Rear air bag question

[porourke]

We have a 93 LY MH with the air pump operated air bags on the rear end. Has any one ever dissconected the two back airbags and installed lines and fill valves on the outside coach wall. After spending a great deal of money, new bags among other things and god knows how much time we spent spraying fittings and valving to find the leak, we are no beter off than we were before. Ths previous MH we had had fixed bags and they worked great. Realy would appreciate some input on this.




Pat = Houston

[Mike Leary]

Welcome to the crappy air bag world of AS. I had all the factory junk ripped out and had the bags equipped with adjusters after measuring the alignment from side to side. All I do now is add air every once in a while to keep it at 125 psi. Those bags should have about 10" lift. The compressor was junk.

[porourke]

Hi Mike, thanks for the reply. When you did your mods did you keep the same type of air bags that it came with, and it there a seperat adjustment for each bag or both on the same one? My two are tied together through a T fitting and the fill line goes to the leveling sensor valve. I thought about disabeling the pump by pulling the fuse and taking the fill line loose from the leveling sensor and putting a fitting in a convenient place to air them both up. I want to keep them both tied together. My real problem is lekage that is internal through the valving and such. I bought some spray on leak detector and tested it at work on it will actualy blow larger bubles than soap and water but found nothing. The reason I want to keep them tied together is the way the air bags are set up on a leaf spring and link pins if one lost all pressure and the other stayed full it probly wouldn't hurt a thing if you were setting still but at highway speeds it could be disasterous. Teed to gether they would both deflate at the same and I have driven mine at 45 to 55 Mph with no air pressure at all. With 125# in one and 0# in the other it would lean like dickens. I dont mind airing them up before a trip and checking them frequentlyas long as they will hold press ure reasonably long, a day or two with out having to air them up. The bags that are on it now arent a year old. I want to keep using them fi I can, they werent cheap.

Thanks again for the reply, let me know if you think of anything else. I dooooo agree with you its a pood design.

Pat - Houston

[Mike Leary]

Yes, I kept the same bags, but I had a shop that specializes in bus and ambulance frames
and running gear rip the old junk out, including the 60-40 switch. Once they are adjusted,
a topping-off with air into the tank works fine.

[nate3172]

Did you happen to spray the leveling valve itself? I am a truck mechanic and that leveling valve is pretty much the same one that Peterbuilt, Freightliner, Kenworth, and most heavy haul trailers use for the airbag system. They have a tendancy to leak at the seal where the arm goes into the valve.

[Mike Leary]

Originally Posted by nate3172

Did you happen to spray the leveling valve itself? I am a truck mechanic and that leveling valve is pretty much the same one that Peterbuilt, Freightliner, Kenworth, and most heavy haul trailers use for the airbag system. They have a tendancy to leak at the seal where the arm goes into the valve.

What spray do you suggest? Yes, it was a heavy truck company in the south end that did the work. Thanks for the tip. I had the front coil springs replaced at the same time and the whole coach was aligned.
The bell cranks on the front end should be looked at, also.

[porourke]

The spray I used is called JELT, It comes in a silver can with black letters, I am an electritan by trade at the plant I work at. We have a lot of QA guages that operate off of air pressure, 5 to 7 Lbs. no more. Leaks at that low a pressure are very heard to find. The pipefitter that works those says JELT is the only thing he has ever found that works for very low volume leaks.


Pat - Houston

[alfalsetto]

If it was me, I'd take it off and go to truck shop or trailer shop and I think thay have a repacement for you. My years working in the shop if thay go bad I had to replace it. I have got it to work right