Thanks Robin, LOL at least as they are staying this size , I have slept in the upper bunk but it was not easy.
So we were back on the road towards 81 when i started smelling brakes.
Parking was not on but stopped and checked the rims and tires.... Not hot and no smell so assumed that another vehicle was having some problems. Nevertheless it bugged me
Half an hour later same smell , a little stronger, was driving behind an 18 wheeler and going downhill at the time but by then I was on Hi Alert.
Stopped to check the AC clutch, slightly squeeling noise , figured we had a problem. We had just turned on 81 and Salem Virginia was 5 miles away. Did not want to come to an uncontrolled stop at 6PM long 81 and hoped for the best . Turned the AC off thinking that it would reduce stress on the clutch. A loud bank was my reward and something flew out on the highway.A second stop revealed that the clutch disc had disappeared, did not seem to have hurt the radiator or serpentine and decided to get the Salem exit and stopped at the first auto parts store.
It turned out to be a failed clutch bearing and the next Adance at electric road had a clutch and ac compressor in stock. I was afraid to turn the engine of in the fear that the bearing would seize if it stopped rotating ... Elfie held up to the next store. We wanted to get back to State college that day so the kids could go back to school
Got the parts. 6.30 PM and started disassembly.
School Bus Conversion Resources - Elfie's Album: Elfie the Elf Bus adventures - Picture
We were very lucky it came apart with the limited tools we had. The ball bearing balls rolled out and i pulled the whole pulley of leaving only the inner ball bearing race on the compressor.
The evening manager was great help and understanding our 8 h
ours from home dilemma.
Bought a snap ring plier and was unbelievable lucky that the inner race came of,
Then our luck took a small dip. The AC clutch bearing /whole compressor was a different size / mounting and the race against the clock was on.
The manager called a friend Lee who had been working for the local bus garage. He immediately came over. 8 PM... Some searching for an idler pulley bracket... no luck
By 8.30 we had not found a bearing and he decided to attempt and weld the compressor spline adapter directly to the pulley and left for his shop.
I was nervous about the solution and parallel to his efforts decided to take this compressor and mount off the engine and replace it with a new econoline original size compressor and use it as an idler. Problem,....we needed 4"long M8 mounting bolts.
The manager kept the store open and at 9.30 I bought a compressor, M8 exhaust threaded studs and a serpentine assuming that we were going to be the Ford dealers wet dream if I could not get this fixed.
Around 10 PM Lee cam back with..... a pulley with the right bearing.
By that time we started to realize how fortunate we really were and that there are a lot of very good people willing to go much further then imaginable. The store's back door stayed open and by 10.45 we did our first try, within seconds the old serpentine failed.
Took the pulley back of and dressed the grooves, used the new belt, tested OK, washed hands. It was 11PM ..The manager left on his motor cycle and Lee in his truck. We decided not to try to drive by night since we would not make it home in time anyhow.
Camped in the parking lot. We slept really well, faith in humanity was restored.
Here a question to the AC tech savy. Can anybody identify this AC compressor. Both hoses come out of the compressor straight up. the bearing ID 35MM.
to be continued