Fleetwood Bounder question

[kijana]

There's a guy on this site who's just turned up in a 1996 Fleetwood Bounder, 35', diesel pusher.

He is in the habit of checking the brake discs for overheating whenever he stops, and says they are not hot. Yet when he lifts the front wheels off the ground on his front (single, central) levelling jack, the wheels are very hard to turn round, as if the brakes are partly applied.

He would like to know if there is any kind of sensing system that detects the jack going down and applies the brakes?

So if anyone knows the answer to this, do post & put him out of his misery

Thanks

Bruce

 

[Geo]

Hi Bruce there would be no point in having a devise that applies brakes in mid air would thereoh:
But you can put him out of his missery, the most likely cause would be the weight of the wheel tipping on the bearing and applying pressure to the brake pads, he can if so minded remove the wheel and all will be free if not then brakes are binding and would be hot on inspection, If air brakes these may come on when engine is off and air pressure is low, start engine when on jacks if thats possible and re test, no doubt some one will be along to contradict my reasoning, one thing for sure is if brakes are coolish then no binding is taking place when on all six wheels are grounded
Geo

 

[damondunc]

No there isn't, the brakes are not releasing as they should, could be corroded caliper sliders, partially seized pistons,brake hoses that are internally seperated or the master cylinder linkage seized. I bet it's either on an Oshkosh or Spartan chassis, they use the same caliper design and are prone to this problem.
Dunc.

 

[American Dream]

Hi Bruce there would be no point in having a devise that applies brakes in mid air would thereoh:
But you can put him out of his missery, the most likely cause would be the weight of the wheel tipping on the bearing and applying pressure to the brake pads, he can if so minded remove the wheel and all will be free if not then brakes are binding and would be hot on inspection, If air brakes these may come on when engine is off and air pressure is low, start engine when on jacks if thats possible and re test, no doubt some one will be along to contradict my reasoning, one thing for sure is if brakes are coolish then no binding is taking place when on all six wheels are grounded
Geo

Now Come on Geo. Surely everyone's heard of AIR BRAKES.

 

[Geo]

No there isn't, the brakes are not releasing as they should, could be corroded caliper sliders, partially seized pistons,brake hoses that are internally seperated or the master cylinder linkage seized. I bet it's either on an Oshkosh or Spartan chassis, they use the same caliper design and are prone to this problem.
Dunc.

Would not any or all of the above cause hot brakes Duncan?? he says they stay cool
hence me not stating the obvious
Geo

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[American Dream]

I guess his wheel bearings are ok and are correctly adjusted?:thumb:

Sorry.Just thinking of other reasons why the wheels are hard to rotate.

Would cause heat buildup in the hubs though I guess.

 

[moandick]

Wouldn't the brakes need to be 'on' to activate the jack anyway? Surely you wouldn't lift the wheels off the ground without some form of brake being applied?

 

[Thepips]

Wouldn't the brakes need to be 'on' to activate the jack anyway? Surely you wouldn't lift the wheels off the ground without some form of brake being applied?

Doesn't the parking brake work on the transmission? In which case the front wheels would still be free to rotate.

Doug

 

[kijana]

Thanks for your replies, chaps.

Geo, I don't personally ever leave the wheels hanging when I use the levelling jacks, so if there was an 'autolock' system maybe they'd assume you left some weight on the wheels?

He says he has freed the pistons in the caliper bores, and lubed with Coppaslip (not something I'd do), so doesn't think the pistons are binding. If they were, I would have thought the discs would soon warm up?

I'll pass on all your thoughts, particularly re the wheel bearings.

Many thanks (& I'll try to get him to join this forum so he can ask his own questions next time!

Bruce

 

[ruffingitsmoothly]

Slightly off the topic I've been told that if I lift the front of my Monaco off the ground the windscreen (or should that be wind shield) can pop out, not sure if that's true :Confused::Confused: but not gonna try it anyway!:thumb:

regards Pat

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[Geo]

We have all heard that one Pat, go on try it!!!! you know we want you to,then we can bury this one for good
Personally I doubt it, unless there fitted with rubber chassis
Geo

 

[moandick]

I can quite honestly and truthfully say that I HAVE lifted both of my Monaco Cayman front wheels off of the ground at the same time - only about ½inch - so that I could adjust the wheel ramps positioning.

Nothing untoward happened except that my heart beat rate went skyhigh when the coach wobbled to one side a bit and I thought that it was going to fall off the jack.

No way am I (singlehanded) ever going to do that again

 

[ruffingitsmoothly]

We have all heard that one Pat, go on try it!!!! you know we want you to,then we can bury this one for good
Personally I doubt it, unless there fitted with rubber chassis
Geo

Nice one I'll go out in a minute and try Geo My Monaco has that peculiar 3 point jacking system! One at the front in the middle (a pig to get a pad under) and the two others behind the back axle nearer the sides is the reason because if this set up?

Regards Pat

 

[Lindy-C]

Quite a debate about levelling systems here
: Class A Motorhomes: Monaco Leveling Questions ?

Not a lot to do with Bounders and brakes though :Blush:

 

[olley]

hi had mine up in the air couple of days ago when I serviced it, much easier to grease the kingpins etc. not for the first time either.

The theory is that the weight of the engine and axle will cause the front to droop popping the screen, never noticed any droop and I have looked, maybe older chassis suffered from this problem, P32's maybe??

Think its much more likely that as Linda's link suggests, that people twist the frame while leveling and pop the screen.

Olley

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