Suspension air bag

[TestPoster]

OK, now I am really ticked off :Mad:
As most of you will remember I had a front suspension air bag fail when I had tyres fitted to the front of Rocky. I ordered a new one from Duncan (Star Spangled Spanner) which duly arrived.
We visited Linda and James, with Geo and Pam, just before we left to go to France and because James had a pit we fitted the air bag there. So three people, one who is an RV expert, another who is a mechanic and runs his own garage and an engineer all set about the job and got it fitted without trouble. It is not an easy job, but it is do-able, at least with a pit and the strong arms of Geo
Right, so why am I ticked off, you ask?
The reason is that I just went out to do the pre flight checks, oil, water, tyre pressures and air bag pressures, everything was OK as usual until I got to test the pressure in the "NEW" air bag. Zero, zilch, nada, nothing...... I attached the air line and started to pump it up. There is a hissing sound coming from the air bag, it is not the valve, but higher up. The damned bag has failed.
I do not believe it, it has only been fitted about a month, and been driven on for about 1500 miles. I doubt that there will be any warranty on the bag, so I now have to buy a replacement and get it fitted (I am not going all the way to LC's just for that.....).
So that is the reason that I am ticked off.
Right I am going away now to have a really nice weekend and God help anyone who is stupid enough to carve me up on the way :Mad:
Thanks for listening

Keith

 

[johnsandywhite]

Sorry to hear that Keith. Did you do as I said about checking for burrs, sharp edges etc? Rusty springs can soon put an hole in an Air Bag when you are traveling any distance.

 

[Lindy-C]

Awwwwwww what????

Sorry to hear that Keith Either a faulty bag or something has somehow punctured it?? :Confused:

You know you are welcome to come and sit in our pit with Geo anytime.......hope you have a trouble free weekend!

 

[TestPoster]

Hi JSW
Yes mate, we checked to make sure that the inside of the spring was clean and even greased it so we didn't chaffe the bag whilst inserting it....
Thanks Linda, you are very kind, I think I will let someone else do it though so I will get some sort of warranty next time.
Had a great weekend, just catching up on all the posts (5 pages of them.......) and the RV handled well even with only 3 air bags, so all is not lost...

Keith

 

[justme AKA Grath]

This reminds me, I was at the Spanish/ Portugal border at Badajoz a few years ago with a truck.
I was weekended as carrying chemicals and a little bored so I decided to drop the trailer and drive the tractor unit over to a tap and wash it.
Washed it ok, got a few bad looks for using the precious water (justified I think) and then as I reversed under the trailer to hook up, the mid axle air bag on a twin steer unit went BANG!!
Wish I had not washed it then.:Blush:
But all the spanish and guys came over and helped and we blanked off the air pipe and I continued to Lisboa, Sines and Oporto. Then back to Madrid and home withouy any further trouble.:thumb:
A new bag was then fitted by our own fitters.
Just memories

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[damondunc]

suspension airbag

Hi Keith,
sorry to hear about your holed air bag, firstly these air bags do not leak for no reason: there are three reasons for leakage
(1) running with low air pressure and hitting a sleeping policeman will make the suspension go coil bound and pinch the air bag thus splitting it.
(2) a rough edge or more likely a broken coil spring (normally the lowest coil inside the lower arm, very hard to see, we had a damon challenger that went through an mot with a broken spring, the only way it was spotted was when I took the wheel off to check the front brakes, so not the mot testers fault.
(3) old age, n/a in this case.
I gather this is the second air bag on the same side within a short period of time, you really should investigate further to ascertain the cause. It would have been nice if you had contacted me when the airbag failed, and i could have talked you through it, I have both supplied and fitted many airbags to chevy and workhorse chassis's and have never had a problem with leakage. Had I fitted the airbag for you it would be covered by myself and I would have replaced it free of charge. I notice from what you have said about the fitting that you greased the spring prior to fitting, these airbags should always be fitted dry!
Regards Duncan.

 

[Geo]

Hi Duncan
Nice to see you on here, I can confirm all the above points were checked prior to fitting the new air bag, the spring was checked and followed by a good wire brushing, a very thin coat of spray copper slip was applied to the spring prior to fitting to try and prevent further corrosion, I cant imagine what has caused the bag to fail, I would have thought that the combined skills of all present would have ensured a botch job was not carried out,there has to be a reason of course I I would be a keen as Keith to learn what

We even had 3 women present as as we all know they------------------------Duck
know everything
Geo

 

[Lindy-C]

We even had 3 women present as as we all know they------------------------Duck
know everything
Geo

Geo.....................................



:moon:





(I knew that smiley would come in handy )

 

[johnsandywhite]

there has to be a reason of course I I would be a keen as Keith to learn what

:Cool: I think we would all be interested?

As Duncan mentioned:-

(1) running with low air pressure and hitting a sleeping policeman will make the suspension go coil bound and pinch the air bag thus splitting it.

Seems to fit.

 

[Geo]

Pressure was cheched a few days after instalation and had dropped about 1lb as is normal and again before departure to France,
Its got me thinking now if thats why Rocky rolled so much on that road and took out the Awning,(that is the side that failed) after that incident I, being the tail gunner was watching rocky closely and reported to the pilot that it did appear to roll an awfull lot on Islands and left hand bends:Sad:
Geo

(I knew that smiley would come in handy )

Love you to bits realy XX

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[johnsandywhite]

:Sad: Weak spring on that side perhaps? Or insufficient damping?

 

[Geo]

That would go some way to explain two burst bags and exess roll, Coil bind as Duncan suggestedoh:
Geo

 

[Lindy-C]

Does that mean I start lookin' for a new set of front springs for a P30 Chevy ?

 

[johnsandywhite]

Does that mean I start lookin' for a new set of front springs for a P30 Chevy ?

:Cool: It might be worth discussing an Upgrade?

 

[Lindy-C]

:Cool: It might be worth discussing an Upgrade?

I have been working on that one for a loooong time John.......I'm sure if I mention it again I am likely to get thumped!

^{_{Subscribers  do not see these advertisements}}

 

[TestPoster]

Hi all
Interesting comments.....
Firstly Hi Duncan, it is good to see that you frequent this site occasionally and thanks for your input . I want to say that I didn't call you because a) we were about to leave for the weekend and b) there was very little to talk about mate... The bag is holed and that is the end of it, no way to repair it, so I figured it was no use calling you to chat about it. Incidentally, I was not casting aspersions by mentioning where it came from, merely indicating that it had come from a reputable source, so I hope that you have not taken my post the wrong way. I also understand that warranty would only be given if you had fitted it, not sure why that should be, but I figured that it would be the case. My reason for posting is quite clear, as I said in my post I was really ticked off that the bag had failed so early in its life, for whatever reason.......
The three reasons for deflation are of interest and I will need to find out the cause. The reason that the last (new) one failed was because the tyre fitter let the RV down off the jack and pinched the bag, so I thought there was no reason to investigate further. The low pressure, well as already said, the bags were all checked before setting off to France and I don't recall hitting anything, but this seems to be the only real possibility.
Maybe you would like to quote me to supply and fit a replacement unit Duncan?
I am in two minds whether to sell Rocky anyway (although the bag will still get replaced) because I would like to change as we have had Rocky for over 2 years and I fancy getting a different layout, but still within the 7500Kgs limit.
Don't get excited Linda, we have had a p*ss poor year, business wise, so IF we change the RV it will be for another older model, cannot afford those super posh, shiny things that you have for sale at the moment, however attractively priced they are
Thanks again all for your input and I await Duncans reply

Keith

 

[damondunc]

Hi Keith,
thanks for your reply, and the diplomatic manner, if you can wait a little while I am booked to go down to the west country for a repair after the york show.
I would be only too pleased to stop off on the way back and fit you another air bag I will have more stock in next week as we sold out of chevy airbags at the shepton show. Obviously we can come to an amicable arrangement and the charges would be minimal as I am coming past your place on the way back to yorkshire. Hope this is OK
Dunc.

 

[TestPoster]

Hi Duncan
Thanks for the fast response mate, I always try to be diplomatic and say what I think . Anyway, yes please I would be grateful of your call to arrange a visit on your way home from the west country, if you can let me know when we should expect you then Sharon can get baking again
Hopefully you will be able to have a look at the suspension to check for anything untoward at the same time as I really don't want to be doing these to often, as I am sure you will understand.
Thanks for your kind offer and I look forward to hearing from you in the near future

Keith