Can leveling the bus like this be damaging ?

[Orren Zook]

Jeff,
I think Pete's right, you probably should check the fluid level in your rear end and maybe the air pressure in those tires too.

[Jeff Bayley]

If we start hence forward making the reference document I could volunteer these pictures for the section on "Leveling Your Coach" under the "Wrong Way" sub heading. We have to start somewhere.

I got to thinking about the possible leak. I did have the coach badly leveled with the boards for several days prior but when I moved the bus and repositioned the boards was when I took pause and made the post. If you go take another look at the pictures of the shameful attempt at leveling I did at first, does anyone think the way the two drive wheels were off set could have been the cause of the leak ? I guess the answer is "Maybe". ??

[JIM CHALOUPKA]

If we start hence forward making the reference document I could volunteer these pictures for the section on "Leveling Your Coach" under the "Wrong Way" sub heading. We have to start somewhere.

I got to thinking about the possible leak. I did have the coach badly leveled with the boards for several days prior but when I moved the bus and repositioned the boards was when I took pause and made the post. If you go take another look at the pictures of the shameful attempt at leveling I did at first, does anyone think the way the two drive wheels were off set could have been the cause of the leak ? I guess the answer is "Maybe". ??

Anything is possible Jeff, the important thing here is to be sure you have proper oil in your hubs before you hit the highway and to determine if you in fact have a leak. What caused it is least important IMHO.

Safe travels, JIM

[Jeff Bayley]

I crawled underneath and confirmed I do in fact have a leak. I'm pretty certain this is a direct result of the bad/offset leveling job. Too coincidental. It's a good thing I wasn't too ashamed to post the pictures because if I had not, Pete wouldn't have made the observation of the leak and I would have found out about the leaking hub the hard(er) way. There's a shop within 5 miles that has the gear to help me get the seals replaced. I'll put oil in before making the 5 miles drive. I guess I should be glad I dodged a bigger bullet. I think about how the wheels go through pot holes and the tires must get off kilter but in this case the wheels must have been tweaked overnight or long enough to ruin the seal. 1 more lesson learned. 999 more to go.

More pictures of the leak attached. These pictures are from the same side of the bus but different angles. The other side is dry as a bone but I wonder if I should go ahead and do the seals on both sides and notate the mileage. Are the seals a PM item that should be done at certain interval ? I'll order the parts Monday. While we're at it, what else should I PM and order for parts ? I don't know if there is more than one seal to order or not. Thank you all.

[GDeen]

Just had that repair made at Prevost last week. Inside Drive seal leaking. Noticed when I pulled the bus out of the barn a couple of weeks after the Maine trip differential fluid on the floor. Holds quite a bit of fluid so probably not something to worry about with no more than you are showing in the pics, but need to get repaired. About 5 hrs labor at Prevost plus parts. I went ahead and changed out the differential fluid to synthetic while we were at it since the oil smelled pretty old and I didn't have a record of the last change. Mine was running down the outside of the inner wheel and tire.

[nrhareiner]

Good morning,

Anyone know the recommended interval on differential oil change? I did mine 24 months ago.

[Jeff Bayley]

I'm certain mine must be due for changing. What I don't know is whether to change the seal on the other side that is not leaking. Is 5 hours the "real time" it takes or is that the "Prevost talking around the water cooler time" that it takes to change the seals ? If someone was really focused on the task 5 hours seems high the way most Preovst bills are rounded up.

[CAPT MOGUL & Sandy]

Gear lube smells like that, shouldnt smell worse then other things like lube oil on brake shoes. You should be able to turn the bus upside down and have no lube leak if you plugged the breather. That being said, our PM sheet remarked to twist the breather cap to make sure it was not plugged, which could if plugged cause pressure in the axle housing causing pinion and wheel seal leaks. We ran 175 to 200,000 on highway and 100-150, local work, on lube changes.
Ed

[GDeen]

Gear lube smells like that, shouldnt smell worse then other things like lube oil on brake shoes. You should be able to turn the bus upside down and have no lube leak if you plugged the breather. That being said, our PM sheet remarked to twist the breather cap to make sure it was not plugged, which could if plugged cause pressure in the axle housing causing pinion and wheel seal leaks. We ran 175 to 200,000 on highway and 100-150, local work, on lube changes.
Ed

Since I didn't get a lot of maintenance records with my coach Ed, I am systematically changing fluids over when opportune to develop a good baseline.

[Jon Wehrenberg]

Kim,

I change differential fluid every 100,000. I don't know what is recommended. I used synthetic last time.

Jeff,

If you do not get the hub seal leak fixed right away, at least verify the differential fluid level is OK. If it gets low your problems and the cost to repair them will be very high.