2004 Journey 34h air/dryer pull lines?

[Blowncar]

New to me 34h . I understand there is an air dryer line filter and a pull cable of some sort to clear moisture from the system. Q is; where is the filter and is it easy to replace. Secondly where is the pull cable/line to drain out excess water?


thanks, will probably have several more questions about this coach soon.


2004 34h 50k miles cat 7

[welditup]

Originally Posted by Blowncar

New to me 34h . I understand there is an air dryer line filter and a pull cable of some sort to clear moisture from the system. Q is; where is the filter and is it easy to replace. Secondly where is the pull cable/line to drain out excess water?


thanks, will probably have several more questions about this coach soon.


2004 34h 50k miles cat 7

The "air dryer" is a cartridge not a inline filter and can be found usually on top of the dryer unit. I am not sure if you have the standard AD9 cartridge, but once you drain the tanks (pull lines should be near the pass front wheel in the well, at least on mine which is a meridian (sister ship to yours) or fan the air brakes down to 0psi and then swap out the cartridge by unscrewing the whole cartridge and replacing.

FYI, We always rebuild the spitter valves with new seals when we change our cartridges annually on our OTR trucks.

Link to what you are looking for.....
https://b2bendix.com/US/en/USD/Produ...Dryer/p/065225

[FIRE UP]

Originally Posted by Blowncar

New to me 34h . I understand there is an air dryer line filter and a pull cable of some sort to clear moisture from the system. Q is; where is the filter and is it easy to replace. Secondly where is the pull cable/line to drain out excess water?


thanks, will probably have several more questions about this coach soon.


2004 34h 50k miles cat 7

Blowncar,
Your coach is the same year as ours. Ours is an '04 Itasca Horizon 36GD with the CAT C-7 330HP. And if yours hasn't been changed to a different model, you should have what's pictured below as your AIR DRYER. There's more than just ONE filter in it. There's two. And these are:
Desiccant Cartridge, Coalescing Filter. In what's called a DQ6026 Air Dryer service kit, you'll find both of those and other components. And if it's the same unit as we have, it will be located over the rear axle on the drivers side.

It's not an overly complicated job to remove it, rebuild and or service what's needed and then replace it. And you're good for several years.

As for your "Pull cables", yes, you should have as has been stated, three of them in the right front fenderwell. At least that's where they "should" be. Sometimes the chassis assembly techs got lazy and all they did was coil them up from the pull valves on the tanks and zip tie them up under the front end of the chassis. But hopefully, yours are there in that left front fender well.

As a side note, we've owned our coach now for 13 years and 118,000 miles and while I've only pulled on those cables maybe a dozen times in that time frame, I've never, ever expelled any moisture from any of those tanks. So, my air dryer's been doing its job!
Scott

[Ray,IN]

As FIRE UP said, if you pull the small cables, should be 2 or perhaps 3 depending on chassis make, and you get water out, the air desiccant filter is long past when it should've been replaced.

The desiccant filter should come with complete instructions, follow them to the letter.

[Blowncar]

Thanks for the replies, you all were very helpful. Now i have two follow up questions.

Do you pull the lines at the same time or one at a time?

Where should the air (hopefully no water) discharge at?

thanks again

[FIRE UP]

Originally Posted by Blowncar

Thanks for the replies, you all were very helpful. Now i have two follow up questions.

Do you pull the lines at the same time or one at a time?

Where should the air (hopefully no water) discharge at?

thanks again

Blowncar,
Again, if yours is like ours, in terms of identical Freightliner chassis layout, you'll have TWO air tanks tucked up inside that chassis just in front of the front axle. But, you will have THREE cables to pull. One cable leads to one tank while the other two cables both go to the same tank but the tank is divided in half. Not exactly sure why they did that other than to conserve space without the need to place an additional third tank and, apparently the volume in each half of that particular tank is enough to satisfy the needs and requirements for each sides operation.

In any case, each cable leads to a valve on the bottom of the tank. It's a form of a lever valve. That is, it doesn't pull straight down to open and drain whatever water/moisture is in the tank. Instead, it pulls sideways on the valve and opens it in that fashion. Now, a note here. In the 13 years and 118,500 miles we've owned and operated this coach of ours, I've yanked on those cables maybe a grand total of about 5-10 times, TOPS! Each and every time, I've not seen one drop of any moisture being emmitted from any of the three valves. Now, to me, that means the air dryer is doing a fantastic job.

And, some of that luck I'm presupposing is due to living and RVing in dryer climates with less humidity. And that might mean there's less moisture entering the air system in the first place. Sooooo, maybe you'll have the same luck and have no moisture. But if you do, unless it's a phenomenal amount, it just might mean it's time to either do an overhaul of your air dryer or, simply purchase a new one or rebuilt one. Your choice here Partner.
Scott

[SafariBen]

The air dryer "cycles" or "regenerates" at each compressor cycle, so it should continue working indefinitely. Problems come from oil and dirt contamination, causing the valves to malfunction, etc.



As noted, draining the tanks is an inspection to warn of dryer failure, not a routine water drain like it was before air dryers.

[Ray,IN]

My Spartan chassis has automatic moisture drains, but I still pull the manual drains about every 3 months to insure the auto-drains still do the job.
It's not unusual to see a few drops or a short spray of moisture. The MH desiccant filter should be replaced every 3 years unless driven daily.
If oil is seen in the old desiccant filter, the compressor should be inspected.

[Ray,IN]

Originally Posted by Ray,IN

My Spartan chassis has automatic moisture drains, but I still pull the manual drains about every 3 months to insure the auto-drains still do the job.
It's not unusual to see a few drops or a short mist of moisture once in a while. The MH desiccant filter should be replaced every 3 years unless driven daily.
If oil is seen in the old desiccant filter, the compressor should be inspected.

Edited in red.

[welditup]

Originally Posted by FIRE UP

Blowncar,
But, you will have THREE cables to pull. One cable leads to one tank while the other two cables both go to the same tank but the tank is divided in half. Not exactly sure why they did that other than to conserve space without the need to place an additional third tank and, apparently the volume in each half of that particular tank is enough to satisfy the needs and requirements for each sides operation.

The "Split tank is actually a function of a dual circuit air brake system. The smaller of the 2 sides is called the "wet tank" This is the air entrance from the compressor/ dryer system and its job is to finish the cooling of the discharge air and collect any remnants of oil/ air. ALL compressors pass oil to some degree, SOME dryers have a secondary coalescing filter, but not all. For the looks at Fire Ups, his DOES have one. On really new unit you may have a ADIS dryer module and the tank, drier and manifold will be one unit with a external non-adjustable governor.

the other side of the dual tank (dual drains on one tank) is the secondary air tank. On big trucks this runs the front air brakes and all air acc's like air ride, seats and sliding 5th wheels.

The last and biggest tank is your primary. Primary air runs your primary brakes (aka Rear brakes).

Feel free to not drain your tanks as other do just make sure your in front of me , me I drain and test them every time I drive. Testing your air brakes is easy and CRITICAL to do. You need to check for crossover (air bleed from tank to Tank) Brake inversion, cut-in / cut-outs and when your little yellow diamond pops out ( we call it the dynamite test) LOL should be between 20-45PSI on a 120psi governed system.



here is a little read that might help you keep the road a bit safer.

https://www.nhsta.org/assets/categor...1437683385.pdf