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Changing belts
How in the world am I supposed to change whatever belt is back there! The generator is a Power Tech and the unit is not on a slide. The top part of the shroud surronding the belt(s) is the radiator fill so there are it looks like I must remove that entire assembly hose and all (on the back side) to get to the belts but can’t begin to figure out what’s go to be removed or how it’s all held together. I see a few bolts up front but can’t see anything toward the rear. Any help would be appreciated.
I got all the engine belts replaced and then read a message from someone saying they changed the generator belts. Thanks for that post (I suppose) as I couldn’t see any of them and out of sight, out of mind!
Now I have to assume there is a belt running a fan behind the radiator. I will have to go searching for that as well. Kind of a pain in the butt from what I can tell.
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8 Replies
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Like it or not every conversion has something that is a bitch to service or replace.
That leaves you with the decision to determine a life span on those components so you control when and how they are replaced, or you can decide to just wait until something breaks. If you have my luck those things would break at the worst possible time and the cost to fix or replace ramps up, plus you risk dealing with service techs that might lack experience and thus you get to pay for on the job training.
My schedule for replacing stuff is driven by how hard it is to do by an inexperienced person, by a remote location where parts are not readily available, and if I can live with the failure until I get home and can control the replacement.
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In the case of a lot of items to be serviced ignorance is not bliss. I recognize even the best maintained coaches have stuff break or fail unexpectedly, but we as owners are the final voice in what gets checked, tested, replaced or repaired and when. Whether we like it or not we need to understand some of the basics. If it is made of rubber it has a usable life of xx years due to aging rubber being the factor. Air bags, valves with rubber seats, brake chambers, and the like have a predictable life span.
Belts are rubber, but fabric reinforced so they may last longer. Radiator hoses can have a shorter or longer life depending on numerous factors.
That type of arbitrarily selecting a replacement time can be influenced by where the bus is used, how it is used, and various environmental conditions such as heat, humidity, salt air, etc.
One thing is certain. If it is on the bus it will break. A second certainty is if it is replaced before it breaks in a situation controlled by the coach owner the cost is going to be far less than when the owner loses control over how or when and by whom the replacement is done. I know of owners who paid in the thousands for a simple repair, such as a brake system component failure that was repaired by less than $100 for the part and 1/2 hour for the repair because they had to get towed and then were at the mercy of the shop that did the work.
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Maybe a trip to ETLC would be a good idea…
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My Generator is in the second bay. The radiator is mounted in the middle in front of the aux fuel tank. It is accessed by a panel in the rear wall of the first bay.
The squirrel cage fan is direct drive AC motor. There is not a belt.
Air flow is thru slots in the bay door, thru the generator bay (to provide fresh air to the Yanmar), pulled thru the fan, across the radiator and out the bottom of the bay.
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On mine, you get to the electric fan from the passenger side, second bay. On the back wall there is a panel that can be removed to gain access to the fan. Opening this panel also gives you access to the auxillary air pump and auto level sending unit.
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So is this a unique setup? Does no one have a generator setup that is similar? No one knows how to access those belts?
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Generally speaking all converters provide access to service or replace maintenance items. Some access is difficult because a lot of installed components have to be removed or moved out of the way. My guess without having any knowledge of what CC did is that there is no way they would have built the coach in such a way that pulling the generator was required to change a belt.
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Bill, yours looks just like mine. Like I said above, go to the second bay on the other side and look on the back wall. You should find an access panel to get to the fan on the back side of the the radiator.
2005 XL Thompson Coach
Rarely tow anything behind us.
Sold: 1993 Liberty that we loved for 12 years.
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