Community Forums

bmcgc · 03-31-2023, 10:58 AM

This is the result of the PS hose rubbing on the brake line.

I brought the MH from storage to the house and loaded up for a week at a nearby local county park. I loaded up the pups, started the engine and got a brake failure warning. I went outside and found all the fluid on the ground. I didn't notice it because the driveway was wet from an overnight shower.

I have the brake line out and am having a shop splice in a repair section.

What is the best way to bleed the brakes on a 2005 W22 chassis?

Luckily this was in the driveway and not on the interstate or a mountain pass.

Ray Lenning · 03-31-2023, 06:17 PM

I used one of the hand operated vacuum bleeders. Any parts store will have them.

1972VWbus · 04-01-2023, 07:38 PM

When you bleed the system pour some new fluid in the bottle your bleeding to and keep the line going to the bottom of it submerged in the fluid to trap air and not allow air into the line when your helper lifts the pedal and/or when your pumping with a bleeder.

Also smear some grease on the base of the bleed screw/s prior to cracking them open. This will prevent air from being drawn in around the bleeder screw/s. Also use a flare wrench on the bleed screws. Apply some PB Blaster to screws prior to attempting to crack them open.

bmcgc · 04-02-2023, 08:41 PM

Long 4 days.

I removed the brake line running from the master to a junction about 8 feet away. That was almost an entire day.

No shop would touch the brake line. Liability they say. No shop was interested in doing the entire repair. We don't do chassis work they say. That was at 3 different RV dealerships, 1 big truck shop and 4 tire/brake chain shops.

My flare kit is a Harbor Freight special, and I don't like the flares it makes so I went to O'Rielly's and got a brand spanking new kit. I cut out the bad part of the line and when I went to flare the ends, I found that my brand spanking new O'Rielly's kit had two 5/16 and zero 1/4 dies.

Back to O'Reilly's to return the kit, then over to Advance for a new kit. Advance didn't have a Kit, so back home to use my Harbor freight kit.

Finally got the ends flared, the junction in and did an air test. No leaks, all is well.

Reinstalling the brake line was pretty easy, much easier that I thought, considering that I twisted, pulled, pushed and bent it to get it out.

I was ready to bleed the brakes, I looked at those four long 1/4" brake lines and those four giant brake calipers and decided that I was going to try a pneumatic bleeder instead. Off to Harbor Freight for the $31 brake bleeder and then to Lowes for a $354 28 gal, Kobalt, 4.5 cfm quiet compressor.

I'm kicking myself for being so dang cheap all these past years. My 5 gal Craftsman compressor is 35 years old, still works great, so I always put off buying a more capable compressor. After a bit of trial and error, bled the brakes in about 2 hours, used 5 quarts of fluid. Pedal is firm, went for a test drive and all is well.

I'm very unhappy that no one in my area will work on a Class A chassis. At 63 years old, my days of crawling around under a vehicle are coming to a close. I am tempted to sell my Class A and buy a Class C on a Ford chassis, at least the ford dealer will work on it.

edgray · 04-03-2023, 02:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bmcgc

.............
I'm very unhappy that no one in my area will work on a Class A chassis. At 63 years old, my days of crawling around under a vehicle are coming to a close. I am tempted to sell my Class A and buy a Class C on a Ford chassis, at least the ford dealer will work on it.

Unless something has changed recently, Mid-State RV in Byron, Ga may be a good contact for your future needs. 478-956-3456.

I'm guessing they are a bit further away from Macon, but Apalachee RV Ctr. in Auburn, GA website shows they still work on Workhorse chassis. 770-868-0999

Before you jump from the frying pan into the fire, be sure to verify there is a Ford dealer that will actually work on their class c chassis. I recently tried to find one that would work on my friend's 2018 model F53 under a 30' Thor class A, and found there isn't ANY Ford dealer in the entire state of MS that would even look at it. Even the Ford medium-duty truck center in Jackson refused to help him because "we don't work on motorhomes-Period".

bmcgc · 04-03-2023, 04:31 PM

Mid-State is the next exit up the road from me. They only do easy, high profit work and warranty work. Nice people, but pretty lame service shop.

my local Ford dealer will work on an E-450 chassis.

1972VWbus · 04-04-2023, 01:43 PM

Seeing more, more and more shops refuse work on RV/motorhome chassis. This will not bid well for the RV industry as a whole.

CamJam1 · 04-09-2023, 07:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bmcgc

Long 4 days.

I removed the brake line running from the master to a junction about 8 feet away. That was almost an entire day.

No shop would touch the brake line. Liability they say. No shop was interested in doing the entire repair. We don't do chassis work they say. That was at 3 different RV dealerships, 1 big truck shop and 4 tire/brake chain shops.

My flare kit is a Harbor Freight special, and I don't like the flares it makes so I went to O'Rielly's and got a brand spanking new kit. I cut out the bad part of the line and when I went to flare the ends, I found that my brand spanking new O'Rielly's kit had two 5/16 and zero 1/4 dies.

Back to O'Reilly's to return the kit, then over to Advance for a new kit. Advance didn't have a Kit, so back home to use my Harbor freight kit.

Finally got the ends flared, the junction in and did an air test. No leaks, all is well.

Reinstalling the brake line was pretty easy, much easier that I thought, considering that I twisted, pulled, pushed and bent it to get it out.

I was ready to bleed the brakes, I looked at those four long 1/4" brake lines and those four giant brake calipers and decided that I was going to try a pneumatic bleeder instead. Off to Harbor Freight for the $31 brake bleeder and then to Lowes for a $354 28 gal, Kobalt, 4.5 cfm quiet compressor.

I'm kicking myself for being so dang cheap all these past years. My 5 gal Craftsman compressor is 35 years old, still works great, so I always put off buying a more capable compressor. After a bit of trial and error, bled the brakes in about 2 hours, used 5 quarts of fluid. Pedal is firm, went for a test drive and all is well.

I'm very unhappy that no one in my area will work on a Class A chassis. At 63 years old, my days of crawling around under a vehicle are coming to a close. I am tempted to sell my Class A and buy a Class C on a Ford chassis, at least the ford dealer will work on it.

I'm with you 100% on the pneumatic bleeder. Bought one myself at HF about three weeks ago and I'm wondering why I waited so long. I have a 60-gallon compressor at home, but I can't get my moho in the driveway and I'm not sure if the small compressor I keep in a basement locker will be up to the task. I do have Speed Bleeders on the moho already, so it's not a bad job in any case.

I might want to check that brake line on mine too!

bigb56 · 04-09-2023, 07:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bmcgc

At 63 years old, my days of crawling around under a vehicle are coming to a close. I am tempted to sell my Class A and buy a Class C on a Ford chassis, at least the ford dealer will work on it.

Don't give up yet, I got 4 years in you and still do all my own work. Most places don't do it right anyway.