The Old Bus Needs a Clutch and Learning Something New

          Last year I was in a campground that was next to a river.  Great place to live except when the river floods.  I had to move the bus to avoid rising water and I could not get it to go.  I came to understand that the brake pads had sort of rusted to the brake drums.  Eventually I got it moving, but not before smoking the clutch.  To complicate the matter, when I moved to higher ground in the campground, it became struck in uncompacted soil.  The next day, I again tried to move the bus and it would no go.    I had to call for a rig to pull me out of the muck.  Again, I smoked the clutch.  Its hard to tell from the photo, but the wheel are buried and the bus is on it belly
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          I decided that I had enough of flood dodging and decided to move to another campground.  I was able to move the bus and discovered that the clutch slipped as I was driving it.  I had ruined the clutch.  I got it parked in its new home and knew that I needed to fix the clutch.  I have replaced clutches in cars on several occasions and had an idea of what I was getting myself into, I thought.  Nope.  That transmissions weights more than my truck.

          I have removed the transmission and had the clutch rebuilt.  I had the flywheel and pressure plates flattened.  I have not put it back together because I am in need of six bolts.  The fasteners for the flywheel to the crankshaft.  Originally I was going to reuse the bolts that came off.  After thinking about it a little, I decided to get new ones.  Here's the rub.  I thought that I could just go out and get grade eight bolts and I would be all set.  The truth is that the bolts as specially design for this kind of application and if I didn't use them, I was flirting with disaster.

The bolts are called Place Bolts.  They are designed to hold in high vibration environments.  I understand that they both stretch and have a special head that makes them suitable for this task.    The problem is that no one local has them.  I sent away and they should arrive next week.  And hopefully, I can get the bus back together.