stay or go tag axel

[Kwajdiver]

Jack,

Where is this plate located?    After all, we are not on the road all that much.  Two less tires on the ground, could be very interesting.

Bill

[tekebird]

likey gone if you don't know where it is.

check your battery compartment door

[buswarrior]

Don't think about removing the tag axle on an MCI.

Engine is too far hung out the back. The steer axle will be fairly unloaded.

Want to try?  Chain up the tags, and remove the tires, and take it for a spin on some windy or bumpy bits at a bit of speed.

Come back and report on your findings.

happy coaching!
buswarrior

[Lonnie time to go]

the bus is a 1975  4905  but driving with the tag up might be a good idea to try
thanks

[tekebird]

just lose the tag, it is not needed and is a maint item.....and as a bonus of dgetting rid of it you get more free space.

[Hobie]

Does a tag help smooth out the ride? 

[Tenor]

My old 4905 had the tags removed and it was not a problem.  Gave the bus 2 more bays for plumbing.  Lose the tags, save the weight and make some dough on the scrap metal!

Good Luck!
Glenn

[buswarrior]

Yes, in a 4905, go ahead, the tag was added optionally for regulation reasons, not engineering.

I thought I caught wind of MCI owners starting to wonder about theirs....

happy coaching!
buswarrior

[rv_safetyman]

Sorry to beat a dead horse here, but please be extremely cautious about removing tag axles.  On the 4905, since it was an option, you can probably get away with it.

HOWEVER, I *STRONGLY* suggest (again ) that you weigh your bus first to make sure your weight will not overload the axles or tires.

For any other coach, PLEASE be very careful.  Some have said that their conversion will not weigh as much as a loaded passenger bus.  I really question how often that happens and if they have actually weighed their conversion.  It is easy to fall into the trap of estimating the weight and I will guarantee you that your estimate will be low.  Almost everyone I know that has had their conversion weighed, has been quite surprised at how heavy they are.

Again repeating myself from previous posts, the total weight is only a small part of the issue.  The real issue is the weight on each axle and EACH tire!

Also repeating, if you modify your bus by removing a tag (unless it was an option) you expose yourself to some HUGE liability issues since you have reduced your braking capacity (plus the possible tire overload condition).

Just playing "devils advocate" to those who casually recommend removing tag axles.

Jim

[tekebird]

loss of the tag on a 4903 or 4905 ohnly loses you about 2000# of available load...as the tag assembly itself consumes a fair ammount of it's increade weight capacity.

the tag on the GM was an option only because some states required 3 axles at certain weeights at the time.

Most companies that optioned the tag because they needed to often ran  with it up

[bobofthenorth]

I'm with Jim & BW - maybe its OK to pull the tag on some GMs - dunno anything about them.  But I sure wouldn't want to lose it on our Prevost and we don't "need" it for weight carrying capacity.  I've run with it up and I don't like the feel.  It adds a tremendous amount of directional stability.  That's quite aside from any legal issues arising from modifying the original design. 

[tekebird]

keep in mind in a few eagles and all the 40 foot GM that are equiped with a Boggie ( yep the aux axle is forward of the drive....on MCI and Prevost and alot of Eagles, the aux axle is a tag axle....

dropping the tag shortens the wheelbase

dropping a boggie does nothing but increase payload and take up space.