the wait is over

[family wagon]

Sounds like a great time was had by all. And the generator and A/C setup is verified 100% adequate by freezing out the family!

I have to admit I'm a little envious reading about others' trips this summer. I don't exactly have a place planned to go... but I'm having a lot more trouble than I expected putting in the hours to get my roof raised and outer skin replaced, so the bus sits in the shop entirely unusable. Some day..

[milkmania]

love the black bus!!!

just seems it'd get awfully hot

[nat_ster]

Same here, all work and no play yet.

But someday.

Nat

[Hvbuzz]

At this point I know there is something wrong. I've never had this much problems with the bus overheating. I'm pretty sure the fan clutch is not engaging, and I also think the radiator has issues. I don't remember if I have mentioned it, before I left I drained and flushed the entire coolant system. I used the CAT radiator flush. Then flushed with distilled water. Lastly, refilled with new Northland diesel coolant. It's another thing that I hadn't done since buying the bus. I did that because of the thought of that cavitation problem has always been in the back of my head.
We decide to leave Monday morning for home. The plan was to leave in the morning and travel to Sydney, Nebraska to Cabela's. Stay there during the heat of the day then leave late afternoon for home. We didn't make it 20 minutes north of Fort Collins before the bus is running hot. All I want to do now is make it home so I can do the right repairs there. I don't want to take it to a shop to spend some money on repairing whats already there. I've already decided in my head what needs done.
My temporary fix.
IMG_5403 by Hvbuzz, on Flickr
I'm sure glad I brought my angle grinder. Those inner fenders are riveted on. The whole time I'm thinking about my son's favorite show on Youtube, "Roadkill" On our episode of roadkill, I'm along the side of I25 making sparks and cutting out the inner fenders to get more air movement. I figured it would either work or make it worse. Well... It worked!! I dropped almost 15 degrees on coolant temps. That was enough to make it work.

No more inner fenders!!
20150714_134341 by Hvbuzz, on Flickr

Even now I have no plans to put them back in.
20150714_134353 by Hvbuzz, on Flickr

I stuck with my plans to make it to Cabela's. We then left about 6pm for home. At this point we are all ready to be back home. So I decide to try to drive straight home from here. The cooler night air and no inner fenders kept the bus running cool. I made it just and hour away from home at 3am. I probably could have made it, but was starting to feel tired. So pulled into a rest stop for a couple hour nap.
20150714_065925 by Hvbuzz, on Flickr

[HolyBus]

Sounds like a great adventure and you survived to talk about it. Great memories were made! Your kids will talk about it for years.
You might want to keep the inner fenders just in case. Thoughts of dirt, rocks, mud, snow, sludge, dead animals - all being thrown up into the engine area from the wheels.
We don't need to post pictures of that.

[HolyBus]

Something along this line might be a solution:

or this:

[Tango]

I'm with HolyBus. Hang on to them. The inner fenders can't be the problem cause they have always been there. If cutting them away helps, that is compensation for some other issue.

Sorry to hear whatever it is ate into your trip and good luck chasing down the real culprit.

[Hvbuzz]

Originally Posted by family wagon

I have to admit I'm a little envious reading about others' trips this summer. I don't exactly have a place planned to go... but I'm having a lot more trouble than I expected putting in the hours to get my roof raised and outer skin replaced, so the bus sits in the shop entirely unusable. Some day..

I understand this alot. While I was building my bus, it was killing me just reading other peoples outings, but that also made me push harder to get it done. The build takes forever. Then you still aren't done. I understand why so many people buy RV's. It's easier to buy one then build. The time it takes to build one, is more then most people realize. But, I would do it again. I do enjoy the questions I get from people asking me about the bus. My wife doesn't have the same enthusiasm about the questions, she just sends them my way. Even my daughter said this trip she can't believe how many people take pictures of the bus, with their cell phones as we drive by.

[Hvbuzz]

Holybus and Tango,

Eventually, when I get things worked out, the inner fenders will probably go back in. Maybe...

Here is my ideas I came up with while I was driving home.

Radiator and intercooler from an 8100 International should be an easy swap. I put in a call today to a friend in the parts business. When I get the details I will post them up.

Cooling Fans
- I have friend that is one of those smart guys at SPAL electric fans. I need to make a call and put him on the cooling trail. I like the idea of electric fans so I can control what temps I want the fans to come on. I was told that the fan clutches that are on the bus don't come on until 212* I think that is to late.

Holybus,
You are heading where I was thinking too. I do believe this will be in the near future. I will make it functional too!!


Hood Scoop Mustang Boss 429 Style Bolt on 34''L25''W5''H | eBay

[Tango]

I am replacing the clutch fan on my Cummins with an electric. Less drag on the engine too. They take a surprising amount of energy to turn.

[porkchopsandwiches]

Originally Posted by Tango

I am replacing the clutch fan on my Cummins with an electric. Less drag on the engine too. They take a surprising amount of energy to turn.

You still have more drag on the alternator though...

[browncrown]

Sorry to read of the heating problems, but the rest of your trip seemed to be a great adventure! Glad you made it safely home

[Tango]

I have replaced the 90 amp alt it came with, with a 250 amp unit so there will indeed be more drag. That's one of my reasons for getting rid of the mechanical fan. But the added pull of the electrical fan won't add much at all to the total.

[crazycal]

Sorry to hear about the overheating. It's a scary thing when you are far from home. On my trip from Texas, I drove the bus differently then the trip from Tennessee. I kept the rpms over 2000 at all times to make sure that everything was fully engaged in the tranny. When I hit the hills and the temp did climb, the fan clutch definitely engaged. If you don't hear it, yours is not working. There is no mistaking it. No such thing as "I wonder if my fan clutch is working?" because you will hear it. 212* sounds about right. Even when pulling my Excursion on the first try, it brought the temp back down to just above 180*.

[Hvbuzz]

Originally Posted by crazycal

Sorry to hear about the overheating. It's a scary thing when you are far from home. On my trip from Texas, I drove the bus differently then the trip from Tennessee. I kept the rpms over 2000 at all times to make sure that everything was fully engaged in the tranny. When I hit the hills and the temp did climb, the fan clutch definitely engaged. If you don't hear it, yours is not working. There is no mistaking it. No such thing as "I wonder if my fan clutch is working?" because you will hear it. 212* sounds about right. Even when pulling my Excursion on the first try, it brought the temp back down to just above 180*.

Thanks CC,
You just kinda proved my thought on the clutch fan. I've never "heard the fan roar" It always looks like it is spinning. I've always heard you can stop a fan if the clutch is not engaged. I like my fingers though I still want to look into a bigger radiator and intercooler though. I haven't yet, but I would like to still turn up the power some. I won't do it though, unless I can cool it also. That's just the hp junkie in me though. I did find I could run 80 mph to North Dakota. I found that does come at a price though... Over 15 gallons in a hour. Since my odo is off, it's hard to figure mpg, but I figure that is just about 5 mpg or little less. Across Nebraska I was at 5.1 gallons per hour at 67 mph. That is probably as flat and no wind as you can get in the US. 13 mpg

[crazycal]

Most of my trip was 45-50 mph. Sometimes I drove 55 if I was feeling froggy. I hit 60 a couple of times when going downhill. I'm just not comfortable driving at over 2500 revs all day. I much prefer 2200 and so do my ears.

The clutch is more expensive then I would have imagined. They seem to be several hundred dollars. I have seen them used from wrecking yards.

[Hvbuzz]

With 4.10's now, 67mph was just hair over 2300 rpm's. I could just start to hear the turbo. It really seamed to run well there. Any lower it would bog down some in the hills, faster and the turbo would start winding up, and heat would start going up.

[crazycal]

Originally Posted by Hvbuzz

With 4.10's now, 67mph was just hair over 2300 rpm's. I could just start to hear the turbo. It really seamed to run well there. Any lower it would bog down some in the hills, faster and the turbo would start winding up, and heat would start going up.

I am hoping I can live with larger tires and the swap from the 545 to the 647 trans. If that gets me in range, I will call it good. If a gear change is needed, I think a 4.44 will be good. I think a 4,10 will be tough with a DT408.

[Tango]

Curious...what is the difference in final ratio between the 545 and the 647?

[Hvbuzz]

Originally Posted by Tango

Curious...what is the difference in final ratio between the 545 and the 647?

They should both be 1:1 But the 6series is lockup converter. So the 5 series would probably run a 1-200 more rpm I'm guessing at top speed.