Freightrain

I guess I would start with seeing if the cams are free. Unhook or loosen slack adjuster and see if you can rotate by hand easily. If that is good, then I would start with air lines. Maybe one of the rubber lines has a flapper in it and slowing the release? Is there only one quick release for both axles? If two, check to see if both feel the same on the exhaust port. Is the one taking a touch longer to expel?

Welcome to the forums. First thing I think of is quick release valve. Do you hear it while standing in the rear and have someone push and release the brakes?

I propped it up with a 4x4 so I did not have to try to hold it up. No way that was happening!! Then I sat down on the floor and it was just "row row row your boat"....til I finally got it to go "CLICK". Ugh.

Randy Englehart is the fellow with the Emeryville. I've never seen the K100 either, so can't comment. He does run produce from Florida if I recall, so that reefer could be his? This past winter I was running Rt 90 over to Erie PA for work and passed Randy. I was surprised to see him running it in the salt. Got a quick shot in the mirror:

I also replaced the front pivot bushings. I have the bushing under the housing also, but could not get that apart so I left it. The front pivots were also toast so glad I got them out(was not that hard). I torched the old bushing out and installed new one using existing bolt and some lube. Pretty slick. I had it all blasted/clean/painted and easy before I did the stretch, but didn't do it. I waited til it was all together? I'm not too smart sometimes? There should be a tag on that crossbar with the actual part number/style. I'm thinking mine was "ARD sumthing" I dealt the Cross Truck parts in Canton, Ohio. http://crosstruck.com/ Do you have a local place?

Yup, borrowed a buddys 4ft long 600ft/lb wrench and pulled them down. Ugh, that was rough.

I got them through my local Truck parts place. My pins were bad. I welded them up and ground them til the new bushings fit on snug. Look at the air gap with the new bushing!! I can try to dig into my receipts and see if I can come up with part numbers. I downloaded the Neway book online. Seems there were two flavors of this suspension> Does your bags sit flat/horizontal or on a angle? Mine were flat. I forget the part number for the style? Have to look tonight when I get home. A quick google search found me this. Not the same catalog, but it might get you started: http://ww1.safholland.us/quicklit/XL-AS11428PM-en-US.pdf

Yup, they are just south off Rt 30 out past Rt 57.

Yup Joe. Jim has no love loss for any Mack truck LOL!!

Yup, Gross lumber had a fleet of Bighorns. They still run that tan one around Ohio a lot. The truck is a little rough, but still roadworthy. Here's Jim Tomer(of mack fame) standing next to that exact truck. Jimbo came to Canton a few years back and we took a drive down and hung out for a couple hours. Met up with one of the bosses and talked. They have a building full of Bighorns and swing fender Dodges. One is getting a full blown restoration, not sure if/when it is done now.

^^Those are the people that have never driven anything larger then a Prius and somehow expect to manuveur a 24ft box truck in a parking lot with no back up camera or warning devices like on all the new cars.

Is this a disclaimer or a hint of something else??

I asked about pricing before I brought it down and we talked about the spring eye design. I knew I would have about that in it so I was not shocked. They cleaned up the rest of the leafs because there was some rust spreading going on with the broken clamps.

$344 with two new u bolts. That was hand forming the top two leafs since they are NLA. Apparently if it was "berlin eye", meaing the loop drooped off center then you can get it out of a catalog. With the flat loop, no. They riveted the pads back on, rebuilt the factory clamps with new bolts. I say they did a nice job on it.

Well, since my home computer will NOT let me post pictures, here is the rebuilt spring. Pretty nice work. Oh, when I got the truck back on the ground Sunday morning I remeasured ride height. Hmmmmm, it is perfectly level. Sayyywhat?? Ya, it was actually low on the drivers side by about 1/2" and now it is level. Go figure. With it getting cold this week I won't be getting it out to wash it up and take it for a spin. Might have to wait for Sat?

Ugh.....nope...ain't touching that one.

Tragic. I heard it on the news and KNEW it was going to be a bad story for the truck driver no matter what. Even when he gets cleared, it will ALWAYS be remembered as the "truck killed the people. Not the fact someone else caused it.

Ok, we're back to good again. That was quite the ordeal. I started on it just after 9pm last night and by 11:30pm it was all but finished. Getting the torque wrench this afternoon to pull the ubolts down properly. Could just run'm down with the 3/4" impact? They are 3/4" bolts, so only need 350lb/ft. Once I got the spring slid back under the truck an over the axle I tried to get it into the rear perch. Nope, nadda, ain't fit'n. Seems the springs are just over 3" wide and the opening is 3.000. Had to get the small angle grinder out and thin it up a touch(like .040) and it slipped in. Had to polish up the pin hole in the frame bracket so I could slip the pin in easier without having to mash it with a hammer. Then I went to work on the front. Ugh, more headaches. I found some longer bolts to help hold the lower cover aligned so I could use my bottle jack to press it together. Took some wiggle'n but got it down and tightened. I have it sitting on a block of wood so the spring will settle some. It doesn't look like it will be too cattywompus as the lower leafs are what give it the arch and they are the originals. Once I get the wheel on I will remeasure and check against what it was before I started. All I can say is thank gawd for ALEVE!!!! LOL! My lower back and legs were pretty ragged from crouching under that fender for a few hours. That along with working on tearing into my sister mustang to put a clutch in it the last few nights too. Did I mention I hate new cars LOL!! I like my old stuff, lots of room to work!

Welcome aboard! Nice setup.

Govt and sensible is an oxymoron and should not be used in the same sentence.

Thanks, I don't recall what size they are off the top of my head presently. I can now see why my 3/4" impact whipped them off without too much effort. All the oil/grease drenched all over them likely helped too LOL! They were NOT all dry and rusty!!

Well, I hope to get the spring back this week(so they say). Anyone have the torque specs for the U bolts? I got my hands on a 600ft/lb torque wrench, so I hope that covers it. Or I will have to come up with a torque multiplier too?

Good looking R!

I wonder if you could retrofit something from a 70's model Ford truck or such. I know mine are locked up tight even with lots of PB blaster I can not adjust the beams. They aren't bad, but wanted to turn them up slightly. They look like typical screws and nylon bushings from a car/truck of that vintage. Just a thought. Someday I will get around to fiddling with mine.

I kinda did what Glenn said, but with spokes I had to work with a slight wobble from not being a perfect fit on the spokes. After figuring the wobble, I rotated the tires to the middle of the wobble. Then measured and adjusted. Worked well enough. I thought of removing tires and working off the front face of hub(after removing the center cap).