Greg
Forum Replies Created
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The following is info I gathered over the years about Burkerts and our air system:
Burketts valves were what Prevost used in the mid to late 90s as a replacement for the Norgren three way valves. They come either NO or NC and they cannot be altered. The first versions of the valves did not have a return spring in them and we had numerous issues where the valve would stay in the midway position. This led to air systems not building air correctly. Normally the bad valve was on the tag lift system and by simply cycling the system you could get the valve to seat itself and the air would build correctly. Burkett came out with a valve with a return spring ( the new Burkett valve) but we went back to Norgren valves eventually. Another issue with the Burkett valves was they were made for a much cleaner, industrial application. The coach pneumatic system in not a completely clean and dry environment. The Burketts did not fair well on the coach. The Norgrens were more robust and did not mind a little oil and water in their working environment.
Most of the people in Prevost service do not know anything about the Norgren numbers. Prevost parts secures the correct Norgren number for the application from the engineering department and then a Prevost part number is generated. To get the Norgren number we would have to get someone in parts to look at the cross reference file for the correct Norgren number. That is why you may get a blank stare from a tech if you come out with a Norgren part number.
As noted also above the type of valve you need (NO or NC) will be dependent upon your pneumatic configuration in the rear of the coach. Up through 1996-1997 the plumbing of the tag axle lift circuit required that there be sufficient air pressure in the auxilary air tank air sytem to properly pilot the valves associated with the tag axle and tag lift system. Thus you needed good aux. air pressure to keep the coach at normal ride height in the rear of the vehicle. Lack of proper air through an air leak would eventually reduce pilot or control port air pressure to the point where the internal spring tension of the valve overcame the control pressure and the system cycled much the same as if you had flipped the tag lift lever. The difference being that there is no aux air pressure left to do anything with the system.
Engineering at Prevost redid the pneumatic “plumbing” of this circuit in 1997 so that there were no control pressures to any of these valves to keep the tag axle down and the tag lift circuits off. There was a maintenance bulletin released “Service Bulletin 96-14B) to increase the reliability of the pneumatic system. The bulletin can be found at https://secure5.volvo.com/technicalpublications/pdf/SB96-14B/pdf. There were various kits made at the time for different models. These would come with instructions and valves that had the proper brass fitting for the application. The kits also included an inversion valve that had to be plumbed into the circuit. Prevost has always cancelled the brake boosters on the tag axle when it was lifted to prevent tire damage. As we were changing the way the axle was controlled we had to change the control of the Bendix R12 valves that controlled whether there would be brake application pressure sent to the boosters on the tag axle or not.
The modification takes some time as the old valves need to be removed and air lines properly identified. Then the new valve installed correctly and the inversion valve installed. Plus the light circuit in the dash had to be changed to reflect the lack of air pressure in the controls when the vehicle was in the normal ride height position.
All that being said: to check your system! Run vehicle and get all air tanks filled. Turn off coach. Open accessory (auxilary) air tank and bleed down the pressure. If the coach has the newer system installed the vehicle should NOT settle in the rear as if you flipped the tag lift lever. If if does squat, then it most likely did not have this modification done
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Harry, I hear you. I’d disconnect the stop/start pest as well. Several of my favorite cars in our fleet is ‘83 Lincoln Mark VI, ‘87 Mercury Colony Park wagon, you can actually shift into gear without touching the brake pedal
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If I try to budget for bringing chassis to like new condition immediately after purchase, how much money should I put aside? How much would be to replace at Prevost service facility…
All suspension air bags
All brake air chambers
All break liners
Should I be worried about ball joints in control arms, etc?
Thanks.
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That looks like it. Tag should look the same and the drive would be more evident as it’s bigger.
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You are correct Jon.
With full loads and 8 8D’s I was 200 lbs over weight on the drive axel.
One of the reasons I went back with 6 8D’s.
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We spend our summers by the California coast (reverse snowbirds). We take 40 every summer catching it at Memphis. It would be closer for us to take 10, but it is so boring and very hot after you leave San Antonio. We look for a Cracker Barrel, Walmart, or the RV section at a Flying J. We do stay in one RV park on the west side of Albuquerque sometimes. What attracts me is they allow you to wash your motor home which I always do. We also have stayed in Williams, AZ.
We do not feel safe in a rest area and will not stay in one. If you do not have a FMCA atlas you need to get one. It shows all of the Walmart, Cracker Barrel, and flying j’s within a short distance of the interstate. We find this to be an invaluable resource.
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Volvo says to use a 10-W30 oil that meets the VDS-4 or VDS-4.5 standard and doesn’t specify a brand. (they of course would be happy to sell Volvo branded oil to you) Detroit Diesel also had a list of approved oils and as long as you used one of them you should be fine.
We had over 200 tractors in our fleet and used no supplemental treatments and never had an oil related issue. Certainly none that would have been prevented by Schaeffer’s products.
I guess you can use what you want, and if the Schaeffer’s product meets all the specs it should be fine, but I bet it costs more than Delvac which is what a large number of people use. Delvac is also available most everywhere.
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I also saw that on Facebook, yikes…..
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Chip,
Before you jump in to a 5th wheel do the math with depreciation recognized as an expense.
Your vintage Prevost is likely getting very small amounts of annual depreciation so it’s cost of ownership is almost exclusively maintenance and repairs. Notice I did not mention operating cost because your vintage coach and a pickup big enough to pull a decent sized 5th wheel is going to get about the same mileage.
If you have to buy a pickup include the depreciation for that in your calculations.
I think a 5th wheel is going to end up costing substantially more annually than your coach.
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Looked Facebook under Michelin tire and got a phone number. Called number and customer service told me 366 tires sized 365/70/22.5 will be put in production on Nov 26. She told me to call back end of month for further update how many tires were scheduled to be made. I voiced our concern of lack of inventory
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Early on, after about 6 months of owning the coach, we were getting a vibration at the front-end between 62-68 mph and it was determined that the 365’s were out of round.
Prevost replaced the front tires under warranty and they listed them at $1,002, each back in 2015. They re-aligned the whole coach and it is now smooth.
Mark
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Harry my valve is point down and I have no issues with the belt(s). I did have an issue years back with the fan hitting the radiator shroud and found out the belt was longer than the original. Went through two fans before finding this out. I didn’t know the belt size at the time of service, but figure the bus mechanic knew what he was doing. Wrong.
Harry with the bus aired up turn that valve to different positions and see if the belt tightner moves. The position where the belts are the tightist is the right position. As Jon says, there is not in-between position, it is either on or off. it should be in either 12, 3, 6 or 9 o’clock position, anything in-between is off.
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Why is there an embargo on batteries in FL? Is this just with Lifeline or all large batteries? Is this to do with the storm?
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There’s a big difference between stored batteries, that will self discharge over time, compared to the way we use our buses keeping our battery bank on float charge. So this is not Apples to Apples and it makes no sense to have this Power Plus hooked to batteries that are being maintained by a 3 stage smart charger at float voltages of around 13.3. But if it makes you feel good, have at it.
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You can get them in differant ratings for how heavy the drawer is you wish to keep latched…Most used are 5 and 10 pound rated latches….Anything from refridgerator to drawers with pots and pans or books get the 10 otherwise 5 is good for the rest….