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Suspension Fun Begins
Well, it’s time for some suspension fun, gotta love these XLII’s with the flip up fenders. Bags, shocks, Norgrens and Centrimatics. Different from the XL’s I’ve had, bigger air lines to the bags and ping tanks. Couldn’t talk Jon into helping, don’t ya think he should?
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56 Replies
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I really like the fold up fenders Tom, the H3’s slip down and off. Fairly heavy, too. Really need 2 people on a H fender.
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I would have thought Jon would have come down to at least watch you do this….
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Shocks? What brand?:)
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we know he’s thinking about the red ones
if you need any advice on this job let us know
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Thanks for the photo Tom. I would really be interested to see more if your project(s) allow the time . I am extremely interested in the process but work still gets in the way of the fun. By the way were you ever able to tell any difference in the wheel bearing temps with synthetic oil ? I also fouled up and forgot to look at your TPMS mount in Branson. Any chance of a photo if you are snapping more ? Have fun.
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Having changed an air bag or two and taken advantage of the opportunity to change Norgrens, shocks and occasionally brake chambers Tom is on his way to renewing the underside of his coach.
It is very common for discussions on this site to talk about the leans, hub seal leaks, air leaks, etc. If Tom documents this as he does the work I hope everyone that has always wanted to be able to do work like this or understand what is involved can follow the thread and hopefully gain the confidence to know anyone can do this work.
I am not trying to minimize the effort Tom is going to make to do this work, but to point out if you have a place to work, have the means to support the coach (don’t even think of doing this without suports), have a selection of basic tools and some time you can do the same. While the XLII has the hinged rear fenders making this much easier than an XL, anyone can work on any model including the XL or the H3.
When all is said and done Tom’s biggest and most challenging problem is going to be verifying his work is leak free. He will have worked on a lot of fittings, most of which he should replace with new compression fittings. Everything else will be fairly basic.
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George – I’ll get you a picture of the TPMS. I’m still using Dino for the hub oil, that’s what Prevost uses.
Jon – If the push in bag fittings are leak free, I’ll stick with those, but the Norgren fittings will be new DOT.
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I hope you find the push in fittings to be leak free. Unfortunately I have never had a high percentage of success reusing push in fittings, especially as they aged. Cleanliness when reusing push in fittings is vital and unfortunately due to the orientation of fittings such as those on top of the air bags they tend to have road grit collect in them making reuse questionable.
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Looks like you are going to have fun Tom .. If you are putting in new bags ,why not replace push in with comp fittings not a big deal but will be better than push in have fun Tom looks good
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Good advice, I’ll just go ahead and use new fittings for the bags as well. Hopefully, I can find them local, they’re big fittings.
George – Replacing shocks with Prevost.
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Tom,
You are the star attraction on PC this week. Thanks for the great coverage.
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Tom always does good work .. My coach was in great shape from him …He replaced all the back bags on mine and no leaks…… I love it good luck Tom
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Getting ready for parts, all original, 13 years old and the shocks are toast. The reason I’m putting these pictures on the site is for those folks that haven’t seen the parts and suspension up close and personal. Jon does this stuff just for grins and giggles…. Stay tuned.
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How did the old bags look Tom ? After 13 years…..
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They’re
weather checked and cracked, but no different than others I’ve done
including yours Peter. When I did yours, I cut open one of the bags
and it looked like brand new inside and yours were 15 years old. I’ve
had a case of the leans to port side when it’s cold, very small, but
enough to drive me nuts, so one of the 3 bags is leaking. I can’t
find the leak with the electric stethoscope and soapy water, but it’s
probably up under the fold in the bottom that you can’t get at even
at full height.
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