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Bye bye air bags hello hendrickson walking beams

DMiller

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Feb 21, 2010
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16,424
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Hermann, Missouri
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Cheap "old" Geezer
Was explained in a Rockwell seminar Ages ago at Mack to keep ujoints from brinelling they have to roll back and forth.

When did suspension conversions would angle check the yoke faces before we destroyed the old set up then match angle when finished new install
 

workshoprat92

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Dec 15, 2014
Messages
817
Location
Bois D Arc Missouri
Was explained in a Rockwell seminar Ages ago at Mack to keep ujoints from brinelling they have to roll back and forth.
When did suspension conversions would angle check the yoke faces before we destroyed the old set up then match angle when finished new install

Next one I do i definatly will be measuring all that before its tore apart. Things ya learn in the after thought!
 

RZucker

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Jul 7, 2013
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Wherever I end up
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Next one I do i definatly will be measuring all that before its tore apart. Things ya learn in the after thought!

If the old diffs are still in your truck, that's the angles you want to duplicate with the bags at ride height. I had a KW in the shop with Hendrickson extended leaf awhile back with a terrible vibration issue, the torque rod bushings had 3/8" wear/slop in each one. Pressed new bushings in and its as good as new. The yoke face angles matched the transmission yoke angle almost perfectly after the new bushings were installed.
 

56wrench

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Dec 4, 2016
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alberta
I have found over the years that the Hendrickson walking beam suspension to be the most forgiving regarding driveline angles but some of the air-ride suspensions have to be spot-on the specs and even then may have high-torque,low speed vibration that goes away as speed and torque decrease
 

DMiller

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Feb 21, 2010
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Hermann, Missouri
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Cheap "old" Geezer
Angles pitch high and low as bags extend/compress, only one I have seen that didn't was KW eight bag, that is a complex but functional mess.
 

56wrench

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Dec 4, 2016
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alberta
oops. in my previous statement I should have said- as speed increases and torque decreases. one of my old bosses had a Kenworth cabover in the fleet with the 8 bag suspension. what a pain to get it to ride level side to side. we would set it on a concrete pad, test drive it, and make sure it was all good. when it would come back after a couple thousand miles, it would have noticeable list, one way or the other. the boss would never let us change both leveling valves at the same time which I think may have been the problem. he was the guy signing my paycheck so we most always did things his way
 

workshoprat92

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Joined
Dec 15, 2014
Messages
817
Location
Bois D Arc Missouri
oops. in my previous statement I should have said- as speed increases and torque decreases. one of my old bosses had a Kenworth cabover in the fleet with the 8 bag suspension. what a pain to get it to ride level side to side. we would set it on a concrete pad, test drive it, and make sure it was all good. when it would come back after a couple thousand miles, it would have noticeable list, one way or the other. the boss would never let us change both leveling valves at the same time which I think may have been the problem. he was the guy signing my paycheck so we most always did things his way
The transit company I worked at in denver had some flexible brand busses that had dual leveling valves. They were impossible to keep level. Anytime a driver would bring one to the back door on pull out time complaining that it leaned to the left we would simply tell them we set em that way for the crown in the road! They would say man thats a good idea and go on thier way all happy! If it leaned to the right were pretty well screwed for pulling it in and adjusting it! I always figured if they went to a one valve system the priblem would go away. For some reason they didnt even want to try it!
 

repowerguy

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Mar 18, 2015
Messages
810
Location
United States southern Ohio
Occupation
mixer truck mechanic
Converted many of the old Twin valve sets to Single to cure that problem
Advance and Phoenix mixers use dual instant level valves and they are pretty much trouble free. It makes for a odd drive at first on a curvy road as the valves jack up the outside air bags on the turn. It really makes for a nice stable ride though.
 

workshoprat92

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Dec 15, 2014
Messages
817
Location
Bois D Arc Missouri
Today i got the whole thing slid under the truck and figured out my mounting points in relation to my cross member installation and u joint position on front drive axle. When i put the centerline of the ujoint bores on the front yoke in the same position as where the old axles front yoke was the center of the walking beam trunion lined up with the center of my cross member thti i already fitted into place. Guess my measuring and figuring was spot on. Now that i have my spring hanger mounting plates installation locations established i lifted the frame back up and rolled it all back out of the way. This will make it easy to drill and bolt the crossmember in place.
The harbor freight wheel dollies worked ok. Still a bit hard to roll but it reminded me of hitting the sled at football practice many years ago!

High as i can lift it before my mast smashes lights!20200219_122641.jpg
Anyhow the plan worked and i was able to get the setup where it needed to be for me to figure out position then move back out of the way to finalize the crossmember install.20200219_123509.jpg
 

workshoprat92

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Dec 15, 2014
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817
Location
Bois D Arc Missouri
Today got the torqure rod mounting location on the cross member figured out and the holes drilled. Got all the holes drilled in the cross member and bolts installed. A magnetic drill is one of the greatest tools ever invented! Hard to believe this is a full days work! Just not as fast as I used to be!20200220_160059.jpg 20200220_160111.jpg 20200220_172015.jpg
 

crane operator

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Mar 27, 2009
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8,273
Location
sw missouri
Looks great, that's a pile of work. I find that fixing what I have, is better than just swapping for what's usually just a different piece of equipment, with its own different set of problems. At least this way you know what you have.

You're going to wish your door came all the way down tomorrow morning though, supposed to be cold.
 

workshoprat92

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 15, 2014
Messages
817
Location
Bois D Arc Missouri
Looks great, that's a pile of work. I find that fixing what I have, is better than just swapping for what's usually just a different piece of equipment, with its own different set of problems. At least this way you know what you have.

You're going to wish your door came all the way down tomorrow morning though, supposed to be cold.
I have a way to deal with the cold lol! Cold suks!20190101_184801.jpg
 

kshansen

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Mar 11, 2012
Messages
11,128
Location
Central New York, USA
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Retired Mechanic in Stone Quarry
You can never have enough FBH's.....
FBH!

I was at a bearing seminar years ago and the instructor told a story about himself that related to a FBH.

He was explaining about how to install a bearing and started saying that if all else fails just get out your FBH. That's when he remembered there were some young ladies in the class and he did not feel comfortable explaining what he meant by FBH. After a hesitation or two he came up with an answer, "That's your "Fafnir Bearing Handbook" and check for the correct tolerances"
 
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