[Mark]

That is not going to be cheap to fix and I suggest you get them to do the repair at their expense.

I am surprised to see the studs failed. It is usually the inner nut that fails somewhere near the end of the threads and the square portion, and that failure usually occurs when trying to remove it.

[Ed]

Did the tire buster fail to see studs were marked which way threads went ?

AL

[Bill]

This is the RH side so shouldn’t be any issues with thread direction – at least I would hope not. Maybe optimistic on my part.

After I had pulled into bay at tire shop, had to raise coach so tires would clear fenders for removal. I attempted to show the tech who had crawled under rear of bus with jacks where to put jackstands, but the quick response I got was “We do these all the time – we know what we’re doing.”

Which is true. They do. But apparently just use bottle jacks under the axles. Oh well, I tried to look out for them but they weren’t having it. Before I left shop area, same tech said “These are F’n Budd wheels.” Not to me, just bitchin in general. So maybe bad attitude came into play. Oddly all the others I removed by hand once loosened.

Assuming I can get the studs out of the hub and replace myself I’ll probably just do that. Don’t know what that entails yet as I don’t have it off and probably won’t get to it for a few days.

Agree shop SHOULD be responsible, but proving that 9 months later without it being there may be fruitless.

[Mike]

Billy, I think you are going to be pulling the hub and those seals are very sensitive to misalignment.

Have a means of pulling the hub straight out without tipping it up or down or sideways. That is even more critical during replacement. Good luck. It is not a complex job, but requires attention to detail, including the torque spec for the nut holding the hub. I don’t know if your service manual calls for proper torque and than backing off a fraction of a turn or ir yours is set to provide a certain runout so check the manual. Prevost has called for both and I don’t know why.

I would be all over that shop like stink on a skunk. If for no other reason than to rub their noses in their stupidity.

[Archived]

Jon

Hub is (hopefully 🙂 coming off anyway – to replace leaking seal. Anything overly complicated or unexpected in regards to removing/replacing these broken studs?

Haven’t got drum off yet so cant see backside, but seems like pics I’ve seen show a nut on the backside of stud.

I probably should carry it all to shop, certainly no stranger to confrontations when warranted, as I also feel this is. Most likely depends on how complicated repair is as to whether I invest any time into doing that or not.

I did read your write-up from years back on hub seal replacement, and using a 2×6 vs a seal driver (which I don’t have that size). Very informative thank you.

[Deleted User]

You have to cage the parking brake and then back off the slack adjuster to be able to wiggle the drum around the shoes. depending on age and wear the drum can have a lip on the outside of the portion the shoes contact. Once the drum is off and you get the hub off I think the studs are a friction fit and whacking them hard can drive them out.

They are installed by torquing a nut on them to draw them tight into the hole. I’ve never done them on a Prevost, but that is how I have done them on other big vehicles. Prevost might confirm what I said, or a repair shop that works on buses can advise you.

Since you are replacing the hub seal you can practice the removal and re-installation of the hub with the existing one in place. The key to success is the inner portion of the hub seal has to spin independent of the outer portion of the seal and if the thin metal outer portion of the seal is deformed or damaged it could pinch the inner portion of the seal preventing it from rotating.

[Archived]

Early 2020 I changed both of my drive axle inner seals. Here’s is the PC thread I did with a lot of pics and mx manual info: LINK

[Archived]

Thanks Jon and thanks Don – great link. That’s how I discovered this leak – was changing dryer cartridge.

This whole setup seems very similar to front Dana 44 axles on 79 Fords. Outer nut, lock ring, inner nut.

The last rear seal I did on my F250 took 3 seals/tries. First went in backwards, second time after installing I left the inner bearing out. Swapped a transaxle in a fwd car – went to fasten converter and noticed flexplate laying under rear axle where I had slid it outa the way. Hopefully this goes smoother. May be next week before I get back to it.

Thanks again guys.

[Archived]

Billy, Except for the big socket required for the nut no special tools will be needed and if you take your time and pay attention to detail you will have no issues.

I haven’t looked at Don’s information but one thing needs an abundance of caution and that is insuring the bearings are lubricated. My practice has been to hand pack the bearings with high temp grease prior to assembly. Then to be sure I have a belt to go with my suspenders I make an effort to tip the axle as much as possible to try to get the differential grease into the hub before driving.

We have had two Prevost owners have their axle ends twisted off as a result of dry bearings after a hub seal replacement. If I remember correctly in both cases they only got about 4 miles before the bearings seized, one being on the big bridge outside of Tampa.