the lift out and took them all out the side door. I do not envy the folks that had to take them all out the front door.

On a side note, you can fit 17 seats in the lower part of the back of a 17' U-haul. You can fit 18 if you say "eff it" and just flip the 18th on top of one of the other 17.

TomC · June 27, 2017, 06:30:50 AM

Make ramps to lift the bus. I used 4-2x8's nailed together and staggered to create a ramp effect. Course 4 of them are long enough to get my tandems in the air, so they are very heavy. But the shorter ones are easily manageable. Wheel blocks should raise the bus high enough so you can crawl in and out with the air suspension down. If you like chocolate cake, you'll have to make them higher to clear your belly. Good Luck, TomC

J_E · July 02, 2017, 09:20:14 PM

Thanks everyone on the suggestions for working under the bus. I guess that that just came sooner than later. Smells like I have a sticking brake on the driver's side. Unless the automatic transmission can make a hot brake/clutch smell.

Tom C. I am a great big fan of chocolate cake. You could probably take that a little more literally than I had in mind, but the result is the same.

RJ · July 03, 2017, 01:43:23 AM

Quote from: J_E on June 22, 2017, 06:00:53 AM
Is there a company that will do a roof raise? At 6'4", my head is touching the existing roof and a few more inches would be nice.

Jason -

From the "NOW you tell me!" files, if you'd done just a little more homework, you'd have discovered that the MCI "C" and later models have a roof that's 3" taller than the "A" series that you bought, and all of that 3" is in interior headroom.

OTOH, since you're an ex-submariner. . .

FWIW & HTH. . .

Scott & Heather · July 03, 2017, 08:01:41 PM

Raising the roof isn't a really hard process. Have a good welder and some friends and some planning and it can be done. The prep work is the long stuff. 40 hours worth easy. We did our own roof raise on our 9 but bought our 102c3 already raised. Geoff, did you click on my link of my MCI conversion process? My wife and I should be in a lot of those photos. Wood cabin interior?

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