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Polishing slack adjusters
Just on the chance that my old 8V92 goes up on the jacks at the March Maintenance Seminar, I wanted the underside looking good for Yoda and his generals.
Before:
After:
How did I do?
Not really but I did get time today to finally change out the Tag and Steer axle slack adjusters. Drive axel left to go. Interesting in that I prelubed the new slack adjusters. Some took one or 2 hits before grease appeared at the spline. Others took a lot of grease. All new drop shipped from Bendix.
My old Angola has copper pipes just like a Liberty so, I guess polishing them is next………
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13 Replies
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Looks to me like Joe has not only met, but he has exceeded the standard for underside bling. This will almost assure him his coach will end up in the air at the seminar because Jeff has now had so much praise, when he goes under each coach to explain how things work he doesn’t want to get his hands dirty or chip his fingernails.
Good job Joe. With all you are doing on your coach maybe you should be teaching us.
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no way, yoda, I can’t meet that standard.my abs are sore. Working these flat on a creeper is hard work. I should have built a pit!
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The older you get (like Tom for example) the more you will be wanting a pit.
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ok, I’ll ask a stupid question here – feel free to Flame me…..
Can you replace a manual slack adjuster for an automatic slack adjuster?
I could see some value to (me personally) not having to drive my bus up on ramps and slide under during each pre-trip inspection to check / adjust my manual adjusters.
ducking for cover……
2005 XL Thompson Coach
Rarely tow anything behind us.
Sold: 1993 Liberty that we loved for 12 years. -
Tom (old buddy) I really feal for you when your on Father pics on you and Harasses you.
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Dan,
I think so. I think you can go either way, manual to self adjusting, or self adjusting to manual. Self adjusting are the way to go, but they still need to be checked by measuring push rod travel so at some point you are still getting under the coach. I am under mine every 5000 miles and on manual slack adjusters I reset them every time, on the automatic I measured brake rod travel to verify they were working.
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Dan I also thought about converting to automatic slack adjusters but never really investigated what that would take. Finding updated part numbers and a reasonably priced source took long enough.My goal is to get to the point the coach goes on the ramps and I go under once a year. Not being retired I’m only hitting about 6,000 miles a year. Oil change, slack adjuster check, lube on an annual basis I can handle.
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Thanks Joe and Jon –
Joe I’m in your camp about 5-6K mi a year and hoping to do just one major service per year (oil/filter, fuel filters, air dryer, greese, slack adjustment, etc….) However, now that I have a few years under my belt I’ve noticed that my drive adjusters move quite a bit more than my steer and tag. I’d like them to all to be in spec all the time without all the climbing under the coach. Especially if I’m on a long trip 4-5K miles which I usually take once per year. When I’m on vacation I’d just like to do my daily checks (eng / trans oil, coolant, hub oil level, air brake leak down test, air pressures, etc…) and not climb under. However, that might be a pipe dream.
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so what is the allowed travel on these adjuster rods?
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Push rod travel varies with the size brake chamber. There are two procedures for measuring.
http://www.mto.gov.on.ca/english/handbook/airbrake/section11-2-0.shtml
That is a lengthy document but well worth the time to read. Automatic slack adjusters should not be adjusted manually, but should be checked. No matter how or when you feel slack adjustment is needed or should be checked you have to be under the bus. That is one reason why I did mine every 5000 miles. I had to be beneath the coach to lube it so that was the perfect time to do the inspection and adjustment. I never had an adjustment on my coaches that was excessive during that period. I did however have a failed automatic slack adjuster on my dump truck in which the brake began to drag.
FWIW I tightened the manual adjusters using a 9/16 wrench, then backed off 1/4 to 1/3 turn.
If you ever see the red ring or marking with the brake applied do not drive the coach until the brake adjustment or repair is made.
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Are slack adjuster checks part of a Level 3 Service at Prevost? I don’t remember seeing that on the last service I had.
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If you have Knorr Bremse brakes which I think you do there are no slack adjusters, The brake calipers do all the adjustment internally. They are adjustable and repairable if required, but Prevost should include some brake check to verify operation.
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