Rarely do we get instant feedback on maintenance tasks when we perform them on our buses. When we change engine oil and trans fluid we don't necessarily see a huge difference in the way the bus runs even knowing it's the most important maintenance task we can perform.
Over the weekend I was working on the bus and got into the rear door, probably for the millionth time since I've owned the bus and I thought, "I'm tired of fighting this door handle, it shouldn't be this hard to turn." So I walked to the shed and dug out my can of Wurth spray-on synthetic high pressure grease and generously sprayed it into every crack and crevice of that handle and latch. I thought it would help but was unprepared for the result I got. The handle is almost effortless to operate now compared to the struggle it used to require.
After that result I figured I should do the same to the front door, which I did, and got the same result, much easier to open and close. Oh, and also, less wear due to that nice film of grease between metal parts.
A lot of you know this but perhaps this may a timely message to others. Our buses have grease fittings all over the underside; suspension joints, drive shaft universal joints, king pins to name three major ones. I wouldn't be surprised if there were, depending on the year of the bus, a couple dozen or more grease fittings requiring periodic applications of grease. Neglect them and you'll shorten the life of the components. It ain't rocket science to use a grease gun on each one of them and, if you have a medium duty bus, you can easily crawl under (parking brake set and chocks placed) using a tarp for comfort.
There's a lot of stuff a non-mechanic can do on his/her bus that will make a difference, not take much time and not require the ability to lift a lot of weight.
Just sayin'.
Over the weekend I was working on the bus and got into the rear door, probably for the millionth time since I've owned the bus and I thought, "I'm tired of fighting this door handle, it shouldn't be this hard to turn." So I walked to the shed and dug out my can of Wurth spray-on synthetic high pressure grease and generously sprayed it into every crack and crevice of that handle and latch. I thought it would help but was unprepared for the result I got. The handle is almost effortless to operate now compared to the struggle it used to require.
After that result I figured I should do the same to the front door, which I did, and got the same result, much easier to open and close. Oh, and also, less wear due to that nice film of grease between metal parts.
A lot of you know this but perhaps this may a timely message to others. Our buses have grease fittings all over the underside; suspension joints, drive shaft universal joints, king pins to name three major ones. I wouldn't be surprised if there were, depending on the year of the bus, a couple dozen or more grease fittings requiring periodic applications of grease. Neglect them and you'll shorten the life of the components. It ain't rocket science to use a grease gun on each one of them and, if you have a medium duty bus, you can easily crawl under (parking brake set and chocks placed) using a tarp for comfort.
There's a lot of stuff a non-mechanic can do on his/her bus that will make a difference, not take much time and not require the ability to lift a lot of weight.
Just sayin'.
