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Old 07-23-2018, 01:56 PM   #101
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I spent the morning looking up the shake in my bus and seems that freightliners have a lot of complaints about this type of shaking.
If I can solve this, I could live with the 545 a while.

Anyone have any ideas or experience with this?

Chris when are you gonna be in FL again? I bet you could drive this for ten minutes and tell me what I need to know!

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Old 07-23-2018, 03:44 PM   #102
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Originally Posted by EastCoastCB View Post
A dirt road cruiser? yes
A real off road machine? nah
Yeah, a 4x4 40 foot bus would be cool just to say it can be done but has no real off road use. The only reason I'd want it if it was an option is so I don't get stuck going down a dirt road. It's easy enough to get a bus "stuck" on wet grass. I doubt the front tires turning would help much in that case anyway. Far easier and cheaper to stick a winch on the front and another on the rear.





Quote:
Chris when are you gonna be in FL again? I bet you could drive this for ten minutes and tell me what I need to know!
He did the king pins on his. I don't even know what one is but check all that stuff. The easiest would be tire balance. Even a visual to see if a tread block or two are missing.
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Old 07-23-2018, 04:28 PM   #103
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mine was definitely king pins.. you need to get the wheels in the air at the front to check king pins..



its a real common issue on school busses.. and even though its in the south, georgia's roads aint no picnic..



wheel balance and out of round tires is a good first check like bob says.. jack up each front wheel and slowly spin it.. looking first for the tire to spin with humps in it.. balance is trickier.. though if your brake pads dont drag the drums at all then you have a shot at seeing a severe balance as the spinning wheel will try to stop with its heaviest point down.. a quick quarter turn spin will see if it goes backwards down ... obviously this is a half ass way to check balance as bearing preload, brake drag, etc can affect it..



king pins - the idea is to take a bar (a big one).. and try to jiggle the front wheel assembly and see what moves where.. see if the looseness is in the drag link, steering box, tie rod ends.. or if the whole wheel knuckle jiggles at the 'pivot to the frame' then its the king pins..



Bob, king pins take the place of upper and lower A arms on a car.. essentially the whole "front axle(its just a big bar really)" is supported by the 2 spring assemblies.. and so the wheel knuckle just needs a pivot for right / left rotation.. the king pin connects the wheel knuckle to the axle..






-Christopher
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Old 07-23-2018, 05:50 PM   #104
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SC tried that with me. Had a car for sale in the front yard. Someone called the cops. Told the cops it was for sale. Oh well hurry up. Well, no kidding. I had a pickup in the back yard. Again with the cops.



It has to be tagged.

It's in my back yard.

It's visible from the street.
Ok, what kind of vehicle is it?
I dunno.
THEN IT ISN'T VISIBLE FROM THE STREET. Then hung up on them.


Same bunch that tried to tell me I had too many leaves in the yard.
1) Get me the official leaf count that I'm allowed.
2) You count the leaves.
3) I'll pick up every leaf over that limit.
They didn't come back.


Sweet, a free place to stay.


And simple pleasures.


Roxie,
Keep us informed of the travels. And tell him good luck.
Brewerbob you make me laugh! Codes came and asked me about my commercial vehicle. I said you mean my registered, licensed RV? It has a new personal plate, not a commercial plate. He left.

I was a little annoyed that he didn't just see the plate and realize the people that called were clueless instead of ringing my doorbell. I printed out a sign that said not for hire and stuck it in the back window just to ward off any other worried about it being a commercial thing. I don't even know that there is a rule about parking commercial vehicles where I live anyway though. I know the bus driver for my kid's school used to drive the bus home at night and just start and stop the route there.
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Old 07-23-2018, 05:56 PM   #105
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Originally Posted by cadillackid View Post
mine was definitely king pins.. you need to get the wheels in the air at the front to check king pins..



its a real common issue on school busses.. and even though its in the south, georgia's roads aint no picnic..



wheel balance and out of round tires is a good first check like bob says.. jack up each front wheel and slowly spin it.. looking first for the tire to spin with humps in it.. balance is trickier.. though if your brake pads dont drag the drums at all then you have a shot at seeing a severe balance as the spinning wheel will try to stop with its heaviest point down.. a quick quarter turn spin will see if it goes backwards down ... obviously this is a half ass way to check balance as bearing preload, brake drag, etc can affect it..



king pins - the idea is to take a bar (a big one).. and try to jiggle the front wheel assembly and see what moves where.. see if the looseness is in the drag link, steering box, tie rod ends.. or if the whole wheel knuckle jiggles at the 'pivot to the frame' then its the king pins..



Bob, king pins take the place of upper and lower A arms on a car.. essentially the whole "front axle(its just a big bar really)" is supported by the 2 spring assemblies.. and so the wheel knuckle just needs a pivot for right / left rotation.. the king pin connects the wheel knuckle to the axle..






-Christopher


That’s a great video...and enough to make me realize this is not a job I want to do unless I invest in bigger tools.

Did you do your own? I think I may have a bad one and wondering what it should cost.

Mine doesn’t vibrate though. Is that a common symptom?
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Old 07-23-2018, 06:16 PM   #106
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That’s a great video...and enough to make me realize this is not a job I want to do unless I invest in bigger tools.

Did you do your own? I think I may have a bad one and wondering what it should cost.

Mine doesn’t vibrate though. Is that a common symptom?



thats not my vid.. its one I used.. i had help with my kingpins.. someone with a kingpin press helped me get the pins in and out. in my case my front end just felt loose.. if you have even the slightest out of balance o nthe tires, bad king pins will magnify that as its a point for things to shake..



I jacked my front end up, took my hubcaps off, and put a bar in the handholes on my rims as a leverage point and was able to see quite a bit of movement back and forth as i pried.. up and down was tight.. so i knew that was at l;east part of it.. I also found that the U-jounts in my steering shaft were dry and loose..as well as the collapsable part was not greased. so i changed that. the last piece is my steering box is still a little loose.. supposedly on the HAL-50 i should be ablwe to tighten the lash, but I havent been able to find the supposed adjustment screw yet where its supposed to be.. so i may end up pulling the whole box off the bus and benching it to work on it.. steering box lash was noted by disconnecting the pitman arm and was able to jiggle it back n forth way more than spec.

-Christopher
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Old 07-24-2018, 07:16 AM   #107
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Bob, king pins take the place of upper and lower A arms on a car.. essentially the whole "front axle(its just a big bar really)" is supported by the 2 spring assemblies.. and so the wheel knuckle just needs a pivot for right / left rotation.. the king pin connects the wheel knuckle to the axle..






-Christopher
I thought it was something like that but didn't want to guess and send Charlie down a rabbit hole.


It was a different video but I watched one similar.


Quote:
Originally Posted by 2martins View Post
I was a little annoyed that he didn't just see the plate and realize the people that called were clueless instead of ringing my doorbell.
Tell me about it.



Quote:
I printed out a sign that said not for hire and stuck it in the back window just to ward off any other worried about it being a commercial thing.
Won't work. You're assuming 1) that people can read 2) that those same people can comprehend 3) infer that "not for hire" = not commercial. It won't hurt to have it but good luck with it all the same.



Quote:
I don't even know that there is a rule about parking commercial vehicles where I live anyway though. I know the bus driver for my kid's school used to drive the bus home at night and just start and stop the route there.
I am NOT in an HOA neighborhood but there are still bylaws, ordinances, or some such. I remember at closing that one of the papers said I couldn't build a privacy fence in the FRONT yard. Not that I would but I was surprised that it was there at all. It's probably a city ordinance in my case.


Quote:
Originally Posted by david.dgeorge07 View Post
That’s a great video...and enough to make me realize this is not a job I want to do unless I invest in bigger tools.
You definitely will need a BFH (big fircking hammer). The bigger the better. Fire is also a plus to have and not one of those wimpy coleman propane torches. Even MAPP gas isn't going to do you much good on the pins. Would probably work on some of the bolts. Oxy/ace is the way to go for fire.
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Old 07-24-2018, 07:22 AM   #108
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I'll check it out when I get a chance. I'm thinking its driveline related.
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Old 07-24-2018, 07:24 AM   #109
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if you dont have a kingpin press then oxy / ace is going to need to be in your aresenal of tools.. even so it will help with getting the retaining wedges out. bob is right.. big metal never gonna get hot with a small torch.. that steel will just carry the heat away as fast as you apply it.



most cities have some type of parking ordinance.. for instance in columbus, there is a 72 hour parking rule.. a vehicle cant sit more than 72 hours on a city street, however its not a rule that is enforced unless someone phones it into the parking bureau.. its designed for abandoned vehicles and not for residents who may just travel away, however a butthole neighbor can call in a vehicle and it has to move 75 feet after the notice is placed or it can be towed in 72 hours.. its dumb but many cities have such.. doesnt affect vehicles on private land.. but if you want to park on the nice paved street to beat out ypur kingpins......


-Christopher
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Old 07-24-2018, 07:26 AM   #110
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s

Quote:
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You definitely will need a BFH (big fircking hammer). The bigger the better. Fire is also a plus to have and not one of those wimpy coleman propane torches. Even MAPP gas isn't going to do you much good on the pins. Would probably work on some of the bolts. Oxy/ace is the way to go for fire.

Exactly The biggest tool necessary is a sledge hammer. A hefty one. A kingpin press would be a wonderful luxury if you could get your hands on one. The job itself isn't complicated by any means, though it definitely involves a high level of cursing.

I did end up borrowing the neighbours oxy-acetylene torch to warm things up.

Here's the start of my kingpin replacement: http://www.skoolie.net/forums/f27/ar...t-8870-22.html
I didn't capture it all with photos, but I think the comments are useful.
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Old 07-24-2018, 07:33 AM   #111
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There's a good bit of play when I try to "wiggle" the driveshaft.

The rear air suspension also makes some noises I'm not used to. nothing scary, just noises.
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Old 07-24-2018, 08:08 AM   #112
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Exactly The biggest tool necessary is a sledge hammer. A hefty one.
I used to have one. I dunno what happened to it. I had a 3 or 5 pound short (one handed) sledge. Wouldn't work much in this application but was handy on the cars with stubborn bolts, brake rotors and other things that needed a "nudge" to get started. Also had a 8 or 12 lb full sledge. Now all I've got is some wimpy maul. I might need to either go digging deep into the bowls of my shed or replace them. Replacing would be far easier.


I'm out of oxy but still have ace. Need a refill. Should also call the rental management company and tell them to grab the bottles that someone so thoughtfully left me in the house I just bought. Make sure they don't grow legs and walk off. At 1200 miles away, it might be awhile until I get back out there.
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Old 07-24-2018, 08:15 AM   #113
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Nice Looking Bus ECCB!

You just need some super swampers for it.

Your drive line wiggle could be the cause of you shaking. Is it in the u joints or the back lash on the rear end?

Ted
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Old 07-24-2018, 09:11 AM   #114
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Originally Posted by EastCoastCB View Post
There's a good bit of play when I try to "wiggle" the driveshaft.

The rear air suspension also makes some noises I'm not used to. nothing scary, just noises.

driveline vibes are high frequency.. kind of like the rear end vibes you had in your van...



the carrier bearing sits in a heavy rubber surround.. if the driveshaft just flops around in there, replace that rubber and check the bearing.. its ok move some when you press on the driveshaft firmly side to side in the carrier..



U-joint slack will give you a high frequency vibe too..



-Christopher
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Old 07-24-2018, 09:27 AM   #115
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Nice Looking Bus ECCB!

You just need some super swampers for it.

Your drive line wiggle could be the cause of you shaking. Is it in the u joints or the back lash on the rear end?

Ted
Both, I think.

I'll see if I can borrow a smartphone and make a video.
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Old 07-24-2018, 09:46 AM   #116
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Both, I think.

I'll see if I can borrow a smartphone and make a video.
Like OMG, what are you; 97 yrs old?
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Old 07-24-2018, 10:04 AM   #117
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Like OMG, what are you; 97 yrs old?
I used to have one. But I just don't like what society has become with this technology and we just have regular cell phones. They're cheap and indestructible.
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Old 07-24-2018, 10:13 AM   #118
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and we just have regular cell phones. They're cheap and indestructible
That they are.



Quote:
I used to have one. But I just don't like what society has become with this technology .
Ignoring the "first" part, because they are smart doesn't mean you have to be online 24/7 using it. It's a tool like anything else. It does come in handy on occasion. Especially if you're looking for lunch in Cleveland and you've never been to Cleveland.


But yeah I get it, why pay for something you don't want/use... I'm still going to poke you for it tho.
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Old 07-24-2018, 10:22 AM   #119
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Oh, I know how you are Bob.

Gonna go try to get a bit of work done. Its raining every day and making it hard to get anything done. If I can get out to the bus for some pics or video I'll post it when I get home.
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Old 07-24-2018, 10:36 AM   #120
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Oh, I know how you are Bob.
Good. Send me a PM if I get bothersome tho.

Quote:
Gonna go try to get a bit of work done. Its raining every day and making it hard to get anything done. If I can get out to the bus for some pics or video I'll post it when I get home.
Rain just about all day yesterday. More of the same today. Thursday starts to lighten up with "just" scattered thunderstorms. PM T-storms on Fri. Scattered again on Sat. PM on Sunday. Then scattered for the rest of the 10 day forecast. I wanna get the bus leveled but I don't know if it would do any good. Might sink into the dirt/gravel.


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