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Contributor
| Hello, I hope this message finds everyone well and thriving. I wish I could say the same for #4. On a long test drive after two years in the shop and being assured that all was good with the brakes, the rear tire caught fire after 25 miles into the drive. Fortunately a passing motorist extinguished the fire quickly and there was not damage to the exterior or interior. I am waiting an inspection of the underbody for any collateral damage. Mr. Blair has told me it was probably a problem in the shop's brake work. Can anyone give me some possible reasons for the fire?
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Regular
| If the brakes were adjusted to tight a fire can certainly occur. Might be hard to tell when first taking off but as they heat up they will expand and only get worse. You are lucky you caught it in time and were able to extinguish the fire. Tires, if ignited can be extremely difficult to extinguish. |
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Contributor
| Hi hal, thanks for your reply. The mechanics now say that there was no other damage other than to the brake shoes and the insides of the wheel. Problem is that finding the shoes and other stuff is proving extremely difficult. I'm kind of behind the 8 ball. Any suggestions? |
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Regular
| I have some brake shoes I recently removed from mine. They seem to have a lot of life left in them. I'll put a caliper on them and see how thick they are but I don't have a referance as to the shoes new. The reason I have them is that I've installed disc brakes.
Just measured them; looks like right at .5 inch total thickness. Minus the .162 (?) metal looks like about .35" of shoe. Maybe someone will have a new one to measure?
Hal
Edited by hal 2023-06-20 9:11 PM
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Contributor
| Hi hal, Hope everything is good in your corner. I am very interested in getting my mitts on your brake shoes (by any means necessary) since the only way to get #04 on the road after 4 years of repair shops and $%!!# thousands is to replace the post-fire brake shoes. Also, how difficult was the change to disc brakes? I am seriously thinking about doing it. What does the process involve? Thanks so much, hal. I'm in NYC. Where are you located? Take care. |
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Regular
| Doing the disc brakes is not for the faint of heart. I'm not sure you'd be able to find someone that would tackle the job (I'm a bit nuts so that helped me) A gentleman named Mark Fitzsimmons helped immensely, I don't think I would have attempted it without his help. The custom fabrication would have been in the 4-5,000 range plus another $1,000 or so for parts not to mention the hours of setup and welding time.
If you look in the Albums here under my name you'll see my build and the disc brake work. |
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Elite Veteran
 
Location: Victoria, BC. Canada | Sorry to hear about your brake fiasco, Thomas. I've been through the ringer, too, with brake work that wasn't done correctly. It prompted me to learn all I could about FMC brakes so I could do the work myself.
With regards to your shoes, you might be able to have them relined; really, it's what a lot of guys are doing now with increasingly scant availability of certain brake parts.
You mentioned, "Mr. Blair" earlier, are you talking about Henry? If so, are you in the Carolina's? Henry's a great guy and one of the most knowledgeable dudes around on these coaches.
For what it's worth, I have a set of FMC transit disc-brakes that came off a Barth/MCC coach, with a set of 22.5 Alcoas that go with them. If I don't sell them I'll use them on #846 if/when I change my gear ratio. It's perfect the way it is right now with my 19.5's.
If you go Facebook at all, there's a lot of FMC'ers on there right now. Sadly, this forum - Hal and a couple of others notwithstanding (bless his heart) - has lost a lot of traffic to FB.
If you don't get the help you need here or on the FB group, let Hal or myself know about it and we can follow up with you.
Stay in touch, you'll get through this.
Terry
#846
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Elite Veteran
Location: Victoria, BC. Canada | Sorry Thomas but I just now noticed that you'd responded to my Traders Market - Disk brakes/Alcoas thread - back in June.
I used to get notifications on here when someone posted but no more. Not sure if this forum is hosed or if I messed with something and buggered my notification settings somehow.
If I can be of help don't hesitate to email me anytime.
silversaw@telus.net
Thanks,
Terry
#846 |
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Rear left tire catches fire
