driving with bags down into garage

[jwine]

Looking at buying a 05 phaeton with sat dish and need to lower to get into rv port 12ft 5 in. heard that fliners would let you crank and drive with bags down for short dist with no turns. thanks jim weiner

[jwine]

Looking at buying a 05 phaeton with sat dish and need to lower to get into rv port 12ft 5 in. heard that fliners would let you crank and drive with bags down for short dist with no turns. thanks jim weiner

[Harry B]

I have a 05 Itasca Horizon on a FL XC chassis and uses a HWH leveling system.
I can discharge the air in the bags (lowering the coach) by means of the HWH leveling system while the engine is running. I haven't tested how long it will stay in this lowered state with no air in the bags, while the engine is running. I have observed it staying that way for about a minute at least.

[smlranger]

I was able to do what you desire recently with success. I needed to get the rig into a body shop with a 12' door. I need 12'2" with the bags inflated due to the Kingdome. I pulled up to the door, dumped the air by turning on the HWH leveling system, and slowly drove into the garage with no issues.

[Gary RVRoamer]

I successfully "dumped air" to get under a low overpass - I only needed a couple extra inches. On my coach you need to keep holding the air dump switch in or the suspension will immediately begin to raise again as the compressor pumps in air.

[76dc]

On CC you hit the dump air and coach drops and you can drive into or under and then hit travel mode and it goes back to ride height. Tech drove it about a block with air dumped. rides kind of rought.

[historyljc]

jwine,
Check the Phaeton. It probably has Atwood electric jacks. The air dump is integrated into the jacks and only dumps when the jacks go down. If you find a way to dump the air with the jacks up, please let me know.

[jwine]

SO did not like pheaton and looks like what I will be getting will not have large beach ball on top of it. thanks for input jim w.

[dengraham]

I understand the official answer from Freightliner is that you should NOT move the chassis without air in the bags. That is why they automatically are filled when you put the transmission in Drive. The reaason is becuase when the chassis is lower the angle of the driveline between the engine and transmission is significally changed. The engine can then easily twist off (or break) the bolts on the universal joints on the driveline. However, the unofficial answer is that if you are moving very slowly and not "racing" your engine and do not go over any big bumps (like just into a garage or barn) you would be okay. Many coaches have a dump air button which you need to hold down to offset the engine wanting to pump them up. I have seen some people install a "dump air" valve on their air tank but you would need to know which line to tie into from a schematic. This help?

[JoeT]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by historyljc:
jwine,
Check the Phaeton. It probably has Atwood electric jacks. The air dump is integrated into the jacks and only dumps when the jacks go down. If you find a way to dump the air with the jacks up, please let me know. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Procedure to dump air on Phaeton with Atwood Jacks:
Engine must be running, trans in gear, parking brake off and jack control pad off.
Push the All, Front and Rear buttons at the same time and the air will dump.

Later when you restart the engine, if you immediately put it in gear and release the parking brake the bags should not fill. If you put it in neutral and activate the parking brake, the bags will fill.

[historyljc]

Thanks Joe, I'll make a note of that.