I finally finished the suspension job. I worked on and off for about 2 weeks. I changed out 8 shocks, (Autozone Gabriel 85-314 for front, 85-303 for rear and bogies, replaced one stud on the curbside drive (NAPA part # WA-1468), a couple of buds on streetside drive (Carquest WAP WA07-5030 nut, WAP WA07-5025 inner bud nut, WAP WA07-5023 outer bud nut. I also had to buy a socket to drive all the nuts with an electric impact. I used a 4' pipe to tork the nuts to 400-600lbs. It took an 8' pipe with me swinging on the end to break them loose.
I bought a jack with a pressure gauge to get the proper weights on the bogies.
http://www.hyjacks.com/H21.HTM I set the height I wanted and blocked the frame. The weight on the bogies were 4200lbs at that height which surprised me how much it was. I left it at that weight even though Smoothjazz recommended 4000 max. I'm 36800 loaded. The bus was leaning to one side, so when I blocked the frame level raising the street side 1.5" and the curb side about 3/4". I removed the streetside drive wheels and let the suspension settle to the bottom stop relieving as much tension on the spring as I could.
I removed the outer nuts and bushing on the torsion bar rods. I loosened one inner nut. After cleaning the threads under the nut I tightened it back and did the same on the other rod. I figured it would make it easier when I attempted the raise. The bar doesn't move if you loosen one nut at a time. I tightened the nut 7/8" which gave me a 1.5" rise. It wasn't that hard to screw those nuts out. I did use a 30" bar to leverage the wrench, but with the wheels out of the way there is room to swing it.
I measured the distance from the center point of the hub on the
curbside wheel to the floor. (wheels are still installed) I think it was 21". I put a jack under the
street side axle and pressured it up until the bus frame began to lift off of the blocking. I measured the the center point of the wheel hub to the floor and it was the same distance as the curbside drive which still had the wheels on. (Remember this is the target height for the coach because the curbside frame is blocked to the correct height and the center point on the hub with wheels installed will always be the same measurement to the floor.) Since the street side wheel hub was at 21" when it began to lift the frame from the blocking, I knew that screwing out the nuts 7/8" gave me the 1.5" raise for that side.
I polished the outer wheel, installed new shocks, replaced the defective lugs.
I moved to the other side, removed the wheels and relaxed the spring to the stops. Now the suspension is dropped to the stops on both sides since all 4 wheels are off. I loosened each inner nut separately, cleaned the threads and lubed it all up. This side required a 3/8" nut movement. For whatever reason it was much more challenging to go the 3/8" on this side than the 7/8" on the opposite side
I got it done, though. I installed new shocks, polished the wheels and reinstalled all 4 wheels and I was within 1/8" side to side on height after removing the frame blocking on the back end. (note: front end blocking is still in place when I removed rear blocking and checked this.) I then jacked the front end up as far as I could to leverage as much weight to the back wheels that I could to try to "settle" the suspension down. I lowered it back and it didn't move down any
Now to the front end. I removed my blocking and it was 1" low front to back. I took my laser into the coach and verified this using my ceiling as the only constant flat plane I could reference. I measured from the belt line on the siding to the floor outside the bus and received the same result.
I pulled the wheels, polished them, replaced the shocks and reinstalled. I then jacked the bus up from the center frame to relax the suspension. I loosened the lower shackle bolts at the torsion mount. I did not loosen the lower bracket mount as shown in the book. This did not prove to be a problem adjusting the spring. I screwed out the arms 5/8", lowered the coach, rechecked with the laser now showing the front end was about 3/8" high. Blah! I relaxed the springs and backed off the nuts a turn or so, lowered the coach, remeasured and it was dead on level.
I checked side to side level and was within 1/8". My height is 48" from the fender flare to floor which is a bit high for a loaded coach, but I expect some settling.
I took the coach out for a test drive and the difference in ride and handling is a amazing. Of course new shocks play into this, and I put 2 new tires on the steers, so several factors are affecting my outcome, but I am really pleased.
I came back home and removed the bogies for polish and new shocks. Getting those shock mount nuts loose was a real bear. While everything was opened up I greased all the front end, rear springs, bogie springs, drive line, and brake palls in accordance with the Eagle OEM grease charts. The shocks I removed were the Gabriel air ride shocks (89-425). I put those on the coach in 2004, 90000 miles ago. I could easily slide them up and down with my hand. They were really shot
I'm glad I sprung for some new ones.
It takes so many big tools to do this. I have a Northern air over hydraulic jack which is very handy. I almost bought a 1" air wrench for the lug nuts, but with my electric impact I could break them by hand, spin them on and off, and tork them with a 4' bar with not too much work. I made the 1 7/8" wrench for the torsion nuts our of a piece of 1/2" plate. It actually has more surface width to land on the nut.
I was very, very fortunate that I didn't have to reindex the bogies. I did that in 2004 reproducing Jim Sheppard's home made puller and remember how much work that was. I bet that saved me at least two full days
I've got a bunch of pictures, but I cannot get them to upload.
Edit: I got them loaded on a lower post.
David
and that really hurt. With the half wrench, I could get a better bar on the wrench to get the job done