I am glad that it broke in your hometown, where you could get the parts for a reasonable cost, with no towing required.
I guess you could use something to keep the hose from rubbing again, like cutting a garden hose in 1/2 about 6" long?
I have seen many TV shows where the air line breaks, and the truck builds up speed on the downhill mountain grade. I guess the average person watching TV does not know there is a great big spring that applies the brakes, and the air pressure releases the brakes.
Fred.
Money can't buy happiness but somehow it's more comfortable to cry in a Porsche or Country Coach!
The heat from that section of braided line is very high! Will melt rubber
If it rubbed something enough to cut that stainless, it needs to be re-routed.
Will
I'm able to move my 10 wheel dump truck before the air pressure builds as the drive shaft is strong enough to overcome the spring parking brake. Would not try this on my DP as the drive shaft is half the size. By only half caging the parking brake you could move a DP and still have some braking but it would have to be a real emergency to go this route. Backing off the slack adjuster will do the same thing if you do not have the T bolts for towing.
This is why in Canada anyone driving a MH with air brakes must have an air endorsement on their license. This is a one or two day course depending on what province you are in. We had to pass a practical and a written test.
Some of the stuff in the course is not relevant to MH’s but they teach you how air brakes operate, how to test that your air is coming up fast enough, how to test the governor, what to do in case of air loss, etc.
The manual that dons2346 put the link to is a great reference. Basically the same as the one we used when we took the course.
2005 GB Cruise Air XL DP
3 slides, 350 Cat
1972 Ford Van, drag along
4 Standard Poodles
Louis Creek BC, Canada Diplomat Standard Poodles
Question, My brother has a 2001 Safari Panther and he said it has "Air over hydrolic" brakes. Is this different?
Bill
Bill & Kathy Francis
95 Itasca Sunrise 29RQ,P32 454 Chevy, Banks,ECM chip.Safe-T-Plus, Bilsteins, Super Steer Bell Crank, Stewart Stage 1 Waterpump, Severe Duty Fan Clutch, OilGuard Bypass Filter, Coolant Filter. Rear Tracbar. 1-5/8" Front Swaybar.
George B wrote: Lug nut is absolutely correct. Everybody that drives a vehicle with air brakes needs to know how they work.
Which is why almost all Canadian provinces require an airbrake endorsement before you can drive a vehicle that has airbrakes. The course is twice as log as need be for MH owners but still a LOT better than nothing. Once you understand the system, you will likely forget a lot of the technical details but you certainly will understand the things that can go wrong.
I'm always amazed at owners who have no idea what happens when the air pressure disappears. They get a real surprise when the spring brake activates.
What amazes me with the reciprocity agreements between provinces and states is that a jurisdiction that requires its own residents to have an airbrake qualification for safety reasons then allows drivers without such qualifications from other jurisdictions. Makes no sense at all.
Don, Bev & Phil
07 Jayco 32SS on Kodiak May 07 Yahoo Kodiak Group
06 HR Amb 40PLQ ISC 330/950 9/05-5/07
04 Winnie Jrny 39W CAT C7 7/04-9/05)
00 Triple E Commander 5/03-5/04
Toad - 07 Tahoe LTZ 12/06 -
04 Colorado Z71 04- 06
tstryk wrote: Unlike hydraulic brakes where the brake pads are forced against the drums/rotors via fluid pressure - on air brakes the air keeps the brakes OFF the disks and drums. When you apply the brake pedal, the air pressure is released and thus the brakes activate. It is a much safer system. With hydraulic brakes, when you lose fluid, you lose brakes. With air brakes, when you lose air, you gain brakes.
Ok, I should have read through all the posts prior to writing this as I see several already corrected this error but I'll leave the post anyway....
Actually, this is not true. On all modern vehicles (like built withing the last 40 years) the "service" brakes work just like hydraulic brakes - you step on the pedal and it puts pressure on the brake pads.
However, the "parking" brake (sometimes called a "spring brake") requires air pressure to release it and will engage automatically if air pressure is lost. Usually the "spring brakes" are only on the rear.
There are really two semi-independent braking systems. They share the same brake pads but the actuators are independent of each other.
It's debatable as to whether this system is "safer" than hydraulics. The reason there is an automatic "spring brake" in the first place is because large vehicles are more susceptible to leaking and broken brake lines. This is for two reasons: 1. The shear length of all the lines naturally increases the probability of a break. 2. They are commonly connected to a trailer (or mulitple trailers) which requires connecting to brake system of the towing vehicle. This also contributes to the possibility of a leak at the interface as well as in the tow vehicle (speaking primarily of trucks here). Connecting and disconnecting trailer brakes from the tow vehicle brakes would be very difficult to do reliabily on a hydraulic system due to the required bleeding of air from the system. That's the main reason trucks and large vehicles use air brakes.
On the other hand air brakes are tolerant of small leaks and will continue working indefinitely whereas hydraulic brakes will eventually expell all the brake fluid and fail requiring the driver to use the parking/emergency brake.
The downside of air brakes is: 1. The vehicle is totally dependent on the air compressor to supply air pressure to operate the brakes and all the hoses, valves, and tanks. Lots of failure points. 2. If the air compressor fails you aren't going anywhere. If the air pressure goes away while your are driving you are stopping NOW. You have no controllability the "spring brakes" go on and you can't prevent that so if you are on an icy, winding road, the back tires are going to lock up and you WILL go skidding off the mountain side. If you get a a low air pressure alarm you best stop immediately 3. They are far more expensive to maintain as a result of being 5X the complexity of hydraulics
Hydraulic brakes are FAR simpler which translates to greater reliabiliy (when was the last time you heard of someone's automobile brakes failing) AND, you have controlability when they do fail because the parking/emergency break is controlled by the driver - not automatic.
My coach has air brakes and they work fine but when I'm crawling under the coach and am reminded of all the hoses, actuators, valves, tanks, etc. I cringe because I know that one day I'll be replacing some of those and will be needing to service the air compressor at some point in addition to changing the normal maintenance I'd have to do on a hydraulic system of changing brake pads and having drums/discs turned. Yuch!
Frankly, given a choice, I'd rather have hydraulics with a driver operated emergency/parking brake. For a motorhome application they'd be cheaper to buy and operate and safer since I don't have a couple of 50' trailers in tow. But then, I didn't have a choice unless I decided to go with a gasser.
* This post was
edited 04/15/08 11:38am by recurry *
------------
Ron
N6QL
2002 36' Country Coach Allure 350HP Cummins
2001 Jeep Wrangler Sahara
1978 Cessna T210M My Flying My website
Several have mentioned caging the brake chamber to move the vehicle but I would not recommend any one who does not understand the procedure to stay away from it. I have seen vehicles roll when the brakes are released and you must be under the vehicle at the back wheels to cage the brakes. Also the spring in a spring brake chamber has enough force to kill you if you take the wrong clamp off and the springs are not caged. I have replace many split diaphragms or pancakes as they call them on spring brake chambers and never liked it because those things can be a bomb if your not careful.
2007 Keystone Laredo 29RL 5th
2003 Ford F-250 SD Crew Cab 4x4 6.0 Diesel
Pullrite 16k Superglide with Super Rail kit
Brakesmart
Please check this air line brake issue if you have a Freightliner chassis manufactured prior to November 2005. This is now a recall.
Here is the full link:
Offline
