Dan
Forum Replies Created
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Art: Is the gauge hooked up to your chassis or house batteries? Where did you mount the gauge? Any trick or challenge to installing the gauge?
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Rod,
Could you post a photo of which relay is getting hot? Thanks, John
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Don’t expect the emergency spring brake to lock up the rear wheels, it won’t, but will eventually stop you.
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I feel for the driver who, perished, but glad the bus driver and passenger were apparently not (seriously?) hurt.
Jon, from what the video shows, the Jake or retarder would have done nothing to prevent the accident, no matter what the driver did. The Jake takes longer to engage than the timeframe from seeing the car in your lane to impact. With more time, my way is safer–once the Jake is on, I don’t have to worry about downshifting. But emergency response relies on service brakes, not the Jake or retarder.
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Driver of bus in accident wrote: Apparently the air system was shredded on impact and we had no brakes anyhow
This is eye opening. Apparently the front brakes and the rear brakes are tied together on the same air system. No dual master like on most race cars and most passenger cars and light trucks.
But doesn’t the bus use air pressure to hold the brake shoes away from the drums? When we apply the service brakes aren’t we “releasing air” by pressing the brake pedal which allows the brake shoes to contact the drums slowing the bus down? So if the air lines are destroyed, wouldn’t the brakes lock up because the pressure of the springs pushing the Brake Shoes against the drums? Or do I have a mis-understanding of how the brake system works.
I don’t like having the Parking Brake behind me. In this case, had the driver pulled the Parking Brake wouldn’t the rear drive wheels have locked up?
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Ron: I can just tell you’ll be sitting so proud and tall in the pilot’s seat and Jane next to you will not be able to believe she’e riding in the finest motorcoach in the world for the first ten or fifteen thousand miles.
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I am far less worried about the manufacturing date because they are coming off the coach long before the 10 year limit, but I am very concerned about the grief some of our members had trying to get needed 365 tires when it is now obvious some were stranded due to a “shortage” when in fact there was inventory we are now eating through sitting in a wartehouse some where.
Someone, Michelin or their distributors are lying to us and causing needless expense and delays when there is a road failure. What I am saying is this is BS we should not be experiencing.
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Thanks Rocky for the suggestions. I’ll try to remember to try them next time.
What is “CRS”? I don’t recall seeing that acronym in the past. Thanks!
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Without knowing the facts, this seems to be an inventory control issue. Surely in this day and age of bar codes and RFID tracking systems, it shouldn’t be that difficult to locate specific items sitting on the shelves in multiple warehouses across the USA. After all, FedEx, UPS, Amazon and even the USPS can locate and ship parcels in various locations and track an item in transit in seconds.
If you want to share the contact information for the Michelin Rep, I’ll be happy to setup an on-camera interview to discuss this issue. I have been known to ask some pretty good questions in a fair manner.
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The DN50 has three potential places to leak and all are easy to solve if someone takes a little care. The seal behind the pulley is common and often just tightening the six bolts behind the pulley do the trick. If not pulling the pulley and replacing the seal and O ring is an easy job.
The back plate has a rope type seal that sits in a groove in the plate. Another easy fix if tightening the bolts does not work. The threaded fitting for return oil flow is the last leak point and that is just a pipe fitting with a hose going into the crankcase. Pipe dope or teflon tape cures that. I think the key is using care and making sure everything is clean before assembly.
The hub seal leak has no fix other than replacing the hub seal. I have no clue why some hubs never leak and some seem to have chronic leaks. I do know when replacing hub seals it takes a gentle hand. If the correct tool for inserting the hub seal is not used then some other means of presss fitting the seal in place is required. I have used both the tool and a flat 2 X 6 both of which will allow the seal to be pushed in place. The key is to never directly hit the seal but to use something (like the small length of 2 X 6) that takes the tap from a hammer while distributing the force required to press the seal in place. Once the seal is in place I verify the inner race will rotate freely within the outer race.
Replacing the hub is then the key to success. It has to go straight onto the axle housing and must be perfectly lined up as the hub is put in place.If the hub is tipped while being installed it can damage the seal negating all the work replacing it. The axle bearing nuts then have to be tightened exactly as called for in the Prevost service manual. I have been lucky so far because I have replaced 6 hub seals on my coaches and none ever leaked again. I do not know why most of my hub seals never leaked, and why some originals did but never again after being replaced.
BTW, a slight leak on the 50DN isn’t worth the effort. If mine shows slight evidence of a leak behind the pulley for example, but not enough to see oil running down the alternator body since the last oil change, I just clean it with brake cleaner and ignore it until the next oil change.
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When you can— Your PC Family
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Thank you PrevostService. I will print your post and keep it handy in the bus.
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When the Detroit series 60 engine was introduced we did not have the World Transmission yet. Plus the DDEC level at the time was DDEC II. The electronics did not support fan clutch control. So we used a temperature sensor mounted in the radiator cross pipe above the engine to control the fan. When the coach was started we supplied 24 volts to the switch and when it reached first speed temperature wire #291 out of the switch became hot and 24 volts was supplied to the fan cluthc to get first or low speed. When the temperature reached the setting for high speed fan then power was supplied through the switch to wire #292 and we get high speed or lock-up on the fan clitch. Look at the diagram below. I highlighted the system in yellow.
To manually get the fan to work you would need to supply 24 volts to wire 291` for low speed or wire 292 for high speed. Go to connector C427 at the temperature switch and jumper pin 3 to pin 1 in the harness connector to have full speed.
As soon as Detroit came out with DDEC III, we began using the two relays, R78 and R79 on the XLs for fan control.
For the above work-around remember to check and verify 24 volts at pin 3 in the connector at the temperature switch. If no power check CB30 or CB130.
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Rocky,
The answer to your question is yes AND no. There are batteries like Smart Battery that are essentially “drop-in” but I STRONGLY recommend that you have someone who really does know both the coach and the battery to make sure everything is adjusted to the exact charge and auto-start specs that are not really published anywhere on the web, but need to be observed for EVERY CHARGING SOURCE possible on the coach.
And, like I said, the Freedom series of inverter/chargers from Heart are unfortunately not adjustable like the newer inverters on the market are, and therefore incompatible.
Hope that helps.
Smart Battery and GreenLiFE, both of whom I have been working back and forth with, both run $2999/ea for the 8D equivalent, and about $1299/ea for the group 31 engine start battery. I am working to decide which to become a dealer with. Smart Battery has been around a little longer, but GreenLiFE is local to Tampa, and seem much more responsive. The cells both use are made by the same company in China, like all Lithium Iron Phosphate cylindrical or prismatic cells. Both of these use the cylindrical cells which for several reasons are much safer a design.
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What is the VIN number of the vehicle? You show a Series 60 engine but what transmission do you have iiiin this conversion: ATEC HT755crd or World Transmission?