Interstate 24x Broken Driveshaft x2

[24xDrvshaft]

Anyone had problems with the driveshaft on Interstate 24x?

At 7,500 miles, my drive shaft was replaced because it was bent. Mercedes said it was an Airstream issue because Airstream added the VB rear air suspension.

It happened again, at 16,500 miles, much worse, a piece of the driveshaft broke and fell off, on the interstate, damaging the underside of the vehicle, blowing out a tire, rupturing the aftermarket fuel tank and damaging the heatshield for the exhaust. I have no idea how Airstream can fix the underside of the vehicle and will deal with my ruptured aftermarket fuel tank.

I think the VB air air suspension changing the angle of the driveshaft could be the issue.

Attached is a photo.

[Lily&Me]

Yikes, how dangerous!!!

Sounds like no one was hurt, and hope you get this resolved.

Maggie

[InterBlog]

Welcome to Air Forums. I’m sorry to hear of your issue, which is quite possibly the worst that I have ever seen posted, and I have been on this forum for 9 years.

Not only have I NOT heard of a similar case with an Interstate, I have never heard of ANY Class B model suffering a similar fate, whether branded or user-built. Lots of brands and DIYers retrofit air suspension onto their vans, and that kind of failure simply doesn’t happen.

Please keep us informed of your progress in resolving it. It involves the kind of failure pathway knowledge that could save a life down the road, if we know what to look for. Thanks.

[24xDrvshaft]

No change.

The local AS dealer was not able to/did not want to provide suspected causation and repair estimate to AS.


The RV has been brought to a MB dealership for diagnosis at AS' request.

[Mansderm161]

Wow..sounds like a major defect. But I've already faced the Airstream/Mercedes run around with this. Air ride is installed by Airstream. They remove all the original Mercedes suspension. I recently lost all suspension because Mercedes disconnected it when replacing battery. They wouldn't look at it or reconnect it because it wasn't theirs. I ended up driving 650 miles to the factory with absolutely no suspension. Since repairs may require both companies, Airstream may ask you to have Mercedes do their part and "they will pay for it". But in my case, that meant have Mercedes do their part...I pay Mercedes, and Airstream reimburses which took 3 months. Yours will likely involve an insurance claim too since other items were damaged by the failure.

[24xDrvshaft]

Thanks for the info.

Nothing has been repaired after 2 months.

The MB dealer had vision last week, proclaiming they have determined the missing driveshaft needs to be replaced.

It fell out the RV 2 months ago.