Eagles International Forum

David,

You had it right the first time, both ends of the Torsilastic inner tube are splined. The half inch bolt merely holds the adjusting arm on the spline. Drilling a second hole for the bolt allows more rotation on the spline from the stock setup. Attached is a closeup picture of the spline courtesy of Sulastic.

DoubleEagle wrote:David,

You had it right the first time, both ends of the Torsilastic inner tube are splined. The half inch bolt merely holds the adjusting arm on the spline. Drilling a second hole for the bolt allows more rotation on the spline from the stock setup. Attached is a closeup picture of the spline courtesy of Sulastic.

Oh wow, I thought I was giving the wrong info. Thanks for correcting me. I'm getting more forgetful of things by the day
Davd

I would like to try to reindex my spline.  However, before I attempt to do this I would like to talk to Dan Lentz and get his take on it.  Anyone have a way to contact him?  He has posted on Facebook eons ago in the silver eagle bus page, but nothing recent.

David

Daniel Lenz is a moderator on the Silver Eagle Bus Owners Group, and is on half a dozen other groups like Silver Eagle Bus Owners International, and Vintage Bus Mechanics. He is also involved with that Phoenix Coach outfit (which I do not recommend). As I understand it, he was involved in sales and parts at Eagle. It would be more useful if one of the engineers that was involved in production and manual creation were available, but I have not heard of any.

Thanks Walter,

I got in touch with Marty Golden today and got specifics as to how to do this.  I'm considering it.  My biggest fear is breaking any of the four special bolts off, removing the torsion spring from the axle.  Marty said his spun right off.  Wow.  He torch cut the 16 shackle bolts off and replaced them with new.  It took him a week to do both sides.  He thinks he moved his about 5 splines.  (whatever it took to get the arms to look like the setting in the book)
He did have to lengthen the oval retaining bolt slots to install the through bolts that hold the adjustment arms from lateral movement on the splines.  It gave him a full length of threads for adjustment after re installation.  He removed the axle from under the bus.  He said that was the easiest part.  

My opinion on this is if your springs are holding a height ok, your rubber is still good.  Reindexing the arms on the splines will renew your adjustment range.  I'm riding just under 14 inches after I leveled my coach back in 2016, so my springs are holding. 
However, I'm at the end of my threads on the adjustment bolts.  
If I do this I want to try to video as much as I can and provide it for the members for the future.   Also, I have an annoying leaking seal at the dropbox that I could fix while the axle is out.  

David

David, another option that I have heard of is using the longer adjustment bolts that are used on the front to enable more adjustment on the rear. It might be slightly easier, but it might cost more. The last time I priced them at Goodson Bus Sales, they wanted $175 each. Probably more now. Which method will last longer, I do not know. Either way, it will be a bit of work.

DoubleEagle wrote: ↑Tue Mar 15, 2022 9:26 pm David, another option that I have heard of is using the longer adjustment bolts that are used on the front to enable more adjustment on the rear. It might be slightly easier, but it might cost more. The last time I priced them at Goodson Bus Sales, they wanted $175 each. Probably more now. Which method will last longer, I do not know. Either way, it will be a bit of work.

I am 4 weeks into this now.  It has been going well.  I know you have seen my posts on BCM for some of the other things I'm giving attention to while I have the whole rearend out of the coach.  I want to care for every problem I can find while its apart.  The arms are reindexed to 14" on the spline according to the shop manual.  One is reinstalled, the other will be installed tomorrow.  I'm waiting on a 1 1/4" threading die to clean up my adjustment threads on the arm.  I am making a video of all the work which I will share someday if this all works ok.  
 

David,  while your axle housing is out of the bus would be a great time to check the alignment on it.  I have been told the housing should be at least 1/32 toe end.  Most truck alignment shops have a hydraulic bender to put it back in spec.  This will help in tracking and tire wear.  
Good luck, 
Jim

Leaks all fixed and torsion spring adjustment arms reindexed on the splines of the shaft.

Gee, my back is aching from looking at all of your work, looks great. Did you ever hear from Daniel Lenz? Looks like Marty helped a lot. I look forward to your video. Did your work on the drop box get resolved?