Thread: I did it.

Originally Posted by LandyAndy

Welldone to you Shorty and your boss!!!!
Great story!!!!
Neat work on the bus too man
Make enquires about the trans/diff.
Chances are there is a 2 speed hi/lo on there somewhere,its got to do better than 65ks surely!!!!.
A local sod buster has an Albion truck,it blew the gearbox,on getting a rebuild they discovered an unconected lever,it was a 2 speed that had never been used from new.That thing wouldnt do much better than 75ks beforehand,did 100ks easy after the rebuild.
Goodluck,goodwork!!!
Andrew

I doubt if an ex-metro bus has an overdrive or two speed diff. No need for one in service that rarely exceeds 60kph. That is why it only has a two speed transmission, no need for more. Most metro commuter buses had very low top speeds as they were never used on the highway. Brisbane City Council buses were all spec'd for 35mph top speed before the first freeways were built and the council started running express buses on the freeways, and, later, having this new found capacity, doing charter work.

As to the Albion, are you talking about a two speed diff that was not connected, or a high/low splitter that was not connected? If the splitter, there was a good reason, reliability. The basic Albion six speed box was a beauty which turned around the old maxim that poms can't make a good gearbox. Well Albion was Scottish before being taken over by Leyland and there is the rub. The variants of the Albion box thereafter with front or rear splitter sections were bloody awful and this is why many were sold without the splitter being connected.

G'day Shorty943

This is an Ex-govt suburben bus is it not, as these vehicles are often built to a Govt contract they have possibly specified a rear diff ratio that has a speed limiting factor, like in the old NSW busses, AEC's Albions, Leylands, that were geared to max of 38mph and many had Worm and Wheel Diffs so that they would over-run on hill decents, if it is an Eaton type diff it could be locked in Low Ratio, that would account for that type of speed, if so there would be an unconnected solenoid that is in/on the diff, which is usually connected to a Monkey switch mounted in the cab, if not, seeing it is a ZF auto it could as simple as the high gear bands in the box have been blocked off,most ZF's are multi speed, that would mean at 65kph the vehicle would be limited by the engine governor. so it may be only a simple job to have the blanking plate removed to give it it's full transmission range, have a talk to a M A N truck service centre and quote the ZF transmission type and serial No, they should be able to tell you if it has been blocked off/disabled in upper gears It then will give SAFE road speeds and better fuel economy, remember that as a bus it would be capable of weights up to or over 17/18 tonnes GVM.

cheers

Hi Brian
Splitter was on the gearbox,also had the 2 speed diff.Was a Chieftan from memory,big powerful motor,full crash box,real noisy.
Andrew

Originally Posted by LandyAndy

Hi Brian
Splitter was on the gearbox,also had the 2 speed diff.Was a Chieftan from memory,big powerful motor,full crash box,real noisy.
Andrew

Sounds like it has been modified. Chieftains usually had an Albion hub reduction diff. Comets had the Eaton two speed.

Ho, I see from the photo that it has an M.A.N. hub reduction diff. which can not be fitted with ratios faster than about 4.4:1. From memory, they are 4:1 in the hubs. Most metro buses with these diffs had ratios in the region of 6:1 and slower to give startability and acceleration in traffic. I will pass on the ZF autos about which I know little as very few vehicles of my experience had them. I do know they are VERY expensive to overhaul. When Brisbane City Council got their first Volvo buses which had ZF's, Volvo Trucks had to send them down to Leyland at Rocklea for service and repair as their blokes were not competent. Mechanics hated them almost as much as they hated the SCG pneumocyclic trans, known in house as the homosexual transmission.

Good eye, Brian. M A N deep reduction rear axle she has.

She is G A F built, Unca Ho, about 1974.

M A N 9 Ltr normally aspirated horizontal inline 6, that ZF 2 speed auto, and M A N diff.

We are all pretty pleased with the way it has turned out.
For politically correct reasons, (I'm not certified for land plumbing and electrical stuff, apparently it's different) a local plumber did the hot water installation and certification (thank's Mick), and a local sparky checked and certified the electrical work I did (thank's Phil). A friend from up river, spent a week with us, and did the paint job, (thank's Peewee).
It's been a group project.

The lass has commandeered a local CB channel, the drivers radio in their lunch orders, she has them ready.

She will have her work cut out when the harvest gets into swing, NM.
At the moment, there are about 20 on site CBH employees, plus maybe 20 or so local drivers moving small grain lots around. Once harvest gets into swing there will be a couple of hundred drivers trying to get as many trips a day in.

And the latest report is, it's raining inside, when the air-conditioner is running.
Bugger, better get the ladder out. Might be a crack or two in the old CoachAir A\C tub.
Some fibreglass mat, some resin and hardener, no worries.

Maybe I can sleep next week instead.

Then, maybe, I can get back into my Landy.
Don't they look funny with all their front taken off.

Is there any reason why you chose woldorf ?

Originally Posted by Aaron

Is there any reason why you chose woldorf ?

It was available at a good price, and was built to comply with commercial regulations. It gave 30 years of service at the local Caltex, she'll do us all right.