Eagles International Forum

Wow Manny, that is realy nice. I don't know if I can get a tire up front on ours or not ( just bought our rig two months ago ). Someone has sprayed the underside of the front with undercoating and at a glance I can't tell how to get it open. I guess I will have to wait till spring to get up under there with a scraper and see whats what.
Have a very merry Christmas!

Nice Job Manny, I don't think that is a little job. I would take me weeks to make mine look that good.

Wayne

Oh gee... I feel like I am in the know ... as I have helped Tony more than once hoist the friggin spare tire in that space.

If you meet up with us along the way you will have to have Tony tell you about the time the spare tire compartment door blew off! Thank the good Lord that no one was behind him.

Pam

Post # 37 Engine Swap (Hallelujah!!!)

This project has been a LONG time coming!
I tried to avoid this project...bought our Eagle with the impression that our engine had been rebuilt...well, live and learn. When you are new to this bus world, it's easy to get stung. Even though I tried to do my homework since the bus didn't come with previous maintenance records, and we had our bus checked out before we bought it, it became apparent that it, in fact, was NOT rebuilt. It's kind of been a thorn in my side since we got this Eagle back in '06, always trying to clean it up and help it run better, but it was still smoking, and leaking and the nail came when it started burning oil faster than I could put it in. I tried replacing the blower last year, and that helped some, but not enough. Going on a trip was not enjoyable and neither were the remarks and gestures in regard to the smoke that was always billowing out of the exhausts.

I met up with Eric Brown at the Arcadia Rally. I saw his beautiful Eagle and we started talking. He mentioned that he was planning to put in a Series 60 in his bus, so of course I asked if he'd be selling his, which he WAS, and the rest is history...

We've become good friends and he was nice enough to allow me to do this swap right there at his place, so that's what we did, right after the Myrtle Beach Eagle Rally (April 2011). Just wished we lived closer so I could help him now with his swap.

The day my wife & I arrived Gary Labombard showed up shortly after we did. He had heard about the swap and came to offer his assistance. Can't believe how hard he worked. Think I might still be there if it weren't for Gary. What a guy! What a friend!!!

I can't believe I decided to try and tackle this project by myself (with good friends). I learned so much! I feel more confident in doing other projects on my Eagle now (although I'm not in any hurry, ha ha). If you had told me when I first got my Eagle that I would be doing a project like this I would have told you you were crazy, but, it wasn't really that hard to do. The worst part was the grease and oil, lol. That's why I was wearing that surgical outfit (which I had from some jobs I had done for one of our customers (a medical facility). I often need to suit up when I work in this facility, so I've been hanging on to them instead of discarding them when those jobs were done. It saved in clean-up time.

Now you know I have pics...too many to post here, so here's a slideshow link of about 70 pics. Hope you enjoy them. I'm sure enjoying the new engine



http://s133.photobucket.com/albums/q52/ ... =slideshow" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Well done Manny....with a little help from Gary and the boys!

I know my day is coming, glad you did it first!

Manny that was very nice thanks for the pictures, Iam sure you will have many trouble free miles ahead of you. Hard work yes but well worth the friendships found .

Boy I can agree with the engine swap stories. We decided 6 years, 150,000 miles ago to replace our 871 with a cummins M-11 Celect Plus. That was the best decision we have made in our 12 years of ownership. Since that day it is simply start the engine, set the cruise control, and enjoy America. I certainly hope that will be the same experience when be first launch our new conversion. We have installed another M-11 Celect Plus in our new coach as well. The hills disappeared and the heat problems went away as well.

Dave St. John

Great slide show Manny!! Where are the shots of Gary when you boby trapped the hatch, then crowned him with the railroad tie??? Not even one of the chili eatin contest!!.LOL

Manny,
Great job on the documenting of your engine change we did. I sure did have lots of ache's & Pains after I left, I run out of Celebrex 2 days before we were done and man you talk about one sore son of a gun.

I still have the lumps in back of my head, (door fell on me) and the one on my forehead, (you thru that 10" block at me and connected almost knocking me out), and of coarse my mouth has finally healed from being burned as we had the chilli eating contest. Flames were coming out of my mouth and your bottle of water was the best thing to an extinguisher in front of me I could find. I owe you a bottle of water buddy.

Drinking a bottle of wine with a cow that was dying was also a treat others laugh at, well I love animals and didn't want her to die alone, big deal. Anyhow it was sad to see Eric's 15 year old heffer die while we were there.

Overall, this was fun to do, (at times) when Eric wasn't cracking the whip on us. I hope you and Darlene get to enjoy the fruits of all our labor that week and never have a problem again. Your great people and anyone meeting you guys is lucky to have you in their lives.

Eric, I probably couldn't work for you for real but your a hell of a boss I bet. You were sure knowledgable with any questions we had which says you have really been educated in the busnut field and the three of us together made a hell of a team.

Good Luck again Manny & Darlene in your future travels. You did a really great job documenting all this for others to see.

Gary

Gary, glad to see your summary here. Sorry again about the bumps and bruises. You are one tough guy and an excellent worker, not to mention and true friend! I am so thankful to have this task behind us! Let me know when you're ready to put the engine in yours and I'll do my best to come help you. Should I bring a hard hat, lol?