1980 FC with Cat 3802 - fan bearing replacement - any history of problems?

[Lewandowski98040]

Hi -

I'm a newbie.

My wife and I just purchased a 1980 FC 31 from a nice guy (Don D.) in
Oregon. For me, it was love at first sight, but realistically, I
know that this is going to be a high maintenance affair with an older
lady. Her speedo reads 90,000 miles but Don said that her true age
could be 190K, since he was not her first lover. I promised him that I
would be kind, and try to keep her proud heritage mostly intact for
the next owner.

Before venturing too far from home, I introduced the Bird to my
nephew, Rob, who owns a busy transmission rebuild shop in Issaquah.
He put her into one of his service bays for two weeks. He serviced
the Allison and the differential, rebuilt the power steering pump,
sent the radiator out to a rebuilder, replaced some leaky hydraulic
hoses, etc. Even though Rob normally runs with a fast, young, racing
crowd that's swigs synthetic lube and snorts nito injection, he seems
to have bonded with my old Bird as he gently poked and prodded for
tell-tale signs of fatigue and imminent failure.

Among other things, he found that the radiator fan bearing is "a
little loose". He tried to replace the bearing but this bearing is no
longer available from local suppliers. It has a shaft that's
integrated into the sealed bearing assembly. The Cat. replacement
part is a whole new assembly. with a different mounting bracket and
normal bearing with separate, removable shaft. It would cost me
about $1,500 for these expensive parts and the shop time to install them.

I am wondering if any veteran Birders have found a source for the
(presumably less expensive) original bearing, with its embedded shaft,
and what is the service/failure rate of that original style bearing?
I don't want a seized bearing to send the spinning fan flying through
my new radiator.

Rob, also recommends that I take my bus to the local Blue Bird dealer
(Bryant Motors) for an engine checkup. He suggested that I want might
to have her valves adjusted and her head bolts tightened. What else
is prudent, in the way of preventive maintenance? What should I
include, in my instructions to the technical wizards at Bryant? If
possible, I want to sacrifice a little cash now for peace of mind down
the road, to avoid having to surrender a sick Bird to the tender
mercies of part-time grease monkeys at Gus's Garage & Liquor Stop in
Widespot Wisconsin next summer.

Meanwhile, my bride of 38 years wants to know why we're still tied to
the dock, instead of sailing off into the sunset, on that golden
voyage that I promised her when I brought this old Bird home to live
with us. Just like on my wedding night, I'm stalling and hiding my
inexperience with grand promises of how wonderful everything will be,
when I finally get out of neutral. Any helpful marital advice from
experienced Bird fanciers would be much appreciated. I've already
used up the old trick of vague promises about new carpets and curtains.

George Lewandowski,
Mercer Island, WA