Lanyards for Air Tank Drain Valves

[Chuck and Rita]

I have located three lanyards for my air tank drain valves but am not able to open the drains by pulling on them. How much force should it take, and do you pull straight away from the tank or sideways? Its a 2008 chassis built in late 2007 and they may never have been pulled since installation. Is there some secret recipe to free them up if they're siezed up?

[bdpreece]

You don't pull out you pull down or sideways at least on the ones I have done in the past. It really does not take that much pressure to release them.

[Chuck 1935]

Make sure you have full pressure in the tanks because it shouldn't take much of a tug on the lanyard to bleed off a little air. If you go under and look you will see that it is a sideways pull.

[emiddleb]

At CampFreightliner the instructor suggested that you start the engine and air up only to the point the buzzer stops... around 60 psi or so. Then turn off the engine and pull the lanyards.

The idea is that at full pressure the air stream "parts the Red Sea" and you don't get as effective draining as you do with the air at a lower pressure.

I use my awning hook to pull my lanyards... doesn't take much of a pull at all and easy to hear the air escaping.

[chasfm11]

I had the same problem initially as you do. An angle of 90 degrees (perpendicular to the valve stem) works best for me I have I have to give it a fairly stout tug to get it started.. Perhaps I'm one who has been trying to pull it at too high of a pressure.

[Gary RVRoamer]

There probably is no single answer. When Freightliner ships the chassis, the lanyards either go out to the sides through the frame and into the wheel wells or are coiled up on top of the tanks (depends on chassis type and configuration). If you reached into the wheel well and found lanyards, it would be a straight OUT pull that actually pulls the valve sideways. Then various motorhome manufacturers do different things with the lanyards, cut them off (really!), run extensions to the front, leave them as is, etc. I've never been able to find any lanyards on mine, so they are either gone or coiled up somewhere.

[ernieh]

Instead of guessing, why don't you just crawl under the coach and see what is going on? They might just be binding or they might be wrapped around something that you don't want to break.