1973 Blue Bird

Rudy · Post by **Rudy** » Mon May 02, 2011 2:33 am

I also painted the side panels where the remnants of the letters stating Johnson City Emergency Management were.

I used two spray cans of Krylon Indoor/Outdoor white paint. They were on sale for 3 bucks a can.

They came in flat, semi-gloss, and gloss. I used the semi-gloss and got a good blend with the old paint on the panels.

Jones'n4chrome · Post by **Jones'n4chrome** » Mon May 02, 2011 2:39 am

Looks like you are ready to roll, when do you blast off?

Rudy · Post by **Rudy** » Mon May 02, 2011 2:42 am

Chuckles, I will most likely leave in a few days after the rains go away.

ezrablu · Post by **ezrablu** » Mon May 02, 2011 3:03 am

"Rain, rain, go away....so Rudy and his bus can be on their way!"

Looks good, Rudy. Must feel good compared to 3 months ago when you were staring into the face of everything that needed to be done.

Post by **stuartcnz** » Mon May 02, 2011 1:21 pm

Rudy, remember to get your front wheels re-torqued after about 250 miles.

Rudy · Post by **Rudy** » Mon May 02, 2011 1:40 pm

ezrablu wrote:"Rain, rain, go away....so Rudy and his bus can be on their way!"

Looks good, Rudy. Must feel good compared to 3 months ago when you were staring into the face of everything that needed to be done.

Blu, it has been two months of tasks. Some of them were daunting. Knowing that these tasks need be accomplished, I summoned courage, tenacity, and clever MacGuyvering to get them done.

Nothing left but to drive away.

Gotta wait for the rain to stop though.

Rudy · Post by **Rudy** » Mon May 02, 2011 1:42 pm

stuartcnz wrote:Rudy, remember to get your front wheels re-torqued after about 250 miles.

Stuart, those lug nuts were put on with a BIG air gun. I think that they will stay tightened.

As per your suggestion, I will look for a garage that can check their tightness when I get half way to my destination.

Post by **stuartcnz** » Mon May 02, 2011 1:49 pm

Rudy, it doesn't matter the size of the air gun used, heavy vehicle tyres should always be re-torqued. I think you said that you are only travelling about 400 miles? If so you will be fine going all the way, but do get them re-torqued before you get settled in there.

Rudy · Post by **Rudy** » Mon May 02, 2011 2:02 pm

Stuart, thanks for the tip.

Dennis The Bus Dweller · Mon May 02, 2011 10:02 pm

Happy trails Rudy old boy

Stay in touch

Rudy · Post by **Rudy** » Tue May 03, 2011 12:19 am

Here we are at Rudy's Garage Series.

There is a lot of play in the steering wheel.

I have been looking up info on the web. Perhaps I can adjust some of the play out. It is a Ross Cam And Lever system.

Here's a little info. Presently, I don't know how to adjust it. Hopefully, in the next few days, I will know enough to either be able to adjust the play or realize that I should just leave it as it is.

Info:

Ross cam-and-lever steering uses a steering column tube or input shaft with a cam at the bottom. This worm cam resembles round bar stock with a spiral groove machined into the cam. A lever is at the inner end of the lever shaft. Pins on the lever engage the cam groove. At the outer end of the lever shaft, splines attach to the pitman arm. The lever pins move with the steering wheel and cam rotation, swinging the lever shaft and pitman arm clockwise or counterclockwise.
Ross cam-and-lever gears are common to Jeep, International-Harvester, and Studebaker trucks. The heyday of Ross gears was the pre-war period to mid-'60s. Primitive and wear-prone, light-duty Ross cam-and-lever gears have fixed lever pins and a higher friction factor than other designs. Heavier-duty Ross gears mount the lever pins on bearings. Those designs are available in both single- and twin-stud versions.

Read more: http://classictrucks.automotive.com/120 ... z1LCFM9b1K

Here is a diagram. I am going to have to stare at this thing for a while to understand how it works.

In the cam and lever steering gear, the worm is known as a cam. The innerend of the pitman arm shaft has a lever that contains a tapered stud. Thestud engages in the cam so that the lever is moved back and forth when thecam is turned back and forth.When the tapered stud is fixed in the lever so that it can't rotate, thereis sliding friction between it and the cam. Therefore, on some vehicleswith this type of steering gear, the stud is mounted in bearings so that itrolls in the cam groove (threads) instead of sliding.Some large trucks use a cam and twinÂlever steering gear. This is nothingmore than a cam and lever gear with two tapered studs instead of one. Thestuds may be fixed in the lever, or they may be mounted on bearings

Rudy · Post by **Rudy** » Tue May 03, 2011 12:28 am

Some more info:

Ross cam & lever steering

That is what is written on the steering wheel hub. Unlike the modern recirculating-ball or rack and pinion methods, cam and lever steering, in addition to mechanical advantage, offered a unique one-way friction mechanism to inhibit the transmission of road shocks back through the steering wheel. When adjusted properly, it gave silky smooth control and a really Cadillac feel to those old rigs.

However, unlike recirculating-ball steering, cam and lever was unforgiving of wear. If normal adjustment of your Ross cam and lever steering failed to eliminate steering wheel play, you had better take the unit out of service to rebuild or replace the steering gear; for total failure would not be long in coming.

What I have to learn is, what is normal adjustment.

Rudy · Post by **Rudy** » Tue May 03, 2011 1:05 am

Judging from this diagram, it does not like like there is much of an adjustability.

I can see how the two studs would get worn on the sides as they traveled in the cam grooves.

Cam and lever steering boxes are very similar to worm and sector steering boxes. The worm drive is known as a cam and has a much shallower pitch and the sector gear is replaced with two studs that sit in the cam channels. As the worm gear is turned, the studs slide along the cam channels which forces the cross shaft to rotate, turning the pitman arm. One of the design features of this style is that it turns the cross shaft 90Â° to the normal so it exits through the side of the steering box instead of the bottom. This can result in a very compact design when necessary.

Read more: http://www.carbibles.com/steering_bible ... z1LCQY6gmf

Headache · Post by **Headache** » Tue May 03, 2011 1:39 am

Rudy, I'm assuming you've checked out the entire front end first but just in case you didn't steering wheel play can also be the result of worn front end components. I would check/have checked all those first before concluding it's the steering gear box since steering components are much less expensive than a gear box.

I don't know the type of front end you have but in general, things to look at would be:

Pittman arms(usually the first thing I look at)
Tie rod ends
Drag link
Ball joints
Control arms
Any steering U-joints
Splines in the steering shaft

How much play do you have? I resort back to big truck inspections so that's what I'll be relying on when I look over mine.

In general, play should not exceed 10 degrees so if you have a 20 inch steering wheel, the wheel itself should not move more than 2 inches before your steer tires move. If you have power steering you'll test this with the engine running.

I would also test this on asphalt or concrete and not on gravel since the loose gravel allows freer travel of your steer tires.

Good luck.

Headache · Post by **Headache** » Tue May 03, 2011 1:50 am

This is for commercial use but it wouldn't hurt to be this thorough.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mt58Ol_wPPs

There are 4 parts to it and I didn't watch them all but at least they are bus related.

NOMADICISTA

1973 Blue Bird

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