New tires and other surprises

Topic: New tires and other surprises (Read 5048 times) previous topic - next topic

Re: New tires and other surprises

Reply #125 – August 01, 2022, 12:03:12 pm

A retired Canadian GM rear end specialist took me to school on setting up rear ends. The sleeve is a crush sleeve and torque on new bearings is more than if you are reinstalling the same bearings. The preload on the bearings was more than I expected but when everything is up to temp, it's fine. He would then use a brush to put a lead paste on the ring and pinon, use a wrench to rotate back and forth to see the pattern on the gears. They never made a sound after he was done.

For more precise torquing, they make crush sleeve eliminators available here: https://www.summitracing.com/search/part-type/differential-pinion-bearing-spacers-and-sleeves/product-line/yukon-gear-axle-crush-sleeve-eliminator-kits Not sure what Meritor uses.

We would pick up a new car at the factory in Sindelfingen with the delivery office telling us that we could max out the speed on the way to the ship in Bremen or Emden but we should stop a couple of times so the rear end (third member) could cool a little.

Pierce

Re: New tires and other surprises

Reply #126 – August 04, 2022, 09:33:56 am

Slow progress but progress nonetheless. Just was going to replace the pads and the pins on the driver's rear but after pulling everything it wasn't moving freely. That's the piston I mean. So took off the caliper rebuilt it, since I had the parts anyway, and today. Hopefully if the rain cooperates I will put it back on and button the whole thing up after topping off the gear oil in the transaxle and looping the brakes and chassis. This has been a rough job, not for the faint of heart. Nor could I have done it by myself. Maybe if I had one inch air impact tools I could have. But, the hardest part so far really has been breaking the lug nuts that the previous mechanic over torqued with an air gun. But we may be old guys. Guys but we're smart guys, at least in getting the lug nuts off.
Once again the little tool I made out of a harbor freight tool for compressing a car disc brake shown through. For some reason we had to modify the little bit to work on the second caliper, but still it did the job. It's always a satisfying feeling when you accomplish something like that, even if it's something little like bending a little piece of metal.

Recommendations for anyone wanting to try this. First of all, make sure you get your part numbers correct.
Second, make sure you have the tool to take off the preload and jam nut in the axle.
Third, make sure you have the tool that compresses the piston in order to get the snap ring out.
Fourth is a special tool for installing the dust boot around the piston. We used a piece of wood in a small hammer that worked.
Four, make sure you have the correct, grease. And lots of cans of brake cleaner, rags and things to clean. All the grease off. Doesn't look like anybody ever wiped the spill off over the years so there was years of caked on Grease on both the slack adapter and the end of the cam.
Other than that give yourself plenty of time. It will take a lot longer, As it usually does.
Fifth call a friend. There will be times when you'll be scratching. Your head and another person's input will be welcome.

Some lessons learned was don't lose the bead on the tire like we did. To say it was difficult was an understatement. But in the end it was actually really easy. We tried straps around the tire and holding it in place, etc. What finally fixed it was. I lifted the jack another quarter inch to a half inch and even though we thought the tire was completely off the ground, it was still hitting something. Once it was completely free of the ground, my forehead on the top of the tire in my hands on the bottom and it sealed. Actually called my progressive roadside assistance to see if they come help out on that one cuz we're getting pretty frustrated. They never really got back to me with the ETA after 20 minutes so I decided to do it again myself in. Voila! It worked.
Have plenty of water on hand. I think I've lost 5 or 10 lb. Just some water weight.
Make sure you have the right Jack, mine is 20 tons as well as jack stands that will hold 20 to 25 tons. And of course don't work under the vehicle with just a jack.

Maybe David could chime in and fill in things that I can't really remember... But that seems to be about the gist of it right now.

Re: New tires and other surprises

Reply #127 – August 04, 2022, 10:53:12 am

WE put the 600lb. torque wrench on the lug nuts,nothing but a click,had to use 2 long pipes and a breaker bar.

Re: New tires and other surprises

Reply #128 – August 04, 2022, 10:58:03 am

Curious on why the tire got deflated? Looks like your working thru it. 👍👍

Re: New tires and other surprises

Reply #129 – August 04, 2022, 11:10:37 am

He has the Crossfire system sharing air on the rear tires,did'nt know it would deflate,you have to take the lug nuts off and then
disconnect the crossfire,the outer tire has to partially come off to get to the inner tire to remove the braided hose,then you don't lose air.

Re: New tires and other surprises

Reply #130 – August 04, 2022, 11:18:08 am

Quote from: John44 – August 04, 2022, 11:10:37 am

He has the Crossfire system sharing air on the rear tires,did'nt know it would deflate,you have to take the lug nuts off and then
disconnect the crossfire,the outer tire has to partially come off to get to the inner tire to remove the braided hose,then you don't lose air.

Thought that was one of the safety features that you could disconnect one tire and not have the other one go flat. Good to know

Re: New tires and other surprises

Reply #131 – August 04, 2022, 11:21:10 am

If you have a come-along you can wrap it around the middle of the tire and when tightening it
will help the bead seal.

Re: New tires and other surprises

Reply #132 – August 04, 2022, 11:38:20 am

We did that.

Re: New tires and other surprises

Reply #133 – August 04, 2022, 11:56:23 am

Actually laughing out loud. On the last of five tires. It's the spare I probably will never use and will have to block and tackle to mount back on tire mount. Actually think they may be the worst tires I've ever tried to mount. I feel your pain. And no A come along Doesn't seem to help spread them I tried several times. Got a project for today but got to be done. 40 inch race tires needing to spread bead 4 inches to seal. Another couple inches to set bead

Re: New tires and other surprises

Reply #134 – August 04, 2022, 12:25:53 pm

Beads blaster is the way to go when you can't get the tire bead to seat. We used these in all of my truck shops and considered it a must have tool. Several brands but this an example.
Ironton 5-Gallon Tire Bead Seater — 90 to 120 PSI | Northern Tool

Re: New tires and other surprises

Reply #135 – August 04, 2022, 12:30:09 pm

Quote from: dsd – August 04, 2022, 11:56:23 am

Actually laughing out loud. On the last of five tires. It's the spare I probably will never use and will have to block and tackle to mount back on tire mount. Actually think they may be the worst tires I've ever tried to mount. I feel your pain. And no A come along Doesn't seem to help spread them I tried several times. Got a project for today but got to be done. 40 inch race tires needing to spread bead 4 inches to seal. Another couple inches to set bead

Fire has always worked for me but must be done correctly and carefully

Re: New tires and other surprises

Reply #136 – August 04, 2022, 12:36:51 pm

So when I mounted the first four had my low boy trailer and adjusted to hold rim against inside tire and shot with 3gallom blaster. Had to get the tire angle just right to allow heavy sidewall to flex out while applying external air to stem. I think I averaged about one in six attempts if the stars aligned. Have to move trailer out to reattempt. Tired getting whooped on by big tires today from a couple days ago.

Re: New tires and other surprises

Reply #137 – August 04, 2022, 12:37:52 pm

Quote from: NevadaBornRvR – August 04, 2022, 12:30:09 pm

Fire has always worked for me but must be done correctly and carefully

All my either is bang proof. Need to go get some hairspray

Re: New tires and other surprises

Reply #138 – August 04, 2022, 01:05:29 pm

Quote from: dsd – August 04, 2022, 12:36:51 pm

So when I mounted the first four had my low boy trailer and adjusted to hold rim against inside tire and shot with 3gallom blaster. Had to get the tire angle just right to allow heavy sidewall to flex out while applying external air to stem. I think I averaged about one in six attempts if the stars aligned. Have to move trailer out to reattempt. Tired getting whooped on by big tires today from a couple days ago.

And its muggy..

Re: New tires and other surprises

Reply #139 – August 04, 2022, 01:13:47 pm

What works better than the come-along is a bandit machine but none of us would have one
at home. I've heard of a bead blaster but never have seen one.

Re: New tires and other surprises

Reply #140 – August 04, 2022, 03:10:21 pm

Quote from: dsd – August 04, 2022, 12:37:52 pm

All my either is bang proof. Need to go get some hairspray

bang proof?

Re: New tires and other surprises

Reply #141 – August 04, 2022, 06:48:20 pm

Quote from: TGordon – August 04, 2022, 03:10:21 pm

bang proof?

So one used to be able to use a shot of ether inside the tire, ignite it and it would for a moment expand enough to add air and inflate. Also used to use aqua net extra strength hair spray. All my new Ether and the new aqua net does not go pop. It just burns. Safer world we live in. Neighbor came over and balanced tire and rim and we were able to use the air can (bead blaster) and get it to expand enough to inflate. Tire is done

Re: New tires and other surprises

Reply #142 – August 04, 2022, 07:06:29 pm

Yes I watched videos on that fire method and thought no. Thanks. Not for me. Really. I just got lucky but I'll take luck.

Got the caliper on the lower bosses and as I went to push it up the pads were hitting the rotor by just a little. We got it aligned and it went in halfway and then stopped. Course. You cannot compress the piston because it's attached to the cam and the nut and those things are incompressible except for maybe javelin missile. Not sure exactly what was going on but since the break components that meritor sent me some things were out of whack. Why not the brake shoes too? For one thing, I had to take a few thousands of an inch off the end of the Outer brake pad, cuz it wouldn't fit in the slot. For those that you have not changed brake pads on these beasts, the pads fit in a slot on the caliper and then you push them either inboard or outboard. There's an anti-rattle spring that fits inside the caliper. So the actual pad was a little too long to fit past even with the spring compressed, but the springs were a little too short and they wanted to keep trying to go on the outside of the caliper. The trick is is you fitted in the slot, you push down on one side and you slide it either inboard or outboard. The pads are different thicknesses depending on your coach and rotor. They came from the exact same box as the other pads which fit on the new rotor just fine. But on the old rotor they would not go in easily. I did not want to take the caliper apart again because I'm pretty sure that I built it properly, so at that point I decided to hammer it on. We sprayed a little WD-40 on the brake pads and used a large hammer on the back side of the caliper to get it in place. Where I then put the new pin in with the helper spring. Then I put the slack adjuster on which was also difficult because it didn't want to line up properly with the can with the new brake shoes. But I got that eventually after hitting my head multiple times on the shock absorber mount and the transmission... Next I got the lower pin in no problem. I used corrosion x as a lubricant and of course new slide pins and hardware. So it's all on. Tomorrow. I'll put the tires back on fill the axle back up. And finish lubricating the slack adjuster. I'm also going to lube the drive shaft while I'm at it and anything else. It looks like it has a grease zerk on it.

And after that I'm just going to back it up and forward and back it up and forward until some of that material comes off the brake pads. Really don't have any other idea what to do on it. I do have extra pads for the front and but I don't think it would be easy to get that caliper off again without damaging the pads that I have on there. Luckily hammering it on did not damage the pads.
So originally they quoted me $8,000 to do this work but that was to replace the driver side caliper with a new rotor on the passenger side and new brake pads. I'm not sure what they would have charged me to rebuild both calipers and do what we just did but I suspect maybe more than 8,000? I don't know. What I do know is if my wheel doesn't fall off when I'm driving down the road and the coach continues to stop when I tell it to then it'll all be worth it.
No pictures today My phone was in Coach as it was raining.... And I think I cracked my screen or my screensaver haven't looked yet to be sure on my pixel 6 pro getting underneath there and having it in my pocket. So no pictures.

Re: New tires and other surprises

Reply #143 – August 04, 2022, 07:57:06 pm

Are you sure you didnt get the pads backwards.. and what did you put wd40 on?

Re: New tires and other surprises

Reply #144 – August 04, 2022, 08:17:20 pm

Pads are the same number as the old ones and only go in one way.

Re: New tires and other surprises

Reply #145 – August 04, 2022, 08:48:41 pm

Can you turn that wheel by hand? If you can't then that rotor and pads are going to get very hot. You should not have to pound that back together. I hate to see you burn up that rotor and also damage the caliper. I would definitely take that caliper back off find out why the piston will not retract enough to let it slip on the rotor. I think as it is it will get very costly to try and drive it to loosen up the pads against the rotor.

Re: New tires and other surprises

Reply #146 – August 04, 2022, 08:50:51 pm

) I replaced the pads on mine a couple of years ago, I had to file 2 of the pads to get them to slide in the caliper. Only slightly to remove punch burrs. But you shouldn't need a hammer to get things back together.

Re: New tires and other surprises

Reply #147 – August 05, 2022, 08:43:47 am

We are using the Meritor ADB maintenance manual 4M,looking for a way to retrack the caliper to it's widest point so it fits over the
rotor.

Re: New tires and other surprises

Reply #148 – August 05, 2022, 09:04:04 am

Quote from: John44 – August 05, 2022, 08:43:47 am

We are using the Meritor ADB maintenance manual 4M,looking for a way to retrack the caliper to it's widest point so it fits over the
rotor.

That would be the purging of the excess grease from the slack adjuster section of the manual.

Re: New tires and other surprises

Reply #149 – August 05, 2022, 11:20:02 am

Cant you remove the zert fitting then back it off with a C clamp? ... When I worked on mine I think the pads were very tight but fit. It was last year and had help so I watched a little more than helped

Affiliate Notice