Rear air bag R & R

[Theturboman]

We have a lot of talk here about installing new air bags in the rear. Questions on whether or not to remove tires etc. I have to tell you that this should have been about a 30 min to 1 hour install for both bags no tire removal. 3 bolts per side and an air line. Sounds easy right!!! Top 2 bolts out with an impact in 10 seconds,air line off in a minute then came the one lower bolt that requires a box wrench. The biggie is that the nut gets welded to the bolts and then the shaft just spins with no way to hold the shaft. Side 1 nut moves about 3 turns then spins everything so we switch to the other side while we soak the first one with penetrant. 2nd one does move but maybe a 1/4 turn. Start cutting the bag apart to try to get a spot to clamp on to the shaft-nope not happening. Went back to the other side and accidentally spin the bag itself and the air bag falls of less the shaft that will need to be cut. Back to the other side and Sawzall the shaft and the other side. Install goes back together in 10 minutes-done. One little hiccup cost over an hour-- uggg. Good thing I changed them as they were starting to show some real wear

[Jim_HiTek]

I have a '02 Journey and I'm wondering what symptoms you had that caused you to change out your airbags?

Did they fail a leakdown test?

Curious about whether I need to budget for mine soon or not?

[Theturboman]

Originally Posted by Jim_HiTek

I have a '02 Journey and I'm wondering what symptoms you had that caused you to change out your airbags?

Did they fail a leakdown test?

Curious about whether I need to budget for mine soon or not?

If you look at the pics they were deteriorating pretty bad in the bends. I dont thing it would have been long. They held air great

[Old Scout]

Hey Bruce, guess I was just lucky with the bags on my 2003 with 192k miles on it. Had no issues with the rear bags and the only issue with the front bags was lack of access to the bolts/nuts. The bags were actually in pretty good shape with some surface checking on the fronts. Even though changing the bags failed to solve my air leaks on the front, I was glad I did the R&R.

[Theturboman]

Originally Posted by Old Scout

Hey Bruce, guess I was just lucky with the bags on my 2003 with 192k miles on it. Had no issues with the rear bags and the only issue with the front bags was lack of access to the bolts/nuts. The bags were actually in pretty good shape with some surface checking on the fronts. Even though changing the bags failed to solve my air leaks on the front, I was glad I did the R&R.

I figured if I did 2 might as well do 4. I also found another blown Bilstein in the rear(front had one a few months back) so Koni's are on the way for the rear too. I may flatten one of the front and carry it in the spare parts bin rears went in the trash

[Cuda67bnl]

Did you just use jackstands or cribbing to support the coach?

[andy29847]

I bought 12 ton jack stands. They are kinda tall, so I am not sure how they will work in the back. I have used them in the front.

I have ramps made from 2 layers of 2 x 12 boards. I drive up on the ramps, then lower the jacks without bleeding the air (I use 2 layers of 2 x 12 under the jacks too). Once I have the coach lifted, I can put jack stands underneath. The 2x12 jack stands will fit in the front under the cross piece between the 2 front jacks. With the coach supported on the jacks, and the jack stands in place as an emergency measure, I feel safe enough to work under the coach. There is enough room enough for me to use a mechanics creeper underneath the coach. I also can use a bottle jack to lift one wheel and remove it if I want to.

FWIW, jack stand ratings are the capacity of both jacks, i.e., one jack stand from a 12 ton set can support 6 tons.

[Theturboman]

Originally Posted by Cuda67bnl

Did you just use jackstands or cribbing to support the coach?

The rear tires never left the ground, I used the levelers to give us some height and let the air out of the bags and then I blocked the front tires also. In the front I lifted the tires off so I used my bottle jack for safety because we were sitting under it. In the back we were on our backs almost the entire time

[sctalbott]

What model and year of Coach. Can you share part #s with us. Thanks

[Theturboman]

Originally Posted by sctalbott

What model and year of Coach. Can you share part #s with us. Thanks

Front W01-358-9039
Rear W01-358-9482

[andy29847]

Originally Posted by Theturboman

Front W01-358-9039
Rear W01-358-9482

Theturboman:

Thanks for posting on your experience.

[Theturboman]

Originally Posted by andy29847

Theturboman:

Thanks for posting on your experience.

Rears shocks should be here Monday so I will try to take a few more pics during install

[Jason911]

I just did my front airbags. Still need to do the rear.

Mine have some cracking and wanted to replace them before they started to leak.

I did what you did but used 3 sets of 2x10s and I had a good amount of room to work.

I had to cut the tools like another member suggested. For my 1999 36’ mds I needed three wrench sizes to unbolt the air bags. 3/4 and 1 1/16 for top and a 1 1/8” for the bottom bolt

Plus other random sizes for air lines. Picture below is my old front air bags and the tools.

[Jason911]

Finished the rear airbags. Much easier to replace than the fronts bags. No special tools for the rear. Just had a hard time removing the air line adapter from the top of the bag on one side, the air line adapter is a 14mm, not a 9/16, and the soft brass started to round off.

I ordered the bags from https://www.truckspring.com/ searching for the numbers above. They were a direct fit. A shop quoted me $3-4k to replace bags and the bags were just under $1000 to do it myself.