Belts, hoses on XC

[smlranger]

Wondering when others folks with the Freightliner chassis start seriously thinking about changing all the coolant hoses....what criteria in terms of years/miles??

Mine look good but I realize they deteriorate from the inside.

[smlranger]

Wondering when others folks with the Freightliner chassis start seriously thinking about changing all the coolant hoses....what criteria in terms of years/miles??

Mine look good but I realize they deteriorate from the inside.

[chasfm11]

I don't have much experience on our Freightliner but have been maintaining our passenger cars for over 30 years and have used 4-5 years as the replacement criteria for the hoses. On the passenger vehicles, I squeeze the hose and when it doesn't feel pliable any more, I replace it. I recognize that is harder with the bigger hoses on the DP.

Your post also mentioned belts. For those, I'm a firm believer in 4 years being the maximum life. I know that the belt engineers will often tell you to keep an eye on them and that the should last longer than that but when I start weighing the costs of waiting and trying to get the last bit of usage out of the belt against the potential breakdown at a very bad time and place and throw in the small cost of the belt, I'm just not willing to take the extra risk. I don't try to get the last few 32nds of wear out of my passenger car tires either. My Cummins 5.9 serpentine belt was $33 and that averages out to $8 over 4 years. If I stretch it to 5, the average cost is about $6.25. So for $1.75, I'm risking what? The A/C belt on the Cummins was $17.

I'd agree that part of my motivation for my change intervals is that I do the work myself. If I had to pay to have it all changed, I might look at it differently because the costs would be different. I figure that I save enough with my DIY approach that I can afford to reckless and crazy with the parts replacement and even use Transynd in my Allison.

[smlranger]

Charles:

I may start replacing some hoses this fall before we put the rig away for the winter. Like you, I try to do as much as I can myself. How hard is it to change the belts on the rear radiator XC? Do you do most of the work from below or above...or both? Mine has the CAT 3126.

[chasfm11]

Mine is a Cummins 5.9 and, now that I have everything straightened out, the belt change is easy and I hardly break a sweat doing it. I understand that the Cummins ISC is also a similar configuration to mine but I've got no experience with CAT. Originally, I had a configuration problem with the A/C compressor mount and found that the standard Freightliner A/C was the wrong length when I corrected that configuration.

On mine, 95% of the job is done from underneath.
- from the bed, I unloosen the bolts on the A/C compressor and backdown the adjustment rod until the belt will come off the pulley. A speed wrench makes this task go more quickly.
- my idler is on the lower driver's side of the engine so from underneath, I put a 3/8" adapter on my 1/2" ratchet (don't ask me why the idler has a 3/8" opening) and release the tension by pressing toward the passenger side. When the tensioner is loose enough, I flip the serpentine belt off the back of it. Note: be very sure that you have a diagram of how the serpentine belt is routed. I've had several guys on another forum contact me after they couldn't figure out how to get theirs back on. I keep the diagram with the other coach papers because if the belt breaks, there will be no other reference point to work from.
- I work my A/C belt off first. It has to be turned inside out to fit over the fan blades because it is very tight. This is better done in warm weather when the fan blades are softer and easier to work around. With a couple of jiggles, my serpentine belt nearly falls off by itself and it is way bigger than the fan so it is easy to get over that.
- I replace the belts in reverse order and finish putting the serpentine belt in place completely before touching the A/C belt. Routing the serpentine over the various pulleys takes a moment or two. On mine, I need to get it routed and tight everywhere but the tensioner.
- Pressing the ratchet toward the passenger side again with my left hand (I usually just lay on my back and prop my shoulders up a little), I flip the belt back onto the rear of the tensioner with my right hand.

Start to finish, it takes me about 10 minutes but if I were pressed, I could do it in just over 5 minutes. There are a lot of good reasons to want a side radiator but the belt replacement job isn't one of them IMHO. I hope there is something here that you can use with the CAT. I'd be interested to know just how close the CAT configuration is to what I've described.

Charlie