New Powertech Sump Pan

[travelite]

I had an unusual failure recently. I'm new to air bag suspended generators. I've never played around with the two pressure regulators feeding air to the fore and aft air springs, but someone must have. I arrived at my bus some time ago to find a puddle of oil on the floor under the generator. Seems I've been driving with very little air pressure in the front air bags. In addition, the rubber bump stop mounted to the floor of the enclosure and designed to support the engine sump pan had sheered off. This allowed the oil drain petcock to rest firmly against the enclosure tray. I guess over the miles the force and vibrations were too much for the welded on sump pan threaded bung. The weld attaching the threaded bung to the sump cracked and began leaking! The sump pan has to come off to repair the weld. Odd failure! I now know to pay particular attention to the pressure in those air bags and to make sure the resting rubber bump stops are in place and secured properly! This is my first mess-up with this bus!


As you can see, Vantare didn't mount the genny on a sliding tray, so how am I going to get the damaged sump pan off? I'd like to insert a jack under the sump, disconnect the fore air springs, lift the front of the generator, and crib under the air spring mounts to gain access and clearance to all the sump pan bolts. Here's the low profile jack I found; it's a Mat Jack 1, max air pressure is 120 psi. It can lift 1.5 tons to a height of 2.5 inches. It's deflated height is 3/4":


This past Friday I had a chance to give it a try. I disconnected the fuel pump and tied it out of the way; I removed the air hoses and air fittings from the top of the air springs; I then removed the two top bolts releasing the air springs from the engine support mounts. I plumbed the MatJack 1 with air via a pressure regulator and slowly lifted the front of the Kubota. I then packed cribbing between the engine mounts and the air springs for support. This gave me enough room to reach around the backside of the kubota to release all the sump pan bolts. After unbolting the oil pump strainer the sump came right out:


FOR EXTRA CREDIT: Where are the main bearing caps?