Replacing the air dryer unit - Advice?

[USAFFlyer]

Hello All,
Has anyone under took the daunting task of replacing the Haldex air dryer assembly on their Monaco or similar rig? I’m going to tackle the job in a few days and was just wondering if anyone had any advice. I’ll be doing the job on level ground, using the Hydraulic jacks to lift the rig, then using 10K lbs. jack stands for safety, I’m really not crazy about doing the job but it’s long overdue, and I have more time than I do money. Any advice? - Tom

[palehorse89]

You are just going to change out the filter not the whole air dryer ? But if the filter is been on the unit for a long time and due to where its located it might be just as easy to take the hoses off mark them and unbolt the unit from the frame so you can work on it more easily and clean it up good.

[nodine]

Quote:

Originally Posted by USAFFlyer Hello All, Has anyone under took the daunting task of replacing the Haldex air dryer assembly on their Monaco or similar rig? I’m going to tackle the job in a few days and was just wondering if anyone had any advice. I’ll be doing the job on level ground, using the Hydraulic jacks to lift the rig, then using 10K lbs. jack stands for safety, I’m really not crazy about doing the job but it’s long overdue, and I have more time than I do money. Any advice? - Tom

Is your Haldex that difficult to access? We have a 2006 Diplomat and to access the air dryer we open the door with the air conditioner heat exchanger. The Haldex and jack system are behind that. As the previous poster mentioned, the filter can be hard to unscrew. Make sure you bleed all the air down and get a good quality strap wrench.

Bob

[H. Miller]

Not sure which system you have but ours was a spin on filter and took all of 4-5 minutes to change....

[hardy1000]

Make sure you let all of the air out of the system before you remove the filter.

[walt2137]

Quote:

Originally Posted by USAFFlyer Hello All, Has anyone under took the daunting task of replacing the Haldex air dryer assembly on their Monaco or similar rig? I’m going to tackle the job in a few days and was just wondering if anyone had any advice. I’ll be doing the job on level ground, using the Hydraulic jacks to lift the rig, then using 10K lbs. jack stands for safety, I’m really not crazy about doing the job but it’s long overdue, and I have more time than I do money. Any advice? - Tom

If you are talking about replacing the Haladex dryer unit because the price of the Desiccant & Coalescing filter kit ($130+) Yes I did the replacement it on our 99 Dip and 2000 Dyn, I replaced it with a Meritor Wabco pt# R955205 for about $60 more than the filter kit for the Haladex and the Desiccant filter kit for the Meritor Wabco part# R950011 is generally available on E bay for less than $40. You will have to modify the dryer bracket to attach the Meritor Wabco.
As for bleeding the air down on the coach I think it is a good idea but if your unloader is working there will not be any pressure in the Desiccant filter.

[USAFFlyer]

Super! Thanks for the advice, I'll probably do the dirty deed on Monday since I'm off work. Doing labor or labor day, it just dosen't seem right! - Tom

[USAFFlyer]

For those who are interested, what a headache this job turned out to be! O.K. first off you can’t find “old” filter cartridges for the original Pureair air dryer unit, but there is a new replacement unit that’s supposed to be “plug and play”. So I bought the new unit for $290 and got under our 96 Dynasty to remove the old one. The old unit came out fairly easily, I would say roughly about an hour to remove it. I compared it to the new unit and it looked very similar, not identical but very similar. I could see that the 3 out of the 4 fittings were in different positions, but I thought it looks workable. Next step, remove the old bracket and just bolt the new bracket on, not so fast. Some bright apple at either Monaco, or RoadMaster bolted half the bracket on, and welded the other half. Roughly 3 hours was spent on my back with a cut off wheel trying to cut the welded side of the bracket off. What a pain in the neck, literally. But it had to be done; the new bracket could not be bolted on without removing the old one. Finally the old bracket was removed and I was able to contort myself into a pretzel to bolt the new bracket on, I mounted the new unit on its bracket to test fit the lines and 3 out of the 4 lines could be moved around to fit the new Dryer unit, but guess which one would not? Yep, the main air pressure braided steel hose running from the compressor to the dryer. Off to the local hose shop for a 12” longer braided steel hose, about $100 for that little baby! On my back again and the new hose fit very nicely. A few new runs of looming, and some new cable ties and I was done with the task. What a pain this job was! But at least I know it’s done.