Eagles International Forum

I noticed my bogies would lock up on a hard brake application. Not good. Time to check the weight. I used the jack method and found that I had 4000 lbs weight on each wheel. It's kind of quirky when you do this method. I'll explain why later. My jack gauge showed 1900psi +/- on the curb side, 2000psi on the street side. I started on the street side. I removed the wheel, brake line, shock absorber, and 2 retaining bolts from the bogie arm. I pulled out my homebrew puller and mounted it up as shown in the photos. I used a come a long to hold the arm up and for spline alignment.

I sprayed the splines with PB Blaster and soaked it for a while. You only need to drop the back bolt into the hole in the arm to hold the puller assembly in place. The front bolt must be removed to let the arm slide off the splines. I pumped the jack, and she popped off pretty nicely. The arm has to be lowered almost to the floor to relax the spring tension. Once it is clear of the splines DO NOT go any further, risking the entire wheel assembly falling to the floor. (Ask Jim Shepard about that)

I cleaned all the splines up with solvent and blew it out. I rotated the arm one spline from my marks I made to add about 500lbs. Once lined up I pounded the arm carefully with a sledge hammer to engage them. When that was done I gooped it up with anti seize, drove it back on and re installed the bolts. Put the rest of the stuff back on and was done.

I checked with the jack and it was now about 2100psi which for my jack is 4437 force pounds. That's about what I wanted.

Now the curb side. I repeated the whole procedure and checked it. It was still at 2000psi
What's up with that? So I pump up the jack to get it to 2200psi. It raised the wheel just over an inch clearance from the floor to get that pressure. From doing the street side I found that for the one spline move I got the tire 1" closer to the floor when the jack is pumped to 2200psi. So, I pulled the curb side arm off again and moved it a 2nd spline. Now the jack reads 2250 psi just as the tire clears the floor.
2250 X 2.113 =4754. That is a bit higher than I want, but I'm leaving for a while to see if it settles in ok. I hope I don't mess up the spring with that higher weight.

David

I don't know. After rereading smoothjazz post about bogie weight I am too high. I may pull it off a 3rd time and get it back down to 2000psi which is 4226lbs. The problem is I can still lock the tires up at that setting.

One thing about Dan's weight limit in his posts, Eagle made the 4000lb limit test on an empty coach sans passengers. My weight is done on a fully loaded coach at 36000lbs. Eagle GVWR was 38600 If Eagle set the springs at empty that would be about 8000 lbs of passengers and freight not pushing down on the torsalastics.
Comes out to about 1000lbs per wheel doesn't it? Hmm, just wondering.

David

Good writeup. Yes that is alittle high but not that bad. The only down side is the extra stress it puts on the spring can lead to earlier failure of the spring. I wonder why you slide the boggies. That usually is because there isn't enough weight on them. I have slid my boggies but I put 15 brakes on it and it was a very hard stop. I think my boggies are set at about 4500 using a scale.
Wayne

I believe that you can also adjust brakes? Maybe?

Also. I’m not sure exactly what to do on my bus. Rear axle torsilastics are maxed out and it leans a tiny bit to drivers side. Unfortunately there is more weight on that side. All the heavy stuff is just a tiny bit offset to drivers side in my bus. Engine, genset, and water tanks. Gary from b&b coach told me to run rear torsion bars until they basically collapse. So I debate adding airbags on rear axle with leveling valves. But one thing I really need to do is weigh coach

I would add two points: According to the Eagle procedures for adjusting the Torsilastics, the front and rear need to be jacked up to the correct height before weighing the bogies, and two hydraulic jacks are used to weigh each side at the same time. Another factor is whether the jacks are calibrated and confirmed to be accurate. A good pressure gauge can cost as much or more than the jack. If the bogies are locking up first, they are out of proportion to the rest of the coach. Prior to getting the bogies adjusted, you can back off the brake adjustment a bit to minimize the flat spots, but be aware that your overall braking ability might be affected.

If you can't swing having two jacks with pressure gauges, use one regular jack, and one gauged jack. The manuals show a bracket attached to the wheel lugs as the point of lift rather than jacking the torsion arm.

Thanks for the comments. I was at 14" height before I started the adjustment. I'm at about 14.25" now. Didn't raise it much at all. I didn't know that both sides should have a jack at the same time. I can lift the coach with one with a gauge and lift the other side without just as the coach tire clears the floor and see what I have. It would be worth noting that.

I was surprised how easy the jack slid the arm off the spline. I believe the last time I adjusted this was in 2006 and I don't remember if I slathered anti seize on the spline or not back then. There was some rust and moisture inside the tube, but I could see lots of grease in the other end where the grease fittings are. I grease my coach every 6000 miles.

When I posted about my brake lockup problem on the MAK board in March there was some talk about adjusting the brakes. The suggestion was to lengthen the stroke on the slack arm, but that would put me out of compliance on slack arm travel as far as brake inspections go. Someone suggested an air regulator on the bogie air relay. Not sure I want to engineer that. Seems a bit risky.

Does anyone have a comment about the fact that Eagle would do this adjustment at the empty weight? It must make a difference in pressure when you add about 8000lbs of passengers and freight to the coach.

Rusty, it's good to know that you have 4500lbs on yours and you have been running ok. That makes me feel better about what I've done.

David

To be consistent, they use the empty weight for passenger buses. I use the height of the wheel arch as a reference. A passenger bus would be at 48" maximum, but a pre-loaded coach like a conversion or entertainer would be okay at 46 or 47". The bogie is rated at 5000 lbs, but the wisdom is to keep it at 4000 lbs, or less, depending on the gross weight of the coach. On my Model 15, the gross rating is 44,700, with 14,060 on the front, 8,140 on the two bogies, and 22,500 on the rear. That means a maximum of 4070 lbs for each bogie on a 45' with a Series 60 and automatic. 4500 lbs might work, but the longevity could be shortened. The design allows for temporary overloading when hitting bumps, etc., but is not meant to carry a full 5000 lbs. all the time. You should establish what your total weight is when ready to go with everyone on board, fuel, water, etc., and then you need to balance all three axles for proper loading, including side to side. The left rear Torsilastic is almost always the first one to sag because there is extra weight on that side because of engine and axle placement. If the load is spread out appropriately, and the brakes are adjusted evenly, the bogies should not lockup and slide.

DoubleEagle wrote: and the brakes are adjusted evenly, the bogies should not lockup and slide.

Other than setting the slacks according to the eagle manual which meets DOT minimums, what else is there to do to adjust the brakes evenly. The R8 relay valves all get the same amount of air from the treadle valve from what I see in the plumbing unless I'm missing something.

I'm at a loss to determine why when my bogies were set at 4000lbs before I started this adjustment that both sides would lock up on a hard brake stab.

Question for Rusty--How many years have your bogies been set at 4500lbs?

Thanks,
David

The boggie springs where new in 2003 Jefferson changed them out. I readjusted them in 2013. They where still at about 4000 when I adjusted them. We were headed to Alaska and that was part of the pre trip maintenance. I wanted the extra weight on the boggies for extra stopping power. And that is when I but 15 brakes on the boggies on my 05. THE Alaska trip is when a flat spotted my boggies on a hard stop.( explain when I have more time) Also I must explain that my 05 is jacked up when ever it is not on the road so the springs are relaxed 99 % of the time.
Wayne

PS to above. The coach has 180000 miles on it since the boggies where installed in 2003.
Wayne