Gentlemen
I am searching for a replacement bush that is located by the centre bearing of the prop shaft.
There is one either side of the propshaft.
The latest MOT picked this up and it is down as an advisory so obviously I need to get it done ASAP.
Any help will be much appreciated.

Graham RML 2478 [50 Years old and still purring like a kitten]The bus not me !!

My bus number (if any): RML2478

Is this on the short prop on the RML? As far as I know nobody has any available, but there's a firm I've been reccommended to in the Bognor area who may be able to make or supply them; they also do the old Layrub couplings used on GS propshafts and RF fan shafts etc.

My bus number (if any): RML2532

Roy
Yes it is the bushes on the short prop shaft on the RML.
I too had been told they are no longer available but hoped that someone might have some kicking about looking for a good home.
I have the name of a company "up north" who manufacture this sort of thing and hopefully they will be able to help.
It seems that as time goes on a list needs to be held somewhere of companies that are able to fabricate parts no longer held in stock.

I have recently had to replace the accumulators on my bus and used the services of Hebble Hydraulics[really helpful people].
I had the old style Clayton football shaped accumulators and was facing the prospect of spending bucket loads of money to change to the "Torpedo "shaped" ones but Hebble are able to supply accumulators similar to the old ones and my local friendly engineer fabricated new brackets to hold them and loads of money was duly saved.They are in exactly the same position as the old ones and indeed lined up with the old pipework perfectly. Hebble claim it could be 15 years before they need pumping up if ever.

Cheers
Graham

My bus number (if any): RML2478

That's worth knowing; the accumulators are probably the same type that ensign have supplied to a few Clayton-braked buses.

My bus number (if any): RML2532

My bus number (if any): M1001, RML2276, T806

It makes sense to share contacts as the more people that use them the more chance they will still supply the parts/service in the future or even just stay in business ?

My bus number (if any): RML2747

A few of us are prepared to put our hands in our pockets and bulk buy some of these hard-to-get items or even one-of items to keep on the shelf. It's how we make our living, hence the reluctance to divulge sources. I had a lengthy discussion with John Radley at PSV Partsmaster about this recently. He's just forked out for various RM rubber mountings, king pins and the like; I've had 50 brake clevis pins made and have invested in half shafts, fuel pumps, radiators and now keep overhauled accumulators on the shelf ready to fit.

Some of the manufaturers and rebuilders are reluctant to deal with one-offs and ask us not to reveal sources.

The trouble is keeping all these parts on the shelf tie up an awful lot of capital and storage space, but with interest rates so low at the moment may provide some form of income for those with a bit of spare cash. Even the owners association have difficulty funding some of the spares projects because of the enormous costs involved.

To go back to the original post, the firm I know can make a batch of 50, how many people want some?

My bus number (if any): RML2532

I agree totally with the above, not for any protection motive but for two reasons neither of which are relevant to any current customers. To the extent which is possible I want control of the job from a planning aspect. Many times in the now fairly distant past, customers have wanted to supply their own parts, frequently needing to know where to go for them. Arrangements often having been made to return a number of days later, only to find that no parts have arrived because someone was 'too busy' to get around to it; result(maybe only part of) a day's work lost. From any garage's viewpoint a disabled vehicle waiting for a customer to get around to supplying parts is blocking a revenue earning bay. I know of one vehicle which has been dismantled in a bay for some four years now, with considerable difficulties having been experienced in 'negotiating' rent for that space.

Secondly, owners are far better served by suppliers like John Radley, who have been in the parts trade for many years, keep a range of items, re-order and know from where to source those parts, or to whom to send units for reconditioning. Some years ago there was a dearth of shock absorbers, these he had in stock at the time. However there was an attitude on the internet of: "I'm not paying that"(which was IIRC about £10-15 more than a subsequent limited batch run cost). Separately there was much agreement in online discussions that there was a need to: "cut out the middle man" to find out the source of suppliers and 'deal direct'. When practiced this is usually accompanied by an order strictly limited to previously known already-sold quantities.

I want to spend as little time as possible on the phone trying to source parts, a quick call to PSV and yes I can do is what I am looking for.

Many parts needed on a slightly more regular basis are generic items which can be sourced anywhere in the country from local suppliers. However as soon as, for example I, reveal that a wheel bearing can be obtained from xyz for £120 someone will claim that they can get the same thing for £50. Now maybe they get a better deal than I do, or maybe theirs is really a cheapie from China, which I would not touch with a barge pole because it is made by the wing yang wong bearing company.

Not wishing to get into a long separate argument, I do not see any revelation of sources from a specific organisation either.

A few weeks back I nearly posted something on here that has potential relevance to the manufacture of now obsolete parts. I didn`t do it as it`s a subject well outside of my knowledge and there are others who visit here that know far more about this. Both Roy`s for example are obviously `hands on` and experienced engineers well in touch with parts suppliers and very much aware of what is difficult or impossible to obtain and understand the reluctance of parts suppliers not wanting to divert their time to small scale orders of items that only a very few people might want. So, in our local paper recently was a story that caught my attention. I`ll pick out some of the text:

`An engineer who worked on tanks and Spitfires in WW2 is still making parts in his workshop`

`Gordon, 91, has machined rare and otherwise unobtainable parts for everything from classic cars to submarines having worked in his younger years on Blenheim Bombers, De Havilland Sea Vixens and Concorde`

`He works alongside his son in the engineering firm he founded in 1961 and couldn`t just stop work at 65 so he carried on - and more so since losing his wife. He just likes to keep busy and still goes deep sea fishing`.

` You never know what is going to come through the door. We have had an old Aston Martin, a Triumph Stag and one man needed us to build brakes for a 1903 Leon Bowley`. To me, every day is challenging and satisfying if you can help someone out and get them back on the road again`.

So there you have it - an experienced, capable engineer who isn`t tied to the commercial needs and deadlines of a firm as others are doing all of that. But pottering in a corner and not holding up production lines is a guy for whom making a `one off` or a small quantity is, seemingly, right up his street. Do those who know far more than I do about this see this as something worth investigating? I`ll gladly get in the car and go to see him if there`s a specialist item needed in too small a quantity for big firms to be interested in but that `Gordon` may be able to help with. Over to you........

I use an engineering company locally to me for parts reclamation, remanufacture etc on a one off basis. They are quite happy to do this work, but always ask some of the following questions : what is it used for? what specification material to make it from? what tolerances are required? what heat treatment process is required? Some work they turn down because I am unable to answer one or other of those questions.

Using a different company about whom I have no complaints and would use myself, one of my customers recently needed kingpins for his bus. These were to an unusual design, despite enquiries to others owning similar vehicles no additional requirements were found. The vehicle was off the road for 5 months, with the main delay being the heat treatment process. The complete job came to in the region of £1800.

RM rear handbrake rods, guide brackets and balls are well over £100 to make from memory. The work is in making the guide brackets. That does not include the clevis forks and pins either.

And the clevis pins I had made cot in excess of £10 each plus vat to have made!

My bus number (if any): RML2532

I Recently had problems with the RML intermediate cardian shaft carrier bearing mounting bushes,

These bushes are an oddball size with an external diameter of 1.624" which according to a number of specialists I've spoken with are simply no longer available,

When RML2666 decided to throw a wobbly recently we had to improvise and come up with a solution to get the bus back on the road,
having spent several hours rummaging through the stock room of my favourite suppliers I couldn't find anything even close to the original,
I first thought of re boring the mounting bracket to except a larger bush however on closer inspection it was discovered that the hole in the bracket is offset to one side leaving insufficient material for reworking,
my second idea was to find a slightly smaller bush and use a steel sleeve to reduce the diameter of the mounting brackets boring,
I measured the inside diameter of the original bushes outer sleeve which has a wall thickness of approximately 1/6" and then found a pair of suitable metric bushes,
The metric bushes originally designated for a Rover/Honda have an external diameter of 37mm which is 0.8mm larger than the inside of the outer sleeve,

Having pressed out the original bushes I used a 1/4" drill to remove the remains of the old rubber core,
once removed I then centred the sleeve in my 4jaw lathe and bored the hole out to 36.96mm and then cut a slight leading taper to one end,

Rml Carrier Bearing Bushes1

I first pressed the modified outer sleeve back into the mounting bracket using a smear of permanent locktite as lubrication then followed on immediately by pressing in the new bush again with a light smear of locktite,

Pleased with the result I thought I'd share this in case anybody else is having similar issues,
the whole job took around three hours to complete (once I'd found the bushes)

Metric bush Part number: First Line / FSK 6169 / Suspension Arm Bush / Honda-Rover.

Thanks for that information. I had to do something similar on a Bristol Lodekka propshaft mounting. I used an MAN shock absorber bush, ground down to size on an abrasive wheel! Not the best of engineering, but it worked.

My bus number (if any): RML2532

Going back to David and Grahams comments earlier in this thread, I feel we are all missing an opportunity here.

Surely building a parts database, any owners who have had parts re-made should not have to divulge their source of these parts, but go on the database as the supplier?

I appreciate if you have invested time and money in remanufacturing a part you would not want to divulge your source in-order to protect your investment. We alI need parts for our buses from time to time and I for one have no idea which parts are available from fellow enthusiasts.

I needed a radiator fan recently so my first call was to Imperial but maybe someone else has had these made?

I know David Colin was keen to put together a comprehensive list of part suppliers which when done would benefit us all.

David

David
I have no problem in sharing my good fortune with other owners in fact if I find firms that will produce small quantities of specific items I would be more than happy to share the info with others or indeed forward it to a list of suppliers.
Hebble Hydraulics were absolutely brilliant to deal with a good old northern company.
I also had front shock absorbers supplied by a west midlands company at a very competitive price.
Now if I can only find someone doing "Eyes down"moquette at a couple of quid a metre I'll have cracked it.

Graham

My bus number (if any): rml2478