Community Forums

Kro1957 · 02-26-2016, 03:49 PM

I have the books for this coach and there is a lot but I do not see any mention of when to dump the air out of the air bags...

If you are parked in a spot overnight and it is level, do you even bother with putting stabs down or dumping air? I could see if you want to put that bottom step way low but other than that I do not see an advantage.

If I am parked in storage right now, I have the air bags empty and the stabs are up. I plan to be moving it every few days and do some work on it.

I looked around at other motorhomes and they appear to all be low to the ground (air out) and jacks are up. Just wanted to make sure the weight on empty air bags is not a bad thing??? your thoughts?

Thanks!
James

lllkrob · 02-26-2016, 04:35 PM

If you park it for several days the air bags will leak down anyway, might as well dump the air when parking. On my coach the airbags dump automatically when using the levelers. Most air bag equipped coach owners just store them with the air bags empty.

Mr_D · 02-26-2016, 04:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lllkrob

Most air bag equipped coach owners just store them with the air bags empty.

Not ours, we only have air leveling and there is a 12V pump to keep it leveled.
When we had the '02 Dutch Star I didn't let the air out when stored and it took weeks, not days to leak down.

But it's up to the owner as to what they wan t to do!

Cat320 · 02-26-2016, 04:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lllkrob

If you park it for several days the air bags will leak down anyway, might as well dump the air when parking. On my coach the airbags dump automatically when using the levelers. Most air bag equipped coach owners just store them with the air bags empty.

That's how mine work.

palehorse89 · 02-26-2016, 04:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kro1957

I have the books for this coach and there is a lot but I do not see any mention of when to dump the air out of the air bags...

If you are parked in a spot overnight and it is level, do you even bother with putting stabs down or dumping air? I could see if you want to put that bottom step way low but other than that I do not see an advantage.

If I am parked in storage right now, I have the air bags empty and the stabs are up. I plan to be moving it every few days and do some work on it.

I looked around at other motorhomes and they appear to all be low to the ground (air out) and jacks are up. Just wanted to make sure the weight on empty air bags is not a bad thing??? your thoughts?

Thanks!
James

Hi James !
When the air bags are emptyed, the frame drops, till it is metal to metal(Frame/suspension stops)
The weight from the Coach is now on the tire's , and the air bags are empty of air. This is just fine for storage............
I auto level mine in the shop, using the jacks, to stabilize it(We are in/out/camp in it over the winter) and just take a little weight off the tire's while it sits for 5-6 months till spring. Mine also will sit on her air suspension for well over a month in the summer without dropping

( All air leaks fixed, for now!)

chuckftboy · 02-26-2016, 05:31 PM

Mine also leaks down in a few days not weeks or months but it doesn't hurt anything. Mine levels hydraulically and when I pull into a level site, I don't dump before leveling. When the site is not so level, I dump first to use the extra travel on my levelers. Sitting on empty bags won't hurt them at all.

palehorse89 · 02-26-2016, 05:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chuckftboy

Mine also leaks down in a few days not weeks or months but it doesn't hurt anything. Mine levels hydraulically and when I pull into a level site, I don't dump before leveling. When the site is not so level, I dump first to use the extra travel on my levelers. Sitting on empty bags won't hurt them at all.

The idea of dumping the suspension on a air ride suspension system is to get the entrance/exit steps as close to the ground as possible.

Kro1957 · 02-26-2016, 06:16 PM

I am learning this motorhome stuff but I can tell you from driving a passenger bus, when I was doing a pre-check for a trip once, I noticed the rear tags were on one side were closer to the frame than the usual 7" or so. I reported it to the mechanics and they took it out of service. Said I had a air bag leak and it was rather costly to replace it.

With the coach sitting sometimes for a day or so, we never normally had any loss of air in the bags but I suppose over time there could be. Obviously hauling passengers they want a smooth ride and the air bags working. I noticed a few other buses I drove had a loss of air but regained height after start up with the compressors running.

We had kneelers on the bus to drop air from the right front and allow easier loading and unloading but no air dump system like my motorhome has. I just wanted to make sure that sitting on the frame or on compressed bags this was not harmful or would cause air bag failure. I was underneath the coach inspecting the other day. Wow those bags are huge! Way larger than I had expected.

WILDEBILL308 · 02-26-2016, 09:00 PM

All bags will leak over time. As you know it takes only a couple of minuets when you start your coach for the air pressure to come up.
Having the step closer to the ground is a good thing. The coach is designed to set with the bags deflated.
Bill