relentless, I have heard from vehichle systems in CO. that wabasto exaust can only be so long but don't remember the specs. Seems for exaust pressure reasons? maybe check just in case your moving it will cause problems.
relentless, I have heard from vehichle systems in CO. that wabasto exaust can only be so long but don't remember the specs. Seems for exaust pressure reasons? maybe check just in case your moving it will cause problems.
Bull Work
Put the 10 suspension arm bushings in the 5 arms for the steer axle this evening. Started about 6 and finished up about midnight. There are 2 nut sizes 1 7/8in. and 15/16.
You can put a socket on the 1inch gun for taking off the tires and remove the 4 lower of the big nuts with that. I did pull both tires. A large 1 7/8 combination wrench gets the rest.
Took off one at a time, everything remained lined up perfect for reinstallation. Cut out the old ones out with a stanley knife, pushed the new ones in by hand with a little WD40.
Some were wore around the coller, some were starting to break down up inside, some were in beautiful condition. I think these are not the originals that I removed.
When reinstalling do not run the nuts with the lock rings all the way up with an impact, finish tightening them up with a wrench. There are some roll pins to line up and you can spin the lock with an impact if you are not real careful.
The mounting bracket that I removed from the front of the R-lower arm was broken allowing that to make noises sometimes. When I removed the nut the stud came with it. Not good. Once I took the arm down I could see where it was moving. At reassembly the stud wouldnt tighten correctly, too sloppy. I was actually happy to discover this because this is for sure the noise we have been hearing from time to time. Ill order new stuff tomorrow and that will be a quicke to swap out.
With the suspension all the way up in the front I blocked the frame and put the suspension switch back to normal allowing the frame to settle down on the blocks. That along with the tires off gave me plenty of room to work.
This is a job I know alot of you out there are capable of doing. If you have the tools at home to remove your tires you can do this job.
I was quoted up to 2 hrs. per arm by 5 arms by $75 per hr. That for us would have been a waste of money.
Only skinned 1 knuckle and feel pretty good now but I think Im gonna be a little stiff in the morning.
Last edited by Joe Cannarozzi; 09-15-2006 at 03:43 AM.
Joe, your the man! sound like a fun job. Now get some sleep.
Now that Ive rebushed the steer axle and found how easily and quickly I was able to complete the job I crawled under the back of the bus to get a look at all the suspension arms and bushings. There are 9 more arms for a total of 18 bushings for the rear 2 axles. There is more room to get at them than in the front. Ill be ordering the rest of the bushings on monday. Just buy what I can see now they look a little more wore out than the fronts. I had the front axle done in 6 hours and I didnt know what I was getting into. I estimate Ill have another 10 hours doing the 2 rear axles, but very likley, probably less. Was anybody else concidering having these done in the near future?
Prevost estimates 40 hrs?
Does this include repainting each arm, one at a time, and then including drying time for the paint in the labor costs or what?
Relentless, have you done yours yet?
Last edited by Joe Cannarozzi; 09-16-2006 at 10:21 PM.
Senior Member
Joe,
Come to POGII and put on a seminar. Forget working. You need a break from driving that truck.
A guy on the other site needs your advice. Help him out.
All very good suggestions JonInstead of a seminar lets just do someones bus. For instance, take a look behind your tag axle tire, if you remove it Ill bet ya the upper and lower arms can be removed in almost as little time as it takes to remove the tire! If anyone needs help with this project Im off all winter and would be happy to assist. We have a gas powered air compressor that will power my 1 inch impact I can put in my P/U. If you want to do a seminar on this at santa-fe mabye relentless could help if he is going, dont know? I have not turned a wheel all week with the dump with all the RAIN. If there was any chance we could go to POG2 it went away this week. We will however be at the next rally and would be happy to do that work then, wherever that might be. A guy on the other site hu? Hmmmmmmmm, wonder who that is?
Just another thought. A significant portion of the time was spent cleaning up the oriface on the rod where the bushing rides. They get corroded badly and I believe this probably contributes to the accelerated break down of the bushing. Rubber from the bushing gets pounded onto the rod so hard you almost have to grind it off. If I had more time to do this job I would have them powder coated. Not the entire rod, just where the bushing rides. You can only pull one arm per axle at a time but if you did all 3 axles at the same time and you could get a 1 day turn around on the powder coat it could be done in 5 days. Most of you probably arent going to keep your stuff long enough to go to this extreem. Wait a minute, powder coat the whole darn thing, this would qualify for BLING, wouldnt it? Jon, you could add this to your chrome slack adjusters and stainless brake chambers!
Last edited by Joe Cannarozzi; 09-17-2006 at 01:04 PM.
Jon has already had them painted with 3 coats of color and 2 clear coat. Catch up, will ya?
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