Eagles International Forum

Bill,

Do you have a date on when you will let Sonnie give it back to you? I'm sure you are excited at all that has been accomplished. I wonder what Sonnie will do with all of his time after you pick it up!

Sonnie is working on getting the bay doors on Sadie and putting the wheels and tires on he is getting anxious to go for a ride and Don Smith is wanting his bus in that spot but old Doyle is there now for some TLC on his engine lol

Sonnie is getting to be like doctor has a waiting list and I have another Eagle lined up for him to install a Cat in for what ever reason seems like I am stuck with the GM's I haven't figured that one out yet lol

Clifford

I had originally told Sonnie I needed the bus back for the Nashville rally . I have just informed him yesterday to go ahead and keep it because we've decided that we wanted to strip out the interior and install slides .

I plan to keep Sonnie busy for the next two years . We have now agreed on a date of November 27th 2014 . I'm thinking we will have our new eight bay, fully operational Eagle's Fabrication and Restoration shop up and running by then . Clifford will have to pay a little more due to the upcharge for working on GM'S .

Seriously, I think we have a date for sometime around the 6th of June. Sonnie and I talked a few days ago. He won't be able to finish Sadie up in time for Nashville. I told him many times before, not to rush. I want it right and I promised not to rush him. I think he's just as anxious as I am!!!
--
Bill

On April 10th, Sonnie sent me pictures of the new dash. He’s getting closer by the day!!! All that’s left now is siding, windows, doors, and landscape !!!


...before


...and


...after

All I can say is Wow!

On April 15th, Sonnie sent me pictures of the café door. I guess that’s one down and several more to go .


..."GIT-ER DONE"


...this guy does excellent work!!!


...that's better than ever!!!

I’m playing catch up with the thread. Sonnie left a message for me to call him last night. When I called him back, he said, “I just sent you an email saying Sadie’s alive.” I had to confiscate my brother’s computer to access my email. It was all I could do to get the pictures downloaded. I’m wishing I was there for sure now. He said he backed her out and took pictures for me. All I can say is WOW!!!


"Backing outta my re-birth canal...this is my new beginning!!!"


"...man does it feel good to get outside and stretch "

Every day is a day closer for her to come home. I see her front end is all buttoned up nice and tight. The breast plate looks beautiful. Dee couldn’t say anything when I showed her the pictures…her mouth was just open.

We both love every bit of what has been done thus far. The rear of the coach looks gorgeous. Dee said she look like a different coach all together. I say she look a heck of a lot better, but she still look the same. I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree!!!


...The Breast Plate is looking sooo purdy!!!


...Man...look at those Pipes!!!

Now Sonnie, please don’t get upset but…
I think I might need an automatic fire extinguisher to mount in the back for the pipes !!! I can’t tell but it looks to me like they are going to scrub the asphalt. I know I don’t need the state departments fine me for leaving my mark!!!
--
Bill

Wanna front air bag setup to get into that driveway?
1. Build a beam to traverse the main front frame member

2. Attach a top and bottom plate to the beam and top steer knuckle

3. Insert a air bag and gauge the full travel distance


Aw heck!!! Just have Sonnie do it!

dg

I don't want to hijack the thread, but here it goes. I have been trying to figure out how to mount a shock absorber in that same place to help the porpoising of the front end.

Wayne

Jim you can move this to tech if you like I am not smart enough.

Well it’s been quite a while since I’ve given an update on Sadie. She’s running stronger than ever however, the transmission that was married to the ISX will not shift in auto mode. It is a Meritor ZF Freedomline 12 speed automatic unit.
The problem I’m having is this: the donor vehicle that this power plant came from had ABS. The transmission has an ABS “checks and balance” program in it that can’t be turned off or bypassed so I’m being told. Because I don’t have ABS on my coach, it will not shift in auto mode. I have talked to several people at different shops and online ABS forums that state the program in the transmission checks for speed sensor (tail shaft sensor), steer axle sensor(s), and drive axle sensor(s). The ABS module is in place, and Sonny told me that the light is on when he plugged it in so I’m thinking it’s looking for the wheel sensors that I don’t have.
I have looked at removing this transmission and replacing it with a B500 or HD4060 as a last resort. I have had Sonny to install a new clutch and fork kit for this unit therefore, I’d like to keep it and not blow more money by replacing it. I crunched some numbers and came up with trying to add ABS to the coach would be about $2300 less than R & R the transmission altogether.
To “all” of the talented folks we have on this forum, can someone please help me to get this figured out? I have always said “CANT” went away back in the early 70s.

Hi William

What a bummer! I did a bit of looking and found the following interesting information:

The Freedomline transmission, from ZF-Meritor, first appeared in Peterbuilt 387's in 2001, and in T2000's and Volvo's in 2002. It a 2-pedal transmission with an air actuated clutch with a separate air tank. It is available in a 12-speed and handles up to 1650 lb-ft of torque. It has an aluminum transmission case, so it is lighter than the other automated transmissions. The shift console is typically mounted to the driver's seat and can swing up. The Freedomline will "skip shift" on its own - that is, if it detects a light load it will skip gears when upshifting. ZF-Meritor got into a series of lawsuits with Eaton and no longer sells transmissions in the United States market. If you are looking at a truck with a Freedomline consider that in the future it MAY be the case that knowledgeable service technicians and parts will be less available for a transmission that is no longer imported. Given an equal truck I'd probably not choose the Freedomline.

Since they no longer sell in the US, that will make getting technical information even tougher.

I have to wonder out loud if a person could set up a frequency generator to simulate the ABS sensors? It sounds like there are four wheel speed sensors. Can you locate them in the bundle? We would need to know if the transmission is only checking to see if all the wheels are going the same speed or if they are the correct ratio for the transmission pulse output. Next question would be: is the transmission looking for a pulse count (most likely) or a voltage?

As I think about it, I think a person (not me, but a good electronic designer) could design a fairly simple circuit to take the pulse output from the transmission, and convert it to a wheel speed pulse frequency.

Jim