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Front Air Bags… tool for air supply fitting
So…. decided to change the front air bags. They were only 20 years old, but I’ve only had the coach a couple of months and it seemed to dip down in the front every couple of days. All Norgren valves seemed to be fine (no bubbles found after using soap solution) so thought it could be the bags. Yes, I’ve diligently read all the postings/warnings about bags older than 10 years but can’t replace them all at once. Prevoman had a very good tutorial (with pictures and such!) but he said the hardest part was removing the air supply fitting. He asked if anyone had a better tool, to let him know but I couldn’t find his contact info on his web page. That part of the task was not too bad for me because I have a Snap-On crow’s foot, 13/16, 12-point 3/8 drive and that made it easy (pics below using removed air bag as a model, towel added to improve visual of the tool). So far so good, the bus is holding the same height for the last 23 hours.
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5 Replies
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Great pic’s and info. John
Thanks
Bill S.
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John,
There is another solution. When removing the old air bag just cut the plastic hose as close to the elbow as possible, Then you can turn the elbow and remove it.
When you reinstall the new air bag use a “street ell” and into it add a 4.5″ or 5″ copper nipple, and put a DOT pipe thread to tube fitting on the end of the nipple. No special tools are needed and Prevost engineering told me the change is acceptable.
20 year old air bags are a recipe for an on road failure.
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That elbow does not look like a DOT rated fitting but might be wrong
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You’ve got a good eye, Peter… it is not a DOT fitting, just an elbow I had on hand to illustrate how a crow’s foot fits in a tight spot. And Jon, your design makes the crow’s foot tool unnecessary.
Kirby
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Those fittings will get a crack in them and leak air after a while and a coach will lean, hard to find the leak also!!!!!!!
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