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Level Low
Coming home from a trip yesterday I had a very scarry experience. On a two lane NC primary route someone had left a hazard in the middle of my lane. It was what looked like a 2″x2″ metal fence fabric about 4′ high nailed to some wood, perhaps a pallet. It was placed just over a crest vertical curve so vision of it was very limited. A driver going the other way had flashed his lights, which is something we have all done to help someone avoid a speed trap. Well I was going the posted 55 MPH.
So cresting the grade I see it. No time to stop before hitting it, traffic coming in the opposite direction no chance to swerve left and avoid it. Hit the brakes to slow some and got off of them as I squeezed right to avoid hitting it. The right side tires were totally off the pavement and on a grassed shoulder. Bad visions of flipping the coach over with who knows what personal injury would result to all of us. Any way, stayed off the brakes – hitting them would have resulted in the wheels on the grass locking up. A locked wheel will want to travel faster than one which is turning was why I stayed off the brakes. Checked the other gauges and they were normal. Here is a shoulda, I shoulda had a Pressure Pro on board to check tire pressures! Got back on the pavement checked my air pressure gauges and both were stable, so I continued the 20 miles or so back to the house to unload before returning the coach to storage.
When I parked I made an attempt to lower the front end and tilt down the passenger side for an easier last step to negotiate with an arm full of stuff. Level Low would not go up or down. It remained at ride height. Then Carole says she hears an air leak as we had at Oakmont last year. I went forward from disconnecting the toad and also heard the leaking air. The air gauges were now falling quickly since the big motor was shut down.
So not wanting to work on anything on an active neighborhood street, I started the big engine and the air gauges came back to normal. I drove it the five miles to the storage building. When I shut it down I listened for the air leak and did not hear it.
Now when I took the pass in the grass, that was all that was on the shoulder – must have had a Litter Pickup over the weekend. So I’m puzzled what could have been impacted that would disable the level low. I have a trip to Jeff’s in mid-March but wonder about the wisdom of beginning a 400 mile trip with some problem with the level low. I do have Holiday Tours about 70 miles from home that could be a source for find and fix services.
Question to the experts is where should I look first for any damage? It is in a position I could raise the front end with a 30 ton bottle jack and then block it up to get under the front end.
Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.
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