Front Brakes Oil Soaked

[FIRE UP]

Originally Posted by Old Scout

Pigman1--glad you jumped in with the bearing set and pre-load procedures--not as straight forward as it might seem. As a note of caution--not sure how the rear seals work but suspect quite a few front seals fail because, over time, the pre-load on the bearings gets sloppy and allows the wheel to wobble a bit. Probably overkill, but I have added checking the pre-load on the front wheels every 50k miles to my maint. schedule....

Old Scout,
The rear seals are close in terms of technicality and operation. As stated, I've done both. To me, setting bearing preload is just not that big of deal. I've done it so many times on a thousand vehicles. I'm sure there's a torque spec on it. When I helped my buddy replace his front seal a few months ago, his front wheel had NO play in it before we tore it down but, the coach only has a hair over 14,000 miles on an '06 Meridian 34H with the CAT 350. One replacing the tab washers under the big nut, I don't. I just bend a different/new part to clamp/secure the outside nut. It's a preference thing.

I enjoy doing things like that seal replacement. It's not overtaxing on the brain. You boys want to have a pain in the a$$ repair, try replacing or rebuilding the forward ram, for the bedroom slide in many of your coaches. That is one SERIOUS PAIN IN THE A..

Anyway, again, glad to be of some help.
Scott

[Old Scout]

The reason I mentioned the challenge of setting the pre-load--for me anyway, was that I really couldnt get the bearing/wheel to stall under friction. Finally went to the Timken website and decided on their procedure: "pre-set bearing nut to approx. 50 ftlbs, then backed off one or two facets on the nut"--seemed to work.....

[FIRE UP]

Originally Posted by Old Scout

The reason I mentioned the challenge of setting the pre-load--for me anyway, was that I really couldnt get the bearing/wheel to stall under friction. Finally went to the Timken website and decided on their procedure: "pre-set bearing nut to approx. 50 ftlbs, then backed off one or two facets on the nut"--seemed to work.....

Roger that procedure Sir. The way I figure it, once the four bearing components, the inner bearing and it's cone, and the outer brearing and it's cone, all come in contact at the same time, the "play" is gone. From this point on, it's simply tightening a pre-measured amount into it. The bearings will expand a tad so, I usually give them around 10-20 lbs.

Scott

[Frutza]

Look at your spindles closely, just replaced my seals there was a little spot of rust on the bottom side right were the seal rides and I also just cleaned with brake cleaner, no problem, Oh, my 3/4" IR impact took the lug nuts right off

[Mr_D]

I have a double hammer ½" air wrench. It will go to 650 ft lbs, in fact they warned me to be careful with it as they weren't responsible for broken bolts. I also have a torque multiplier that give me 500 ft lbs with 156 ft lbs on the torque wrench so no problems.

As to lifting the front of the unit with the jacks:
The rams are 12,000#'s each and we have four = 48,000#'s
Rig weighs 32,000, with 13,000 on the front
24,000 - 13,000 = 11,000#'s left on the front jacks
HWH says no problem lifting and leaving the front end off the ground for long periods (6 months or so)
Spartan says no problem
Newmar says no problem
Reyco-Granning says no problem

So, if I need to I do.

[Dutch Star Don]

"FIRE UP".....Only a fireman would have a table and parts that clean, all laid out in a row!

[FIRE UP]

Originally Posted by Dutch Star Don

"FIRE UP".....Only a fireman would have a table and parts that clean, all laid out in a row!

Don,
I surely thank you for the nice comments. It's kind-a funny in a way. When I was about "10", my father, also a fireman, was away at work. The lawn mower we had was old and rick-ady, and, was smoking etc. Well, I took it upon myself to "rebuild" it, AT THAT AGE! I had no idea what the heck I was doing. But, I grabbed the old worn out wrenches, and tools we had and went to work, tearing this old mower apart.

Well, long story short, I had no idea of how to rebuild an engine so, I just put it back together. But, the point is, I did the same exact thing, layed all the parts out, on an old worn, work bench in a dingy dark lighted shed. If I didn't lay them out, I'd have never figured out how to put it all back together.

As it were, the little mower would not start when I was finished. I was devastated and, I was positive that my dad, when he got home in the morning, would tear off his belt and go to town on me for messing with it. I wanted to surprise him with nice looking, ( I painted many of the parts while it was apart) all re-done, lawn mower. Well, I called my neighbor, a very nice guy over and he found the problem.

I had pinched the condenser wire when putting the cap back on the points area. NO SPARK! Well, he corrected that and little old mower, fired right up first pull. Wow! Was I happy or what.

But, the moral of the story is/was, I've always been a bit anal in terms of clean, well orgainized working conditions. It helps me think clearly which, is not all that easy for me.
Scott

[bruceisla]

Originally Posted by FIRE UP

Don,


But, the moral of the story is/was, I've always been a bit anal in terms of clean, well organized working conditions. It helps me think clearly which, is not all that easy for me.
Scott

I did that for years with pieces of cardboard neatly labeled .... now Digital Pics and Macro Mode ... woohoo

[Bigd9]

When we first bought our coach, the previous owner had just replaced the front oil seals and shoes "professionally" so he knew "they were done right". The bill shows almost $1,300 for the job. I bent under the coach and took a look and informed him both were leaking! He had only driven it about 500 miles since the reseal job. He called the repair shop up to see if they would make good on the job only to find out the shop had gone out of business! He adjusted the asking price and I brought the coach home and did the job myself for $75. That was 8,000 miles ago.

[FIRE UP]

Originally Posted by Bigd9

When we first bought our coach, the previous owner had just replaced the front oil seals and shoes "professionally" so he knew "they were done right". The bill shows almost $1,300 for the job. I bent under the coach and took a look and informed him both were leaking! He had only driven it about 500 miles since the reseal job. He called the repair shop up to see if they would make good on the job only to find out the shop had gone out of business! He adjusted the asking price and I brought the coach home and did the job myself for $75. That was 8,000 miles ago.

Bigd9,
It just kind-a goes to show you, not all "Professionals" are professionals. It's sometimes hard to get one what will be competent and honest. At least without charging an arm and a leg. Word of mouth is predominantly known as the best advertising when it comes to competent Technicians (Old school known as Mechanics). And, like you did, it's always nice to save a few bucks when doing things yourself. Having the right tools and, at least some form of training or, advanced capabilities in repair of such things is nice too. Nice job.
Scott

[mchero]

Like Fireup I have done both front and back on my 93 Pace Arrow Diesel pusher. I also replaced BOTH front shoes/seals on my 07 Discovery.

If the shoes get soaked, replace them. Also, Be REAL NICE to the freightliner parts guys. You can get some fantastic pricing!

If I recall I believe I paid about $120 for new front seals/shoes. I'll be checking the preload on those bearings next spring. No leaks after 4 months!

[copper58]

Man, you guys are great! Thanks for all the information, pics and words of encouragement. Always wanted a torque multiplier! The seal job looks fairly easy and we have a spate of good weather coming up here in the middle of the winter in the Rockies. Prolly do it over the Xmas holidays.
Thanks again for the help. This site is the fantastic!

[Old Scout]

A 4ft piece of pipe and a 3/4 socket/drive are pretty cheap....Get the deep well socket so you can "eventually" to both front and back axles. I use a piece of 2x6 with holes drilled at varied locations to support the socket extension--200lbs at 2.5 ft equals 500 ft/lbs......

[mchero]

Originally Posted by Old Scout

A 4ft piece of pipe and a 3/4 socket/drive are pretty cheap....Get the deep well socket so you can "eventually" to both front and back axles. I use a piece of 2x6 with holes drilled at varied locations to support the socket extension--200lbs at 2.5 ft equals 500 ft/lbs......

I'll stick with my torque multiplier. That & the tire dolly where two GREAT purchases! Sooooo much easier!