65,000 Mi.Service

[hhoppe]

My 2000 Liberty is in the shop for complete wheels off brake check and service, chasis check, lube and oil chg.& filter service. Brakes checked out good with lots of life left in them. The rear sway bar has linkage at each end. The rubber bushings at the ends were worn to the point of them rattling. the noise in the front end I heard with the road flexing turned out to be upper A Arm rubber bushings being worn bad. Prevost is sending replacement parts. This is a minus for independent front suspension. Oil & filters, lube and water service w/ water cartridge change being done. Air tanks drained and dryer cartridge replaced.

The wheels are being " Micro Polished " and eight new 315 Michelins will be mounted. New valve stems, balancing for the rear & tag with Centramatics for the front.

If I overlooked anything please let me know. Send $$$$$$$$$$$$

[rfoster]

Harry You sure could have bought a lot of oysters with all that!!

That bus is going to be like new when that is all done!

[Coloradobus]

Harry,
'Be sure to have them balance all the tires, even the front tires too, leaving the balancing power of the Centramatica even sweeter. We have them on all axles and love them!!:p:D And had all tires balanced 4 years ago and all are doing great!!

[Denny]

Harry,
I would change the lower A arms also while everything is apart. They will be the next to go.

[Ray Davis]

I'm curious the balance master people told me to not pre-balance the tires with weights when using their dynamic balancers. Jim are you suggesting you balanced with weights and then added centramatics (or balance masters) ??

Ray

[truk4u]

Harry, you made my day with the new tires!;) We were all worried about you and Shirley.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Harry,

You have to determine your own master maintenance schedule. For example we all know that coolant has a life span, and that includes the extended life coolant which most say is 6 years or 600,000 miles. The cost of not maintaining the cooling system is staggering.

Check your transmission fluid status. It is doubtful you have reached the mileage limit but with towing the age limit is 4 years with Transynd, 2 years with Dextron.

Just like tires get cracking or dry rot, so do brake chamber diaphragms and air bags. I am going every 10 years on air bags, but five years on brake chambers.

Don't forget to drain the little aux air water traps in the steer compartment. Everybody does.

How many miles on the differential lube? If you have 100,000 it is a good time to drain and replace with a synthetic.

One thing everybody forgets is to clean the AC filters. You have one at each Cruise Air evaporator coil and one fo rthe driver's air behind the center dash and a rack with three at the top of the evaporator coil bay in the OTR. While doing that clean the coils on the refrigerator. You would be surprised at the dust that accumulates.

I'm reluctant to say this, but as long as they are getting the wheels off, should they check the condition of the bearings? I will assume if they do they will insure they are reinstalled to the specs and that they are pre-lubed.

[bluevost]

Colorado Bus,

I cannot argue with the track record you have with Centramatics with lead wheel weights. I have not used them and cannot comment. BUT, my brother in law did not take off the lead wheel weights from his front wheels on his Beaver, and he has very bad tire wear after 6,000 miles.

I bought Balance Masters for bluevost, and the first thing it says on the installation sequence is to remove the existing lead weights. I did when installing in April, and have had excellent tire wear so far. So far. (About 7500 miles.)

Harry,

I would remove the lead weights. Think about it. Remember when one of the POG members had tires mounted in Jacksonville, and the installer put a chalk mark on the tires, then got the bus up to speed and hit the brakes hard. The chalk marks no longer ligned up. These tires can move (slip) on the rim. That is what the Centramatics and Balance Masters are designed to do. Keep the wheel balanced.

That's my two cents worth,

Ken

[Coloradobus]

Ken,

At this point after 4 years and 50,000 miles we can't be happier with Centramatics. It fails me to remember how much weight, in ounces, the Centramatics can off set, but I was told its better to start with weighted tires for "zero" baseline,especially the drivers.
We have some poor wear on the steers, that was caused by being out of alignment after a squeaker sidewall bop in Okla., and me hitting a campground curb in Page, Az while turning.
After our very weighty discussion with SD Motor Carriers last month in Spearfish, with our 17,000 lb front axle, we are going to upgrade the steer tires to the hefty 365's and carry only 100psi. Our weirdly worn 315 steers, with 122psi, will be retired as spares.
I guess it anyones preference how to do it. It just made sense to balance the tire/wheels to "zero" and then let the Centramatics maintain that balance as tire tread wears down.:)

[hhoppe]

Thanks for your much valued comments. I may have overlooked some important issues were it not for your input. The coach does have only 65000 originad miles. The front tires have worn evenly and the steering remains true.
Denny: thanks for the heads up on changing the lower control arm bushings. I'll call the shop in the morning and and discuss it with them.

I'll call Centrimatics for the pre balance with weights issue. My tire guy is old school and does not reccomend Centramatics, but we do don't we?

Jon: We checked the water with test strips @ Spearfish and it tested out of range. We added chemicals to bring it in sinc and replaced the cartridge that adds more with time. I'll re-think those moves and probably wind up changing it to the Cat/Chevron long range type. The transmission oil was changed to TranSyn just before the Branson trip. We just checked it and brought the level up to full. I'll check with the shop on brake chamber change, but most truck repair people don't view those as needing change as often as you do. I'll drain the tanks in the steering bay.They drained the differential fluid twice after the rear wheel bearing episode at Smith. We are re checking that level and color of fluid. We will fully inspect the wheel bearings and prelube them upon re-assembly. Both sides on the drivers have had seals replaced recently, at and before the bearing episode. The seal replacement method is critical.
AC Filter changes are on my list of do myself after I get the coach back thanks for the reminder and locations. Allso the refrigerator. It's easier for you to maintain your coach because you always are a few steps from it. Those of us that use public storage have to rely on others for much of the maintenence and repairs. Tag & front wheel bearing fluid will be filled to their levels.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Harry,

Brake chambers are not a show stopper if they fail like an air bag failure would be so I understand the philosophy of running them til they fail.

If one fails on the service brakes it is just a matter of capping the line. If an emergency brake fails, cage the offending brake, cap the line and you are back on the road.

It sounds like you have done a well thought out maintenance routine.

[0533]

Paul,

Have you considered a three axle alignment. It costs about $600 at Prevost. Your investment in tires will cost over $7K, I think it is worth the investment, I did the alignment when I replaced mine tires in jacksonville and am very pleased. Prevost Jacksonville gave me a 1yr. warrantee on all work and parts, but I think they will blame your alignment if you have problems, it is worth the extra bucks.

[hhoppe]

The answer to should the wheels be weight balanced along with Centramatics from them is:
Should the tires/wheels be pre-balanced?

In most cases pre-balancing is not required. If a vibration still exits after installation, a computer balance of the problem position can indicate a mis-mounted or defective tire, a bent wheel or other “out of round” condition, that balance alone cannot correct. Wheel bearings should also be checked and defective parts replaced.
Paul : My first set of tires wore evenly and the alighnment seems adequate. I'll do some future examination for any change here.

Denny: The lower A arm bushings look good. They are at a straight in position and the upper A arm bushings are at an angle, hence the early wear problem.

[Coloradobus]

Harry,

It has always been recommended tome to fill the steer and tag hub reservoirs to the " add mark," and no higher. If you fill them above the 'add" mark, Prevost has had issues with them leaking: hence a replacement bill $$$$$.:mad:

[hhoppe]

CO. Bus: I'm aware of that problem from past experiance on my old bus. The people doing my work this time have a lot of experiance, but I will check them myself as Jon & Ron Reagan said " trust but verify". I wouldn't want my newly "Micro Polished Wheels" to get all oily. If anyone is wondering where I'm going to get all the money for these repairs. " Damned if I know."

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Don't worry about where the money is coming from Harry. The politicians don't when they spend our money and we all know how smart they are.