Jacking up a bus?

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by Brewerbob

They would be indeed. I dunno if anyone makes them that wide or not. For a static load you could probably get away with regular ramps and just using one wheel per side.

I don't see how the steps matter. If lifting the front, drive forward on the ramps. If the stairs are in the way either front or rear, then go the other direction. What says you can't back on to ramps? I've done this with cars before.

Can I have your 5 speed? Try life with a 4 speed. You kids and your fancy 7 speed trannies!!

I'm pretty sure that his 5 speed doesn't have o/d so you'd not really see any improvements.
Does it have the granny 1st, Jazty?
I had a truck with a spicer 5 in it and that thing wasn't fun.
The granny gear rendered it essentially a 4 speed.

Looking forward to pics and vid! If you were down here I'd give you some 8x8's I cut up to use as support when I was raising the roof on RYO.
I can't wait to see how badass your bus is after this! I'm starting to feel a bit of envy, man.

[jazty]

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

I'm pretty sure that his 5 speed doesn't have o/d so you'd not really see any improvements.
Does it have the granny 1st, Jazty?
I had a truck with a spicer 5 in it and that thing wasn't fun.
The granny gear rendered it essentially a 4 speed.

First is low, but not too low. Not as low as I'd like Same with reverse. I'd love to have 2 reverse gears!

That being said, the 5-speed does the job for now. I can cruise at the governed speed of 105km/h (~65mph) without being redlined, but I'd like to drop the RPMs some. I don't think fifth is OD.

[Dixie Bushcraft]

Originally Posted by cadillackid

ill be on concrete / asphalt. the weather is cooled down and plans to stay that way for a bit (ugh I HATE cool weather).. so the asphalt shouldnt dent too bad with stands..

but it sounds like stands are bad and I need to go buy a bunch of wood I'll have no use for afterwords...
-Christopher

Don't forget THICKNESS when you are talking about concrete or asphalt.
Putting a few thousand pounds of force on a 10to12" square section of a road is iffy at best. Doing it on a thin driveway is asking to have a punch through for sure.

I have seen both trailer landing gear AND the stabilizer feet of a firetruck punch through 4" concrete first hand.
A driveway can be destroyed by just the weight of a fire truck. Seen that too.

Most NEW roads are 6" or so thickness.
Parking lots and driveways are 4" or so. NOT thick enough to support that kind of weight.

[turf]

dang, i just got home from the auto parts store with some 6 ton jack stands. i want to raise the rear wheels so i can spin the driveshaft to make removal easier.
my bus is 10 tons, i want to support half of it, (lighter half). 6 ton jack stands were the biggest they had at the store.

take em back? use em?

same gig, replacing my trans. there is no slack on the drive line so i hope spinning the back tires would help break the u joint loose.

6 ton jack stands and about 26" lift

[cadillackid]

what are you trying to break loose? the U-joint from the trans yoke? I didnt want my driveshaft to spin while I took the clamp bolts out. and then I dropped the carrier bearing onto a Jackso it was supported.. then used a big screw driver to pry the front driveshaft U-joint out of the yoke.. once it dropped on the safety loop I oriented it such that it was pointed up toward the stairwell of the bus and pull it out of the secondary driveshaft.. so I had the front shaft and carrier bearing together..

as for jacking it up.. harbor freight sells 10 ton stands... remember jackstands are typically RATED AS A PAIR.. so those 6 tonners are 3 tons each.

I also look at what im doing in which the vehicle needs supported... and what type of injury or damage could I or the vehicle sustain if the support failed in some way...

ie if its to spin a wheel, and its only slightly up.. then im not worried as much about shoring or such.. as if it started to go down its not going to crush me..

if im going to be underneath or working in a precarious situation where failure means I could get pinned or a hand caught under a hiub, tire, etc.. then im going to think much more seriously about whats going on..

my bus is much lighter than yours.. the only thing i needed wheels in the air for was to slide the old transmission out and new one in... I slid it right to the edge underneath.. then put the stands up... and from outside slid the old one out.. new one in.. then I lowered the bus back down to its own wheels.. until I raised it for testing the VSS sensors etc without having to drive..

-Christopher

[family wagon]

Originally Posted by cadillackid

I also look at what im doing in which the vehicle needs supported... and what type of injury or damage could I or the vehicle sustain if the support failed in some way...

ie if its to spin a wheel, and its only slightly up.. then im not worried as much about shoring or such.. as if it started to go down its not going to crush me..

Those are my thoughts too. The drive axle has an open differential doesn't it? If so then raising just one wheel is sufficient for rotating the drive shaft. I wouldn't even bother with jack stands -- put the jack under one end of the drive axle, raise that corner off the ground while leaving the other three down and chocked, manually rotate the tire until the drive shaft is aligned as desired, release the jack to put the tire back on the ground.

[turf]

hmmmm, so letting the carrier bearing loose gives it enough slack?

yes, the u-joint to the transmission. i started to pry on it and was only gonna pop the caps off and make a mess of the bearing. i thought rotating the shaft would help, maybe thats wrong.

i have to re-use that same yoke on the new trans, as well.

[cadillackid]

you have to drop the carrier bearing as that is a solid point of anchor.. and the carrier bearing is attached to your front driveshaft.. undoor the bolts that hold the carrier to the plate or frame.. the carrier is encased in rubber and a metal surround.. take it all down together (it wonrt fall apart). I supported it with my transjack so once I dropped it down (carrier) it set on the platform and then pulled the u-joint out from the trans yoke.. then once free of the yoke.. pointed it up and pulled towrd the front of the bus till the splines of the second driveshaft come free..

NOTE! - mark the location in regards to each other of both shafts.. so when you slide the splines back in you keep it the same.. driveshafts are balanaced as a set.

this pic kind of chows how i supported the yoke of driveshaft 2 with the trans jack to make it easier..



-Christopher

[turf]

Thanks for the help!!!

i have 3 drive shafts, 2 carrier bearings. the splines are between shafts 2 and 3. the carrier bearings are at the ends of shafts 1 and 2.

i'm hoping it only takes removing the first carrier but expect it will take removing both.

whats going to move? what do i mark? i can't see any reason to undo the splines or u joints if i dont have to.

good call on the open differential, i'm going to leave those jack stands in the box and take them back.

[cadillackid]

I took my front driveshaft out completely to make room to slide the transmission out..(and ended up needing to get it shortened). ( i only have 2 shafts with a shortie)

on my bus the front has a really low clearance and is raked higher in the back so i knew the trans needed to go toward the back of the bus to get it out easier.. your bus may not be like that.. if you arent going to separate them then yout should be fine.. yeah you'll probably have to drop both carriers.. they are on tight.. I stuck a 3/4 wrench up top and hit the bottom with my impact to get them loose..

when you put them back together hang them and then try and find the "middle" of the movement of the outer piece before tightening them down. if the rubber is really loose and rotten that the bearing sits in. then its a good idea to replace, that can be a source of driveshaft vibe if its loose.. a good one you can move the shaft up and down (in the rubber). but it feels stiff to do so.

-Christopher

[Stu & Filo. T]

I bought 2 20ton pneumatic bottle jacks & 4 12 ton Jackstands, I want to get it high enough that I'll be able to roll my fuel tank out with no issues .

[Nick5272]

I’m skimming this thread trying to figure out where to place my bottle Jack so I don’t harm the bus but I’m still confused. I need to Jack up the front, not the back. It’s a front engine TC2000. Any ideas?

[magnakansas]

see where the bolts for the springs are? yea put the jack under there. on asphalt I use 24" square steel plate about 1/8" thick under the jack. on dirt, i use 3/4" plywood on the dirt, and then the plate. use 2x12 stacked for cribbing. or something like it. absolutely do not use, brick or cinder block or any other rigid stone like material. stacked I beams bigger structural steel can work. keep the cribbing/jacks under the tires or as near the springs as you can. putting the weight at the center of the axle is not so good.

willliam

[heimlich]

Did you end up changing the transmission? Do you have the 2000 series version?

What's the word on the jack stands? I use those on my aircooled VW's. I was going to buy a set but now after reading this I'm considering 4x4s. I need to do some brake work on the front.

[nikitis]

I used 2x 6ton jacks under the front axle and they held for 4 months while I did a king pin job. Worked fine. My bus weighed 14900 lbs at the time, but the rear axles take half of that weight off, so 2x 6tons were overkill. 2x 3ton would be pushing it though, so I wouldn't go with anything less than 2x 6ton jacks. Also look at the stationary jacks cause if they aren't welded well at the seams it could potentially not live up to it's 6 ton rating. There's a ton of Chinese made jacks out there sold on Amazon.

Altermatively if you are trying to save money on jacks. You could buy a cheap chinese 6 ton jack, if you can weld, weld some triangles in the corners and reinforce the seam were it wraps around and connects to each other. You can make them more secure.