Daul wheels Toyota Coaster
Submitted: Friday, Nov 05, 2010 at 16:15
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harryopal
Recently got an 87 Toyota Coaster Motor Home. (Keeping the Landcruiser for offroad.) Am a bit intimidated by the dual wheel set up with regard to tyre pressures and wheel changing.
My mechanic tells me that the nuts with the dual wheel system have to be pretty tight. Am not looking forward to changing a tyre. Got a length of steel pipe for leverage but it has been suggested that the left side of the Coasters have an anti clockwise thread. I would hate to start putting pressure on to loosen the nuts only to find I am tightening them. Is this a general rule with Coasters? And how difficult is it checking the pressures on the inside tyres?
If one of the inside tyres becomes deflated is this immediately obvious in the handling?
Am thinking of adding an extra fuel
tank. (It's diesel.) What kind of extra cost am I looking at?
Would appreciate comments. Thanks. Harry
Reply By: Member - Graham H (QLD) - Friday, Nov 05, 2010 at 19:46
Friday, Nov 05, 2010 at 19:46
Used to drive buses and the usual way to know an inner tyre had gone was the outer one bags out more and squashes down and looks a bit flat.
Keep an eye on them in your mirrirs if you can
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435143
Reply By: Member - Tour Boy ( Bundy QLD) - Friday, Nov 05, 2010 at 20:23
Friday, Nov 05, 2010 at 20:23
Hi Harry,
Most heavier vehicles tend to have left hand thread on the passenger side. With the coasters there is usually an "L" stanped on the end of the stud on both front and rear axles.
Just look for the valve stem on the inside wheel it may have an extension screwed onto it so it can be checked from the outside like normal.
If the inside tyre goes down you may not notice unless it is a retread and peels off (or the tyre goes bang in the first place) unless you are way overloaded and on a windy road. If the outside goes flat, just have a piece of timber in the vehicle that you can drive the inside wheel up onto so the outside wheel is off the ground. No jack needed in this case.
As for fuel
tank go to the wreckers and find a
tank from a small mazda T3500 or similar, take measurements and see if it will fit between the body and the chassis. These were usually mounted via straps bolted to the chassis and would be pretty cheap if you can get one to fit. A lot cheaper than a custom
tank anyway. Your model bus has the factory
tank mounted the same way I think. Maybe another 2nd hand coaster
tank will fit. The later coaster (like
mine) has the
tank bolted to the floor in between the chassis rails behind the rear axle and above the spare (think 80 or 100 series cruiser)
Zebra at Gracemere would have the coaster tanks and maybe even a long range one.
AnswerID:
435146
Follow Up By: Member - Christopher P (NSW) - Friday, Nov 05, 2010 at 23:18
Friday, Nov 05, 2010 at 23:18
you can put 3 fuel tanks in the thing and from the same/ similar model coasters. youc an also put two big
water tanks under it aswell. ex gf father had one all decked out really nice.
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Reply By: Member - Joe n Mel n kids (FNQ - Friday, Nov 05, 2010 at 20:54
Friday, Nov 05, 2010 at 20:54
not getting many replys eh, there is a few other "forums" that probally could help you better, one being "bus australia" ............
To answer a few for you:
Yes the nuts have to be tight and they are a lot bigger, if you plan on going anyware jack up every wheel and remove each rim, you will need a length of pipe about 1M long is enough (cheater bars!!!) and make certain it is heavy walled pipe and not light as it will distort, yep the left and right on "most" are not the same, they should have a "R" & "L" stamped in the center of the studs, dont be to scared of "breaking" them as if you do it very most probally would have been a faulty stud and needs replacing, clean up all threads with a wire brush and replace rims, put oil on the threads and nut surface that contacts the rims, then pay a tyre
shop to check them and advise you if they are to tight, to loose or ok, only way you will ever know.........
With the pressures they have an extended metal valve stem that is bent and goes inside for the outside rim and outside for the inside rim (confused now??) and if you look at a common service station tyre pumpy upey thing it has a double ended thing that goes on the valve, you place the opening facing you when holding it to pump up the outside rim and other side for the inside rim..... drive to an air outlet and have a look and you will see what i mean....
With one of the rear duels going flat, you most probally wont have a great deal of combined weight so may not know it is flat until it is completely flat, best way is to get the bit of pipe for the nuts and walk around the bus lightly tapping (hitting) each tyre on the flat of the tread, a tyre when pumped up is very hard and will bounce back almost with a "ring" ... a half flat tyre will look identicial but when hit will have a "soft" dull thud ..... very simple, quick and effective, probally seen truckys doing it and wondered why eh...
With your tyre pressures you will have to experement a bit but they can run as high as 110 psi but you will have very little weight so try letting them down, you may even go down to 50 psi without any problems but try it bit by bit and keep the front higher as they are singles and carry more weight ....
Fuel
tank..... it is a "coaster" and you wont be able to go that far off the beaten track so find out what distance you get and plan ahead as fitting a new fuel
tank often leads to problems down the track and will cost thousands and "thousands" is a lot of fuel ...... diesel is at almost every fuel stop and i dont think the coaster will go anyware that has fuel stops further than 500klms apart, you should be able carry a few jerrys if really needed but avoid it if you can...
Book finished..... hahaha cheers Harry and good luck
AnswerID:
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Reply By: Kanga1 - Friday, Nov 05, 2010 at 21:21
Friday, Nov 05, 2010 at 21:21
Harry, keep an axle stand in your bus for undoing the wheel nuts, the Socket bar will come out past the edge of the tyre/rim if you put the axle stand under this it will keep
the nut socket snug on the wheel nut while you are jumping up and down on the cross brace/extension pipe or bar. Goes without saying really, but make sure there is no sand/mud/loose paint flakes between the faces of the duals before you put them on. Cheers, Kanga.
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Follow Up By: Member - Graham H (QLD) - Saturday, Nov 06, 2010 at 09:16
Saturday, Nov 06, 2010 at 09:16
And dont have any paint under the nuts either.
We got 22 new rims for the buses and had the job of removing paint from around the lug holes and where two rims would touch.
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Follow Up By: harryopal - Saturday, Nov 06, 2010 at 10:15
Saturday, Nov 06, 2010 at 10:15
Thank you all for your helpful suggestions. It was only when the first email came noting a reply that I found I had written "Daul wheels" instead of "Dual
Wheels." And to think I spent a couple of periods working as a proof reader for a couple of daily papers including the
Melbourne Age which saw itself as having high standards.
The looking out for the outside wheel pushing out a bit and tapping the inside tyre with a bar sounds like a nice combination for keeping an eye on things. Much appreciated.
Again. Thanks all.
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