Shop in St Louis

[Bob & Tracey]

Can anyone recommend a shop in ST Louis? We are developing a drive line vibration.

[Utahclaimjumper]

Any large truck repair shop can pull the drive shaft for a look-see.  The "U" joints are nothing special and can be replaced,, DO IT BEFORE IT CAN DESTROY ITSELF AND HALF THE BUS WITH IT.>>>Dan

[Geoff]

Not all truck shops will work on buses.  Find one with a pit.

[Bob & Tracey]

Dan, could not agree more. We had the drive shaft come out a few years ago and almost totaled the car we were towing, only a hole in an exhaust pipe on the bus. This feels the same to me... We found a shop and will be going there Wed.

[Utahclaimjumper]

While it is out,, have the input yoke at the rear end checked for torque,, that nut torques to 600 foot pounds and is keyed.>>>Dan

[Bob & Tracey]

Dan, That nut is the reason the drive shaft came out, it now has a tack weld to keep it tight but we will be definitely be taking a look at it!

[Utahclaimjumper]

Glad to see it looked at BEFORE the $#!% it's the fan.>>>Dan

[Bob & Tracey]

Ok this went bad! I found this shop with the help of Coach Net and the shop said they would work on an old bus. They determined that I need the joint at the differential but felt "there might be other things going on in the differential" and because they could not find parts they could not do "all the work needed". When I asked if they would just put in the joint they said no it is too old and they were afraid of the liability! They charged us $700 which they reduced to $335 to tell us we needed a u-joint but would not do the work!

[richard5933]

Did they give any indication of what they thought was going on with the differential? Perhaps the bearings need attention on the yoke shaft? Hopefully they told you something more than 'something's going on' in there.

[Geoff]

They gave up when they couldn't plug their scanner into your bus. 

[DoubleEagle]

They gave up when they couldn't plug their scanner into your bus.

And, they could not look up part numbers by putting the VIN in their computer. This is why many of us do our own work, too many current garages don't want to bother with anything old. A competent driveline shop could probably replace the U-joint if it was brought in to them, and they could check the shaft balance.

[richard5933]

I see a number of shops listed in that area doing bus repair. One even lists buses and RVs, all makes & models (Tom's Truck Repair). Can't speak for their reputation. My approach would be to go to the shop and speak to the guy in charge face to face. In my experience it helps if you come with your manual in hand and ready to give them Luke's number as your parts supplier so they don't have to do the leg work. Nothing that you need done is that exotic, so any decent shop should be able to diagnose and repair a u-joint and/or differential.

[Bob & Tracey]

Richard, they said they wanted to pull the differential but since they could not source a new one the would not do anything. It really felt like they were looking for an out. Thanks for finding Tom's but we came east to this shop, who knows, I will hit the phone again tomorrow.

[Utahclaimjumper]

 If you have the ability to,,, you could grab the yoke and attempt to get any "play" out of it,, jack one side of the housing until one wheel is off the surface and rotate the yoke and wheel to determine if the bearing is rough or bad.>>>Dan   ( If the bearing seems rough, then drop the fluid to determine if any bits are in it with a magnet)

[richard5933]

Richard, they said they wanted to pull the differential but since they could not source a new one the would not do anything. It really felt like they were looking for an out. Thanks for finding Tom's but we came east to this shop, who knows, I will hit the phone again tomorrow.

Maybe a phone call to Luke before you do anything else is in order. Not to order anything, but to see what parts he has available for your differential. That way you'll know before you talk to the (next) shop and can have a parts supply already in the works.