Red Head Blueprint Rebuilt Steering Gear

Topic: Red Head Blueprint Rebuilt Steering Gear (Read 3333 times) previous topic - next topic

Re: Red Head Blueprint Rebuilt Steering Gear

Reply #25 – March 07, 2018, 02:29:22 pm

Quote from: jor – March 07, 2018, 02:26:23 pm

Here's a photo of what John is referring to. This is from my 97 270 with the radiator removed.
jor

Anyone have a pic of the tool needed? I know there are different types

Re: Red Head Blueprint Rebuilt Steering Gear

Reply #26 – March 07, 2018, 05:07:14 pm

Quote from: DavidS – March 07, 2018, 02:29:22 pm

Anyone have a pic of the tool needed? I know there are different types

Here is one I found that should work I guess but there may be other styles

M100 Pitman Arm Puller

Re: Red Head Blueprint Rebuilt Steering Gear

Reply #27 – March 07, 2018, 05:25:53 pm

I have the puller and the socket to remove the nut.
I lend it to any forum member.
If you want to borrow it send me a email, I will mail it to you, send it back when your done.

Re: Red Head Blueprint Rebuilt Steering Gear

Reply #28 – March 07, 2018, 06:50:12 pm

On the 96' U320 the radiator is remote mounted on the outboard of the steering box. It's a tight squeeze between the Pittman arm and the generator side wall---- that's why I let MOT do the swap out.

Re: Red Head Blueprint Rebuilt Steering Gear

Reply #29 – March 07, 2018, 09:35:43 pm

My steering box is back in. After watching this process I am glad I didn't try this myself. There are really a lot more steps than you might think and most of them are in places I would rather not go.

You need to pull out the generator, remove the blower and radiator for the generator from the front driver's side bay. Our radiator was on the back wall with the blower next to it. Other years have different configurations. Beau said this was one of the easier ones. The steering box is bolted to a big steel plate on the inside of the bay. To get the pitman arm off the steering box shaft you need to remove a side panel from the generator box or cut a big hole, get a big pitman arm puller and pull it off. Then hold the box up with a floor jack to disconnect the steering wheel shaft and the remaining bolts. And then deal with more than 100 lbs of a dirty, oily hard to manage steering gear that has been leaking for some time. Not a task for a recently rebuilt shoulder.

Pull the generator, drain coolant, pull radiator and blower.

Here is the box in a box sent for rebuild and returned in the box.

I was really lucky that Rudy Legett was coming here to do an AH service on the coach next to us so he volunteered to haul the box back to Chalk Truck in Houston. It turned out that the AH service needed more time to replace a control board so he brought it back as well. Chalk did the rebuilt in less than a day. A giant thank you to my good friend Rudy. He is the poster guy for being as selflessly helpful as one could hope for.

__________

And the box that was inside the box, all rebuilt, cleaned up.

And the box in place up against the inside wall of the bay waiting for bolts.

Almost everything else happens out of sight. Beau was squirming aroung under the coach with horribly outsized tools. The Pitman arm is put back on, the steering coupling is attached to the box and to the steering column. The side panel to the generator space is replaced. The hydraulic lines are reconnected The generator coolant lines, radiator and blower are reinstalled.

All new coolant was used for the generator, bleed the air out of the generator cooling system. We ran the generator to make sure there were no air pockets and no leaks.

We added oil back to the hydraulic system, started the engine and checked for leaks. Turned the wheels all the way to the left, made some measurements, all the way to the right, made some more measurements. We were not hitting the hard stops and turning an equal amount in the each direction. Then we aligned the wheels to straight ahead, again making measurements and made some adjustments to the drag link (I think that is what it was called) to adjust the steering wheel a bit to straight ahead.

Cleaned up, shared the contents of the swag box from Chalk Truck Parts with everyone (coffee cups, note pads, bottle openers, can kozies) exchanged paper and we were done. Beau is going to come back when we leave to make sure steering wheel alignment is true. It will be close and any adjustment seems easy.

All in it was a bit more $ than I thought it would be but far less than the cost reports I have heard from this being done at FOT or MOT. Beau knows his stuff and seems to have a pretty organized work process. I will ask him to do more when we need it.

Roger

Re: Red Head Blueprint Rebuilt Steering Gear

Reply #30 – March 07, 2018, 09:49:07 pm

Great write up and pictures Roger, my setup is a bit different than yours as I only have a 8KW gen

Thanks

Re: Red Head Blueprint Rebuilt Steering Gear

Reply #31 – March 07, 2018, 09:54:26 pm

Nice job Roger! Did you clean and paint the parts that you removed before reinstalling?

Re: Red Head Blueprint Rebuilt Steering Gear

Reply #32 – March 07, 2018, 10:44:00 pm

Geeeze, There was not much time to scrape, prime and paint stuff. I cleaned up as much as I could, there was a bit of a mess in the pan in the bay. When we get back to Hastings I am going to pull the gen out and do the prep and paint on the rusty bits in there. I want to pull the windshield washer jug, clean it up and wire in a second pump or a bigger pump. When it is time to clean the windows it just dribbles. I want squirt! Time available, I would have pressure washed the whole bay.

Re: Red Head Blueprint Rebuilt Steering Gear

Reply #33 – March 08, 2018, 12:12:19 am

Roger my replacement wiper arms have a two squirt hole per side nozxle end mounted on the arm

Re: Red Head Blueprint Rebuilt Steering Gear

Reply #34 – March 08, 2018, 01:41:26 am

My wiper squirrels just dribbled also, so I took them off along with the tubing and soaked them in CLR for a few hours and cleaned out the orffics with s/s wire. Worked much better after that

Re: Red Head Blueprint Rebuilt Steering Gear

Reply #35 – March 08, 2018, 02:00:33 am

Yours is pretty Roger, but there's just something special about a REDHEAD!

Re: Red Head Blueprint Rebuilt Steering Gear

Reply #36 – March 08, 2018, 11:31:47 am

To make more room in the streetside front bay, we moved windshield washer jar to front side of same wall it was mounted on. Now it sits in the empty space between front cap and bay compartment forward wall. I think we even used the same mounting holes, just reversed the setup.

Re: Red Head Blueprint Rebuilt Steering Gear

Reply #37 – March 19, 2018, 08:57:32 pm

I'm shipping a box off to Redhead. $495 was the quote plus shipping (~$70 each way).

Re: Red Head Blueprint Rebuilt Steering Gear

Reply #38 – March 19, 2018, 09:11:02 pm

Quote from: krush – March 19, 2018, 08:57:32 pm

I'm shipping a box off to Redhead. $495 was the quote plus shipping (~$70 each way).

Thanks for the current info krush.

Re: Red Head Blueprint Rebuilt Steering Gear

Reply #39 – March 19, 2018, 09:43:56 pm

That is just what they quoted for me too.

I drove mine today for a couple hundred miles, no leaks, feels right.

Re: Red Head Blueprint Rebuilt Steering Gear

Reply #40 – March 19, 2018, 09:50:02 pm

Quote from: Roger & Susan in Home2 – March 19, 2018, 09:43:56 pm

That is just what they quoted for me too.

I drove mine today for a couple hundred miles, no leaks, feels right.

You mean you can keep it between the lines now?

Re: Red Head Blueprint Rebuilt Steering Gear

Reply #41 – March 19, 2018, 10:16:42 pm

I could before, it doesn't drive differently that it did before. It was just leaking. At some point an alignment might be a good idea, just 87K miles. Shocks some day too.

Re: Red Head Blueprint Rebuilt Steering Gear

Reply #42 – March 19, 2018, 10:21:49 pm

mine has 141K and it likes to wander all over but I checked the tires the other day and the fronts are at 105 and 110 so I know they are over pressured.

I did find a place close that has scales but it is just by axle, so in a week or so I will go over and fill it up and see what the pressure should be but I imagine it should be around 85. I will see how it handles after I set the correct pressure.

Re: Red Head Blueprint Rebuilt Steering Gear

Reply #43 – March 20, 2018, 12:10:15 pm

Ours was weighed on all four corners with 50% fluids. With the Michelin 255/80R 22.5 tires, she gets 85 all around.

Re: Red Head Blueprint Rebuilt Steering Gear

Reply #44 – March 20, 2018, 12:19:27 pm

Thanks Mike, I have a new set of Uniroyal's. Next week I will have all my water system parts so I can fill it with water then before I weight it at TA I will fill it with fuel, I will probably only carry about 1000 lbs of stuff so my best guess it will come close to 85 psi, the sticker says 87 psi.

Re: Red Head Blueprint Rebuilt Steering Gear

Reply #45 – March 20, 2018, 12:36:33 pm

You'll be blown away how much the liquids weigh. The fact of so many people switching batteries & propane tanks around without re-weighing amazes me. Oh well.

Re: Red Head Blueprint Rebuilt Steering Gear

Reply #46 – June 10, 2018, 01:36:42 pm

Bump!!!

I think I will take my box out next weekend and send it off to Red Head.. Anyone have the procedure to check the stops( I think thats what its called) after or before install? Is there a way to mark it before hand? Or any ideas? thanks

Re: Red Head Blueprint Rebuilt Steering Gear

Reply #47 – June 10, 2018, 01:40:37 pm

To verify where the stops are currently (doesn't necessarily mean they are set correctly):

Screw each screw out until flush, counting and recording the number of turns.

Guess you could also screw them all the way in, but would need to be careful to NOT harm the seats.

Then, after installation, check and adjust the cut angle AND mechanical stops on the steering knuckles. Remember, you need a gap between mechanical stop and the limit determined by the steering box adjustments.

Re: Red Head Blueprint Rebuilt Steering Gear

Reply #48 – June 10, 2018, 04:09:28 pm

You can download the owners manual from Sheppard, the instructions are in the manual.

Re: Red Head Blueprint Rebuilt Steering Gear

Reply #49 – June 10, 2018, 04:14:51 pm

Here are the instructions for the manual stops

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