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raygreenwood
Samba Member
Joined: November 24, 2008
Posts: 21513
Location: Oklahoma City
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 Posted: Fri Oct 14, 2016 8:45 am Post subject: Re: Howling main shaft bearings...any replacement tips? |
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| bastardbus wrote: |
Been driving split buses since `88, am a ASE certified mechanic owned a restoration shop for 15 years. I have done plenty of trans jobs and let me tell you what, it is about 1000 times easier just removing the nose cone and replacing ONE $25 bearing instead of doing a full scale tear down and-or spending $1000.
Some folks missed in this post, this is a bus-trans with only 80k some miles that was run slightly low due to a leak. Sure if this was a bus of high or unknown mileage I would be all over swapping out for a good or rebuilt tranny. But under the circumstances just replacing the MS rear bearing is a wise choice. It is a simple no harm-no foul job. Will NOT hurt the transmission and if it fixes it great if not nothing lost but a little labor yanking the trans.
If any of you think that is absolutely ridiculous you are more then welcome to come stay in my garage, rebuild the entire trans yourself and buy all the new parts and bearings for me. That would just be dandy!  |
Not trying to be pointy....but to me..comments like this are slightly entertaining...and sad for what they cause in the long run.
I keep telling ALL ACVW people this....now is not the time to use "45 years ago"...mentality.
What I mean by that is that 45 years ago...and even to a certain extent 25 years ago....parts, assemblies, transmissions, engine cores etc.....for most ACVW's....were laying around in piles ready to be harvested for spares. Also...you could buy FACTORY level quality replacement parts like cylinders, bearings, pistons, valves, camshafts.....even heads.
Those days are LOOOOOONG gone. The 45 years ago mentality was to never reuse a part that takes extra effort to refurbish....never do more than you have to ...to get back on the road. If and when it finally catastrophically breaks...meh...just go the junkyard and get another excellent core.
30-40 years of this mentality....and the fact that large items like transmission cases, steering gear boxes for some models....do not have and never have had an aftermarket making "new" large castings.....and parts...especially good parts...and especially transmission parts...are drying up.
The frame of mind you should be in......is conserve and preserve.
Yeah...sure....you "could" just replace whats simplest and cheapest...the mainshaft ball bearing...and motor along for another 4 years or 50k miles until the box permanently craps itself for other causes (that you could have fixed/prevented now).......but four more years and cores and "quality" parts will be exponentially harder to find.
I use that term "exponentially"....with great care....because for instance....for some VW cars even back in the late 80's and early 90's....correct and quality parts were getting hard to find and more expensive already.
When the internet arrived....it made it far easier to find the stashes of odd, rare and NOS/out of production parts. So for roughly 15 years....the ACVW community has been living it up and easily sucking up those stashes of parts that were not visible, easy to find or sell in the pre-internet days.......and has been largely using the same 45 year old parts usage "mentality"....meaning..."hey...I seem to be able to find parts easily just by letting my fingers dance on the keyboard...why do any more work than I have to...when I can always find another core or assembly?"
Fix what you have correctly whenever you can....conserve and preserve what you can.....because it will get worse. Ray |
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mark tucker
Samba Member
Joined: April 08, 2009
Posts: 23937
Location: SHALIMAR ,FLORIDA
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| Posted: Fri Oct 14, 2016 10:30 am Post subject: Re: Howling main shaft bearings...any replacement tips? |
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| gears wrote: |
FYI: The bus box has a pathetic mainshaft NEEDLE bearing that normally fails with low oil level even before the ball bearing fails. The 002 needle bearing isn't nearly as durable (and forgiving of low oil level) as the early 113 bearings.
In fact, we oil feed these whenever we can, just to get them to live with PROPER oil levels.
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I put 4mm longer needel bearings on my type 1 main shaft. I do agree getting more oil to the bearings is critical.I thought about adding a oil gally to feed it, but didnt do it. I also over fill the shit out of mine. |
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KTPhil 
Samba Member
Joined: April 06, 2006
Posts: 34003
Location: Conejo Valley, CA
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| Posted: Fri Oct 14, 2016 1:10 pm Post subject: Re: Howling main shaft bearings...any replacement tips? |
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| raygreenwood wrote: |
When the internet arrived....it made it far easier to find the stashes of odd, rare and NOS/out of production parts. So for roughly 15 years....the ACVW community has been living it up and easily sucking up those stashes of parts that were not visible, easy to find or sell in the pre-internet days.......and has been largely using the same 45 year old parts usage "mentality"....meaning..."hey...I seem to be able to find parts easily just by letting my fingers dance on the keyboard...why do any more work than I have to...when I can always find another core or assembly?"
Fix what you have correctly whenever you can....conserve and preserve what you can.....because it will get worse. Ray |
I've said for years that the internet has made it so much easier to find parts.
But the internet does not make parts, it just drains the inventory faster than in the past.
The result will be a faster rush to lack of inventories, and then prices will start spiking rudely. |
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mark tucker
Samba Member
Joined: April 08, 2009
Posts: 23937
Location: SHALIMAR ,FLORIDA
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| Posted: Fri Oct 14, 2016 1:26 pm Post subject: Re: Howling main shaft bearings...any replacement tips? |
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????? start??  so were just encountering pace laps now before the real price gouging starts??? I better start worken on all my v8 stuff.it's cheep.heavy but cheep I gess I need to addopt a kid to help with the heavy stuff. |
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raygreenwood
Samba Member
Joined: November 24, 2008
Posts: 21513
Location: Oklahoma City
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| Posted: Fri Oct 14, 2016 4:04 pm Post subject: Re: Howling main shaft bearings...any replacement tips? |
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| mark tucker wrote: |
| ????? start?? so were just encountering pace laps now before the real price gouging starts??? I better start worken on all my v8 stuff.it's cheep.heavy but cheep I gess I need to addopt a kid to help with the heavy stuff. |
Oh yeah....it WILL get bad. One very recent and perfect example....is the Bosch Ts-2 sensor (cylinder head temp sensor) that fits L-jet, D-jet and even a few other Audi and Volvo related fuel injection systems.
While it was still in production until about maybe 3-4 years ago.....I could buy one at two dozen places or order from RockAuto...for between $30 to $34 each.
Unknown to me and most other people...Bosch discontinued this sensor and there is no aftermarket maker of it...about 3-4 years ago (maybe more or less).
WE...did not notice because anytime over the last five years if I Googled the part #....I could find a dozen or more sources instantly who had the part in stock. We didn't really notice much that the price had gone up to the $38-$42 range...as its not much more....and its real Bosch...and is easy to get and they last for years.
Recently...prices very quickly went to $65..then $80-$90 each...then $100 plus....and most people who list the part do not have it in stock and list it back ordered....and then pretty quickly...no one has ANY stock.....and then we and the vendors find that its been discontinued a while ago and we were just depleting Bosch inventory.
Its all gone now....and if you do find some NOS from some little hole in the wall parts dealer who has a private stash...the price will for sure be at least $100 (because it already is and this is just over the past 2-3 months)...and most likely be in the $150 range pretty quick.
Expect parts that dry up to triple and quadruple in cost. Its what I am used to with type 4 and 411/412 parts.
Its coming. Just remember you were warned. Ray |
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mcmscott
Samba Member
Joined: March 12, 2010
Posts: 4856
Location: sanger ca
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| Posted: Fri Oct 14, 2016 4:33 pm Post subject: Re: Howling main shaft bearings...any replacement tips? |
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| raygreenwood wrote: |
| mark tucker wrote: |
| ????? start?? so were just encountering pace laps now before the real price gouging starts??? I better start worken on all my v8 stuff.it's cheep.heavy but cheep I gess I need to addopt a kid to help with the heavy stuff. |
Oh yeah....it WILL get bad. One very recent and perfect example....is the Bosch Ts-2 sensor (cylinder head temp sensor) that fits L-jet, D-jet and even a few other Audi and Volvo related fuel injection systems.
While it was still in production until about maybe 3-4 years ago.....I could buy one at two dozen places or order from RockAuto...for between $30 to $34 each.
Unknown to me and most other people...Bosch discontinued this sensor and there is no aftermarket maker of it...about 3-4 years ago (maybe more or less).
WE...did not notice because anytime over the last five years if I Googled the part #....I could find a dozen or more sources instantly who had the part in stock. We didn't really notice much that the price had gone up to the $38-$42 range...as its not much more....and its real Bosch...and is easy to get and they last for years.
Recently...prices very quickly went to $65..then $80-$90 each...then $100 plus....and most people who list the part do not have it in stock and list it back ordered....and then pretty quickly...no one has ANY stock.....and then we and the vendors find that its been discontinued a while ago and we were just depleting Bosch inventory.
Its all gone now....and if you do find some NOS from some little hole in the wall parts dealer who has a private stash...the price will for sure be at least $100 (because it already is and this is just over the past 2-3 months)...and most likely be in the $150 range pretty quick.
Expect parts that dry up to triple and quadruple in cost. Its what I am used to with type 4 and 411/412 parts.
Its coming. Just remember you were warned. Ray |
Gettin a touch off topic aren't we.
As a trans rebuilder, who is also ase master certified, I agree with the other builders. Do it correct or do not do it at all.
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&Dan
Samba Member
Joined: January 29, 2008
Posts: 1784
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| Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2016 9:42 am Post subject: Re: Howling main shaft bearings...any replacement tips? |
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Yes. I managed to replace my bearing thus, but it did not help as everything else in the box was beyond saving- after throwing in the towel and dropping off the unit to my trans guy, he called up a few weeks later to come pick up the repaired unit and not one part including the case itself was salvageable.
Brought all the pieces back anyway as they were then objets d' art. |
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tpinthepack
Samba Member
Joined: July 11, 2004
Posts: 816
Location: clearwater,florida
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| Posted: Sat Oct 15, 2016 2:14 pm Post subject: Re: Howling main shaft bearings...any replacement tips? |
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Here is what I read one time long ago on the main shaft bearing wearing out.
That bearing sits higher in the transaxle than the level of oil sits and it only gets lube when the car is moving as the other parts sling the oil up. The book I read said to not warm the car up in neutral, rather putt putt down the road as you warm up the car so oil slings up on that upper bearing. I will get that book from the attic and take a picture for reference soon.
Tony
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