06 Allure PTO Update

September 28, 2011, 06:32:22 pm

Hi,

Perhaps this will help some of the Allure owners. Today I was able to ramp up the bus, crawl under it and remove the hydraulic pump. The goal was to inspect the spline connection to see if damage had occurred. As many know, hydraulic pump splines have been failing on several CC models. According to recall data the Allure hasn't yet been included as one of the affected models. There are no guarantees. Some Allure owners have gone ahead with a proactive stance and added the "wet kit" to be on the safe side. If the spline fails, which can be catastrophic, hydraulic power is lost to the cooling fan, trans and power steering assist. Lost hydraulic pressure to the cooling fan means a rapid rise in engine temperature. If safe guards don't exist or are not working this can mean boiling over and perhaps serious damage. Finding yourself suddenly in need of pulling off the road could also present a safety hazard. Especially in areas of road construction where "pull offs" don't exist.

We will be leaving our current location in the next couple of weeks for a 400 mile drive to include a long stretch of road construction on route 15 (SLC, Ut). The potential PTO spline failures have obviously drawn concern. There is only one sure fire way to evaluate whether your bus has (or may have) an issue. That being to physically inspect your spline drive. I was encourage by another gentleman on this news group doing just that and remarking it's a reasonably easy task. I too would remark it is a reasonable easy task. Reasonably easy being a relative statement, of course. It's yet another way we enjoy the RV lifestyle.

The good news is my spline connection is in excellent shape. I took the liberty of updating my old slide show with photographs of the spline
here:

http://muniac.smugmug.com/photos/swfpopup.mg?AlbumID=18975398&AlbumKey=kh2TZb The captions will provide the details. My bus has a soft start hydraulic cooling fan valve and CC packed the connection with grease. I can only assume these may have helped avoid (or eliminate) spline problems. I'd add this type of failure is both inexcusable and an outrage! As previously mentioned, the only way to make sure is to perform your own inspection. I hope this brings good news for other Allure owners whose busses are close in year to ours. As for the soft start valve, your cooling fan will run slowly when not required to pull air through the radiator. Something to check on whence inspecting your bus. Hope this helps a few folks out there. Safe travels to all.

Best - Scott

2006 Allure 430 #31349
(Bus-Stead Lemon)

06 Allure PTO Update - All Dry PTO's

Reply #1 – September 28, 2011, 07:03:30 pm

Yahoo Message Number: 74751

Scott, thanks for your efforts to communicate your experience, and to keep this issue alive.
Last week, I finally got around to having the wet kit installed in my coach. I had been having CAT inspect and grease the PTO with each annual, and all seemed well.
I asked the tech who installed my wet kit to save the old PTO shaft for me. Before cleaning it up to evaluate how much it had worn, I compared the female side with the female side of a new (unused) shaft. There was quite a difference.
After taking the old shaft home and cleaning the grease out of it, I discovered that it was, in fact, wearing out. I had seen it on prior occasions while CAT was doing the service and it looked fine. It wasn't.
I surmise that once the shaft begins to wear, it will deteriorate at an accelerating pace.
I have never heard of a "soft start" cooling fan so I don't know whether I have one or not.
I have also heard that prolonged idling will cause faster than normal wear of the PTO shaft.
Long story short, I'm glad I finally pulled the trigger. Mine was an accident waiting to happen. Just like Bob Handren and Herb Strandberg have been telling us for years.

Do it.
Jay

05 Inspire 51457
C-9 49,000 miles

Re: 06 Allure PTO Update - All Dry PTO's

Reply #2 – September 28, 2011, 08:38:57 pm

Yahoo Message Number: 74759

The PTO topic continues to be an issue for Country Coach owners, and sadly, is poorly understood or ignored by some of our owners.
For these reasons it was decided two weeks ago to include the whole PTO 101 report with pictures, which I assembled 1-2 years ago, now in the September Country Coach International (CCI) eNewsletter, due out tomorrow.
You can also find my PTO 101a report in the files of this Yahoo Group.

Lee
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Lee (leozbrowski@...) 2007 Country Coach Intrigue 12153
CAT C-13

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