I know , they are all important without a doubt . But----that fitting on that hydraulic pump on the side of the transmission is the cat bird one for me . I have this lingering memory of being on I-10 in Arizona a couple of years back so , ----I do not want a repeat performance of that night mare . A grease gun and eight or so shots of the good stuff allow me to sleep more " betterly ." If only I could get a zerk fitting for my shoulder hmm . ;D ;D ;D Brad Metzger
Brad, I suspect is talking about a transmission PTO drive for the hydraulic pump. Not found on earlier coaches.
Easy to tell-- locate your hydraulic canister (large black can with dip stick). Trace the line from it to the hydraulic pump. If it is mounted on the side of the transmission, Brad's comment is spot on.
With the PTO mounted hydraulic pump there are two "fixes" for lubing the splines: "Wet Kit" which uses transmission fluid to lube OR remove the pump and grease it (remove old grease, coat with new). Adding a zirk MAY work, but no idea how you would replace old grease with new. Is there an "escape" for the old grease (think lubing U joint)?
"Earlier"...... Is that us? ^.^d
The old grease is pushed out thru a weep type hole . There is a fairly large amount of miss information about this whole thing . Other coach builders with this set up-did the correct thing by using the transmission oil to lube the PTO . But Foretravel said it can't be done on Foretravel coaches which is not true . That was a way out of spending less $$$ to do it right . Their cheep fix is the zerk grease fittings and that is what Wayne did . It has been stated that you need to clean out the old grease , well not so . The new grease pushes the old out . Results are , you can not over grease . I give mine eight shots every cross country round trip . ::) Brad Metzger
Brad can you extend the line? If the zerk isn't on a part that rotates, or moves alot, extension kits are simple and cheap. Mount the zerk fittings at a easy to reach location and pump away.
Yes, I'm sure you could extend it , but , no need . When your under the coach checking the differential and greasing the U-joints , it is not a problem to get to it . Just getting under there is problem enough for me , but you got to do what you go to do and I plan to keep on doing it till they close that squeaky lid . ??? Brad Metzger
Brad,
I will go with your analysis (no need to clean out old grease)-- I trust your knowledge/tech skills.
As you said, Foretravel took a totally unique approach to this, so not much long-term feedback on it. Certainly cheaper than the wet kit OR pulling and regreasing.
Mike,
As stated, if you hydraulic pump is engine mounted (as it is), NOT transmission mounted, this discussion does not apply to your coach.
As general information, all Allison 3000 and 4000 transmissions have TWO block off plates (one on each side) that can be removed so the transmission can be used for driving PTO's.
When I had both my shoulders replaced... tried to talk the surgeon into installing zerks...no dice he said...
What years have grease fitting and which ones don't? How often should pump be pulled and lubed without grease fitting? Do you use a high pressure grease?
What kind of grease? Suspect a really high moly like you would use on motorcycle shaft splines? Or is chassis grease sufficient?
Chuck, the tube says shaft spline grease on it, couldn't find it at NAPA and had to order it. Here's picture of where the zerk is located (grease gun attached with grease gun body laying in battery tray). I had the right tag removed and the batteries out and this is looking from where the rear of the right hand side tag would be. The batteries lay in the tray in the foreground and would be in the way if they were in there. It pretty easy to get to from underneath as well.